Every spring, “weeaboos” descend on Hoboken for Castle Point Anime Convention. “The first step of CPAC is picking the date,” says Convention Chair Tyler Romeo. “Until the date is picked, you really can’t do anything. We can’t contact guests, recruit vendors, take panels applications, etc. We start working with Student Life to pick the date usually around May or very early June. Once the date is picked, we decide on guests over the summer and early fall and move from there. Once October hits, we are in full swing and everybody is doing something.”
Romeo started watching anime in the second semester of his sophomore year. “Before that I knew almost nothing about anime, outside of the various Miyazaki movies everybody has watched. My first CPAC I did not do much, and mostly helped in operations, and then the next year I was appointed webmaster, but eventually became pseudo-Treasurer due to our current Treasurer dropping off the face of the Earth. From there I had done so much with CPAC, and there was nobody else who wanted to run for President, and that’s how I ended up where I am now.”
As the convention chair, the 4/5 computer science major has two primary responsibilities: determining the direction of the convention, and making sure everyone else completes their job. “The chairman helps to pick guests, read over contracts, decide how worthwhile expensive budget items might be, find and create special programming for the convention, etc. We are working on better defining positions and isolating the jobs of every department head, but with all the work that needs to be done and so little people, sometimes one or two people just need to pull everything together and make everything work out.”
In addition to returning guests Ian Rubin and Mike Pollock, voice actresses Monica Rial and Jamie Marchi attended CPAC as guests of honor, in addition to 113 panelists. To find guests for the convention, the convention chair and executive board check the casts and production staff of popular anime. Much of CPAC’s growth is owed to consistently getting big names. “When attendees see big name shows they are familiar with, they remember CPAC and consider attending it when con season comes around,” said Romeo.
Remember CPAC they did. This year, 3,979 attendees (3,672 from outside Stevens) registered, up from roughly 2,900 last year. On top of the guests, panelists, 160 artists and 68 dealers, CPAC booked several musical acts, including J-Rock band The Asterplace and J-Pop group Rainbow Bubble Girls.
As head of operations, Allison Outwater’s job is to make sure that the con runs smoothly. “I work closely with all departments and especially the con head to make sure everything is set the best that it can be ahead of time. I have an awesome team and we continually check that the con is running smoothly and are the first to respond in any incident from medical emergencies to missing people.”
Outwater started working in con operations her freshman year. “Ever since then I have been very heavily involved in CPAC each year and each year we get bigger and have less incidents.”
All the work does pay off.
“My favorite part of CPAC is seeing all the con goers having a great time” said Outwater. “When I am able to walk around the con and see all these people who are often strangers to each other having a great time and being happy I know that I’ve done my job and that CPAC was worth it.”
Romeo’s favorite part of the convention is working with the guests. “The celebrities of the anime world are always surprisingly down-to-Earth and friendly, and they’re just great people to hang around with. Sometimes I even wish I could just be in the Guests and Industry Relations department rather than being the chairman, just so I can hangout with our guests all day.”
Work is getting started on next year’s convention, and with CPAC’s growth rate, more volunteers will be needed than ever before. From department heads to security, CPAC is looking to top the 100 volunteers it had this year.
Students who want to help with next year’s con can email anime@stevens.edu.
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