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Tampa Bay Comic Con - August 5-7, 2016! CGC On-Site Grading!

Started by KingOfRulers,

97 posts in this topic

AllStar-Comics

AllStar-Comics

Posted
Posted

I agree with Dale. Major cons in Florida need to be held in February or March . Mega Con used to be held in February and thus was one of the first big shows of the year. More out of state dealers would come down to escape the cold and as dale pointed out its tax time. I dont see a ot oof those guys coming here anymore Back then Orlando had Mega Con and FX (granted more of a toy show) usually held within a month of each other in the same venue and both did well. You have snowbirds here then and Europeans are here vacationing more in that time More money, more dealers and better weather.

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Kevin Boyd

Kevin Boyd

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I agree with Dale. Major cons in Florida need to be held in February or March . Mega Con used to be held in February and thus was one of the first big shows of the year. More out of state dealers would come down to escape the cold and as dale pointed out its tax time. I dont see a ot oof those guys coming here anymore Back then Orlando had Mega Con and FX (granted more of a toy show) usually held within a month of each other in the same venue and both did well. You have snowbirds here then and Europeans are here vacationing more in that time More money, more dealers and better weather.

 

I don't disagree with your points, I would much rather go to Florida during the winter months, and always enjoyed Megacon when it was in February/March, a nice excuse to escape the snow and cold. That being said, I'm sure there are reasons for why Megacon Orlando is on Memorial Day and Megacon Tampa Bay when it is. I'm not privvy to those decisions, I work with my team to make sure we have some great comic guests for each with the dates they have chosen.

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G.A.tor

G.A.tor

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I agree with Dale. Major cons in Florida need to be held in February or March . Mega Con used to be held in February and thus was one of the first big shows of the year. More out of state dealers would come down to escape the cold and as dale pointed out its tax time. I dont see a ot oof those guys coming here anymore Back then Orlando had Mega Con and FX (granted more of a toy show) usually held within a month of each other in the same venue and both did well. You have snowbirds here then and Europeans are here vacationing more in that time More money, more dealers and better weather.

 

I don't disagree with your points, I would much rather go to Florida during the winter months, and always enjoyed Megacon when it was in February/March, a nice excuse to escape the snow and cold. That being said, I'm sure there are reasons for why Megacon Orlando is on Memorial Day and Megacon Tampa Bay when it is. I'm not privvy to those decisions, I work with my team to make sure we have some great comic guests for each with the dates they have chosen.

 

I set up at megacon every year for the last decade. Couldn't this last year due to daughters graduation. Won't next year due to it being in May/memorial. Horrible choice. Feb/March and I will go back and buy 2-4 booths again. May/June and an era is over, and without tooting any horns , not many Florida based dealers can deal the books I do (there are some of course , but seems a natural we are there, yet we won't be 2 yrs in a row). Sad

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JiveTurkeyMoFo

JiveTurkeyMoFo

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All that being said, and with respect to Gator for the unfortunate loss this weekend, I hope everyone else had a great time at TBCC. I know I did. Kudos to Bill and Stephen for the job they do in organizing the event. Most of the dealers I spoke with said their sales were good to excellent. I don't usually stay for Saturday at a major show (I don't love the crowds), but I was there this year and boy was that place packed. There were still droves of people paying to get in at 2 in the afternoon when I walked outside to the registration area. The downstairs areas were jam packed as well. I wouldn't doubt it for a minute that they hit their target number.

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KingOfRulers

KingOfRulers

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Well, that was quite a weekend! Post-con week is always a bit melancholy for me. We spend so much time and effort making a convention happen and then the adventure is over in three short days.

 

Overall, from our standpoint it was a fantastic success. Of course, there were problems. There always will be with such a large event where there's so many moving parts and things that can go wrong. But, on the whole, it was a major success.

 

Some major positives were that we were able to get all attendees inside the building. The line was constantly moving, which was probably the biggest obstacle that we have ever faced. The Tampa Convention Center is fairly small for our needs and is not designed to handle anywhere near the amount of attendees that we bring into the show. While it can do so legally and safely, the accommodations and building design just don't do it naturally or well like other venues can. The line to get in on Friday was enormous and showed the weaknesses in the line management, which was modified with fantastic results on Saturday and Sunday.

 

Obviously, a major negative was Rick's box of sweet SA gems. :( Security at the Tampa Convention Center is very poor. The exclusive security contractor for the venue is Sentry Security, and they are mostly incompetent. Their employees aren't ex-military or ex-police; they have no experience in professional soldiering. I have an idea on how to improve overnight security in 2017. Another negative, was Richie Muchin of Tomorrow's Treasures. I have banned him for life from our conventions, as an exhibitor and attendee. Outside of those two issues, the exhibit hall didn't have any major problems that I'm aware of. Lexie is a star member of our team and that continued this weekend with her take control over the exhibit hall (and beyond) and quickly handle problems.

 

From a sales standpoint, things seemed to go fantastic (excluding Rick's SA box). While I didn't talk to all of the vendors, the ones I did talk to (with the exception of one) reported fantastic sales. And that one exception's report wasn't even particularly negative; it was that sales were "okay". I even received reports of record breaking sales. I only talked to Rick during setup, so I'm curious as to how sales went for him. Soaring sales weren't limited to booth vendors either. Every guest creator that I talked to had glowing reports (and I talked to all of them). We even received a call today that it was Colleen Doran's best sales performance at a convention, EVER. Multiple guest creators had lines at their table throughout the entire weekend. It was pretty amazing.

 

From our perspective as the owners, operators and advertisers, it was just as amazing. I don't have a reliable attendance figure to post yet, but my guess is that we exceeded 2015's attendance record. Pre-sales were 35% higher this year than they were in 2015. So, the only question mark is at-the-door sales, which appeared to be just as strong.

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Theagenes

Theagenes

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Congrats to Bill and Stephen and their team for another amazing show! Moderating panels for these guys I get a bit of a peak at the behind the scenes sausage-making and the tremendous amount of work and effort that they put into this is mind-boggling. It truly is a herculean effort to pull off a show of this magnitude as smoothly as they do. Had an awesome time and it was great seeing everyone again!

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G.A.tor

G.A.tor

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unfortunately for me, sales really depend on my disposition. Friday and Saturday on my side weren't very strong but given my circumstances , was cause and effect

 

I tried my best Sunday at some semblance of a normal con for us and sales were good.

 

 

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Pike's Comics

Pike's Comics

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Just wanted to say the show was amazing. I plan on making a full report later this week but figured I could give a short synopsis now.

 

This was easily one of our best shows of the year. To show a comparison we actually doubled the amount of sales we made at Megacon!

 

 

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TupennyConan

TupennyConan

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Richie Munchin is a friend & a fine comics dealer. I have always enjoyed his company & his business. I particularly enjoy his staff. Of course, Kathy his wife is a delight. I'm not certain how many shows Richie has done with us, but it has been many & for many years.

 

Unfortunately, Richie will not be invited back to our cons. He became unhappy over his booth location & our exhibitor services related to the issue of his booth location & expressed himself on the show floor in what we believed to be an inappropriate manner to our Exhibitor Director, Lexie Doyle.

 

It saddens me to see us part company professionally. He'll be missed.

 

I will be in NYCC all 4 days. Hopefully he'll let me stop by his booth & say hi without too much guff.

 

 

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