Show Report- Otakon 2010

I've decided that we should write up show reports, both for our own future use, and for anyone else who needs to decide if a show is worth doing. We've done many shows this year already, but our most recent was Otakon, an anime convention in Baltimore, MD. This was our first time attending Otakon, and we had braced ourselves for this to be a huge show.

Specs:
July 30-August 1
Cost of table: $110 for a 6 ft
Juried: no
Tables/chairs provided: yes
Indoor/outdoor: Indoor
Attendance: 30,000
Profit: Very high

PROS:
-pre-reg lines were fast, and we were able to get our badges fairly quickly.
-I liked that artists were spaced around pretty evenly. We sold plushies, and don't like to be put right next to other plush makers.
-At conventions, we usually run into a snafu about Artist's Alley vs. dealer's room. Usually, if it's handmade it goes in the AA, and retail stuff goes in the DR. But sometimes a con only wants 2D stuff (prints, comics, fanart) in the AA and we have to be in the DR with the retailers, which sucks! Luckily, this con was good about having a wide variety of things in the AA, and we really enjoyed it.
-Long hours are good, but the hours were from 10 am-12 am, which was a little much.
-I liked that the Dealer's room closed earlier Fri and Sat, so we could get more people in the AA, and we closed earlier on Sun, so we got a chance to look in the Dealer's room.
-The fire alarm went off on Sat. and everyone had to evacuate, leaving everything behind. We were outside for an hour in the heat. The pro on this is that con staff had the good sense to let dealers and artists in first so that we could protect our wares.


CONS:
-The hours in the AA were too long for us to be able to do anything else at the con. Shutting down at 9 or 10 would have helped.
-We had originally intended on splitting a table, but since there were other open spots, we decided to buy our own space. This was a good thing for us, but the con to it was there was no discount for buying an AA table on Sat., even though we only got to use it for 2 days.
-There seemed to be a lack of communication between con staff and the convention center security


Overall, we enjoyed it, and plan on coming back next year.