MEGACON Orlando May 24-27, 2018 1 1

[Kevin Boyd]

16 hours ago, 1p36DSA said:

7th year in a row and against me and my husbands better judgment like joey said, should be the last. Too few comic dealers, parking was the worst it has been since We have started going.

Since fan expo took over their creator list has turned into cover artists and so few true classic creators or indie creators. Actor list is nothing special and half cancel before con every year anyways. 

This con has turned into a cosplay con at best

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but we had over 90 comic guests including Jim Lee, David Finch, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Rob Liefeld, J. Scott Campbell, Neal Adams, Tom Grummett, Alex Saviuk, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Pat Broderick, Ed McGuinness, Dave Dorman, Alex Maleev, Yanick Paquette, etc. Almost everyone I listed has been working in comics for over 20 years...some do great covers, but they aren’t known exclusively for them. There definitely were hot cover artists and they had big lines. 

We also had a big selection of comic book writers.

If you want an oldies con exclusively I can’t help you. And those poor cosplayers are harmless. They have as much right to be on the lawn as we do

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Kevin Boyd

[___]

about as good response as fan expos customer service gives....sorry tickets mailed out, we can’t help you 

[joeypost]

I wonder how many of these cosplayers spend thousands of dollars at the show?  

[jams]

Kevin, 

 Thanks for putting together such a good comic writer and artist lineup.  We had a great weekend and are looking forward to next year. 

Here are a few things we had signed at the show.  

[1Cool]

14 hours ago, joeypost said:

I wonder how many of these cosplayers spend thousands of dollars at the show?  

I 100% agree but from a promoters stand point they spent the same if not more to get in then the big comic spenders (since some get dealers badges).  Just another big con that has outgrown the need to actually have a plethora of comic book sellers.

[Kevin Boyd]

Cosplayers pay admission, they have their thing. Comic buyers have their thing. People who come for creators have their thing. People who buy Funko pops have their thing. People who want statues or action figures or celebrity photos or embroidered underwear.... they all have their thing. Most of those people pay to be there and are happy with the experience. I certainly want our vendors to do well, I don't want them not to do well. But you say parking sucked... sure did. That facility's parking lots were slammed. Someone else says no classic guests and it's all about cosplay... come on. 

[joeypost]

1 hour ago, Kevin Boyd said:

Cosplayers pay admission, they have their thing. Comic buyers have their thing. People who come for creators have their thing. People who buy Funko pops have their thing. People who want statues or action figures or celebrity photos or embroidered underwear.... they all have their thing. Most of those people pay to be there and are happy with the experience. I certainly want our vendors to do well, I don't want them not to do well. But you say parking sucked... sure did. That facility's parking lots were slammed. Someone else says no classic guests and it's all about cosplay... come on. 

“Sure did” doesn’t fix problems. Saying we are doing everything in our power to make the experience better for everyone is, at the very least, a reply people can digest. 

 

Since everyone one has their “thing” maybe the things can be broken out into segments or sections where, say the comic guys, don’t have to wade through 30,000 people doing their cosplay thing. Don’t know why I am even suggesting this as I already know the response. 

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

1 hour ago, Kevin Boyd said:

Cosplayers pay admission, they have their thing. Comic buyers have their thing. People who come for creators have their thing. People who buy Funko pops have their thing. People who want statues or action figures or celebrity photos or embroidered underwear.... they all have their thing. Most of those people pay to be there and are happy with the experience. I certainly want our vendors to do well, I don't want them not to do well. But you say parking sucked... sure did. That facility's parking lots were slammed. Someone else says no classic guests and it's all about cosplay... come on. 

Kevin, I will pass on what some of the comic dealers told me directly: they don't like the way the promoters run the show.  I don't mean the number of people in the door, which has never been a problem for Mega-Con, I mean the actual logistics of setting up.  Complaints from the last few years run the gamut from "they don't provide table clothes or carpeting, like MegaCon used to...so it looks like a flea-market", to complaints about the actual security, or lack there-of, during load-in, to issues this year with someone walking around making sure that tables weren't over the red taped lines on the floor by even an inch, even when the dealer who was scolded for not being "in compliance" was not the one at fault (the guy behind him who actually took up way too much space was).  I think these are mostly minor complaints, that can be easily addressed.  And let's face it, if a dealer has a huge weekend in sales, he isn't going to care that the floor isn't carpeted, but there just seems to be a general sense of "meh" that the dealers get from the promoters, as if their concerns don't matter.  It seems to be a customer service issue, which, considering the number of open/empty booths I saw this year, may require a bit of attention on your part.

Edited May 29, 2018 by JiveTurkeyMoFo

[Doc McCoy]

1 hour ago, Kevin Boyd said:

But you say parking sucked... sure did

@Kevin Boyd any chance next year's show moves back to the North/South Concourse?  Not sure what the logistics were this year, but 2017's show held in that part of the convention center had plenty of parking, while this year's show held in the West Concourse provided the smallest parking area at the Orange County Convention Center.

[joeypost]

1 hour ago, Kevin Boyd said:

Cosplayers pay admission, they have their thing. Comic buyers have their thing. People who come for creators have their thing. People who buy Funko pops have their thing. People who want statues or action figures or celebrity photos or embroidered underwear.... they all have their thing. Most of those people pay to be there and are happy with the experience. I certainly want our vendors to do well, I don't want them not to do well. But you say parking sucked... sure did. That facility's parking lots were slammed. Someone else says no classic guests and it's all about cosplay... come on. 

“Sure did” doesn’t fix problems. Saying we are doing everything in our power to make the experience better for everyone is, at the very least, a reply people can digest. 

 

Since everyone one has their “thing” maybe the things can be broken out into segments or sections where, say the comic guys, don’t have to wade through 30,000 people doing their cosplay thing. Don’t know why I am even suggesting this as I already know the response. 

[___]

13 hours ago, jams said:

Kevin, 

 Thanks for putting together such a good comic writer and artist lineup.  We had a great weekend and are looking forward to next year. 

Here are a few things we had signed at the show.  

[zosocane]

One of the frustrating things was the lack of a map to figure out who was where.  If there was a hard copy (typically the centerfold in a convention programme), I never saw it.  And, sorry, but a convention map on an App isn't practical, especially if your phone is dead.

[jams]

Our booth number was not actually on the map that was on the website and App.  We still had a good show because we brought some really nice books that people were looking for, but I do agree a printed map that was correct would have helped.  Also it would be nice to have the Comic  Aritst and Writers closer to the actual people that sell their comics.   

PS.  Kevin does a great job, and I know he takes our concerns seriously and passes them along to the right people.  

[Kevin Boyd]

2 hours ago, JiveTurkeyMoFo said:

Kevin, I will pass on what some of the comic dealers told me directly: they don't like the way the promoters run the show.  I don't mean the number of people in the door, which has never been a problem for Mega-Con, I mean the actual logistics of setting up.  Complaints from the last few years run the gamut from "they don't provide table clothes or carpeting, like MegaCon used to...so it looks like a flea-market", to complaints about the actual security, or lack there-of, during load-in, to issues this year with someone walking around making sure that tables weren't over the red taped lines on the floor by even an inch, even when the dealer who was scolded for not being "in compliance" was not the one at fault (the guy behind him who actually took up way too much space was).  I think these are mostly minor complaints, that can be easily addressed.  And let's face it, if a dealer has a huge weekend in sales, he isn't going to care that the floor isn't carpeted, but there just seems to be a general sense of "meh" that the dealers get from the promoters, as if their concerns don't matter.  It seems to be a customer service issue, which, considering the number of open/empty booths I saw this year, may require a bit of attention on your part.

And those are valid complaints. I will talk to Gurmeet and makes sure he's aware of all the ones that he can address with management, and others I can raise directly. There are definitely differences in the way the old promoters did things and the way Fan Expo HQ does things (like table cloths). As a person who has vended at Fan Expo shows for a long time, that management team has never provided cloths to dealers, but yes Beth and Christine used to... I know the AA folks preferred the way the rows were color coded, now it's very hard to distinguish each row.

From my side of the fence, it was busy, but I felt the operations team was quick to fix any issues we encountered in my section. Normally we're mostly on our own to fix things as issues come up, I felt like our team was fully supported. 

I think the key thing for vendors is to get to know Gurmeet. That guy is killing himself trying to help everyone and make sure vendors are having a good show. 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

1 hour ago, zosocane said:

One of the frustrating things was the lack of a map to figure out who was where.  If there was a hard copy (typically the centerfold in a convention programme), I never saw it.  And, sorry, but a convention map on an App isn't practical, especially if your phone is dead.

There was a map. For some reason they opted not to do a full program, but instead provided a fold out pamphlet style handout with show highlights and a big fold out map with table locations and room numbers. These were available at all of the ticketing booths and information booths around the show floor all weekend. 

The floorplan was changed last minute which is why they did not have it up on the site until literally the day of the show, and I kept hounding them about it. The fold out map had some things wrong, and did not reflect the last minute change (for my area it was the change of location for the comics signing area, and the addition of booths for Drew Struzan and Rob Liefeld. 

Edited May 29, 2018 by Kevin Boyd

[Kevin Boyd]

2 hours ago, joeypost said:

“Sure did” doesn’t fix problems. Saying we are doing everything in our power to make the experience better for everyone is, at the very least, a reply people can digest. 

 

Since everyone one has their “thing” maybe the things can be broken out into segments or sections where, say the comic guys, don’t have to wade through 30,000 people doing their cosplay thing. Don’t know why I am even suggesting this as I already know the response. 

I can say we are aware that the parking lots had issues now, by saying sure did. And it will be addressed with the facility for 2019 when we thankfully are not on Memorial Day weekend. The facility runs the lot. 

But I can say it's highly unlikely that you won't have to wade through 30,000 people doing the cosplay thing, which is probably the response you were expecting. 

[Kevin Boyd]

2 hours ago, Doc McCoy said:

@Kevin Boyd any chance next year's show moves back to the North/South Concourse?  Not sure what the logistics were this year, but 2017's show held in that part of the convention center had plenty of parking, while this year's show held in the West Concourse provided the smallest parking area at the Orange County Convention Center.

That is something I'll have to inquire about. 

[Kevin Boyd]

1 hour ago, jams said:

Our booth number was not actually on the map that was on the website and App.  We still had a good show because we brought some really nice books that people were looking for, but I do agree a printed map that was correct would have helped.  Also it would be nice to have the Comic  Aritst and Writers closer to the actual people that sell their comics.   

PS.  Kevin does a great job, and I know he takes our concerns seriously and passes them along to the right people.  

Thank you, I do what I can. I will ask why you weren't on the map or the app.

I did feel like there was a big gap between dealers and AA. CGC was in that buffer zone in between the two. I tried to walk the floor on Sunday and got through about 2/3 of the vendor area. 

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

9 minutes ago, Kevin Boyd said:

That is something I'll have to inquire about. 

I would concur...the North/South Concourse is better suited to an event this size...the parking lots are huge, and their is ample overflow parking on the grass areas as well.  However, if memory serves, about 3-4 years ago when the event was held on that side, it was filled to capacity on Saturday as well (I believe that was either the Star Trek year, or Walking Dead cast, or Stan Lee, or some combination of major guests).  At least, Thursday and Friday, and possibly Sunday would go over better.

And whatever criticism you may read into our commentary, please note that guys like Joe, myself, and others would like nothing more then for this event to remain a success for Florida's comic collector community.  It is in no one's interest to have MegaCon be anything less than a smashing success, well, perhaps aside from your competition.    

[Kevin Boyd]

It would be nice to fix some of the errors and issues. I'm hoping that with the move off of Memorial Day we can revive CGC's annual tradition of offering on-site grading which appeals to fans, collectors and dealers alike. 

Edited May 29, 2018 by Kevin Boyd