UlasanAnime.com – The author reflects on the physical exertion involved in attending conventions, using their Nintendo 3DS as a personal pedometer to track daily steps.
For those who have read my previous articles about conventions and my personal experiences at them, you might be curious about the amount of effort I put in at these events. This piece offers a somewhat objective measurement of that effort.
Since the beginning of 2012, I’ve been carrying a Japanese 3DS with me. While my primary game on it is New Love Plus, I also enjoy the complimentary built-in games provided by Nintendo. These include a “shoot people’s face” game and the Streetpass minigames. The latter gains a boost from coins earned by walking while the 3DS is in sleep mode. This feature allows me to track the number of steps I take each day after returning to my hotel from a convention. I’m trusting the 3DS pedometer to be relatively accurate, and based on my own experience, it performs quite well. Of course, carrying your 3DS in sleep mode at a convention is essential because that’s where the magic of Streetpass truly happens. Some online sources suggest it might undercount steps, but I haven’t encountered any definitive, authoritative information to confirm this.
Gizmodo published a blog post about CES 2013 where their reporters wore various personal devices to track their energy expenditure. To give you an idea, here’s a summary of their most active day and the number of steps they took:
Casey Chan: 14,839
Brent Rose: 15,170
Peter Ha: 15,440
As for me? The only recorded data I have is from:
Anime Expo 2012: 23,159 steps
I’ve often taken it relatively easy at conventions. There have been times when I’ve returned home having lost around 6 pounds because I power-walked the entire weekend while averaging only two meals a day. Both approaches are enjoyable, though one is certainly more physically demanding than the other. I likely get more sleep than the average press member at an event like CES, as there’s less networking and I don’t have to churn out a massive number of posts daily. However, this is typically what’s required to manage my schedule. It’s also easy to understand why one would walk so much at Anime Expo, given its layout and the fact that venues in California tend to be more spread out compared to the East Coast conventions I attend. I believe Anime Expo 2012 was also the convention where I had the most press-related activities, largely due to the number of third-party obligations. Regardless, a significant amount of walking was involved.
Offhand, I’m quite certain there was at least one convention where I exceeded 30,000 steps in a single day. Oh well.
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Do you find yourself walking this much at an anime convention? I suppose it truly depends on the venue. For instance, if I were to walk around the AnimeNext complex, which includes both the convention center and the hotel, it might only take about 1,500 steps as it’s not particularly large. It might take around 3,000 steps to circle the Los Angeles Convention Center. However, even at a large convention, many attendees don’t do much more than pace through the Artist Alley and dealer’s room, and attend a few panels or screenings. It’s not exactly the most physically active type of engagement. But on the flip side, this isn’t what younger attendees at conventions are doing either; it’s more characteristic of older attendees. When was the last time you participated in a Caramelldansen train? (A dead meme, for the most part.)
