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Wizard World Peoria -- Postponed
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39 posts in this topic

On ‎9‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 6:07 AM, TheWatcher said:
On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 10:25 PM, Red84 said:

• 3-Day Weekend Admissions are: $79.95 in Advance & $90.00 On-Site
• 1-Day Friday Admissions are: $39.95 in Advance & $50.00 On-Site
• 1-Day Saturday Admissions are: $49.95 in Advance & $60.00 On-Site
• 1-Day Sunday Admissions are: $44.95 in Advance & $55.00 On-Site

:whatthe: :facepalm:

higher than prices for SAN FRANCISCO COMIC CON.  This all seems like a good idea.  To be fair, I don't know a lot about Peoria.  Maybe they have a secretly affluent large comic-loving community.  And secret airports that celebs can fly to??

 

Wizard World Peoria and WW Springfield (Missouri?) in consecutive weeks???  I guess if they are pulling back on scale and keeping things professional but running well, maybe they can turn profits.  But those price points are HIGH AF for customers.

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19 minutes ago, Bearcatcoach said:

Booth fees for the new shows according to information at the Wizard end of show meeting at Chicago will be $800 for a 10x10 retail booth.  Pretty steep for an untested show but less than the fees for the established shows

I've long been of the opinion that if Wizard charged $500 for a 10 x 10 booth they would have no trouble filling their shows with vendors and may make more money in the long run. Certainly a ton of empty booths at Chicago would have been filled at those prices. It is also a poorly kept secret that Wizard will fire sale booths as a show approaches, and they'd have less need for that if they charged reasonable prices.

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5 minutes ago, mysterio said:

I've long been of the opinion that if Wizard charged $500 for a 10 x 10 booth they would have no trouble filling their shows with vendors and may make more money in the long run. Certainly a ton of empty booths at Chicago would have been filled at those prices. It is also a poorly kept secret that Wizard will fire sale booths as a show approaches, and they'd have less need for that if they charged reasonable prices.

I know years ago that they charged less for booths the closer they show came but I am pretty sure that is no longer the case.  It has been a while since I have talked to a dealer that they got discounted rates as the show gets close....probably one of the reasons for so many unfilled booth spaces at Chicago this year.

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2 minutes ago, Bearcatcoach said:

I know years ago that they charged less for booths the closer they show came but I am pretty sure that is no longer the case.  It has been a while since I have talked to a dealer that they got discounted rates as the show gets close....probably one of the reasons for so many unfilled booth spaces at Chicago this year.

It is certainly possible that they changed that policy as their financial woes deepened. I remember several years ago at WW Austin they had two of the most nonsensical booths I had ever seen. One guy had giant Rubbermaid tubs of individual loose Lego bricks that he was selling, and another booth was full of incense at 25 cents a stick. You know that those booths either got a super steep discount, or had the worst business sense of anyone I have ever seen (maybe both).

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7 minutes ago, mysterio said:
29 minutes ago, Bearcatcoach said:

Booth fees for the new shows according to information at the Wizard end of show meeting at Chicago will be $800 for a 10x10 retail booth.  Pretty steep for an untested show but less than the fees for the established shows

I've long been of the opinion that if Wizard charged $500 for a 10 x 10 booth they would have no trouble filling their shows with vendors and may make more money in the long run. Certainly a ton of empty booths at Chicago would have been filled at those prices. It is also a poorly kept secret that Wizard will fire sale booths as a show approaches, and they'd have less need for that if they charged reasonable prices.

$800 is ALSO more than was charged at SF Comic Con.  Especially for Peoria, which is now LESS than two months out with veeerrryyy few guests announced.  Who are they going to get?? IN Peoria, or Biloxi, or Springfield???  If was an LCS I'd just pay one of my minimum wage employees to stand outside and handout flyers or coupons to my store and host some type of after-con party/sale/costume contest at my store.  My guess is the comic shops ain't that far away from the convention centers.  If I wasn't going to pay $1200 for a booth in Chicago, I'm sure AF not going to pay $800 for a booth in Peoria.

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2 minutes ago, revat said:

$800 is ALSO more than was charged at SF Comic Con.  Especially for Peoria, which is now LESS than two months out with veeerrryyy few guests announced.  Who are they going to get?? IN Peoria, or Biloxi, or Springfield???  If was an LCS I'd just pay one of my minimum wage employees to stand outside and handout flyers or coupons to my store and host some type of after-con party/sale/costume contest at my store.  My guess is the comic shops ain't that far away from the convention centers.  If I wasn't going to pay $1200 for a booth in Chicago, I'm sure AF not going to pay $800 for a booth in Peoria.

$1,200 is not as bad as it looks for Chicago, which is a 4 day show with a lot of traffic and comic buyers, but it is still higher than it ought to be. $800 for a first year show in Peoria with very little lead time is ludicrous.

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3 minutes ago, revat said:

$800 is ALSO more than was charged at SF Comic Con.  Especially for Peoria, which is now LESS than two months out with veeerrryyy few guests announced.  Who are they going to get?? IN Peoria, or Biloxi, or Springfield???  If was an LCS I'd just pay one of my minimum wage employees to stand outside and handout flyers or coupons to my store and host some type of after-con party/sale/costume contest at my store.  My guess is the comic shops ain't that far away from the convention centers.  If I wasn't going to pay $1200 for a booth in Chicago, I'm sure AF not going to pay $800 for a booth in Peoria.

Actually in Chicago you would have to pay $1500 for a booth....but your point is well taken....$800 at a new show is too much.  $500 like mysterio said....more doable....

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10 minutes ago, Bearcatcoach said:

Actually in Chicago you would have to pay $1500 for a booth....but your point is well taken....$800 at a new show is too much.  $500 like mysterio said....more doable....

Yep, you're right, it is $1500. Still, I'd be more willing to pay that in a long-established show with proven traffic like Chicago. Over half that number for a first year show in a very minor market is stupid.

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19 hours ago, mysterio said:

It is certainly possible that they changed that policy as their financial woes deepened. I remember several years ago at WW Austin they had two of the most nonsensical booths I had ever seen. One guy had giant Rubbermaid tubs of individual loose Lego bricks that he was selling, and another booth was full of incense at 25 cents a stick. You know that those booths either got a super steep discount, or had the worst business sense of anyone I have ever seen (maybe both).

You should have seen some of the booths at WW Chicago this year. When PNC Bank and some local bathroom remodeling company sets up at a WW show, you know they're screwed.

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15 minutes ago, mschmidt said:

You should have seen some of the booths at WW Chicago this year. When PNC Bank and some local bathroom remodeling company sets up at a WW show, you know they're screwed.

Oh I saw those. They didn't seem that strange to me, because I have been used to seeing that sort of at past Wizard shows. One year at Austin they had a huge booth doing hair and makeup in the con. Insurance booths are pretty common too. Even Fan Expo gets these kinds of booths in their show, as did Alamo City.

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On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 4:57 PM, Bearcatcoach said:

Booth fees for the new shows according to information at the Wizard end of show meeting at Chicago will be $800 for a 10x10 retail booth.  Pretty steep for an untested show but less than the fees for the established shows

I may look at a couple of these shows since many are in the southeast and Midwest. With the discount for multiple shows, the prices seem almost reasonable.

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Is there some way to bet on who will have the worst attendance? Biloxi, Springfield (MO), Peoria? I'm kinda feeling Biloxi, but I think they're more likely to have better weather at the time of their show relative to the other two...quite a toss-up.

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7 minutes ago, revat said:

Is there some way to bet on who will have the worst attendance? Biloxi, Springfield (MO), Peoria? I'm kinda feeling Biloxi, but I think they're more likely to have better weather at the time of their show relative to the other two...quite a toss-up.

I doubt you'd get a straight story from Wizard on the numbers, so how would you declare a winner?

And don't forget the Montgomery show, it's in a hotel last I checked. 

Edited by mysterio
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3 minutes ago, mysterio said:
11 minutes ago, revat said:

Is there some way to bet on who will have the worst attendance? Biloxi, Springfield (MO), Peoria? I'm kinda feeling Biloxi, but I think they're more likely to have better weather at the time of their show relative to the other two...quite a toss-up.

I doubt you'd get a straight story from Wizard on the numbers, so how would you declare a winner?

And don't forget the Montgomery show, it's in a hotel last I checked. 

Good call on Montgomery.  For sure it'd be hard to trust WW #'s, but you could also just bet on what you think their REPORTED #'s would be, regardless of actual attendance.  You can take into account what motives they would have to raise the numbers of a given show about another show.  IF you thought they might lie, would it be more advantageous to over-report on Peoria vs Biloxi?  or Springfield over Montgomery?  And that assumes they're smart enough to run the right forecasting models to understand which lie would be the most profitable in the long or short run.

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52 minutes ago, TheWatcher said:

Why does this not surprise me

What surprises me is that Wizard hasn't learned anything from their 3x cancellation of ABQ and 2x cancellation of Orlando. And those were scheduled much farther in advance of their dates than these ill-conceived late 2017 shows. It makes me even more confident/depressed that the 2018 Chicago dates ultimately won't matter, because Wizard will be gone by then...

Edited by mysterio
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