Whidon
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Wasn't sure If this should go in business or general.
Currently the event management company I work for does 1 industry shows along with a public bridal expo. My father founded the company 20 years ago after leaving a large agency to start his own company. With only 2 full time employees (him and I) we only run two shows per year. We do them very, very well. I joined the company about 6 years ago.
Right now "traditional" public shows are suffering, with at best stagnating attendance and exhibitors. Both exhibitors and attendees are simply doing more business online and the the whole "everything in one place" appeal of public shows is not as enticing as it was 20-30 years ago. Internet culture however is booming. People involved in internet/geek communities really want that "IRL" experience. The major event companies are slowly realizing this.
5 years ago we had been running a Wine industry show for a major industry publication for a very nice rate. This company hired someone to cut expenses and we came on the choping block. We started our own show that has essentially run their show out of business, and has become the biggest industry show outside California. Growing 70% each year so far.
As a result our small operation is flush with cash. Because of this we are considering expanding the business and trying out a new show. Were looking at doing some sort of geek/gaming/internet con thing. My experience with these cons is pretty limited beyond what I see from various media outlets and the Brony documentary. So I figured this would be a community to ask question and get thoughts/feedback from. As posters likely have experience going to the type of events we are looking at running.
My first thought was to do a sort of general traditional hobby store type stuff convention. With a MTG tournament ( perhaps type1 as that was super popular in NE when I played in 01-03) A Warhammer thing, maybe other TCG tourneys, get some pen and paper rpgs, anime/comic stuff, and cosplay contests ect... However while this would have been great 10 years I wonder if it is still a great idea now.
Gonna list a few questions. Howeverany comments/feelings/feedback on cons would be appreciated. Anything from people in the North East would be awesome I really need to learn about the con scene in New England in particular.
1. Why do you go to cons? What ones do you attend?
2. Do you prefer bigger cons or smaller ones? Our first event won't be huge, likely aiming for at most 150 exhibitors and 2k-3k attendees. perhaps only a fraction of that.
3. What do you dislike about cons? what could management usually stand to improve?
4. Are there any fandoms that could explode like Bronys did a few years back?
5. For stuff like Star Trek cons or similar things. How important is it to have cast/production/fandom stars?
6, How far will you travel to go to a con? We will have to decide to go with Boston/Ny/ or Philly or a smaller North East city like Providence or Syracuse.
Currently the event management company I work for does 1 industry shows along with a public bridal expo. My father founded the company 20 years ago after leaving a large agency to start his own company. With only 2 full time employees (him and I) we only run two shows per year. We do them very, very well. I joined the company about 6 years ago.
Right now "traditional" public shows are suffering, with at best stagnating attendance and exhibitors. Both exhibitors and attendees are simply doing more business online and the the whole "everything in one place" appeal of public shows is not as enticing as it was 20-30 years ago. Internet culture however is booming. People involved in internet/geek communities really want that "IRL" experience. The major event companies are slowly realizing this.
5 years ago we had been running a Wine industry show for a major industry publication for a very nice rate. This company hired someone to cut expenses and we came on the choping block. We started our own show that has essentially run their show out of business, and has become the biggest industry show outside California. Growing 70% each year so far.
As a result our small operation is flush with cash. Because of this we are considering expanding the business and trying out a new show. Were looking at doing some sort of geek/gaming/internet con thing. My experience with these cons is pretty limited beyond what I see from various media outlets and the Brony documentary. So I figured this would be a community to ask question and get thoughts/feedback from. As posters likely have experience going to the type of events we are looking at running.
My first thought was to do a sort of general traditional hobby store type stuff convention. With a MTG tournament ( perhaps type1 as that was super popular in NE when I played in 01-03) A Warhammer thing, maybe other TCG tourneys, get some pen and paper rpgs, anime/comic stuff, and cosplay contests ect... However while this would have been great 10 years I wonder if it is still a great idea now.
Gonna list a few questions. Howeverany comments/feelings/feedback on cons would be appreciated. Anything from people in the North East would be awesome I really need to learn about the con scene in New England in particular.
1. Why do you go to cons? What ones do you attend?
2. Do you prefer bigger cons or smaller ones? Our first event won't be huge, likely aiming for at most 150 exhibitors and 2k-3k attendees. perhaps only a fraction of that.
3. What do you dislike about cons? what could management usually stand to improve?
4. Are there any fandoms that could explode like Bronys did a few years back?
5. For stuff like Star Trek cons or similar things. How important is it to have cast/production/fandom stars?
6, How far will you travel to go to a con? We will have to decide to go with Boston/Ny/ or Philly or a smaller North East city like Providence or Syracuse.
