The convention staff had managed to mistreat the hotel staff so badly there was almost a feud atmosphere any time the convention staff needed anything from the hotel proper and the hotel was incredibly reluctant to provide anything save for room space to the con-goers.
The convention staff themselves were wholly incompetent, allowed the con's scheduling to run way over time for everything from starting ceremonies to closing ceremonies, and treated each other's department's with disdain and looked down on each other.
The Artist Alley "juried" process was more than likely just automatic acceptance for every artist that appeared at their show last year and then filling in the cracks when an old artist dropped out. There was no major changes in the artist lineup which led to a boring vendor floor/hall that con-goers actively and openly complained about during the convention.
After learning that the conventions had a known sex offender on their staff and that the con's heads were embezzling money from the convention I'm not at all surprised that the convention was losing money hand over fist and couldn't keep good staff and exciting programming running. Like I said: glad it's dead. May the remaining Wisconsin conventions step up to the plate in its absence.
In past years I would have given this convention a higher rating. Usually acceptance and payment were done within a month of each other, emails were actually responded to in a timely manner, and we were notified of location at least a week and a half before Con.
I plan to still give 2019 one more shot since I exceeded my personal goal this year, but I’m not expecting better communication results.
