Made In SA: Dave Henkin

SAN JAPAN'S MAN WITH A PLAN: Dave Henkin means business.

DAVE HENKIN is not one of us. He’s not a San Antonio guy. So why is he being profiled for “Made In SA”? Quite frankly, because in two short years, Dave has become one of the key shapers of San Antonio’s genre scene. He’s making such a meteoric impact that we just had to interview him and find out the skinny for ourselves. He’s the chairman of the emerging Japanese culture and anime convention, SAN JAPAN, based right here in San Antonio. He’s been attending fandom conventions for over six years and has been running San Japan for over two years. Read on and find out why this Austinite is one of the rising stars of fandom and why his San Japan show is already one of San Antonio’s annual must-see events.

Favorite authors, books, films, and anime include: Dave Barry, Douglas Adams, Chuck Palahniuk, Douglas Coupland, Neil Strauss, BATTLE ROYALE, FIGHT CLUB, CHOKE, HITCHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, MICROSERFS, THE MATRIX, AIRPLANE!, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, DONNIE DARKO, AZUMANGA DAIOH, INITIAL D, THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA, REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA, and LUCKY STAR.

You live in Austin and yet you’re the chairman of a booming convention that’s shaping San Antonio’s genre scene. How did this happen?

There is a long story behind how San Japan came to be what it is today, but in essence, the abbreviated version is that a collective group of anime fans that were regular attendees at multiple conventions across Texas assembled to organize an anime convention in San Antonio since it hadn’t been done before. A young woman, who lived in Schertz, thought this was possible based on a crazy conceptual dream on putting a convention together. We started work on this huge project back in Fall 2005. My arm was kind of twisted to help out this group so I ended up backing San Japan and help front the startup costs by signing the paperwork necessary to create San Japan LLC. We were able to secure a hotel to host the convention.

However, before it even happened, it nearly fell apart since our staff was admittedly ill-experienced in the convention business. Some of the original people behind San Japan decided to depart including the young woman who originally created San Japan, but I decided to keep the dream alive, which started by reorganizing the group. I spent a lot of time and energy researching on convention organization, recognized a lot of our internal flaws then overhauled the communication within San Japan so we flowed well as a group. It has been a quite a learning process.

How many people do you expect for this year’s show? How do you get the word out?

This year we are expecting around 4000-4500 attendees. In our first year we brought out over 3500 attendees total, which shattered our previous expectations. Building on very positive word-of-mouth, our group pushed forward to raise the bar which we set for our first year. We continue to advertise at every large Texas anime convention across the state, at local conventions in San Antonio and with the cooperation from several large local stores we were allowed to advertise. We do not rely solely on word-of-mouth as San Japan is setup on many major social networks to ensure that any updates made on our website are also duplicated on different social networks to help spread the word. At the same time, I created Internet advertising campaigns on popular social websites and Google to take advantage of its capability to advertise to key demographics within the state for the same cost of a couple cups of premium coffee each day leading up to the convention.

To create continual interest, we held several mini-events including sponsoring a one-day convention at Our Lady Of The Lake University in March 2009. We also participate at large events around the city to continually promote the convention. In the past, we would receive generous help from people who would participate in street teams to push the word about San Japan. It is a lot of work but as a large collective we never stop trying to turn over every stone to get the word out within our limited budget.

Are most of the con-running committee Austin-based or are they a mixture of SA and Austin-based folks?

Our main staff is spread throughout the state of Texas. We have people based in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio who are dedicated to helping our group. It makes staff meetings a bit difficult to hold in person but since most of the people on-board are tech-savvy as we are able to communicate efficiently online.

How about the attendees? Are most of them local or are you seeing folks from much further out attending?

About 70% of the attendees are local or within an hour driving distance but we’re pulling in people from all over the state including all of the major cities and even unlikely places like Abilene, El Paso and cities in the Rio Grande Valley. Based on records from our pre-registration in 2008, we had attendees from 15 different states attend our convention. In 2009, we have attendees from 17 states and 3 countries including Australia who are attending this year’s convention.

What are one or two favorite events happening at this year’s San Japan that you’re personally excited about?

Last year when Smile.dk surprised us by accepting our invitation to be our main musical guests to perform in their first-ever North American concert, I admittedly ‘fanboy’-ed when I finally met them in person, as I had been a fan of their music for a very long time after being introduced to them through the dance simulation game Dance Dance Revolution. The musical acts we invited this year have been thanking me for the chance to perform at San Japan but at the same time I have to admit that I’m probably most excited to finally meet some of our musical guests that will be performing at our convention this year.

Are you a big reader of manga and how did you first fall in love with Japanese genre culture? Was it via anime or manga? Any specific faves that you still highly regard today?

At one point I did immerse myself deeply in manga but it has waned over the years due to the high cost of purchasing the books since a series can be an upward of 25 to 35 books which can be a hit on the wallet. While I was introduced to anime while in high school, I was a late bloomer as I was recommended to NEON GENESIS EVANGELION by a good friend while in my early 20’s and fell in love with it immediately. I was local patron of a couple anime & indie movie stores in town picking up everything that I fancied. I went beyond anime to become immense in the Asian pop culture and its different types of music and movies. I decided to check out a local anime convention back in 2003, which lead me to become caught up in the culture. I don’t hold any series in truly high regard or watch it constantly but I do have many favorite series including the five favorites that I listed above.

The influence of manga and anime on American pop culture is completely assimilated into every fiber of today’s American comics, film and fashion. Are you seeing any new Japanese genre trends, products, comics, or films that American audiences haven’t experienced yet, but may be coming down the pike soon?

The real peak seems to have happened back in 2005 when there was an explosion of anime in America and its influence became affluent here. There have been new trends within the genre after it hit its plateau in 2005 but none that will be groundbreaking or likely will be coming to America since they are quite Japanese-centric which would not have commercial success in America.

You’re a big lover of dance video games. How did this come to be?

At one point in my life I was in a big rut after I had ballooned up to 260 lbs and I didn’t have much of a motivation to lose the weight. I was a regular patron of video game arcades when they still flourished so when a local arcade in Austin got a game called Dance Dance Revolution [DDR] back in July 2000, like anime, it was almost love at first sight. It was a fun, challenging game, which you could sweat your behind to catchy songs. I would spend hours a day at it and spent a lot of money at every chance I could get. It was quite a workout and I noticed I was losing a lot of weight as I dropped 70lbs after a year in playing DDR. This would be my gateway to being introduced to other music-rhythm video games and have been a fan of it for almost a decade.

Not just anyone can organize a successful convention. It takes a special drive, passion and skillset. What would you say is your biggest strength as the organizer and chairman of San Japan? Also, what do you most love about your job?

Besides making it an obsession to make it the best convention possible, I think my biggest strength is learning to treat the convention as a business but at the same time be kind and compassionate to my staff and volunteers. I try to keep a high-level of internal communication so my main staff isn’t in the dark but I treat everyone from staff to volunteers fairly. It has a trickle-down effect. If I am able to make my staff and volunteers happy, they in turn will be glad to help out the convention, and our attendees will see it along with having an enjoyable experience. This would be the best part I love about the job. While we still have a core mission to spread the word about Japanese Culture & Anime, I love to see the smiling attendees having a fun time at our convention, due to all of our hard work.