Why can’t Tora-Con leave RIT?
Tora-Con is only able to happen every year because of the resources made available to us by RIT campus and staff. Tora-Con is able to minimize the costs of necessary resources such as security staff, venues, furniture rentals, technology, and more because RIT provides these amenities to clubs either completely free or at a massively discounted rate. Other things such as guest contracts and material orders (badges, merch, signs, etc) are only possible thanks to the help we get from the Club Finance Office and RIT Legal department. Our entire body of staff is made up of students (aided by alumni and day-of volunteers) who work on Tora-Con in their free time because they are passionate about putting on an amazing convention. Tora-Con simply would not be possible without the backing of RIT and their resources.
Why is Tora-Con no longer in April?
The dates of Tora-Con are completely dependent on when we are able to reserve key locations used during the con, such as Gordon Fieldhouse and Ingle Auditorium. RIT runs many of their own events across campus during the spring semester and receives priority over club-run events such as Tora-Con. As a result, we make reservations based on when most of our event spaces are available to the con. Namely, any weekend where we can get at least 2/3rd of the Field House floor for both days to house our artists, vendors, and the guest signing tables. Currently, March is the only month that consistently has an available weekend for us to claim. If a weekend in April ever opens up again, please know we’ll be even more excited than you, and will do our best to reserve Tora-Con for that weekend.
Why isn’t there *insert panel/event* ?
Tora-Con is a convention hosted entirely by attendees. Besides some set panels run by Tora-Con/RIT Clubs, the panels are all run by attendees. Our staff are focused on ensuring that the convention is running as smoothly as possible, which means we leave the fun panels up to our attendees. If there's a panel you’d like to see, review our guidelines/rules and submit your own panel! Make sure the content is Japanese culture/media focused to align with our conventions theme. We can not host a panel that does not have a submission. To see our rules, visit https://toracon.org/panels
Why does Tora-Con not sell day-of badges?
Many Tora-Cons ago, we were able to sell day-of badges to reach an attendance cap that was agreed upon and communicated with the security staff. One year, Tora-Con ended up having such a large turnout that the attendee population far exceeded that cap, and many attendees had to be turned away at the door. Since then, Tora-Con has been restricted to pre-sale of registration to ensure the cap is not exceeded to ensure the safety of attendees and staff. If RIT allows us to sell day-of badges again, we will make sure to let everyone know.
Why can’t Tora-Con change badge names/ Let badges be traded?
Because of our requirement to enforce pre-sale only badges and the limitations of the Idealogic software, we have to make sure that our attendee registry is accurate and that only attendees who are coming to Tora-Con are purchasing badges. We can fix a misspelled or wrong name, but we do not and cannot condone the after-purchase resale/trading of convention badges.
Why does Tora-Con use a meal ticket system?
Tora-Con is able to hire the featured food trucks through a partnership made by RIT Dining and the various RIT-approved food trucks. A stipulation of this partnership is that the food trucks cannot accept money outright and instead must go through RIT Dining’s meal ticket system where every option is the same price. It is this system that allows us to hire these approved food trucks for our event on RIT’s campus as we are not allowed to hire food trucks on our own.
Why are Tora-Con’s food options so limited?
As an on-campus, RIT-affiliated event, we are unable to hire outside food vendors aside from the food trucks that have a partnership with RIT already. We can only schedule a limited number of food trucks for a limited number of hours each day, but we are working with RIT Dining to hopefully expand the options and the operating hours in the future.
Many of the on-campus eateries also have their own pre-determined operating schedules that they cannot alter to be open during Tora-Con weekend due to staffing. Recently, we have been able to work with some of the on-campus options such as Nathan’s, Brick City Cafe, and the Ben & Jerry’s to be open during Tora-Con weekend and we will try to get more in the future.
Please visit https://www.rit.edu/fa/diningservices/locations to view dining facilities available on RIT's campus.
Why can’t Tora-Con have better parking options?
Because Tora-Con is dependent on using RIT’s campus and facilities, we are limited with which parking lots we can reserve for our event and are unable to reserve lots that get taken over by various RIT construction projects. We ask that you please be patient, try to minimize how many cars you take if you are coming in a group, plan to come earlier when more parking is available, or consider using other transportation such as public transit or rideshare apps.
Why can’t Tora-Con be more accessible/have better accessibility?
Because we are hosted on RIT’s campus, we are unfortunately limited to the accessibility options provided by RIT. We are absolutely aware that some buildings are better than others and long lines at the registration tables or other events can be burdensome for attendees. We ask that you please check RIT’s maps ahead of the convention and ask Tora-Con staff members if they are able to provide you with a chair while you wait.
Why can’t Tora-Con’s Merch Table use an easier payment system for card payments?
Because Tora-Con is an event run by a club, any and all transactions regarding Tora-Con must go through the systems approved by RIT. We use Campus Groups, which requires you to make a Campus Groups account. Campus Groups may sometimes be slow or unresponsive, so there are times when it may not work immediately. If this happens, you are free to leave the merch table and come back a bit later when you can make an account.
To make things easier, please pre-order merchandise on Campus Groups or plan to bring cash. Additionally, there is an ATM on the second floor of the Gordon Field House.