MangaNEXT is one of the few conventions where I did not attend all three days, and as such it was difficult to see all the events going on. However, I was happy to see MangaNEXT invite a much more experimental manga artist, who is currently living in New York City, to give the festivities a different feel.
The bigger the convention the bigger the guests and the announcements. But even the smallest of cons can have some exciting guests and surprising announcements. Also while the guests may not be the biggest they are also infinitely more accessible. MangaNEXT did give everyone a solid service by having the schedule include a chart of all the panels the guests were giving which was great if you wanted to know which panels were being run by which guests. It is certainly an idea that could be used at more conventions.
