2010 San Diego Comic Con

Dear San Diego Comic Con --

It is with great sadness that I write this letter to you.  Your event this year was one of the most disorganized and unpleasant events I have attended.  There is truly something wrong when press and professionals in the industry are required to stand in line for over 3-hours in hopes of gaining access to a panel discussion and then not be allowed in.  I have never attended an event in which the panels were not cleared after each event to allow those in line for the next event entrance, which some had been standing in line for over 3-hours, not to mention a line that is in excess of 2-miles in length which never seems to move no matter how long one is standing in line.  Ballroom 20 and Hall H was by far the most frustrating for a working professional.  How is one to do their job when press is not even allowed into given events because there is either no line for press or seats set aside for us to cover the events in which we attended the show for? 

I feel for the fans who stood in line with me that never gained access to the panels they waited for when they paid to attend your show.  How do you expect to keep the fans of your show when they spend the majority of each day in lines, only to find out that the hall is over capacity or closed for various reasons?  What will you do to compensate those who arrived 4+ hours early, knowing that there will be a line for the panel they wished to get into, only to have moved a handful of spaces during their entire wait?  Do you seriously expect everyone to be desperate enough to camp out in hopes of being one of the lucky ones allowed into each ballroom?  How do you plan to fix this problem for next year, or is that not in your thinking at all?  And what about press and their attempts to get in to cover their assigned panels?  How many of us were not allowed in or did not gain access due to your lack of planning? 

I honestly feel that my experience at the San Diego Comic Con is a once in a life time experience that I wish to never experience again.  Why would I waist my time when I know how unlikely it is for me to be able to get anything or any work out of the show?  Why would I put myself through the stress your show put on me again if I can get a better experience at other shows who at least put in the effort to try and assist and compensate those that tried effortlessly to get into a panel.  So you have lost me as a future attendee in any capacity.  Better luck next time and for the sack of the fans I hope you get your shit together.

Sincerely --

Disgruntled Attendee of 2010 Comic Con