Hey everybody!
We just got back from our first big convention, FanX in Salt Lake City.
Since we’re headquartered in Salt Lake, it made sense to make FanX our first big show. We even sponsored the convention, allowing us to have a bigger presence than we otherwise would.
We had a big booth with gaming tables set up so our guest Sandy Petersen could talk about Cthulhu Wars and all the games he designed over the years. It was so fun to see him interacting with fans new and old while discussing how Cthulhu would beat Superman, or why the Sleeper uses laziness as a weapon.
It really was an incredible weekend.
Now, I know a lot of you go to comic cons and gaming shows, but I don’t know how many of you have ever been a vendor. When you’re setting up a booth and lugging in tons (literally) of merchandise, the entire experience takes on a different feeling.
Here’s a great example. We decided to do something fun with our set-up, and printed massive 8-foot tall pieces of artwork that would stretch around the corners of the booth. We picked two pieces of Frank Frazetta art from our license and two Cthulhu pieces.
They looked amazing!
But carrying them in and putting them up was not an easy experience.
We tend to take things like that for granted when we’re walking around a con. You see a cool booth and don’t think for a second how much of a pain it was to set up. You simply enjoy the aesthetic and move on. I’ve been to comic cons across the country and have had an amazing time going to each. Sometimes it’s been as a patron and other times a seller, but never at this scale. I’m used to setting up an author table or something small that takes a half hour.
Setting up the Quimbley booth?
Six hours!
It definitely gave me a new appreciation for the work that goes into some of the bigger, more elaborate booths. Brandon Sanderson had one that featured a fully enclosed shop with lights, arches, bookshelves, and windows. It was beyond cool looking.
But I don’t even want to think about what it took to put that thing together and take it down!
And if you think you’re exhausted at the end of a three-day convention as a guest, imagine how some of these vendors feel as they’re lugging out all their merchandise and banners and tables and all of that. Again, we had that experience for the first time, and I can tell you, it was brutal.
Still, even with all of that, there's something about events and fan shows that make all the hard work and long hours worth it. I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but there’s a strange sort of symbiotic energy that moves between people at cons. You give energy to the people coming by your booth or table, and somehow you get even more energy in return. You’ll be on your feet all day moving around and chatting with folks, but when the show ends you still feel energized by all the people you talked and smiled with. Instead of being tired, you’re ready to keep going for hours still.
That was our experience last weekend. The hours were long and the number of people we talked to were enormous, but when the lights turned off, we still had the energy we needed. The excitement of the event buoyed us up.
Now, the day after the con ended?
I’ll be honest, it was like we’d been hit by a truck. Still, I don’t think any of us at Quimbley’s would trade away the experience we had at FanX. There were too many smiles, too much laughter, too many new relationships forged. It was like we went in as strangers and left with a bunch of new friends.
That’s the power of a good con, and I know many of you have felt it firsthand. There’s something about being in a place with a bunch of like-minded people all wanting to have a fun experience. Communities form where none existed before. That’s actually what I personally love about events and conventions, especially geek-based ones. There is something for everyone there, be it a product, an experience, or an unexpected moment. And best of all? Everyone is welcome. It doesn’t matter what specific fandom you’re part of, or whether you like Star Wars, superheroes, or anime. There is a place for you at these events. At the best shows I’ve been to, no one is left out or forgotten. You have a friend at every turn.
Needless to say, we’ll be going to many more conventions in the future. Even with the set-up, take-down, and long hours, cons give more than they take.
At least that’s been my experience.
I hope you find that to be the case as well.
Talk to you soon, and remember, think outside the universe!
