Kou Kou ChibiCon Review

I got invited to Kou Kou Chibi Con this year, and was glad to attend.

ChibiCon is held at Branham High School in San Jose, California.  It's a convention thrown for one day by the school's anime club, essentially an extension of the club's events.  The convention was held in a gym and an adjacent room.

The con put in a LOT of content:

  • Gaming an gaming tournaments (when people weren't playing Pokemon – HeartGold and SoulSilver came out after all).
  • An art area for an art show.
  • A cafe area selling snacks.
  • A presentation area with video projector.
  • A dealer's area for independent businesses/fan businesses.
  • Several events throughout the convention as well.

I did two presentations, my "why you don't have a dream job" panel and an experimental one on brainstorming (that I hope to develop into a full panel).  They were received pretty well, and I had a chance to talk with some remarkable people who show a lot of career potential and were quite talented.

It was quite well done, and I enjoyed talking and meeting some of the club members.  The club members did most of the work – two teachers there to help out and supervise praised how the students had organized it themselves.  Me, I hope to speak there again next year.

I think it's also a good example of how anime events don't have to be gigantic or independent.  Taking a club and extending it to a one-day con was obviously a lot of fun for the attendees.

– Steven Savage