Wizard World Atlanta Gaming -- Cancelled

[EC ed]

I've (relatively) recently moved back to Atlanta after being gone for a decade or so...

 

Can someone explain to me why this show (or any other large con) isn't viable here? A metro area of 6 million'ish people. Huge airport. Reasonably "good" winter weather.

 

What's the problem?

[Darrell F]

Dragon Con does great so it is not just a problem with Atlanta. Before the show last year put on by Wizard I heard zero ads played on tv or radio. You actually do need to do some promoting for these things. Most people are not on a message board like we are to know when every show is.

 

On top of all of that, the show last year was featuring a bunch of young guys that were famous on Vine. Sure, Wizard got some teenage girls in the door but not the actual comic book fan. The artist there said it was an awful show for them and a big name artist told me on Saturday morning that he was thinking of packing up and leaving because he could make more money at home doing the work he had there.

[whitelanthawkeye]

I have always wondered how other people find out about cons. I figure some of the longer running cons like Baltimore don't really need to do much advertising if any.

[mysterio]

[Monster's Lair Comics]

Promotion is a huge part of the convention. Amazing Oklahoma City was a huge bust because of no promotion. The convention staff went into the local comic shops and put up 8.5x11 flyers to "promote" the show. They were expecting 10000+. About 2500 came through the doors. No other promotion. All the dealers there lost money except for the "mystery box" booth. It was a blood bath, many dealers started doing 50% off sales early Saturday. A dealer from California didn't make his gas money back from the whole weekend (lost table $, hotel $, time, and cost of the books sold). If wizard isn't interested in doing heavy promotion, the show is going to fail.

[Shrevvy]

Dragon Con is a successful show, but has very little comic books. We used to do that show (when I owned TalesOfWonder.com) and we did great business in discounted trades. It was not a show for vintage comics, but was great for a casual reader with crossover from everything else they did there. The promoter attempted a comic only show in downtown Atlanta maybe 8-9 years ago? It was called ACE (Atlanta Comic Expo) and it was terrible despite being promoted by Dragon Con.

 

I think the problem with ACE and the Wizard show is that it is downtown. Dragon Con gets away with it because it is a institution now and is part of Atlanta culture. The parking sucks. It is expensive and there are no restaurants. I have always been surprised at the lack of places to eat even during the week at lunch time (I spent a week downtown doing jury duty and you could eat at Subway or Johnny Rockets).

 

Someone should try a large scale show north of the city. Before ACE, there was a two-day show in Gwinnett that was quite successful for us. It only ran maybe 2 years, but seemed to have potential. It was by no means a Wizard size show, but I could see something like that growing.

[Jacey]

The promoter attempted a comic only show in downtown Atlanta maybe 8-9 years ago? It was called ACE (Atlanta Comic Expo) and it was terrible despite being promoted by Dragon Con.

 

This was an amazing show, it had panels, tons of interesting stuff. Not so well attended.

 

Downtown Atlanta isn't where I'd run a large show. Look at the Braves.....

[Shrevvy]

ACE probably was a good show for attendees, but it was terrible for dealers. I remember empty aisles and lots of inventory to lug home. At least it was in our backyard. Very disappointing from a rev standpoint. I think we did 1/5 the sales of Dragon Con at a cost that was similar.

[capt_comics]

ACE probably was a good show for attendees, but it was terrible for dealers. I remember empty aisles and lots of inventory to lug home. At least it was in our backyard. Very disappointing from a rev standpoint. I think we did 1/5 the sales of Dragon Con at a cost that was similar.

 

 

I did okay - but it wasn't what the promoter was looking for as far as attendance. Saturday was okay but Sunday was horrible.

 

I agree that a bigger two day show would have to be up I-75 or I-85 to be successful

 

The Gwinnett show was about 12 or 13 years ago and was actually a pretty good show if I remember correctly. That would be a great facility to do one at again

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RCheli]

Well, they've added a Heroes and Villains show to Atlanta, so I assume that's taking the place of this show (to an extent):

 

http://heroesfanfest.com/atlanta/