LTU Expo

I do love this very small con for what it is: a simple otaku club college con. I'll break this con down in categories!

Attendance:
- The attendance here is ALWAYS small. 2023 being smaller than previous years because the con did not fall on 4/20 and there was about like 2 other events happening at the same time in the same area.

Staff:
- Extremely sweet staff with great communication. Emails will be answered promptly, including discord messages. Vendor information is given in both email and discord server form.
- They want to promote 2024's LTU Expo better to raise attendance and let vendors offer feedback. They're so nice and just want people to enjoy themselves :')

Layout:
- It is in a hall in a college. Do not expect much. The work with what they have lol.

Affordability:
- Tables this year were $50. Okay amount for a one-day con. Especially if you are local.

Sales:
- For me personally, I made what I always make, which is ~$400. I never expect more or less lol. Mind you, I do pretty well at almost every con I go to just because of what I sale.
- For other people I heard they didn't even make back the table costs 🙁 But again it depends on what you sale / your artistic skill level.

As a new local vendor, I went here because it wasn't even too far and the other artists seemed to have success in the past. But this year is the reboot since covid- and show up was pretty bad.
The students there mentioned that they didnt even know there was LTUX happening - we all packed up hours early. Plus a drop shipper took up the little crowd there was; i barely made the table back.
Also, people kept asking me where the events were?

WORTH NOTING: They sent an email to artists saying that they received critique and is going to fix the problems next year. Since they were successful in the past and I am pretty local, ill keep yall updated and give it a shot next year!

I've attended LTU Expo for 2018 and 2019, and both times they have been very good experiences! It's a one day con that you can make a decent amount of money off of. Attendance for 2019 was down slightly (probably because the con for this year fell on 4/20 and the college kids were out...well. 4/20 man) but overall still a nice turnout! The tables are only $30 and very big and deep (8' width and like 3' deep?), so you'll have lots of room to put your stuff. The layout was a lot better this year than last year so that's a great improvement! The staff is friendly and will try to help you if they're not running around doing other errands and checking on artists. They also offer a little snack menu and take your orders! (So great). The con-goers are also very nice! It's always so great to be here.

There's really no bad things I can say about this con. It's a fun little 1 day event that you can easily profit off of if you're local. I recommend it!

Heard about LTU after vending at Alma this year, and was actually late to the artist call, but their lovely staff took my submission anyhow, and off we went to the con! Instructions were very easy to understand, and the staff even took time to set up a discord chat for Vendors/Artists for us to communicate in a swift manner before and after the event.

First off--the college venue. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, perfect! Very popular and easygoing for cosplayers of all ages, and even allows for those on campus to get a feel for the con. However, there were many issues with how this venue was utilized as far as the layout was concerned. While the "cafeteria" area near a main stairwell was where 70% of the action was, the REST of us were put into a dark hallway (think of a U shape with the ends leading back to the cafeteria) as well as small rooms with more artists inside. I was rather unlucky, as for some reason they decided to put 2 artists in with a cosplayer and 4 other promoting conventions. No offense to them (they were quite lovely to converse with), but those looking in only saw 2 tables to visit, and more often than not ended up avoiding our room altogether if they weren't interested in meeting the cosplayer or learning about the conventions. Did that pull away from my profit? YES. About halfway through the convention everyone tabling that room left, leaving me alone, seeing as not that many people were coming in. Meanwhile, when I visisted the cafeteria, people were EVERYWHERE! Attendance is NOT the issue here--it's the layout. Though for those who are going to apply next year (which you should 100%), they have promised to eradicate this issue entirely, and move everyone into the cafeteria (since we could all fit anyway).

After everyone left my room, I ended up inquiring about moving my table, since some artists never showed and some free ones were available in the hall outside where traffic was! Staff said I could...but when I asked for assistance (I'm a 1 woman ship ladies, gents, and folks)...staff was silencio. I ended up being offered help by another ARTIST! (<3 this community) Was I glad I could move? Yes! Was I upset that the staff seemingly ignored this issue? Yes! But ultimately, I understand that things can get busy. Still, a vendor should never have to move their table because of an issue caused by staff, and even THEN have to move it by themselves (or in my case, assisted by a lovely artist).

Once I was moved and situated, I noticed a significant increase in profit, but by then the increase was still minimal. Did I make enough to come back? Absolutely, and I will--this con is free, and the staff have taken our input to heart and promise to make changes next year, which I hope to be apart of! I met many other artists (and even recognized some friends from past conventions with the help of their discord server), and even got to make people smile w/ my Yuri DDLC cosplay too.

TLDR: They are working on improvement, and have a lot of great stuff planned! GO! It's definitely worth it.

For a one-day con held in a university atrium at no admission or booth cost, this con did splendidly well. The staff were super kind and attentive, and made food for everyone available to purchase, as well as there being university kitchen options in the room as well! There were probably about 50-60 unique faces there, but I still pulled in over $200 which I felt was really successful for an event this size and duration that I signed up for absolute last-minute.

The atmosphere was nice, I was in significant unexpected pain but never felt like I wanted to leave to handle it at home, the atrium itself is BEAUTIFUL, and I got to see some artist friends again that I met at Washi Con, as well. ♡

I did have one issue after packing up where a student and his friends were essentially stalking me until I could get picked up...they wouldn't take no for an answer and followed me and kept trying to talk to me. That is in no way the con's fault, I just wish there had been more than only 1 security guard in the whole building. Even with the occasional small pack of students walking through, it didn't feel very safe because of that, and if I were to attend again I would definitely need to figure out transportation that would arrive on time.