Tampa Bay Comic Con - August 23-25, 2013! Game of Thrones guests!

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Fox 13 News Was Reporting That The Convention Brought "30,000 People To Tampa Bay". Is That An Actual Attendance Figure Or Creative Reporting On Their Part?

[Theagenes]

I had a great time. Yeah, it was slammed on Saturday but growing pains problems are good problems to have. Looking forward to the next one!

[YancyStreetComics-migratio]

Had a great time! The show was a success in sales and promotions! Put me down for two booths for the next one guys! Job well done! Also, nice quick reaction to fix the crowding issues!

[G.A.tor]

Minutes away from saying goodbye & driving home.

 

Tremendous fun & success thanks to our dedicated team.

 

Terrific.

 

Thanks to all attendees & guests.

 

I want to thank Bill, Steven and Neil. They took care of business as only I could have hoped they would. Kudos from me for sure!

[MCMiles]

It's great to see the growth and success.

 

Too bad it happened right after I moved from the Central Florida area.

[TupennyConan]

Minutes away from saying goodbye & driving home.

 

Tremendous fun & success thanks to our dedicated team.

 

Terrific.

 

Thanks to all attendees & guests.

 

I want to thank Bill, Steven and Neil. They took care of business as only I could have hoped they would. Kudos from me for sure!

 

Thanks especially to all of our great dealers & exhibitors!

[TupennyConan]

It's great to see the growth and success.

 

Too bad it happened right after I moved from the Central Florida area.

 

[Darrell F]

Really had a fun time at the show. Got to hang out with my Florida friends and Adonis and I set up our booth and had a lot of traffic. My biggest problem was that I had to work today. Leaving the show at 5 pm yesterday and then driving back to Atlanta last night makes for one hell of a long day at work today.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Minutes away from saying goodbye & driving home.

 

Tremendous fun & success thanks to our dedicated team.

 

Terrific.

 

Thanks to all attendees & guests.

 

I want to thank Bill, Steven and Neil. They took care of business as only I could have hoped they would. Kudos from me for sure!

 

Yes, all three were highly committed and responsive to any and all vendor requests. They certainly went out of their way to assist.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

Here is my Con Report, Clint Eastwood style:

 

Tampa Bay Comic Con: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

 

The Good:

 

- Excellent open venue with lots more room then the Doubletree. Lots of open area in the Convention Center proper for attendees to roam and comingle. The downtown area around the convention center is vibrant, with restaurants and great places to hang out. I counted at least four major hotels within a 10 minute walk, so there are plenty of accomodations for those that were staying a night or too.

 

- One of the big complaints I've heard from people attending large cons is that the food offered by the concession stands is both overpriced and incredibly mediocre. The concessions at the Convention center, for the most part, were both reasonable and tasty. The $7.50 burger was a hit at our booth.

 

- Attendance on Saturday was absolutely insane. We had friends were waited 2+ hours in line just to buy a badge. The line for walk-ins was still hundreds deep well into the early afternoon. Can't give the guys enough credit for their marketing skills and savy; I'm not privy to the exact attendance figures but I think they exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.

 

- As stated before, the responsiveness of Bill, Stephen, Neil and their crew to the requests of vendors was top notch. They came by several times during set-up to tend to our needs, and checked in several times during the weekend to see if we had everything we needed. Big Kudos to them for excellent service.

 

The Bad:

 

- I'm not sure what this part of my review is a reflection of just yet, but its become very clear to me that the show is morphing into a San Diego Lite (Media, Casual fans, Cosplay, etc), and less of a Baltimore (i.e, comics-centric) show. That's fantastic news for the promoters and owners of the show, since its a broader market with greater revenue generators (the show itself is becoming a hip thing for the casual fan to attend), but its also a sign that your typical attendee is not a diehard comic collectors with hundreds of dollars to spend. Perhaps this isn't a reflection so much on the show, but the changing demographics of the fan base as well as the economic situation in Florida compared to "money" states like Illinois or New York.

 

There are several customers in the 35-65 age bracket that have bought from me before at this show, and I didn't see a single one of them. Perhaps they couldn't find us, or spent their money elsewhere and left, but their absence impacted our sales for sure.

 

I did close to 200 transactions over the weekend (which is great), and minus one lone significant sale, those 200+ transactions averaged just over $10 each. If it wasn't for my dollar boxes, and my five $3/$5/$10 boxes, the show would've been a disaster for me. Everyone loved the wall material (and we had everything from $25 books on the wall to $150k books, from Golden Age to Copper keys), but hardly anyone was even close to buying from the wall. Again, lots of casual fans, but very few actual collectors with dollars ready to spend.

 

I also spoke with about a dozen dealers during the show, and the ratio of "great/good" reports to "meh/not-so-good" was about one-to-three. Said dealers were located at various spots on the floor, so it didn't seem to be a location issue. And of the two dealers I spent $500+ with, I easily became their big sale of the weekend. Again, it just didn't seem like there was an abundance of people with good amounts of cash to spend on vintage books, but a whole bunch of people with a few dollars to spend on low end stuff. Its a lesson to learn, and one I will use to adjust the inventory for the next show.

 

The Ugly:

 

- Every major convention I have attended, from MegaCon to Chicago to Heroes has large banners hanging from the ceiling denoting the row numbers. People asked where we were all weekend, but telling them Booth 311 and 410 was pretty useless when there is no easy way to tell which row is which. Unless I completely missed them, this really needs to change for the next show, somehow, someway.

 

- The logistics of this convention center seemed a bit awkward. The docks were clearly set up for large trucks and semis, not for cargo vans or other smaller passenger vehicles. There was also one ramp leading directly up to the convention area (there was another one on the far side, but it was hardly convenient), which meant you either parked in a docking birth and lifted your goods up a four foot wall to load them onto a dolly and wheel them inside, or you went up the main ramp. The problem with the main ramp is that people kept parking there during both load-in, and load-out, sometimes three trucks at a time, leaving barely any room for people to wheel their merchandise up/down between them. During load out, a Tampa police officer had to ask several trucks to move, one to have someone else take their spot on the ramp 10 minutes later. There was also a policy during load-out (and I wasn't the only one ignorant of it, perhaps it was in the emails that were sent out), that if you didn't have a load of material already waiting on the loading dock, you couldn't park to load, and you had to leave immediately. Well, imagine if you set up by yourself, you'd have to leave all your stuff at the booth, wheel out a load of material to the dock and leave it there unattended for the 10+ minutes it took to retrieve your vehicle from the parking areas, get to the dock, load your first load, and go back inside to get the rest (which had been sitting now for the better part of 20 minutes unattended). Not a nit-pick at the show itself, as these are regulations specific to the convention center site, but we'll all be better prepared next time.

 

- Lastly, there were some minor issues/inconsistencies that we can certainly chalk up to Growing Pains. One day, I was able to walk into the convention center and enter the hall early without issue, let in by Convention Center Security. The next, I was told the hall wasn't open to exhibitors until 9am (at least from the front), I could go walk the quarter mile outside the building and back up the loading dock ramp to enter from the rear doors. Not sure if the issue on Sunday was in response to the massive attendance on Saturday, but having your vendors hike it up a loading ramp seemed unneccessary. As for comments made earlier about some of the TBCC staff, I would say its imperative to have some well trained folks for the next show. The volunteers were great, but some of other staff were not quite so. One of them that was supposed to be at the doors checking people's arm bands as they entered the hall was instead playing on his smartphone. I counted at least 15 people that entered the doors that he didn't even look up from his phone to check.

 

Overall, I think the show was a rousing success, even if not for me and Gator personally, and we'll take our lumps, learn and be better prepared for next time. The great thing is that the show itself is clearly gaining speed and momentum and is poised for more future success.

[MrDeafComics]

Check my write up on the show over in comic general. Pics of whAt I brought home from the show as well.

 

Thank you to Adonis for the ss purchase and Chris for the omnibus.

 

Was hoping to meet up with Bill. He was very busy.

[Theagenes]

It's great to see the growth and success.

 

Too bad it happened right after I moved from the Central Florida area.

 

I was wondering why you weren't there.

[gcstomp]

I wanted to touch on one of those insider issues, not so much show related, more venue related, that Jive covered. The load out was uniquely difficult. I have never had another venue where the dockmaster required you to have your goods waiting on the dock, before admitting your vehicle to start loading up.

 

I know in my case, I was solo, my set up consists of 50+ boxes, plus 8 7'x 2' tall grid pieces for wall, and it takes 6 loaded handtruck trips to load out. My booth was 601, which was good for the show itself, near the entrance where all the customers stream by, but the absolute furthest point from the loading docks, each trip roughly 2 football fields distance from booth to van spot. Load in I was able to grab somebody inside who may or may not have been a volunteer, but load out I was on my own. Believe me, I thought I had arranged for help prior by responding to one of the pre show emails indicating we could hire a volunteer, just let them know, which I did, but I will let that part go. I can tell you I never had a more stressful load out, who has ever heard of requiring your stuff be waiting outside unattended on the docks while you fetch your van before they let you in to start loading?

 

On Pro side, vendor area was roomy, attendance was awesome. The attendance was so awesome, it was something over 2 1/2 hours on saturday for many to get into show. I know a couple vendors talked my ear off a bit frustrated that their buyers gave up coming to show because it wasnt worth the 1 mile long line hassle. No idea what solution to that is other than streamlining process, opening up more windows to get admission going.

 

[TupennyConan]

I wanted to touch on one of those insider issues, not so much show related, more venue related, that Jive covered. The load out was uniquely difficult. I have never had another venue where the dockmaster required you to have your goods waiting on the dock, before admitting your vehicle to start loading up.

 

I know in my case, I was solo, my set up consists of 50+ boxes, plus 8 7'x 2' tall grid pieces for wall, and it takes 6 loaded handtruck trips to load out. My booth was 601, which was good for the show itself, near the entrance where all the customers stream by, but the absolute furthest point from the loading docks, each trip roughly 2 football fields distance from booth to van spot. Load in I was able to grab somebody inside who may or may not have been a volunteer, but load out I was on my own. Believe me, I thought I had arranged for help prior by responding to one of the pre show emails indicating we could hire a volunteer, just let them know, which I did, but I will let that part go. I can tell you I never had a more stressful load out, who has ever heard of requiring your stuff be waiting outside unattended on the docks while you fetch your van before they let you in to start loading?

 

On Pro side, vendor area was roomy, attendance was awesome. The attendance was so awesome, it was something over 2 1/2 hours on saturday for many to get into show. I know a couple vendors talked my ear off a bit frustrated that their buyers gave up coming to show because it wasnt worth the 1 mile long line hassle. No idea what solution to that is other than streamlining process, opening up more windows to get admission going.

 

I'm printing this & sharing it with the convention center staff when we meet this week or next.

 

 

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

I wanted to touch on one of those insider issues, not so much show related, more venue related, that Jive covered. The load out was uniquely difficult. I have never had another venue where the dockmaster required you to have your goods waiting on the dock, before admitting your vehicle to start loading up.

 

I know in my case, I was solo, my set up consists of 50+ boxes, plus 8 7'x 2' tall grid pieces for wall, and it takes 6 loaded handtruck trips to load out. My booth was 601, which was good for the show itself, near the entrance where all the customers stream by, but the absolute furthest point from the loading docks, each trip roughly 2 football fields distance from booth to van spot. Load in I was able to grab somebody inside who may or may not have been a volunteer, but load out I was on my own. Believe me, I thought I had arranged for help prior by responding to one of the pre show emails indicating we could hire a volunteer, just let them know, which I did, but I will let that part go. I can tell you I never had a more stressful load out, who has ever heard of requiring your stuff be waiting outside unattended on the docks while you fetch your van before they let you in to start loading?

 

On Pro side, vendor area was roomy, attendance was awesome. The attendance was so awesome, it was something over 2 1/2 hours on saturday for many to get into show. I know a couple vendors talked my ear off a bit frustrated that their buyers gave up coming to show because it wasnt worth the 1 mile long line hassle. No idea what solution to that is other than streamlining process, opening up more windows to get admission going.

 

I'm printing this & sharing it with the convention center staff when we meet this week or next.

 

 

I'm sure you will Bill, and I'm confident the next show will be better for it.

 

Just a thought also....MegaCon does a VIP thing for their Fridays where folks who pay a few bucks more get in an hour early. That incentive, as well as perhaps offering a couple of $50 "dealer's bucks" type drawings/promotions for those that attend on a Friday might attract those buyers who don't want to attend on a hectic weekend day, as well as help your overall Friday attendance. As a dealer, I'd also be willing to promote a Friday Only show coupon, something like "Get $10 off a purchase of $50" at our booth if it helps get some more buyers through the door.

 

 

[DrFunk-migration]

Quick review from a Comic fan at his first con

 

Pros-

It's in Tampa, so I can make this a regular thing.

 

The Costumes were great and really added to the show. I was really suprised at how many turned out

 

The artists were very accessible. Had I known that Perez would have been that easy to get to, I would have brought some books to sign.

 

The prices on the Bronze and Copper books were very reasonable and I was able to complete a few sets

 

The people in the booths were great. Next time I'll bring more cash so I can buy some keys.

 

 

Cons(minor)

Getting in was rough, I ended up spending most of my cash money to payback a friend who got us the wristbands inside(which was very easy to do). I'm not sure how pre-sales went, but it would have been nice to prepay the armbands and get them prior(mail or will call)

 

For some reason the up escalator was turned off(I guess to control the flow into the con), but that seemed silly since we already had armbands. Not really a problem as we went outside and walked the stairs.

 

All in all, it was a great con. Next time I will come prepared with books to sign and more cash to spend.

 

You really did a great job guys.

 

 

 

 

[400yrs]

- I'm not sure what this part of my review is a reflection of just yet, but its become very clear to me that the show is morphing into a San Diego Lite (Media, Casual fans, Cosplay, etc), and less of a Baltimore (i.e, comics-centric) show. That's fantastic news for the promoters and owners of the show, since its a broader market with greater revenue generators (the show itself is becoming a hip thing for the casual fan to attend), but its also a sign that your typical attendee is not a diehard comic collectors with hundreds of dollars to spend. Perhaps this isn't a reflection so much on the show, but the changing demographics of the fan base as well as the economic situation in Florida compared to "money" states like Illinois or New York.

 

Yeah. San Diego Lite is right. It's because of the guests and the marketing. The guests from the hot tv shows bring in the people who want to hit "the thing to do" on the weekend. That leads to the Japanimal dressed people. Those people are just there to hang out, which is cool, but they far outnumber the comic fans who are there for the artists and comics, I'd guess at least 20 to 1.

 

There's nothing wrong with that at all. It's just the way the show is ran. I'd rather it be a comic centric show like Heroes or Emerald City, but that's not going to bring in all the gate bodies that a tv con will which would mean a much lighter bottom line for the promoters.

 

- Lastly, there were some minor issues/inconsistencies that we can certainly chalk up to Growing Pains. One day, I was able to walk into the convention center and enter the hall early without issue, let in by Convention Center Security. The next, I was told the hall wasn't open to exhibitors until 9am (at least from the front), I could go walk the quarter mile outside the building and back up the loading dock ramp to enter from the rear doors. Not sure if the issue on Sunday was in response to the massive attendance on Saturday, but having your vendors hike it up a loading ramp seemed unneccessary. As for comments made earlier about some of the TBCC staff, I would say its imperative to have some well trained folks for the next show. The volunteers were great, but some of other staff were not quite so. One of them that was supposed to be at the doors checking people's arm bands as they entered the hall was instead playing on his smartphone. I counted at least 15 people that entered the doors that he didn't even look up from his phone to check.

 

Yes. There was very little door control, but I don't blame them for just letting it go. With that many people and big time understaffing, there's no way to get that task done. You'd see the people trying at first and then when I saw them later, they'd just given up. I'd think to myself, "yeah, I don't blame you in the least."

 

The Sentry security guys were probably the worst. All day Friday and Saturday there were people going outside on the nice big patio upstairs to smoke, have a beer, or just relax for a few. There were people going in and out there all day. That's one thing that I loved about the Tampa convention center compared to Megacon. There are a lot of places to relax and sit down and chill or look out at the water and just hang out. Also, the walk to the con was minimal compared to the miles you have to walk at orange county (especially if you don't know the shortcuts).

 

But on Sunday, there was one person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed Sentry guy who took it upon himself to tell everyone on the patio that they could not go back in through those doors and they had to go down the escalator and around to the front entrance with the massive line again. There was no sign at all anywhere to this effect, mind you. He said, "if you go outside these doors, you've left and you have to go back to the main entrance to get back in.". He went up to this couple with two young kids and a stroller and wanted to force them to go down the escalator (which wasn't working) to get back in. He was completely unreasonable to these people. If I had brought my kids and a stroller (I wouldn't) I would've shoved his walkie talkie up his .

 

When he was trying to slam all the doors shut and harassing another person, I just went in a door a bit further away from him. These people need training so they don't make a stressful situation with overcrowding and lines even more stressful. Imagine if they went down that broken elevator and something happened to one of those kids on the way down. That's a lawsuit that Tampa Comicon, the Convention center and Sentry would all get nailed on because of poor instructions, directions, staffing and lack thereof.

[400yrs]

I wanted to touch on one of those insider issues, not so much show related, more venue related, that Jive covered. The load out was uniquely difficult. I have never had another venue where the dockmaster required you to have your goods waiting on the dock, before admitting your vehicle to start loading up.

 

I know in my case, I was solo, my set up consists of 50+ boxes, plus 8 7'x 2' tall grid pieces for wall, and it takes 6 loaded handtruck trips to load out. My booth was 601, which was good for the show itself, near the entrance where all the customers stream by, but the absolute furthest point from the loading docks, each trip roughly 2 football fields distance from booth to van spot. Load in I was able to grab somebody inside who may or may not have been a volunteer, but load out I was on my own. Believe me, I thought I had arranged for help prior by responding to one of the pre show emails indicating we could hire a volunteer, just let them know, which I did, but I will let that part go. I can tell you I never had a more stressful load out, who has ever heard of requiring your stuff be waiting outside unattended on the docks while you fetch your van before they let you in to start loading?

 

On Pro side, vendor area was roomy, attendance was awesome. The attendance was so awesome, it was something over 2 1/2 hours on saturday for many to get into show. I know a couple vendors talked my ear off a bit frustrated that their buyers gave up coming to show because it wasnt worth the 1 mile long line hassle. No idea what solution to that is other than streamlining process, opening up more windows to get admission going.

 

I'm printing this & sharing it with the convention center staff when we meet this week or next.

 

 

I'm sure you will Bill, and I'm confident the next show will be better for it.

 

Just a thought also....MegaCon does a VIP thing for their Fridays where folks who pay a few bucks more get in an hour early. That incentive, as well as perhaps offering a couple of $50 "dealer's bucks" type drawings/promotions for those that attend on a Friday might attract those buyers who don't want to attend on a hectic weekend day, as well as help your overall Friday attendance. As a dealer, I'd also be willing to promote a Friday Only show coupon, something like "Get $10 off a purchase of $50" at our booth if it helps get some more buyers through the door.

 

 

The hour earlier isn't extra money. It's if you buy online (which is also discounted).

 

That's a good idea on the coupon. Just make sure people understand its one day only.

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

I wanted to touch on one of those insider issues, not so much show related, more venue related, that Jive covered. The load out was uniquely difficult. I have never had another venue where the dockmaster required you to have your goods waiting on the dock, before admitting your vehicle to start loading up.

 

I know in my case, I was solo, my set up consists of 50+ boxes, plus 8 7'x 2' tall grid pieces for wall, and it takes 6 loaded handtruck trips to load out. My booth was 601, which was good for the show itself, near the entrance where all the customers stream by, but the absolute furthest point from the loading docks, each trip roughly 2 football fields distance from booth to van spot. Load in I was able to grab somebody inside who may or may not have been a volunteer, but load out I was on my own. Believe me, I thought I had arranged for help prior by responding to one of the pre show emails indicating we could hire a volunteer, just let them know, which I did, but I will let that part go. I can tell you I never had a more stressful load out, who has ever heard of requiring your stuff be waiting outside unattended on the docks while you fetch your van before they let you in to start loading?

 

On Pro side, vendor area was roomy, attendance was awesome. The attendance was so awesome, it was something over 2 1/2 hours on saturday for many to get into show. I know a couple vendors talked my ear off a bit frustrated that their buyers gave up coming to show because it wasnt worth the 1 mile long line hassle. No idea what solution to that is other than streamlining process, opening up more windows to get admission going.

 

I'm printing this & sharing it with the convention center staff when we meet this week or next.

 

 

I'm sure you will Bill, and I'm confident the next show will be better for it.

 

Just a thought also....MegaCon does a VIP thing for their Fridays where folks who pay a few bucks more get in an hour early. That incentive, as well as perhaps offering a couple of $50 "dealer's bucks" type drawings/promotions for those that attend on a Friday might attract those buyers who don't want to attend on a hectic weekend day, as well as help your overall Friday attendance. As a dealer, I'd also be willing to promote a Friday Only show coupon, something like "Get $10 off a purchase of $50" at our booth if it helps get some more buyers through the door.

 

 

The hour earlier isn't extra money. It's if you buy online (which is also discounted).

 

There ya go. (thumbs u

[capt_comics]

Minutes away from saying goodbye & driving home.

 

Tremendous fun & success thanks to our dedicated team.

 

Terrific.

 

Thanks to all attendees & guests.

 

I want to thank Bill, Steven and Neil. They took care of business as only I could have hoped they would. Kudos from me for sure!

 

I would wholeheartedly agree with Rick. Great job by Bill,Stephen and Neil!!!

 

Good seeing all the Florida board members this weekend. Rick, George, Christian, etc etc!!!