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| Left to Right: Chuck Arnold, Me, Jamie and Nikki Chambers |
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
PRO
Conventions are great for meeting people! This is great for advertising and exposing yourself to the public ... in ways that won't get you arrested ... although some costumes do ride that line. This is great! You get to see people who love the same things that you do, and it's even more awesome when you meet people who love what you yourself do. As an artist that's something that can't be taken lightly, because that love of your art or your product is what drives you to keep coming to conventions. I like to make people happy, and when my art makes someone smile, it's the best. So I guess it's the crack high you get before the backlash.
CONConventions mean lots of people. For every wonderful future fan or friend you meet, there's a deluge of assholes and carriers that come with it. Half the time you smile and nod and hope that the misogynist sweating on your prints and eyeing your cleavage will buy something and move on, without saying something else that makes you want to clean the gene pool. Luckily they are rather obvious and a minority as opposed to the "Carriers". These can be anyone! And what do they carry? What is not-so-affectionately referred to as CON CRUD. When you are exposed to thousands of people, you can't avoid exposure to millions of germs. No matter how long you put off going to the bathroom, it will be there ... waiting. It knows you need to go, and the bathroom stall Russian Roulette has only one empty chamber. Chances are, you will contract SOMETHING. My friend Jamie caught Swine Flu at Comic Con one year. All you can do is hope that the gestation time gives you a break till you get home and you aren't packing up your vehicle and puking on product or customers. Although projectile vomiting on certain people has its appeal at times.
MONEY
PRO
Making Money!!! This is a business for us boothies. It's a great way to access your target audience and earn some much needed MOOLAH! Conventions are the primary income for most artists. For many of us, websites, gallery sales, and other such venues are rarely as profitable as the constant influx of customers who are impulse buying or have set aside money they saved up for what they really want.
CON
At the end of the day, it's a gamble. People might not be into what you have anymore. You may have been too busy doing Cons to make more product. Con attendees may have hangovers or be overwhelmed by FOX's infectious auditory diarrhea to even see what you have. They might race by you to get to freebies at the big name companies and never venture down your row again. What sold out last year, you can't move at all the next. There are ways to hedge your bets with advertising, signage, and booth presentation, but all of these cost money, money that instantly eats into your profits and may not be worth it, if you have a crappy booth assignment. When you set down anywhere from $300-$3000 on a booth, you place your bet and pray that you will make over that amount and come out ahead. Artists make themselves crazy (now you know why) trying to figure out what will sell, so they can make some money. However it is primarily the luck of the draw, and hard to predict what's going to sell. Only so many conventions you can lose money on before you "sell out" and not in the selling out of a product way, but find yourself painting something that you have no interest in because that's where the money is.
TRANSPORTATION
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| Another one rides the bus ... |
PRO
IF you get into a good hotel, you can often take a shuttle to a Con, or in the case of Dragon Con you can stumble directly up to your room. Shuttles are great if your group wants to drink and then driving is not an issue, or falling asleep at the wheel.
CON
That's a BIG IF!! If there's one thing that comes with thousands of people, it's thousands of cars! And when the people who own parking lots get the scent of fresh blood, they hike up the prices. This is especially bad if you are an exhibitor. It means you will be stuck in a convention center for hours, and eventually need your car to load or unload a 10ft x 10ft booth into a precisely boxed game of car Tetris.
The worst horror story was just the other night here at Comic Con. With every car lot packed, we had to park at Seaport Village, which is a mile or so down the road from the convention center. The walk was bad enough, but the lost ticket sign of $30+ dollars was misleading. Most parking garages we are used to cap it at the lost ticket price, so when we handed the fellow the ticket and he asked for $120, I about projectile vomited on him. Seriously, this is a skill I wish to master. To give you a frame of reference. I would have to sell 10 prints to make up for that. So if I look at someone perusing a little hungrily, it might be that I parked last night... or I might be hungry... which brings us to ...
FOOD
PRO
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| The part of Dean Winchester played by Jamie |
CON
Getting to eat during the Con is a challenge! Boothies usually have multiple people for such things as food runs and we end up eating whatever has been scavenged in the process. Considering the thousands of hungry attendees, this means long lines, astronomical rates (profit ... the final frontier), and scarfing as quickly as possible between sales and answering questions. Often you forget to eat, or can't afford to eat healthy. If you do get to a restaurant with local flavor, you can wait hours to be seated and fed, which means if you forgot to eat all day, you're starving and possibly not ready for that whole happy socializing aspect. And heaven forbid someone buys you a drink, because there's no slow warmth when you're dehydrated and hungry, which brings me to...
PARTIES
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| Photographing ourselves in front of the no photo sign at Geek and Sundry Party... cause we're rebels... in a neutral good way ... since that's the only pic we took ;) |
Anyone who has been to Dragon Con knows that the show is secondary and simply an excuse for most attendants to party and dress up, which is why it's held in hotels, so you can stumble drunkenly back to your room. Parties mean dancing, drinking, and possibly a little celebrity stardust. I sat in the butt warmth of Veronica Belmont the other night. Unfortunately I have no idea who she is, but Jamie told me it was a big deal.
CON
Getting up the next day to work a booth after a party should be a ring of hell. One year a boothie crawled under his table and passed out, leaving a note to wake him up if you wanted to buy something. The rest of us have to grin and bear it in a hall that won't allow you a drink when you really need it for social lubrication in dealing with tons of people. It's the only way I can fake being an extrovert at times and shut down my socially awkward and transform it into charmingly intoxicated, which suddenly becomes far more acceptable, and it makes it far less awkward if you projectile vomit on someone. Seriously... I will figure this out.
COSPLAY
If you have been living under a rock, in Guantanamo, with no internet connection, then seek help, but otherwise if you are reading this and are that connected into the Geek culture without knowing what Cosplay is, you have no excuse.
Cosplay is when people dress up as their favorite characters or sometimes even their own character. These costumes are often very imaginative, fantastic, and very snap worthy. Often after a convention you will see tons of FB albums filled with amazing, gorgeous costuming. As an artist, this is a lot of fun seeing people apply some crazy levels of talent to producing things that are so visually inspiring. It's one of the highlights, and one of the main reasons people enjoy coming to conventions to celebrate their passions. It is the spice to any convention, making it truly interesting and fun.
CON
There's always a flip-side, and that flip-side can be summed up in one phrase "electrical tape". There's always some people who decide to get their exhibitionist on and show you way more than you ever wanted to see. When you look up suddenly from your transactions there's always a moment of OMG that takes you off guard. You can hear the jaws music as they come excitedly to your booth... or maybe drunkenly, and inside you are conflicted between"yay customers" and a concrete decision to only look at their eyes and show them the same respect everyone deserves, even if you might want to projectile vomit on their folds.
PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOS
PRO
I love to take pictures, especially of the great costumes. It's a wonderful way to capture the moments and memories of a convention. I like to be a photo ninja and catch pics of geeks in their natural environment. Sometimes the poses are really awesome, but often I prefer more natural elements if I want to turn it to art. If I see something I want to buy later, I'll snap a pic of it to come back for it when things slow down and I have time. It's always nice when cosplayers stop and pose and have their pics taken... well maybe not always...CON
Some people can have tunnel vision when they see a pretty girl dressed in some amazing outfit as their favorite comic character. Like a predator their attention narrows and so they completely ignore the fact that they just rudely grabbed someone to get their picture. Not only did they really interrupt that person, but they just rerouted all the incredibly crowded foot traffic in a 10 foot diameter around them, holding up 100 people who just got road rage without being in a car. It really doesn't take much to be a little considerate to those around you, but as an artist, the WORST is people taking photos of your art. This doesn't seem like much, but when you come up, take a photo of a print and walk away without buying anything, you might as well have stolen it. That's basically a reproduction of the work and a huge middle finger to the artist. If you like it that much, BUY IT. If people don't buy art, we can't afford to make art. We can't feed our kids on compliments. Speaking of Kids....
KIDS
PRO
There is nothing cuter than the little 3 yr old boy dressed as Matt Smith's rendition of Doctor Who with a sonic screw driver, or a little girl dressed as a princess. When they get excited and talk about artwork, my knees get weak and I am overpowered by the cuteness. My brain turns to jello and I become in danger of giving away any and all product in the booth. The sweeter they are, the higher the risk. I have had to designate give aways so I don't go broke at cute intense conventions.
CON
The cute goes away quickly when little kleptomaniacs decide to just take the little things they think they are entitled to, and walk off with them. There's nothing more off putting than an 8 year old boy running up, and asking "Can I HAVE this." When it is assigned a price, you would think the kid or the dad would possibly step back, but NO. It's not buy... it's HAVE ... and it's never something cheap or inexpensive to make, it's always something you were really hoping to sell because you need the money. Again, projectile vomiting would be a great response, especially if I could say no while doing it. Maybe THAT would get the message across.
TALKING TO PEOPLE
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| Jamie looks like he could use a booth break. |
There's nothing better than that customer or fellow artist that you really hit it off with in the dealer hall. You could engage this person in intellectual wordplay for hours. They considerately move to the side so people can still see your work and tell those customers how great it is. Suddenly you find out that not only do you have things in common, but they are really cool, and do really cool things. You give them your card, maybe write your personal number on it to stay in touch. That print they've been holding, you can't possibly take their money for, because they are just THAT awesome. You can't wait to see them next time you go to this Con, and suddenly you're fast FB friends and hanging out personally.
CON
Then there's the people who think they are the Pro person and turn out to be douchebags who engage you conversationally like people engage in combat. Your heart races like a scared rabbit as they target you. You can tell what they are talking about is REALLY important to them. You know this because they won't shut up. No one else can get a word in, including other customers who put their products down and walk away, because there's no stopping the endless stream spewing forth from this person about how awesome they think that they are and want me to think that they are too. Two hours later they are still there. You have to pee so bad that your eyes are floating and some of the things they are saying are making your stomach churn. You've caught them in at least 3 things that are complete BS, and could probably write up a full psychological profile. Then after patiently enduring this with a forced grin, they walk away without a card, without paying for anything, and have just wasted two hours of your life that you will never get back. You have nothing to show for it, and even less because the creep vibe scared off actual paying customers. When they walk to the next booth and start doing the same thing, you both pity the newest victim and are glad that you don't have to do it anymore.
SWAG
PRO
FREE STUFF! Free COOL stuff! I mean it's FREEEEEEEEE
CON
When lots of places give things away for free, all of a sudden that soft back book you are selling looks like a freebie. Unconsciously people think they can walk off with your bread and butter. Really you can't really blame them, because they just have it in their head that things are for the taking. However when you need to cover your cost of gas, hotel, food, convention fees, and parking, that thing cost you money to make and they just took away your profits and kept walking.
EXCLUSIVES
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| Wanted to buy ponies, saw what I wanted to buy in a case, and could not buy them. Plus they were sold out of the exclusives.... WHY!!?!?!?! |
Cons are really good at releasing things for the first time, or having special limited edition stuff. This is of course awesome, and having them is awesome, which means...
CON
Every friend, acquaintance, and second cousin you have ever said 3 words to will suddenly come out of the woodwork and want you to go get it for them. Again, we are here to work and rarely leave the booth. People get offended when we say no, but if we ran around getting things for people, that would be a full time job. And then you are the bad guy for not bringing home Matt Smith and Jensen Ackles in a box. Which brings us to ...
CELEBRITIES
PRO
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| Molly Quinn deserves Saint status for tolerating me! |
CON
People get stupid about celebrities... and I am one of them. I will never let one of my friends forget seeing John DeLancey checking into our hotel. He pointed and screamed Q!!!!!! That was very smooth, and no I will never let you live that down. You know who you are. Only fair to equally embarrass myself here. I have very little room to talk.
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| Me squatting down to fit in frame. 2004 |
Apparently someone important asked me at a party where so-and-so was. I had no idea who so-and-so was, so I basically said that and went back to talking to people I knew. Introvert faux pas 325, I told the truth. Apparently this insulted the celebrity, and my friends gave me hell for it. It gets worse. I was at the Lord of the Rings OneRing.Net Oscar party where I met Dominic Monaghan, who played Merry. When I asked to have my picture taken with him, I didn't take into account that I was 6 feet in heals and well, he's a hobbit. Which meant that I would have had a lovely picture of him and my chest. I had to squat down to be in the frame with him, and well, his ears turned red and he left. My celebrity screw ups were becoming legendary to the point that I avoided and evaded them, even though I would LOVE to get to know them better, I just shake in their presence and am paranoid about saying the right thing to the point that I am guaranteed to say something stupid. I guess it's a good thing that I never leave the booth, and that I don't projectile vomit. Maybe that's not the super power I want.
THE BOOTH CAGEPRO
The great thing about having a booth is that the convention comes to you. As an introvert, this is my safe little haven in the midst of the sea of humanity. The dungeon at Dragon Con or the crazy T Shirt fortresses are enough to make me have a panic attack. But in the booth you only have to manage the people that come to you in small doses. This is great... however...
CON
You are trapped there. If you get busy you can count on being unable to leave that 10x10 space for hours at a time. You don't get to see panels, signings (unless they are in your booth), or much more than that 10x10 space. Normally I'm pretty okay with this.
GRIDWALL
PRO
Gridwall is a great modular way to display your product. You can change it to fit your space, and there are lots of extras to help you get your stuff out there.
CON
Gridwall is heavy as hell and will try to break your fingers. Mine is 8ft tall which means it's strapped to the roof. It's one of the things I dread most about set up and tear down.
UNIONS
PRO
If you have the money, you can pay the convention workers to forklift your stuff right to your booth, which makes setting up a heck of a lot easier.
CON
That's a big IF. Most of us small time people can't afford that, and we would happily carry our stuff in, but a good portion of the time they forbid carts for wheeling in your own stuff, forcing you to carry things in by hand to encourage people to break down and pay the unions. Exhibitors have a hard time making money period, and when fleeced $80 a day for wifi it makes it harder and harder to make money.NETWORKING
PRO
Conventions are AMAZING for networking. They pull together industry talent in one place and when you compact that many creative people into one place, awesome is bound to happen. Projects get started, ideas start flying, and the brain storming turns tsunamic.
CON
Politics. There's always that one person who hates that other person. People talk. Everybody talks. People try to make you take sides. It can be very highschool, passive aggressive, and painful. But it's all he said / she said, and the truth is always somewhere in the middle. It's enough to make one want to vomit... projectilely.
TRAVEL
PRO
You get to go to new places for business and write it off on your taxes.
CON
You normally don't get to see much other than the convention, and most convention centers look the same.
I'm sure there are plenty of vendors, guests, and artists that can add to this list with things that I've forgotten, and as I'm writing this blog in my booth, I should probably shut the computer down and get back to doing what I'm writing about. Who knows, some celebrity might be walking the hall so I can get all nervous and projectile vomit on them. Ah... memories.
