February
08, 2014
For
others, this might be an ordinary day. But for me, this was one of the most
challenging and memorable day I have ever had. And I owe it all to UP Otakufest
7.
For
those who do not know UP Otakufest, this event is Cebu’s biggest collegiate
cosplay and hobby convention in Cebu. It had humble beginnings on its
introduction waaaay back in February ___, 2007. In fact, I was there when I
witnessed how it started. I remember as clear as day. It was still so simple:
only a few people, no official rented stage, and there weren’t many booths in
the event, it was just a gathering of all “Otaku.”
From
there, slowly it grew popularity yearly, more people talking about it, and more
improvements and theme changes for every event. In fact, this was one of the
few reasons as to why I decided to enter UP, hoping that I could play an
important part in this event someday.
And
it did happen.
I
remember how Otakufest was on its fourth year when I entered the university,
and on how I was just a mere volunteer/marshal through being a member of UP
Nichibunken (ユピ日文研),
the university’s Japanese culture appreciation organization. It was tiring to
run around and be a messenger to the heads but it was fulfilling. And at that
same time a new dream and challenge opened to my interests: to be UP
Nichibunken’s head and to head UP Otakufest on my fourth year in college (since
Otakufest was a yearly event made by the fourth year batch organization, a
tradition that happened as years went by).
Once
again, it happened.
I
was still on the middle of my foreign exchange program in Japan last 2013 when
I gained the confidence to volunteer to my batch mates that I will be leading
the next Otakufest. It was not because I was thinking way over my head, but
because I believe that I could make use of the things I learned from my one
year stay in Japan and hopefully inculcate it in organizing Otakufest, and to
hopefully make it as innovative and the best Otakufest ever, and to make it a
different convention than what other people go to yearly.
So
when I went back home last July 2013, a lot of things happened that may be a
sign of success to lead this event. I immediately became UP Nichibunken’s head,
and as I was struggling to catch up with my studies, I and with my fellow
batchmates and UP Nichibunken, had our first meeting on that month. They were
surprised that it was early, too early maybe. 7 months before the event and yet
we already have decided on the theme New Golden Age and on the things we wanted
to have on the day, and we were already starting with promotions and
advertisements.
I
also remember on the first day of our online promotion in Facebook, it already
gained a lot of likes and noise on just its first night. That was what got us
so excited. From then on, we started with the final conceptualization and
stared on the papers, actions, and more meetings.
As
months passed, stress was getting over me. I never expected for this event to
be REALLY big. To top it off, the pressure and anticipation of everyone was
getting to me, and as the head organizer I cannot help but make an event that
exceeds their expectations.
There
were a lot of problems that we encountered as we were getting nearer and nearer
the event day. And please allow me to rant on things I kept to myself for months
on this blog post.
One
was on the delays, both evitable and non-evitable. Non-evitable things like
delays on operations due to the recent major earthquake and supertyphoon that
hit our country. They were somehow okay, but the evitable delays got me the
most. As a business student, I organized this event on a business perspective,
applying all the things I learned. One of those things I learned from my
professors was to never be late on meetings, deadlines, and tasks no matter
what the reason may be (except death). And it really gets in nerves when people
put up a lot of reasons as to why they were not able to do such tasks in the
given time. One of the reasons was that they were not the only ones who were
busy. I was busy too, in fact, more busy than them perhaps. Another one was
that when you promise something that you can do something, it is then expected
of you that you will do it, regardless of what. Lastly, delays give out a lot
of consequences financially. But despite those things, after all those project
crashes and patience, things went okay (for most of it).
Another
problem we came up with was on the issue of including a Kpop Dance competition
in a cosplay and hobby convention, which has never happened before. There was a
lot of clamor when we posted the official guidelines, with people claiming as
to why there be a Korean Contest in a “otaku” convention, and with people
saying that they would not attend because of this. Because of this, we posted
an official statement a week after and thankfully it cleared out the issue, and
everything was calm again. But there were several reasons why I decided to
include a Kpop competition in Otakufest: one was that from my exchange program
in Japan, I first handedly experienced the Otaku culture, and knew that there
was a growing community of Japanese kpop otaku. Second was that I had to be
innovative. Otakufest, being in its 7th year, definitely would not
remain stagnant. Lastly, being a kpop and anime fan myself, I wanted to try
these things to be together and somehow people could get to appreciate these
things.
The
rest of the problems were already minor issues (like on the ticket prices and
the code of conduct) and I was glad everything went okay.
As
the event got nearer, we were starting to get sleepless nights, lots of
arguments on issues, and losing focus at school. We had a lot of challenges to
conquer, along with our studies. Probably one of the greatest challenges I had
was when I left for Korea for an exchange program, 2 weeks before Otakufest, and
I had to balance work, studies, and managing the event.
Stress
was increasing until it came to the day of the event. Finally, all our labor
realized. With 3 hours of sleep, exhaustion, and nervousness for anything might
go wrong, I just did what I could, and that was to stay strong.
Despite
the rain that delayed the program, and some minor problems, I’m really thankful
for the success of the event. I have a lot to be thankful for. Thank you to
everyone who came and enjoyed the show, to the sponsors, partners, and
contributors for helping realize this event, for my friends and family for the
support, for our special guests Ae Ri, Lyron, SIXX, and F Prime of X for
attracting a lot of people and for gracing our event. For our hosts Ara and Gab
for keeping up with us and for making the event more lively despite the gloomy
weather, for the whole team for enduring months of exhaustion to give an
awesome event, and lastly, to God for helping us make this event happen.
This event helped me add more fuel and motivation to achieved my dreams. I hope I could be able to organize more events soon and learn from them to be better (and hopefully organize kpop events soon? :D)
Otakufest
7: New Golden Age: the biggest collegiate cosplay and hobbies convention in
Cebu was the first event to inculcate kpop in a mixed convention, was the best
Otakufest of all the seasons in terms of earnings and attendees, and was the
first event in Cebu to have an international audience (all thanks to our
Japanese partners and for the advertisements). This event, despite being a
student-organized event, and having no compensation on our part, was really for
everyone to enjoy, and for having a day where people with interests can gather
and be happy. This event gave me a lot of insights and realizations on what I
needed to improve as a person and on my skills.
