Hello,

Thank you for sending the feedback along, I don't mind
getting it as I know there were issues. First of all
let me apologize in general for the way things went
and then I'll respond point by point. I took full
responsibility for the disorganization though there
was also two additional factors with the fact they let
us into the room late and that the microphones were
not working properly. That being said, if I had had
better organization in place maybe some of the issues
would not have come up so I apologize. I will be
working to improve everything I can but the more
feedback I have the better.

I am very sorry that someone demanded to do all the
talking. In the past cases the groups of people have
generally been able to share and work it out. This is
the first time I am aware of that occurring. Generally
the people helping me and I try to stay close to the
groups so we can hear if there are any issues, but
somehow it didn't work this time. I didn't know about
the pushing either, if I had I would have asked the
people to leave as there is no room for that.

You raise a good point about the judge. Every year
even though I want to keep the roles open I do ask on
every forum I can find if people are interested, and
no one can ever commit to anything. I would absolutely
love to have the judges in place beforehand and be
able to outline for them what they need to do so that
exactly what you're saying can happen. You are right
though, the Judge needs to take more control of time
and the participants, though I also need to make sure
that the sound works so that people can be heard as
that made a tough situation worse.

The issue of who participates is a tricky one. I don't
like voting at all because of the fact that some
people get no votes and that just sucks for them. I
ran a vote because we were behind schedule. I do
agree with you there were too many people up there.
Last year strangely we had the same amount and it went
at least as far as I know very very well, but this
year chaos ensued, that was the reason I allowed so
many. Now even if I wanted to do a voting scheme, the
issue is time. If prep time goes too long people will
lose interest. If the con gives me two hours next
year, problem solved, but I need to figure out how to
get characters in place quickly. But I'll admit to
you I don't know how to solve this problem yet. I've
been thinking about it and talking with other people
since saturday and I still haven't solved it. I do
agree though it's an issue. Actually also in terms of
voting, give that the room was so big, a lot of the
votes were close to each other so another problem that
may be run into is that if we have say 3 lawyer spots
and 4 or 5 people get the same amount of votes, but
I'll keep looking at it.

Also as for letting a lot participate, part of the
reason I've let that happen is that the court case is
meant to be an alternative to the cosplay events where
people have to sign up in advance, get judged, et
ceter a, et cetera, and maybe not into the event at
all. But of course at this con I ran into the problem
of what happens when so many people take me up on the
offer. And as you pointed out this messed up others
who were also trying to participate so it's a problem,
and I'll just have to keep at it.

The first trial did go too long you're right, though
we started late, and we didn't get any flexibility in
time at the end, but then again still I could have
come up with something. As for the mistrial, the only
thing was I wasn't sure at that point the first case
had gone on long enough, but if i had known we weren't
going to finish in time I would have also tried to end
it then.

I apologized to everyone who had been waiting, which
can only do so much I know, but I am sorry about that,
and I agree, it looked like there was some good people
involved who didn't get a chance. If the event had
not been so chaotic what I would have actually tried
to do is give the ace attorney's their own case or a
case in which they were on one side and others were on
another and that would have allowed the full effect,
(since there's been a lot of demand for it.)

I'm sure the internet guy gets a lot of boots to the
head.

Once again though I am really very sorry especially
about the pushing on the prosecution side, I do
remember you guys who were talking were doing a fine
job of laying out a case and if others had a problem
with that they have no place in the event. If I had
seen it and I apologize for missing it, I would have
stopped it.

You are correct firmer control is needed especially at
AB, already in mind is the following.

1.) Fewer lawyers no matter what. We can use more
baliffs standing below the platform so they're not in
the way.
2.) Making 12 cosplayers the jury and seperating into
a row of seats so they can participate, but not fight
over microphones.
3.) Giving every person interested a card with a
random number on it. If too many people want to get
involved, the numbers can determine who gets up on
stage.
4.) Continuing to attempt to preselect the judges.
5.) Having a panel organizer closer to the groups to
prevent what you described from happening again.
6.) Requesting 2 hours for the event.

Once again I am sorry so many bad things happened, but
I do appreciate you taking the time to make me aware
of some things I was not aware of and passing along
your very justified concerns. I will do all I can to
improve upon them, and wish I had figured out how to
do so as it was happening. If there are another
concerns, complaints, comments, questions et cetera,
you can always send them along. Thank you again for
taking the time to write.

I wish you all the best!

Dave "T.M. Chiba"