After initially declaring that the pop culture festival was successful, co-founders of AcadArena, the organizers of the CONQuest Festival 2023, admitted misjudgments and missteps committed and decided to retire the concept.
The social media accounts of CONQuest Festival on Monday, June 26 released a statement addressing the highly criticized flagship convention where the co-founders apologized to convention goers — called “Questors” — and said it is reviewing processes to make it better.
“We are profoundly sorry for the troubles and frustrations you experienced during this year’s CONQuest. We hear all your concerns and we are making both swift and gradual changes,” the joint statement of AcadArena co-founders CEO Kevin Hoang and COO Ariane Lim reads.
READ: Participants, organizer of CONQuest 2023 issue apology over ‘overcrowding’ at event
Their statement also acknowledged that the “customer journey has not been smooth for some,” adding that they have “immediately implemented solutions” on the third day of the convention (June 4).
They also mentioned refunds for tickets.
“We also rolled out refunds as soon as possible to pass holders who were not able to enter the venue and to those who were not able to claim their wristbands. The first tranche of refunds will be released on June 29 (Thursday). In line with this, we would like to announce that the refund process is closed and will no longer be extended,” their statement said.
RELATED: CONQuest 2023 offers refund for Day 2, 3 pass holders
They said their organization is “reviewing systems, processes and operations for better community experiences in the future,” adding that they are “dedicated to working towards long-term reforms and applying lessons” they have learned in their future events.
“To some degree, we still consider this year’s CONQuest as a success. The overall public reception was eye-opening and the engagement was humbling. We were able to gather our communities, make precious memories, foster lasting friendships, and celebrate our culture together,” Hoang and Lim said.
They thanked their supporters and vowed to bring back the trust they had lost following the convention which con-goers say was “chaotic.”
“Let’s continue building and strengthening our communities and shared experiences together,” the AcadArena co-founders said.
The statement received backlash from some con-goers who refused to believe that the convention was successful “to some degree,” according to Hoang and Lim.
“Kailangan niyo ata uminom ng kape para kabahan naman kayo sa mga pinagsasabi niyo. Ang daming hindi nakapasok, ang lakas pa ng loob niyo na sabihing successful??” a Facebook user wrote in the comments.
“Success? Wrong choice of words. A public apology acknowledging the entirety of your mistakes would’ve been better than an arrogant, self-serving ‘statement from the founders,'” another online user commented.
Admission
Following the criticisms against their joint statement, Hoang and Lim took to their respective Facebook accounts to share their own thoughts about the matter.
Hoang, in particular, admitted that he now regrets greenlighting the “PR statement.”
“This statement did not reflect how we feel about CONQuest 2023 whatsoever and it was wrong [to] let such a statement go live,” he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday, June 27.
“I spent my career building communities in high school, universities and content creators and this was one of my biggest failures. This event was not a success. Period. Our team spent nearly a year working on something that they cannot be fully proud of and it sucks,” Hoang added.
“This event ballooned because of our own pride and desire to produce the biggest show for the Filipino communities, while lacking the ability to execute and not understanding the fandom that is here. The experience that we wanted to create did not live up to our standards and your expectations,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Lim also agreed with con-goers that the event “wasn’t a success.”
“As it was part of a shared goal, many of us took on responsibilities associated with the con [convention], albeit not soon enough to prevent the issues that did appear during the convention itself,” she said on Facebook on Monday.
Lim described “programming to venue incompatibility and a lack of understanding of the Filipino audience” as the “core to the problem.”
“It’s unacceptable that that’s the core of the problem we’ve arrived at. Basic, eh. We wanted to talk about premium when we can’t even talk about the basics,” she said, echoing CONQuest’s initial festival description that it would be a “premium” experience.
CONQuest no more
Due to mistakes and mishaps, the co-founders bared that their team has decided to “retire” the CONQuest Festival as a brand and as a vision.
“It’s not reflective of how we want to produce events moving forward. We aren’t just offering an apology. We are enacting change,” Lim said.
Hoang said that they are “reassessing” their approach to how they will produce events moving forward.
The CONQuest Festival 2023 was a pop culture convention touted as its biggest iteration yet, with over 70 local and international guests and talents reportedly expected to attend from June 2 to 4.
It drew flak from some fans and enthusiasts who took to social media to air their grievances on overcrowding, hours-long queues, and alleged mismanagement of some events at the convention.
CONQuest 2023 director Justin Banusing previously apologized and said that while there was “overpromising [and] overselling,” the mistakes were not made with malicious intent.
Organizers opened their lines for refunds to select pass holders who were not able to enter the venue on the festival’s second and third days.