I have been building towards the eventual creation of a new convention, and thought this may be an interesting possibility.
We have a large member list, and membership branches in a sense a bit further beyond this website as well.
The idea is simple - Are the Dollars capable of banding together to not only fund, but to run a convention using the knowledge and skills that the members possess?
Not only would this be an solid show of what the group could potentially do, but it could also provide an opportunity for different members to meet and interact, and create something for everyone to enjoy.
This is an ambitious idea, and can only be accomplished if a large number of members are at the very least interested in the idea. Is this something you would be interested in?

Its interesting :)
But where would we hold this convention?

I kind of like this idea. Though obviously this can't really be legitimately held worldwide. One place for it being held would be enough but since the Dollars IS a worldwide thing, then it wouldn't make sense for it to not be held worldwide. Even if at least it's done in a much smaller scale for those in very small countries like me (Singapore).

If we want a legitimate way to interconnect as Dollars, then a management group would have to be made from all the participating countries here on the site to take care of setting up the event. But I doubt many people would have so much free time.

great idea i think it would work but the problem is organizing it, it sounds challenging lets do it!!!

Organizing anything is very hard and very chaotic. Just about everything will go wrong and you'll have to somehow fix it all while trying to keep everything orderly. Not to mention the Dollars are scattered around the world. As far as I'm aware, there aren't many Dollars concentrated in one area. I can assure you, if you want this to be run only by Dollars, you will need a lot of people (and a lot of backup plans). There aren't many where I live, but if you do go through with this idea, I would be willing to help out here and there (doing things I don't have to be present for, since it's more than likely I don't live anywhere remotely near you).

To answer questions and concerns brought up -

First, as for location, that can be varied based on the centered location (s) of the majority of the members who are involved. Otherwise, there is nothing to say that if resources were pulled, this cannot be done in different places at different scales. Personally, I live in the United States.

As for the concern regarding organization of the convention, particularly on the note of it being entirely Dollars run, I don't expect that all necessities would necessarily be met, however, I already work in conventions and am confident I can take care of any positions needing to be filled.

As well, another option for having something worldwide, is to arrange separate events to be held during the r time of the convention in Dollars-heavy locations, for those who are unable to attend.

I agree with nakura-san
We could do meetings at the same time in different places
Because we can't travel 700000 km to go to a meeting
I think that if we organise it with time and well it will be fascinating!

I'd like to help as well as for places to meet places like the mall of America or Willis tower or other landmarks that can't be duplicated it would be hard to plan the times though, considering different time zone and all, but if it works out it would be massive, the possibilities would be almost endless!

Before I give a legitimate response to this thread, tell me:

What do you define as a convention, in detail, with examples similar to what you're planning?

That would depend on those participatint/planning. However, from the nature of this group, I'd say more than likely an anime convention. Which, if you would still like examples I would be happy to provide. However, if anyone has other suggestions, I would be interested in hearing them.

We could do a mini convention at a comic con or anime con such as Kawaii Kon or Anime Boston

I'd be down for a mini con at one of the big cons, Pax, Comic-Con, AB

You know, I am going to the Indiana comic con on Saturday... Even if we wouldn't be able to do something like this that soon, I still think this would be a good idea. We should do this. It helps dollars members to meet other dollars.

in one month from now there will be Melbourne supanova, will anyone else be there?

>>10 In that case, allow me to smack a little reality into this thread.

I've seen countless independent anime conventions cancelled year after year of planning, preparation, marketing, investments, etc. It's not something just save up for and do. Considering the BBS can't even manage to get an annual meeting of a couple people together, no, I don't believe it's within the scope of our abilities to create an anime convention.

Some words of advice if you intend to attempt to do one of any reasonable size anyway:

1) You can't just pick a place willy-nilly, and don't bother discussing anywhere popular or well known. Finding an indoor location within your budget that will accept a first time convention aimed at this age group will take months of filing through every potential hole-in-the-wall location. Contacting their owners and haggling might as well be a full time job.

2) With a group of this size backing it, it will take years to save up enough money to run a convention. Remember that you will not only need to pay rent and use fees for the location but also that you'll need to purchase insurance, pay for all the necessary licenses, and hire an attorney or lawyer to write up a contract to protect your investment in the location. Paying for entry tags, staff, security, and all the general paperwork is a whole 'nother story.

3) Crowd funding won't get you far. Everyone and their mother has tried to crowd fund a convention before, and nearly all of them have fallen through even when they reached their goals. The supporters have learned better than to put more than a few bucks into a "new convention" unless it's run by someone they know.

4) Whoever is in charge of running it will be in debt. Most anime conventions never have enough money to cover the costs upfront. Instead, they take loans out to cover the fees then pay them back with the money made from vendors and visitors. This has caused controversy in the past. I remember one in particular where an indie convention flopped on the last day because the hotel they ran it in decided they wouldn't wait for the last day's entree fees, so the staff were running around taking donations from the visitors to help pay for it. It's a big deal.

So this is obviously not something just anyone can do. There are, however, other options.

1) As far as a "mini-convention" goes, no, you can't just make your own mini-convention in a legitimate a convention. You can meet up outside unofficially, rent space for an hour long panel, or organize a special event there with the coordinators, sure, but that's the best you're going to get.

2) If you still want a commercial event where the Dollars' can sell their work in an anime way or whatever, what you can do is organize an outdoor festival instead. It's still going to be expensive to get the permits and insurance, but it's significantly easier to find an open parking lot or park or even school grounds that are willing to host it for a much smaller fee. It will be much more difficult to find anime-centric vendors for this, though, since most of their wares don't do well in the sun (which will be a problem even with tents).

3) If you just want to do a big non-commercial meet up, check out the Dollars' Day thread on Main and contribute some ideas there. That'll be your next best bet.

Exactly what Barabi said.
I love event planning for organizations, but the Dollars is such a large and disorganized group of people, a small get together will be very difficult.

One possibility would be a nonrefundable $20 "reservation ticket" to cover initial fees and ensure members will go through with the meet up since they paid. But the general thing I hear from the Dollars is, "I'm a broke college student."

>>15 I couldn't agree with you more. Thank you for writing such a long and in-detail post.

I have something to add myself. Local conventions are very small (they are actual conventions though). Due to that, they are mostly not very good too (and tickets are expensive). What they do is rent space in schools. So it's not necessarily just a one or two hour thing that you can rent space in a school for, these conventions last three days (four in some cases).

*raises hand*
i has a suggestion

why not just host a picnic for dollars instead, everyone can choose a park near where they live, and other dollars can show up, it would be free, ppl can bring their own food, and it would be fun

the only problem is identifying each other, but all anyone has to do is pick a way to identify each other

it may not be a convention, but a good free thing we can do, maybe we can even plan a few missions to do while we are there, and use one of the chats, or a thread to talk to ppl in other locations (or that app someone made, the link is in the suggestions tab) to make it seem more connected

This is an ambitious mission, but if we work hard enough, it haut might work. The problem is the locations of it. Dollars members are all around the world. Yeah, firelily' suggestion is a good idea. A picnic is a nice thing to start with :3

Since a picnic is a nice start, does anyone live in Irvine or Mission Viejo, California???

I really do hope that we will be able to create a convention.

I'll be in San Diego and I'm willing to drive halfway of that^

Anyone near Dothan Georgia? That's the closest place I could drive since its only an hour or so away.

if we really are going through with the picnic idea maybe chu guys should check the map someone made a while ago, a lot of people put the locations around where they live on there, it would be easy to find ppl around chu that way, and someone can post something on main with links to chat rooms so people can orginize the picnic in their areas

the map post: http://dollars-bbs.org/main/res/1427911125.html

I'm interested in meeting up with people in Southern California. If you're from there, let's discuss it in the chatroom http://us20.chatzy.com/27732842077383

That would be a fantastic idea but then again some people would want all of us to stay invisible as we are but hey any one living in Wichita Kansas

i'd be super interested in this, we should get more people into this somehow!!

Your best bet is to talk to each other in the region chats and go from there

yes i would be interested in this idea, this will probably be difficult to put together if you don't know the proper people tho..,,

how about we can create convention per country first or per area.so that we can verify the branches. then maybe after that, we can work to a world wide convention

i'm definitely interested but how can i help

sounds waaay cool! (currently picturing scene from durarara)

im in. Whereabouts are you planning the event?

Sound really cool! Like the idea! ^-^

I feel like this could work, however the most important part of organizing an event like this is placement. We need somewhere to hold this event. There have been attempts at this before but it has rarely worked. The best option would be New York but not everyone lives nearby there. Another thing is the emailing list, we had one a few weeks ago but it dissapeared. Try finding that and emailing those people just to see who responds and such.

Sincerely,
The Fairchild

I agree with NY. if it was there i could probuubly go!!!

What about St.Louis? It's the center of the country isn't it? But I understand because there are dollars that live all around the world. What if each country has one?

what if we start with one state and then, one year at a time, we have it in the next state, and it can be in a city in the direct center of the state so people are about equal distance from it

and we can do this in different countries on the same date so they seem more connected

For the first convention we should find out which state has the most dollars and then work our way to other states. Just a suggestion. Also if its in my state i could possibly start a fundraiser.

We should have some voting method available. Personally, I think New York or areas around there have the majority.

Sincerely,
The Fairchild

>>38

i agree with this, maybe someone can make a poll so ppl can vote on it

Maybe instead of one big convention in one country, since many people suffer money problems, have several conventions in different states or countries. For example, the United States is big and unlike in Europe, you can't drive 3 hours to another country. 3 Hours takes you to a different part of the state. So maybe we should hold conventions in the center of certain parts of the continents or countries. Just an idea for those less fortunate.

I agree with Sasura here. I think maybe locations around the world would be much more accessible than just one big one. For one thing, NYC isn't exactly the cheapest place for me to get to anymore (used to go there one or twice a year until 2011) and even though I'm going to NYC this summer it's not like there's anyway we could get a convention coordinated in a few months. Naw I think what we need to do is hold them in various big city locations, or maybe just cities where a lot Dollar members live or live close to. Cities like Atlanta, NYC, Richmond, London, Paris, etc. I have no doubt it would take a lot of work but I think it would be fun to meet up with other Dollars members since I don't know any besides myself in my area.

Personally as far as locations go, i think ikebukuro should fit the point of interest, it's basically our re de vu.