Volunteers where super nice, the only thing that slightly bugged me was trying to give my TAX ID to proper staff and sent in circles from waiting for someone to come to my table to get it, to being told by said person to run to the vendor info table to give them my info, then told they can't take it. Just was a slight headache worrying about it.
This con passed my expectations overall hitting slightly above my ideal con profit, hotel was cheap and nearby, con tables where a bit pricey for the size, but worth it in my eyes profit wise if you keep your costs low. This con broke even the first day, and sat& sunday where my profits. I booked it again for next year.
I'm still a pretty new artist to conventions, but from what I've seen, they know how to run a convention well. They used to run the convention from the Chapel Hills mall, but have since moved to the Broadmoor World Arena, which was a nice upgrade. I didn't get a chance to explore the panel rooms, but they are definitely better then the ones in the mall, as they are actual rooms and not just areas sectioned off by curtains.
At the mall the Dealers room was was originally in the upper floor of the mall, while the AA was in the lower. At the Arena the set up is still split up, but between the main sports arena, the outer ring area where the food vendors would be at a sports game, and a very large practice/weight lifting room (at least I think that's what it was). The AA and also the celebrity booths were in the main arena, which was were I was. Since our tickets for 2020 rolled over to 2021 a lot of artist ended up not showing up, so the AA did look a little empty for the majority of day 1, but the staff made sure that the AA looked full by day 2. They even let us expand our tables for no extra cost if we wanted.
As for a couple awkward things about the con:
They implemented the use of the loud speaker in the arena to let people know when and where things were happening. It did scare me a bit when they would use it as it was quite loud and it did interrupt a few conversations, but it wasn't too bad.
It was a little awkward for the dealers in the practice room on day one, as a lot of the attendees were not aware of the other room, but that was fixed by day 2.
It was a little awkward to navigate the parking for the vendors as there wasn't really any signage to show where we were to load and unload, but it wasn't too bad to find.
Extra Bits:
Table cost was $265 for one 5ft table with full table covering and two badges, so a bit on the expensive side, but I was able to make back that cost by the end of day 1.
This con was good for me when it came to what I sold as I typically do a 70/30 split between fan art and original art (the being fan art). So most of the stuff I sold was fan art, but I did sell some original things as well.
All in all though, I would definitely recommend this con for new or returning artists.
