How to Win Otakon: Don't be Captain Backflip

This week, we interviewed the big kahunas of the big kahuna: the higher-ups of Otakon & Otakorp.

Cons are becoming synonymous with cosplay, and whether it is
obscure, new, or just new to you, much of the art is awe-inspiring.
(image via Michael)

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But while the cosplayers often get all the photos and lasting internet glory, it's the behind the scenes volunteers who make it all possible. And who have the best stories! Listen in for Captain Backflip. Because they rarely get direct recognition, please let me list out our guests this week:

• Jen Piro, Vice President of Otakon, Associate Conchair, and Social Media Coordinator
• Terry Chu, Chairman of Otakon 2013, Otakorp Board of Directors member
• Andy Earnhardt, President of Otakorp's Board of Directors
• John Gluth, Otakorp Treasurer, Associate Conchair, and Advertising Liaison
• Jim Vowles, Head of Guest & Industry Relations, Head of Otakon Music Festival, and Former ALL the Things

This year is the Otakon 20th anniversary, and it’s going to be huge. They couldn’t reveal much, but there are certain events that you all may or may not have been begging for over the past decade that are finally making a reappearance. Seriously. Stop reading. Go prereg now. And reserve hotel rooms before you’re stuck schlepping your shit over a mile walk each day because you got stuck in the newb hotel.

Now for the non-Otakon vets, even if you aren’t an anime fan (or full-fledged, card-carrying okatu), you are likely aware that every summer, some thirty thousand attendees descend upon Baltimore and consume as much anime, fandom, merch, and more before going back to counting down the days until the next Otakon. When I finally made geeky friends in college, they quickly introduced addicted me to anime and with it, the inevitable interest in cosplay and conventions.

And Otakon cosplayers set a high, high standard. See? I could
just post pictures of a packed lobby, and instead I found a Zora.
Because I care. (image by Anna Fischer)

My friend's gentle rebuke still rings in my memory, “Holy shit, you haven’t even been to OTAKON?!” By not being a devotee before the age of 18, I lost any shred of otaku cred I had built up by throwing together that last minute Leena cosplay. But my friend had a point: if you love anything about any convention, not just anime, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you skip Otakon. Because it is so big, it has everything.

Well, I knew that Otakon was really, really big, but I had no idea that it was so big that the staff of over 250 has to set up its own mini-con just to fit everyone in the same place for a weekend to plan the con. Also, I was also unaware of the interplay between Otakon and Otakorp, both of which are non-profit - which just blows my mind. Thirty thousand. 30,000 people. Yet they’re still keeping your status as a 501(c)3? Dedication, right there. We closed the podcast out with a heartwarming acknowledgement of the amazing things that people have done through Otakon's charity.

I'll leave you with the cosplay that never goes out of style.
(another astounding image by Anna Fischer)

So, here’s how to keep up with them:

• Otakon Website
• Otakorp Information
• Charity
• Newbie Guide
• Prereg (RTFI, link is at the bottom)
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• How to volunteer
• Keep an eye out for events that they support, like Studio Ghibli showings at the Cherry Blossom Festival’s centennial last year.

Thanks again to everyone, especially Jen Piro for taking time out of the biggest staff meeting of the year to let us geek out over your con. You all were wonderful and the podcast was a blast.

Is it August yet?

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