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Bekah
Sam
Bekah
Worth it, but maybe if you're local and in Florida
I've gone to this con for years as a local in Miami, but recently the past couple years as an artist and I say its worth it??
This con a with a LOT of people going to it, at least around 50,000+ consistently for the last few years now (and growing). The kind of people you'll be met with are those who may want to pay less than what your stuff is priced for. I had several people asking if they can get a lower price than my bundle deal price on my stickers and key chains and I feel if I didn't bundle deals, I don't think I would have made as much as I did this year.
I myself did very very well for this con, and profit wise was good? (then again I bought merch to last me a while, but you can make back what you spent on a table). As for my other artist friends who were als in the artist alley, they didn't do so well as I did and it was mostly due to the fact their work was mostly original and not what was popular at the time so I highly suggest you bring or make some merch that is from something popular because you may not do extremely well if you're mostly or entirely original. A good portion of the patrons are looking for whats popular anime wise and deals as well, like this year making Boku no Hero stuff really boosted my sales. There are people who genuinely do love the artist alley and don't mind people who don't paying what you have priced, but you will mostly have people who don't really understand that we aren't like the exhibitors. And while this con doesn't have a jury to judge you to get in this con, people in this area can be really picky on who to buy from as well if you're not their aesthetic or not well known. So if you're starting off, I suggesting sharing a table if you feel unsure
As for the staff, they're fine. Because their con is big it may take a while to a response from them with emails, but they are generally good with responding. The only issue I had was from 2017 with a rude staff member (she has red hair and glasses) and was ultimately unhelpful in general in regards to loading in and out (that year the exhibitor kit wasn't very helpful). But other than her, they were fine.
And lastly for table placement, I think was ok. The con changed where the artist alley is in the front of the con instead of the usual back, but people pass it on their way in the con and go to the exhibitors tho and for 2019 they are changing back to Miami Beach Convention Center so I don't know if this will change....
As the con overall, I feel its a good con to go to and there are amazing artists who com every year, but the table cost is jumping from $250 to $275 for 2019 and if you're used to making like $3000+ and your'e out of state, I feel you should think about it more before coming
August 29, 2018, 12:29 am
This con a with a LOT of people going to it, at least around 50,000+ consistently for the last few years now (and growing). The kind of people you'll be met with are those who may want to pay less than what your stuff is priced for. I had several people asking if they can get a lower price than my bundle deal price on my stickers and key chains and I feel if I didn't bundle deals, I don't think I would have made as much as I did this year.
I myself did very very well for this con, and profit wise was good? (then again I bought merch to last me a while, but you can make back what you spent on a table). As for my other artist friends who were als in the artist alley, they didn't do so well as I did and it was mostly due to the fact their work was mostly original and not what was popular at the time so I highly suggest you bring or make some merch that is from something popular because you may not do extremely well if you're mostly or entirely original. A good portion of the patrons are looking for whats popular anime wise and deals as well, like this year making Boku no Hero stuff really boosted my sales. There are people who genuinely do love the artist alley and don't mind people who don't paying what you have priced, but you will mostly have people who don't really understand that we aren't like the exhibitors. And while this con doesn't have a jury to judge you to get in this con, people in this area can be really picky on who to buy from as well if you're not their aesthetic or not well known. So if you're starting off, I suggesting sharing a table if you feel unsure
As for the staff, they're fine. Because their con is big it may take a while to a response from them with emails, but they are generally good with responding. The only issue I had was from 2017 with a rude staff member (she has red hair and glasses) and was ultimately unhelpful in general in regards to loading in and out (that year the exhibitor kit wasn't very helpful). But other than her, they were fine.
And lastly for table placement, I think was ok. The con changed where the artist alley is in the front of the con instead of the usual back, but people pass it on their way in the con and go to the exhibitors tho and for 2019 they are changing back to Miami Beach Convention Center so I don't know if this will change....
As the con overall, I feel its a good con to go to and there are amazing artists who com every year, but the table cost is jumping from $250 to $275 for 2019 and if you're used to making like $3000+ and your'e out of state, I feel you should think about it more before coming
Sam
Never Again
(I went in 2014, fyi)
I could go on an on about my and other’s experiences, but the gist of it was that it was just not worth it. I spoke to several artists and vendors who all said the same thing, many were experienced AA or vendors who have been to several other cons before.
A lot of the parents were pretty rude with their kids too. I had several kids come up to my work wanting to get things and their parents really being mean to them about it. Nasty atmosphere x/ I even had people asking me what AA was. There were even people selling stolen artwork.
None of the staff, as kind as they tried to be, knew what they were doing or what anything was. There was no information posted anywhere about anything, most of the con goers were lost, terrible organization, no help anywhere, overly expensive food (and you couldn’t bring any of your own in, not even water!), zero traffic for AA and fairly bad traffic for vendors - the list goes on and on. Even with the people who did check out people's tables, almost no one bought anything.
Save the time, stress and money and do NOT get a table at this con.
December 6, 2015, 10:31 pm
I could go on an on about my and other’s experiences, but the gist of it was that it was just not worth it. I spoke to several artists and vendors who all said the same thing, many were experienced AA or vendors who have been to several other cons before.
A lot of the parents were pretty rude with their kids too. I had several kids come up to my work wanting to get things and their parents really being mean to them about it. Nasty atmosphere x/ I even had people asking me what AA was. There were even people selling stolen artwork.
None of the staff, as kind as they tried to be, knew what they were doing or what anything was. There was no information posted anywhere about anything, most of the con goers were lost, terrible organization, no help anywhere, overly expensive food (and you couldn’t bring any of your own in, not even water!), zero traffic for AA and fairly bad traffic for vendors - the list goes on and on. Even with the people who did check out people's tables, almost no one bought anything.
Save the time, stress and money and do NOT get a table at this con.
