Cleveland Wizard Con Recap Added - Almost no pictures, sorry.

[1Cool]

I'm fairly new to the Con game but I'm putting together my first 10x10' booth this month and it would be great to spark some discussions about my tentative booth lay out (and booth layout preferences in general). I know a bunch of people have a booth layout that works for them so this is in no way a hidden way to criticize those booths but just a (hopefully) fun way to talk about my booth layouts.

 

Here is my tentative booth layout:

 

 

I've got 48ish long boxes of $1 books right now which has prompted me to use the boxes on the floor approach even though I know people don't like it. Having only 15 long boxes out at a time just does not seem effective in showing the inventory. I'm definitely going back and forth on this item.

 

I've got about 30 slabs (probably 20 by the end of the month the way they are selling) so I'll show the higher end ones (ASM 129, ASM 300, Y: Last Man 1) up on the top of one wall to pull in traffic. The rest of the slabs will be in a short box on the table. The remaining wall space (there will not be a lot of space because they are behind tables/boxes) will be used for high end raw books. I've got about 15 short boxes of higher end books (books like Deadpools and semi keys like Teen Titans 44 for example) so I should not have a problem filling in that space.

 

With this layout I'm having to work out some extenders to attach my banner above one of the wall displays.

 

I'm a little nervous about having people come into the booth to check out the higher end books but I'm hoping to have a friend take care of the $1 books while I direct traffic and answer question on the high end area. People will be directed to only look thru $1 books from the outside of the booth so that should hopefully minimize the congestion in the interior of the booth. Anyone used this layout and felt people were bumping into each other on the "inside"?

[1Cool]

Just for clarification - the main aisle of the Con is on the right side of the booth.

[darkstar]

For starters, make all your wall book prices visible. If I have to ask you what the price is for every book, you aren't getting my money. Not talking about just not having books priced at all here, but make sure the prices are visible from outside the booth to people walking by.

 

You could also create a binder listing your dollar books and have customers look through it as opposed to crawling on the ground trying to dig through long boxes. Your friend can pull the dollar books and cross off the ones that sell. Alternatively you could have a stack of fliers with your dollar inventory listed.

 

I wouldn't let people in my booth, but that's just me.

[thecopperagekids]

The drawback with bringing so many long boxes to a show is that buyers get overwhelmed and will only spend so much time before moving onto the next booth.

 

With so many boxes/dealers at a show, in order to draw buyers into digging through table stock, you have to pretty much smack them across the face with a sampling of what books you HAVE FOR SALE, if they LOOK INSIDE of the boxes.

 

To accomplish this feat of marketing genius, follow these steps:

 

Buy a few dozen top loaders and 2 packs of modern backing boards from my man Charlie over at Hot Flips.

 

Buy a roll of clear shipping tape.

 

1)Take 8 backing boards.Stack them together and bundle them tightly with tape.

 

2)Apply loops of tape onto the top half of the bundle 8 pack of boards.

 

3)Take out a top loader.

 

4)Affix the top half of the backing board pack to a top loader.

 

5)Repeat steps 1-4 for as many boxes as you have, on your table.

 

6)Take the "mini top loader display wall joint" and affix the bottom half to the back end of a bix, so that the top loader will stand evenly on the back end of the box.

 

7)Pull out one of the better books from a box.Insert book into top loader display.

 

Now, you gave a "wall display" for each of your boxes.

 

This ish works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1Cool]

The drawback with bringing so many long boxes to a show is that buyers get overwhelmed and will only spend so much time before moving onto the next booth.

 

With so many boxes/dealers at a show, in order to draw buyers into digging through table stock, you have to pretty much smack them across the face with a sampling of what books you HAVE FOR SALE, if they LOOK INSIDE of the boxes.

 

To accomplish this feat of marketing genius, follow these steps:

 

Buy a few dozen top loaders and 2 packs of modern backing boards from my man Charlie over at Hot Flips.

 

Buy a roll of clear shipping tape.

 

1)Take 8 backing boards.Stack them together and bundle them tightly with tape.

 

2)Apply loops of tape onto the top half of the bundle 8 pack of boards.

 

3)Take out a top loader.

 

4)Affix the top half of the backing board pack to a top loader.

 

5)Repeat steps 1-4 for as many boxes as you have, on your table.

 

6)Take the "mini top loader display wall joint" and affix the bottom half to the back end of a bix, so that the top loader will stand evenly on the back end of the box.

 

7)Pull out one of the better books from a box.Insert book into top loader display.

 

Now, you gave a "wall display" for each of your boxes.

 

This ish works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used a similar effect but I attached a fake top of a New Mutants 98. I probably had 30 or 40 people grab the fake book and almost all thought it was funny. I'll be working on stuff like this stuff this weekend so I'll try it out.

[1Cool]

There does look to only be a handful of dealers setting up (based on the floor layout) right now so I'm kind of hoping people will have plenty of time to flip thru books even the ones on the floor. I'll have another 10 long boxes in reserve to fill in blank spots as stuff sells out.

[Red84]

For starters, make all your wall book prices visible. If I have to ask you what the price is for every book, you aren't getting my money. Not talking about just not having books priced at all here, but make sure the prices are visible from outside the booth to people walking by.

 

You could also create a binder listing your dollar books and have customers look through it as opposed to crawling on the ground trying to dig through long boxes. Your friend can pull the dollar books and cross off the ones that sell. Alternatively you could have a stack of fliers with your dollar inventory listed.

 

I wouldn't let people in my booth, but that's just me.

 

I second the point about having prices visible. Lots of buyers will assume a book is too expensive if they can't see a price and lots of buyers don't want to ask to find out the price

[1Cool]

For starters, make all your wall book prices visible. If I have to ask you what the price is for every book, you aren't getting my money. Not talking about just not having books priced at all here, but make sure the prices are visible from outside the booth to people walking by.

 

You could also create a binder listing your dollar books and have customers look through it as opposed to crawling on the ground trying to dig through long boxes. Your friend can pull the dollar books and cross off the ones that sell. Alternatively you could have a stack of fliers with your dollar inventory listed.

 

I wouldn't let people in my booth, but that's just me.

 

I second the point about having prices visible. Lots of buyers will assume a book is too expensive if they can't see a price and lots of buyers don't want to ask to find out the price

 

I like it myself so I tend to put big price bubble stickers on the covers. I tried not putting prices on the slabs at my last Con to entice people to ask about them and I don't think it went well. Definitely price stickers on all books (over $1).

[Chip Cataldo]

I don't see why you need advice. Sounds like a fantastic setup with great thought into the planning.

[Buzzetta]

Having too many longboxes creates crowds that I normally do not like to be a part of.

 

 

There are many times that I want to take a look at wall books and cannot approach because the entire front of the table is filled with people browsing through $1 books showing their friends what they see and saying, "Remember that?"

 

I will usually wait around to get to the table to ask a question or to request to see a book, but if they are too crowded I simply move on.

 

[1Cool]

Having too many longboxes creates crowds that I normally do not like to be a part of.

 

 

There are many times that I want to take a look at wall books and cannot approach because the entire front of the table is filled with people browsing through $1 books showing their friends what they see and saying, "Remember that?"

 

I will usually wait around to get to the table to ask a question or to request to see a book, but if they are too crowded I simply move on.

 

I kind of designed my booth with you in mind. The $1 crowds can pick out their books while you walk inside the booth and take a look at the higher end books close up.

[Buzzetta]

Having too many longboxes creates crowds that I normally do not like to be a part of.

 

 

There are many times that I want to take a look at wall books and cannot approach because the entire front of the table is filled with people browsing through $1 books showing their friends what they see and saying, "Remember that?"

 

I will usually wait around to get to the table to ask a question or to request to see a book, but if they are too crowded I simply move on.

 

I kind of designed my booth with you in mind. The $1 crowds can pick out their books while you walk inside the booth and take a look at the higher end books close up.

 

Yee's setup is like that. Yeah, there is nothing more annoying waiting for people to browse that clearly have no shopping agenda.

 

[Columbia Comics]

I recommend a nice and clear sign/banner that's above your booth that can be easily spotted from multiple points in the room.

 

That and make sure all your merchandise is priced, which is a problem I have

[BlowUpTheMoon]

The drawback with bringing so many long boxes to a show is that buyers get overwhelmed and will only spend so much time before moving onto the next booth.

 

Absolutely not true.

[entalmighty1]

Having too many longboxes creates crowds that I normally do not like to be a part of.

 

 

There are many times that I want to take a look at wall books and cannot approach because the entire front of the table is filled with people browsing through $1 books showing their friends what they see and saying, "Remember that?"

 

I will usually wait around to get to the table to ask a question or to request to see a book, but if they are too crowded I simply move on.

 

I kind of designed my booth with you in mind. The $1 crowds can pick out their books while you walk inside the booth and take a look at the higher end books close up.

 

 

That's a great way to do it. I typically have no interest in dollar box stuff, but most people have their booths set up where I'm standing 10-12 feet away from what I'm looking at. Add to that the folks picking through the cheaper books, and I usually don't have the patience to try to get your attention, ask for pricing, and have a few words regarding condition, or whatever else comes up. Ease of access is really, really nice.

[RCheli]

I would not have any boxes on the floor. Not at a Wizard World, where there will be a lot of people walking around.

 

I'd put the 15 long boxes out (actually, an 8-foot table can take 12 long boxes) and then have another 3 long boxes behind the booth. As things sell, just restock the boxes.

[1Cool]

I would not have any boxes on the floor. Not at a Wizard World, where there will be a lot of people walking around.

 

I'd put the 15 long boxes out (actually, an 8-foot table can take 12 long boxes) and then have another 3 long boxes behind the booth. As things sell, just restock the boxes.

 

Good point but how do I determine which 14 - 15 boxes (I'm using the 2' end table to basically make it a long 10' table. With 50 long boxes I guess I can take the best stuff but I've already got 30 long boxes sorted alphabetical so it going to be tough to break it down into just 15 long boxes. Tough decision.

[RCheli]

Ah, I see...

 

Are you putting dupes in the boxes?I would start pulling out those first.

 

The other thing you have to consider is this -- you're using up the majority of the space in your booth on the cheapest comics. You're hiding your good stuff on the inside of the booth, too.

 

So, you want to assign the amount of space in your booth to the amount of money you're going to make.

 

That 10 feet of display is about half of the table space. Do you suspect you're going to make half of your revenue on $1 books?

 

And lastly. you're asking people to come into your booth to look at stuff. That's not a lot of room in there. Where are you going to be?

 

I'm also not a real big fan of people being so close to my wall books.

 

I think you're trying to be too cute, too clever. If you had more than one booth, more space, I think you can work with it. As it is, though, you don't really have that option.

[jsilverjanet]

Doesn't matter the layout etc

 

Price your books right and they sell and words gets around

[RCheli]

Doesn't matter the layout etc

 

Price your books right and they sell and words gets around

 

You have nothing in alpha order, do you?