What is the responsibility of a convention organizer?

[Junkdrawer]

Just this past weekend I sold at the long beach show. One 10x20 spot cost me $1100. So forgetting about wages, gas, food etc... I have to basically give away 1100 worth of merchandise just to break even. I usually stick to smaller one day shows that cost 1 to 2 hundred a spot. I feel these are much more reasonable fees to pay. With ridiculous pricing (which just goes up every year) I won't be doing bigger shows anytime soon. I don't have any mega keys of which I can sell one and clear costs. Bottom line- if dealers have to pay a premium to sell and customers aren't willing to pay a premium to buy then I'm out.

How about if you calculate what it would cost for 2 VIP early admittance all weekend passes ( that's pretty much what you are getting as a dealer, actually you can beat those guys in each day. What's left is the cost of the table space. Divided by the days you are there it breaks down a little more palatable. Don't forget that a good day of buying can often eclipse a good day of selling.

[Junkdrawer]

Convention organizers in the New England area need to observe other shows and space yourselves out. Attending a show in Boston and then the following week in CT and 2 weeks later in Hartford and then Nh and then RI, I just get sick of seeing the same group of dealers with the same sad stock from the last several shows. I buy comics all year round not needing to cram all my con buying into 5-6 shows with in 2 months of the year. Spread out

[TheShadowKnows]

80% of ebay prices

 

Why would you do that? That's patently ridiculous.

 

So you're saying that I should sell the same copy to you for 20% less of what you could buy it for on eBay, plus you'd actually be able to see it and inspect it before buying it PLUS you wouldn't have to pay shipping.

 

More terrible advice from someone who obviously is not a dealer.

tongue in cheek

[Robot Man]

Just this past weekend I sold at the long beach show. One 10x20 spot cost me $1100. So forgetting about wages, gas, food etc... I have to basically give away 1100 worth of merchandise just to break even. I usually stick to smaller one day shows that cost 1 to 2 hundred a spot. I feel these are much more reasonable fees to pay. With ridiculous pricing (which just goes up every year) I won't be doing bigger shows anytime soon. I don't have any mega keys of which I can sell one and clear costs. Bottom line- if dealers have to pay a premium to sell and customers aren't willing to pay a premium to buy then I'm out.

 

 

Long Beach is almost a local show for me and I didn't even go. I prefer GA and SA books and other than a couple dealers there isn't any of that there. Especially at this one. Terry O'Neil and Ed Robertson wern't there. Only Brad from F-VF and that crook Angelo apeared to be the only ones with vintage stuff.

 

How did you do? What kind of material were you selling?

 

I also heard that is a another comic book show in Pasadena this coming weekend. I wouldn't have even known about it if a boardie hadn't told me. Seems we are starting to have a lot of shows here in LA.

 

I have a lot of vintage comics for sale but rarely do too many comic shows .I do Terry O'Neil's show as well as other paper, toy shows and flea markets. I have thought about maybe doing the SF Valley show but never been to it so I don't know if it would be worth it.

 

Long Beach is just too expensive for me...

[Robot Man]

Just this past weekend I sold at the long beach show. One 10x20 spot cost me $1100. So forgetting about wages, gas, food etc... I have to basically give away 1100 worth of merchandise just to break even. I usually stick to smaller one day shows that cost 1 to 2 hundred a spot. I feel these are much more reasonable fees to pay. With ridiculous pricing (which just goes up every year) I won't be doing bigger shows anytime soon. I don't have any mega keys of which I can sell one and clear costs. Bottom line- if dealers have to pay a premium to sell and customers aren't willing to pay a premium to buy then I'm out.

How about if you calculate what it would cost for 2 VIP early admittance all weekend passes ( that's pretty much what you are getting as a dealer, actually you can beat those guys in each day. What's left is the cost of the table space. Divided by the days you are there it breaks down a little more palatable. Don't forget that a good day of buying can often eclipse a good day of selling.

 

True, but there ain't much to buy at that show...I didn't even want to spend $30. to go.

[TupennyConan]

Convention organizers are responsible for looking their best, each & every day of the week.

[1Cool]

Just this past weekend I sold at the long beach show. One 10x20 spot cost me $1100. So forgetting about wages, gas, food etc... I have to basically give away 1100 worth of merchandise just to break even. I usually stick to smaller one day shows that cost 1 to 2 hundred a spot. I feel these are much more reasonable fees to pay. With ridiculous pricing (which just goes up every year) I won't be doing bigger shows anytime soon. I don't have any mega keys of which I can sell one and clear costs. Bottom line- if dealers have to pay a premium to sell and customers aren't willing to pay a premium to buy then I'm out.

How about if you calculate what it would cost for 2 VIP early admittance all weekend passes ( that's pretty much what you are getting as a dealer, actually you can beat those guys in each day. What's left is the cost of the table space. Divided by the days you are there it breaks down a little more palatable. Don't forget that a good day of buying can often eclipse a good day of selling.

 

I would add that the big shows typically have one thing going for it - tons of people. I guess almost all of them have no intent on buying a comic book when they enter the hall but all of them will leave with stuff they did not intent to buy. So if there are 4,000 novice people walking past your booth that sounds like a great way to make quite a few impulse sales to those people.

 

Maybe I'm over simplifying it but each of those people have a dad, bother, sister, nephew etc who likes a comic book character at this point. Maybe it's grab bags - maybe its grab 5 batman books for $5? I don't really know yet but there has to be some value to being able to sell a ton of "drek" to the lay person who may not bat an eye with spending $2 for a cool Flash book whereas its pulling teeth to get a comic book collector (dealer) to pony up the $2 for a drek book.

[TupennyConan]

Convention organizers have an obligation to give timely public notice of a guest's cancellation & to stop advertising a guest's appearance after they've informed the organizer of their cancellation.

[Buzzetta]

Convention organizers have an obligation to give timely public notice of a guest's cancellation & to stop advertising a guest's appearance after they've informed the organizer of their cancellation.

 

That's a big one.

[TupennyConan]

Convention organizers have an obligation to give timely public notice of a guest's cancellation & to stop advertising a guest's appearance after they've informed the organizer of their cancellation.

 

That's a big one.

 

How would you view a convention organizer who learns on Thursday that a guest you loved can't make the con yet continues to advertise their appearance days later when a keystroke by the organizer could end the ads & inform the ticket buying public of the cancellation?

[Buzzetta]

Convention organizers have an obligation to give timely public notice of a guest's cancellation & to stop advertising a guest's appearance after they've informed the organizer of their cancellation.

 

That's a big one.

 

How would you view a convention organizer who learns on Thursday that a guest you loved can't make the con yet continues to advertise their appearance days later when a keystroke by the organizer could end the ads & inform the ticket buying public of the cancellation?

 

Obviously, poorly. There are still conflicting stories in regards to a certain show I go to every year where fans were waiting in line to see an artist who did not show up. Organizers said that the artist no showed at the last minute. Others said (much later on) that the artist had cancelled well in advance.

 

 

[blazingbob]

First off, lets get past the "Warm and fuzzy" about everybody being there to see each other.

 

The Bottom line to doing conventions for exhibitors is to MAKE MONEY.

 

Artists, Guests, Dollar Book/Low grade/High Grade, Toy, Art, Tee-Shirt, costume dealers are all there to make money.

 

A promoter should have every one of there Dealers categorized to get an idea of what demographic they are covering. Which means the saleman selling booths should know something about the business.

 

A promoter should try the best they can to get an idea of the customers walking through the door.

 

Pre-ticket online sales should try and gauge the demographic of what the customer is looking for.

 

Promoters should try to layout floor plans by demographics. Emerald City should READ THIS.

Scattering dealers all over the place is not a smart thing. However as a high grade dealer I really don't want to be next to Dollar book dealers who insist on covering every inch of their booths above and below with boxes and having squatters sitting on the floor going through their inventory all day long.

 

Ticket sales should not capture every dollar in the collectors pocket before they come through the dollar. If you are charging "Convention hall" ticket prices the promoter better be in a convention hall. Don't try to present/promote a flea market venue as a convention hall if it isn't. My customer base does not want to park their nice car under the highway or take the subway to the show.

 

Location is very important. Dealers and customers like great places to go to. San Diego is a great show because of the location. You can tell how much a city likes its convention center by the surrounding businesses that support it. While I like the Reed NY show I can tell that NYC doesn't give 2 craps about the convention business.

 

Security is very important to dealers. Do not design floor plans with booths that have nothing behind them if you can help it. The couple of shows that had this design resulted in a lot of reach through the curtain type thefts.

 

Loyalty programs. Promoters should reward their repeat customers and dealers with incentives for doing their shows.

 

Crooks, If a thief is caught at a show they should be BANNED from that show and future shows going forward. I don't give a rats if their rights are being compromised.

 

"GUESTS/ACTORS - Dealers should not be subsidizing GUESTS/ACTORS. I understand that each guest depending on their stature demands a minimum amount of signings/$$$$$$ to come to the show. That minimum is reflected in the price of the VIP packages that the promoter sells. I understand that they are picked up from the airport, flight is paid for, hotel etc. Those guests very rarely make me any $$$$.

 

Alcohol at shows. Now I'm all about the "Experience" but if the promoter is going to sell alcohol at the show you better have some security there to deal with the drunks. Having had a drunk split one of my books in New Orleans by stuffing a book back into my boxes didn't make me too happy at the time. Let me go on record by stating I will see a drunken brawl at a show in the future.

 

Promoters should work on providing their collector base with the ability to communicate what they are looking for from dealers. Promoters should work on having the ability for a customer to search through the exhibitor list and "narrow down" the type of material they are looking for. If the promoter has the demographics of its exhibitor base this is easy to do. Way too many customers complain that they can't find anything at a show. A lot of exhibitors complain that way too many customers ask for stuff that is left at home.

 

Advertising - I'm not a fan of "Shotgun" advertising. Unless the promoter can track the return on that advertising by asking customers how they found out about the show the promoter can literally away a advertising budget. "All" dealers should be using their websites if they have one, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Forum boards, etc) to advertise what shows they will be attending. My convention calendar is out there for all to see up to 2017. I would love to see just a "little" bit of the advertising budget spent on the exhibitors that setup at a show. Promoters could email their exhibitors if new collections are being brought to the show, big ticket books etc. Shows with "buzz" do better then ones without it. And believe me you can feel when a show is going to be good or not.

 

 

 

 

[Sqeggs]

Location is very important. Dealers and customers like great places to go to. San Diego is a great show because of the location. You can tell how much a city likes its convention center by the surrounding businesses that support it. While I like the Reed NY show I can tell that NYC doesn't give 2 craps about the convention business.

 

If you mean they should have built the Javits Center in a nicer area, that's pretty tough to do in Manhattan. (Cuomo's proposal a couple of years ago to build a new, larger convention center in Queens was DOA.) The city did open a new subway station across the street last year. And the Hudson Yards/Far West Side has been booming recently, with a ton on new construction reviving what traditionally had been a gritty, industrial area.

 

End of NYC commercial!

[Buzzetta]

First off, lets get past the "Warm and fuzzy" about everybody being there to see each other.

 

The Bottom line to doing conventions for exhibitors is to MAKE MONEY.

 

Artists, Guests, Dollar Book/Low grade/High Grade, Toy, Art, Tee-Shirt, costume dealers are all there to make money.

 

A promoter should have every one of there Dealers categorized to get an idea of what demographic they are covering. Which means the salesman selling booths should know something about the business.

 

A promoter should try the best they can to get an idea of the customers walking through the door.

 

Pre-ticket online sales should try and gauge the demographic of what the customer is looking for.

 

Promoters should try to layout floor plans by demographics. Emerald City should READ THIS.

Scattering dealers all over the place is not a smart thing. However as a high grade dealer I really don't want to be next to Dollar book dealers who insist on covering every inch of their booths above and below with boxes and having squatters sitting on the floor going through their inventory all day long.

 

Ticket sales should not capture every dollar in the collectors pocket before they come through the dollar. If you are charging "Convention hall" ticket prices the promoter better be in a convention hall. Don't try to present/promote a flea market venue as a convention hall if it isn't. My customer base does not want to park their nice car under the highway or take the subway to the show.

 

Location is very important. Dealers and customers like great places to go to. San Diego is a great show because of the location. You can tell how much a city likes its convention center by the surrounding businesses that support it. While I like the Reed NY show I can tell that NYC doesn't give 2 craps about the convention business.

 

Security is very important to dealers. Do not design floor plans with booths that have nothing behind them if you can help it. The couple of shows that had this design resulted in a lot of reach through the curtain type thefts.

 

Loyalty programs. Promoters should reward their repeat customers and dealers with incentives for doing their shows.

 

Crooks, If a thief is caught at a show they should be BANNED from that show and future shows going forward. I don't give a rats if their rights are being compromised.

 

"GUESTS/ACTORS - Dealers should not be subsidizing GUESTS/ACTORS. I understand that each guest depending on their stature demands a minimum amount of signings/$$$$$$ to come to the show. That minimum is reflected in the price of the VIP packages that the promoter sells. I understand that they are picked up from the airport, flight is paid for, hotel etc. Those guests very rarely make me any $$$$.

 

Alcohol at shows. Now I'm all about the "Experience" but if the promoter is going to sell alcohol at the show you better have some security there to deal with the drunks. Having had a drunk split one of my books in New Orleans by stuffing a book back into my boxes didn't make me too happy at the time. Let me go on record by stating I will see a drunken brawl at a show in the future.

 

Promoters should work on providing their collector base with the ability to communicate what they are looking for from dealers. Promoters should work on having the ability for a customer to search through the exhibitor list and "narrow down" the type of material they are looking for. If the promoter has the demographics of its exhibitor base this is easy to do. Way too many customers complain that they can't find anything at a show. A lot of exhibitors complain that way too many customers ask for stuff that is left at home.

 

Advertising - I'm not a fan of "Shotgun" advertising. Unless the promoter can track the return on that advertising by asking customers how they found out about the show the promoter can literally away a advertising budget. "All" dealers should be using their websites if they have one, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Forum boards, etc) to advertise what shows they will be attending. My convention calendar is out there for all to see up to 2017. I would love to see just a "little" bit of the advertising budget spent on the exhibitors that setup at a show. Promoters could email their exhibitors if new collections are being brought to the show, big ticket books etc. Shows with "buzz" do better then ones without it. And believe me you can feel when a show is going to be good or not.

 

 

No food and drink should be allowed on the con floor in general. Alcohol though? That is a disaster waiting to happen. In recent years, the cosplay crowd has complained about being approached inappropriately. With alcohol thrown into the mix in Nawlin's I am surprised that there is not a higher rate of incident down there.

 

 

[kav]

Yeah we don't need a mac and cheese boy type incident for sure

[blazingbob]

Location is very important. Dealers and customers like great places to go to. San Diego is a great show because of the location. You can tell how much a city likes its convention center by the surrounding businesses that support it. While I like the Reed NY show I can tell that NYC doesn't give 2 craps about the convention business.

 

If you mean they should have built the Javits Center in a nicer area, that's pretty tough to do in Manhattan. (Cuomo's proposal a couple of years ago to build a new, larger convention center in Queens was DOA.) The city did open a new subway station across the street last year. And the Hudson Yards/Far West Side has been booming recently, with a ton on new construction reviving what traditionally had been a gritty, industrial area.

 

End of NYC commercial!

 

There are no nice hotels near the convention center.

[Buzzetta]

Location is very important. Dealers and customers like great places to go to. San Diego is a great show because of the location. You can tell how much a city likes its convention center by the surrounding businesses that support it. While I like the Reed NY show I can tell that NYC doesn't give 2 craps about the convention business.

 

If you mean they should have built the Javits Center in a nicer area, that's pretty tough to do in Manhattan. (Cuomo's proposal a couple of years ago to build a new, larger convention center in Queens was DOA.) The city did open a new subway station across the street last year. And the Hudson Yards/Far West Side has been booming recently, with a ton on new construction reviving what traditionally had been a gritty, industrial area.

 

End of NYC commercial!

 

There are no nice hotels near the convention center.

 

If you are looking for 5* hotels across the street then you are out of luck. If you are looking for a place to park your body for a night then there are plenty of options. I have had to stay at "The Pennsylvania" across from Penn Station one night about ten years ago when mass transit shut down and I missed the train due to a snowstorm. It wasn't ideal but it was doable.

 

 

The New Yorker / Wyndam on 34th and 8th isn't bad. It's actually far nicer than the Pennsylvania. This is out my wheelhouse though as I live around here so I would rather take the train.

 

[kav]

If you cosplay as a stack of boxes you can sleep inside the Con

[Sqeggs]

Location is very important. Dealers and customers like great places to go to. San Diego is a great show because of the location. You can tell how much a city likes its convention center by the surrounding businesses that support it. While I like the Reed NY show I can tell that NYC doesn't give 2 craps about the convention business.

 

If you mean they should have built the Javits Center in a nicer area, that's pretty tough to do in Manhattan. (Cuomo's proposal a couple of years ago to build a new, larger convention center in Queens was DOA.) The city did open a new subway station across the street last year. And the Hudson Yards/Far West Side has been booming recently, with a ton on new construction reviving what traditionally had been a gritty, industrial area.

 

End of NYC commercial!

 

There are no nice hotels near the convention center.

 

Depends on how you define "near." Within walking distance there are scores of them. Heck, the Plaza is within walking distance, but then I like to walk.

 

Seriously, there are plenty of decent hotels within a 15-20 minute walk.

[theThreat]

Just my .02,

 

But to the OP..have you ever thought that maybe a problem with the convention is setting admission prices too....Cheap?

 

I have a good friend who has been selling at conventions for the past 15 years. He told me, I quote, somewhat paraphrasing, "my best shows are the ones that have the highest entry fees".

 

Why would this be? According to him, the people who go to shows with free/cheap admission are "bottom feeders". He doesn't want bottom feeders. If you are willing to pay 50 to enter, then you need to spend enough money within that show to make the 50 justifiable. These collectors aren't looking to haggle, just spend. The 50 dollars isn't money being siphoned out of his hands and given to the convention organizers but a right of passage into a deeper jungle.