It's been about a week, so now seems like a good
time for that pesky recap (I got new and exciting things to talk about after
this!). Why bother writing the recaps, you say? Well, I like to keep a log of
how the shows change over the years, and keep people who may be interested in
vending at them informed about crowds, show management, and whatever else might
be important.
This was my 4th or 5th time
vending (I can't remember if I took a year off when I did panels in year 2…),
which means I've been vending at this show every year. I've got some thoughts
on that, but I'll talk about that later.
There were a few new changes to the show this
year: long set up time available on Thursday night (this started last year, I
think, but I didn't take advantage of it till now), Attendance Cap was still in
place (this also started last year), and the most important one - the
convention was considered a "closed campus".
What a "closed campus" means is that you
can't get into the main convention area without a badge. This was put in place
for several reasons, but I feel the main reason was that there were too many
attendees not purchasing badges, and ended up living in the hallways
essentially creating a giant fire hazard. I feel that because of the attendance
cap, the only way they could truly keep track of how many people were in the
building safely was to create the closed campus. I don't work there, so don't
take my word as the absolute law, but these are all the logical reasons I could
see making the convention closed like this.
And it was glorious. BUT enough about that, time
for the Good, Not-So-Good, and Things I'd Suggest!
THINGS I
LIKED
+Check-In
and Set Up on Thursday. I didn't partake of this last year due to timing
(and it closed pretty early last year if I remember correctly), but it was
super nice of them to let us set up the night before. Made getting up on Friday
a lot less of a hassle.
+NO SLEEP
NUMBER BEDS. Oh my gosh, if you've been following my Shutocon Drama each
year, you'll know that I hate the single sleep number beds, namely if you're
trying to put two people in the SAME bed. Well, guess WHAT. THEY CHANGED THE
BEDS! AT LAST! It was soft, and fluffy, and it wasn't like sleeping on
Linoleum. You've got my reservation next year Radisson, we're back on good
terms! Not that this has anything to do with the convention itself, I just
thought I'd let you know the conclusion to my hotel bed drama.
+CLOSED
CAMPUS. I can't stop raving about how wonderful it was. The staff had a bit
of a learning curve the first day (there was an error on when the alley closed,
and we had to tell em to shut the doors so we could go eat. Whoops.), but as
the weekend progressed they really stepped up their game. They were checking
people who were sitting in the hallway (I was waiting for a panel and got
checked too, and it was awesome). But WHY was it wonderful? Well, the hallway
outside the dealer hall was not as crowded as it was. Sure, we still had a
record number of attendees (6200+ I think), but for the first time in forever
walking to the bathroom was NOT an acrobatic feat. I could beeline for the
restroom, and not have to jump over 5 dance parties, and breakout card games in
the hall. It felt like a REAL con (well, moreso in that it felt like everybody
who was there was there for the show, not to just hang out). Please please
please keep it this way. I loved it.
+Hours!
Ahhhhhhhh at last. SANE hours. We
started around 10 or 11 am depending on the day, and was open til 7 Friday and
Saturday, and 4 on Sunday. I wasn't completely wracked with pain. Okay, I'll
lie slightly and say that I actually kind of tweaked my spine a bit and it make
it hard to sit, but that was my fault
as I had forgotten to bring a pillow to sit on. This has since been remedied. I
was a little bummed that the hours went until the restaurants we wanted to go
to were closed (Tom + Chee I'm looking at YOU), but I made due once we
discovered the Firehouse subs.
+Awesome
Neighbors. You guys were GREAT. For the first time I was SURROUNDED by nice
artists, and we all chatted and it was amazing. I can't wait to see y'all at
ACen!
THINGS I
DIDN'T LIKE
-General
Check In Confusion - Thankfully I happened to know exactly what table I was
at, but the staff had to go to a meeting during the end of check in/set up on
Thursday. Being in the front, people kept asking me where to go and what to do, so
I asked if they knew their number, and said that the staff would be back soon.
Switch to Friday morning, where they had moved check in to the swag booth in
the back, and left a sign, to which I started directing people back there. It
was manageable, and honestly not THAT bad, I'm just used to having it stay in
one seeable spot for people. Thankfully it's still small (compared to stuff
like ACen/Katsucon, that is), so changes like this aren't the end of the world.
-Open ended rows.
I know I complain about corner booths a LOT. I understand this, but I learned
of a new difficult thing to work with - and that's the open ended row. I was on
the very front of one of the central rows, and that left my left side
completely open to the public. This is also unfortunately the same side I place
my copic marker bucket on when I'm at shows, so I finagled around it, but
without any official things like backdrops or stanchions, I wasn't sure how to
work with it? I know some other cons do it, like comic shows, and that's fine,
it was just new to me? (and I don't trust anime kids to NOT touch the markers.
Even if they're "behind" my booth. Which is kind of sad.)
-Really SKINNY rows.
I love rows! I really do. But these ones were really tight in the backend
department. Thankfully none of us had huge backdrops (or at least worked with
what we could and changed our set up), but it still felt SUPER tight. I was
glad we had space between all the tables.
-Badge
Size/Color. Gonna sound a little weird on this one, but I think badges need
to get changed a little. The Exhibitor badges and Attendee badges did have
different pictures, but they were of similar design so they were hard to tell
apart, and the only way you could really do that was to read the very very tiny
"exhibitor badge" text on the name line. I got stopped a couple of
times before hall opening (props to the door guards though! Doin' their jobs
right!), so I felt bad that it confused them.
-Some
Attendee behavior. Not gonna talk about this one too much, but there WERE
notifications that attendees were trying to use their keycards (which also had the
same custom artwork the badges did) as their con badges. C'mon people, buy a badge. I don't understand what's
so hard about that. But that's a rant for
another time. I also only had one bad customer incident, and that was most
unfortunate. But I want to assure everybody that I'm doing much better now, and
I thank you all for helping me out in a time of need!
SUGGESTIONS
~ Badge
Size/Color. Increase those things! Make 'em a little bigger, and I strongly
suggest having a brightly colored border around any special badges, like
Exhibitors and Staff. A.) This will stop con kids from trying to use your
beautiful keycards as badges (I really liked those keycards by the way, KEEP
DOING THAT) and B.) Make it easier on the staff to know who they can let in on
off hours to the exhibit halls and such.
~ Make sure
to Update Website. When people were learning about the closed campus upon
arrival they clearly got a tad angry. I know, it's not YOUR fault they didn't
check all the various social media, but I will admit there wasn't anything huge
on the website saying "You need a badge to get into the main show
areas!" I just gently suggest keeping that front page updated with any new
changes.
~ Find a
new location for Maid Café. I'm certain the room you used was LOVELY,
however it happened to be located in the chokepoint between the center and the
hotel - and trying to navigate past the very long and full line was a practice
in claustrophobia. I thankfully made it past, but I was glad I hadn't been
carrying anything huge with me.
TL;DR
Would I go again? Most likely! Will I vend next
year? I dunno! I think I've been there so many years, that my table's become
more of a staple, and I think it's somewhat negatively affected my booth? I
didn't do as well as I had in previous years, so I might take a year off and go
as an attendee or do some panels! (maybe help out my other artist pals as a
helper!) I will admit, I'm getting a little bit of table burnout, so taking a
rest might be the smart thing to do. :) Maybe I'll bring a bunch of cosplay
next time.
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