John E. Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 13 minutes ago, Bill Cox said: I'd much prefer to create a way to have a list of price reduced items on day two (scheduled), and create other sales opportunities. Who knows? But I thank everyone for checking it out and giving me tons of feedback to digest via email, here and socially. I've got days of research ahead of me! Hi Bill, First, great work. I really enjoyed the CALIVE. It really was like a con experience. So regarding "a list of reduced items," I thought maybe having something like the "Premium Updates" sidebar that you have on regular CAF. Something that I, as a seller, can type in to say that I've reduced my prices and that news will show up in a feed on the home page. exitmusicblue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varanis Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 12 minutes ago, Bill Cox said: The issue there is that Exhibitors will move things to SOLD just to cycle their artwork even when it didn't sell, just to keep things fresh. You know as well as I do they'd mark something sold just to put the same piece back up there. I've heard from many many sellers that items sold in their Classifieds as a result of having a booth, or sales that happened with Dealers on their sites because they had a booth. I think having a limit was the right approach. While we'll consider plenty of things for the next one that's my least favorite idea. I'd much prefer to create a way to have a list of price reduced items on day two (scheduled), and create other sales opportunities. Who knows? But I thank everyone for checking it out and giving me tons of feedback to digest via email, here and socially. I've got days of research ahead of me! I think the 18 piece limit was a brilliant idea. In addition to eliminating the churn you've described, it also made sure the pieces exhibited were curated to some degree and were generally of a higher caliber of quality, interest, or price. I know for me (and presumably many others), the most anticipated moment was the con's opening and the chance to search for desired pieces and artists. The first thing I did was search the art for sale for pieces I was interested in. I did some casual browsing after and tuned into some of the panels on YouTube, but that initial search got me to wake up for the 10 AM premium member opening and was the main purpose of my attendance. I believe having new pieces go up day 2 would drive similar excitement and help maintain momentum. Maybe have 10 go up each day for a total of 20 pieces per exhibitor? There are definitely some weird logistics there, but wanted to note that freshly exhibited pieces drove a lot of excitement/participation for me. That all said, how you handled it with the limit, UI, search, etc was very excellent. It really felt like browsing a con in a way. Two other "wants" I would have for future events: 1. A way to interact with other attendees. I love talking to and networking with other collectors. A live chat feature or other method of interacting would be really neat. Obviously there are ways to interact on CAF already, but a live chat or other feature would help allow attendees identify themselves as active and willing to chat. Somewhat related, I bet you could crowd source content from attendees. In this kind of hobby where we all own one of a kind artifacts, art shows and sharing from various collectors would be really really fun to watch. One of my favorite parts of the panels was seeing Mike Allred's art collection - seeing something similar from attending collectors would be a lot of fun as well as being a good point of interaction with the community. 2. This is tough, but one big advantages of cons is the ability to see the art in person. Pictures rarely do art justice. I'm curious if there could be an option for dealers to add videos for pieces to show them off better. Or maybe you can even have a dozen or so of the highest profile pieces featured by the sellers in between panels. Not sure my recommendations are actually any good, but thought it was worth thinking about. Overall fantastic event Bill. Don't take any of the above as criticism, just brainstorming. I think you're very well positioned to be a trend setter and innovator for how to run an online con. Twanj 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick2you2 Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 48 minutes ago, Bill Cox said: I think you're wrong there, Malvin. When Cons come back I don't see them being the same at all. For the next year or two (or forever) most will be limited by 50% occupancy or worse, which means many Sellers aren't going to take the time and spend the money to go to all shows if the buyers are not there, and the buyers wont attend because the sellers wont be there. Artists are finding it easier to sell online in many different ways and don't want to expose themselves to health risks when they can make just as much money from home. I love in-person Cons, but I simply don't see things getting back to normal anytime soon, and whatever normal will be in a year or two wont be anything like we were accustomed to. I think they will be back next year, particularly with all the progress being made on a vaccine. But to be honest, I love going to con's even though I almost never buy anything other than commissions (and supplies). They have an energy which just can't be replicated on-line. aardvark88 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cox Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 36 minutes ago, John E. said: Hi Bill, First, great work. I really enjoyed the CALIVE. It really was like a con experience. So regarding "a list of reduced items," I thought maybe having something like the "Premium Updates" sidebar that you have on regular CAF. Something that I, as a seller, can type in to say that I've reduced my prices and that news will show up in a feed on the home page. One of the things we know we need it a Booth Feed. For updates on Flash Sales, Commissions in progress or completed, etc. Heck, pics of you giving the thumbs up when you sold/bought something. Those things will help this feel more like an Event and keep us all engaged. Still not the same as a con experience, but a social one nonetheless. John E., Varanis and Ted_L 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cox Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 7 minutes ago, Rick2you2 said: I think they will be back next year, particularly with all the progress being made on a vaccine. But to be honest, I love going to con's even though I almost never buy anything other than commissions (and supplies). They have an energy which just can't be replicated on-line. I think they will be back too, but not with the same attendance levels being allowed, vaccine or not. Lower attendance figures means fewer sellers, sellers bringing less, etc. Online events will never replace in person ones. I think we'll see efforts on the art side of things to congregate more at select cons that have an art focus, and less at cons that don't. Lake Como, Heroes, Baltimore, Comic Art Con, Comic Art Expo, LA Show, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NelsonAI Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 As a premium member, I did not participate in the event. Like Ted, going to the post office or FedEx in NYC would require me to wear a Haz-Mat suit. I'm glad it went well and look forward to future events. To encourage more premium membership, I would also suggest: 1) Day 1 shopping should be exclusively for premium members only. Surely, paid membership is worth more than 2 hours. This would be similar to conventions having Preview Night. Everyone else can shop on Day 2. 2) Only allow Premium members the ability to contact other members / send messages. The ability to network with other collectors is reason enough to pay for a membership. Cheers! Nelson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bill Cox Posted June 1, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted June 1, 2020 30 minutes ago, Varanis said: I think the 18 piece limit was a brilliant idea. In addition to eliminating the churn you've described, it also made sure the pieces exhibited were curated to some degree and were generally of a higher caliber of quality, interest, or price. I know for me (and presumably many others), the most anticipated moment was the con's opening and the chance to search for desired pieces and artists. The first thing I did was search the art for sale for pieces I was interested in. I did some casual browsing after and tuned into some of the panels on YouTube, but that initial search got me to wake up for the 10 AM premium member opening and was the main purpose of my attendance. I believe having new pieces go up day 2 would drive similar excitement and help maintain momentum. Maybe have 10 go up each day for a total of 20 pieces per exhibitor? There are definitely some weird logistics there, but wanted to note that freshly exhibited pieces drove a lot of excitement/participation for me. That all said, how you handled it with the limit, UI, search, etc was very excellent. It really felt like browsing a con in a way. Two other "wants" I would have for future events: 1. A way to interact with other attendees. I love talking to and networking with other collectors. A live chat feature or other method of interacting would be really neat. Obviously there are ways to interact on CAF already, but a live chat or other feature would help allow attendees identify themselves as active and willing to chat. Somewhat related, I bet you could crowd source content from attendees. In this kind of hobby where we all own one of a kind artifacts, art shows and sharing from various collectors would be really really fun to watch. One of my favorite parts of the panels was seeing Mike Allred's art collection - seeing something similar from attending collectors would be a lot of fun as well as being a good point of interaction with the community. 2. This is tough, but one big advantages of cons is the ability to see the art in person. Pictures rarely do art justice. I'm curious if there could be an option for dealers to add videos for pieces to show them off better. Or maybe you can even have a dozen or so of the highest profile pieces featured by the sellers in between panels. Not sure my recommendations are actually any good, but thought it was worth thinking about. Overall fantastic event Bill. Don't take any of the above as criticism, just brainstorming. I think you're very well positioned to be a trend setter and innovator for how to run an online con. Nothing sounded like criticism to me at all. We're going to take a few days to decompress and relax and start thinking about what's next. The more ideas, complaints and concepts thrown out the better because it will help us shape the next experience. I'm not active here but I've been following this thread since it started and will take into account any suggestions and ideas that are brought up here. Allred's panel was a lot of fun for me as well. I had never met him before and getting to chat with him in the green room prior to his panel and a few days prior when we tested his mic with Simon was honestly one of the highlights of the show for me. fuggit, Twanj, John E. and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varanis Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Not sure if this would work well, but having some pieces in an auction could be a way to develop a sort of perpetual interest during the event as interested parties check on the bids. Lots of logistics there, but could be interesting. Catwoman_Fan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cox Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 2 minutes ago, NelsonAI said: As a premium member, I did not participate in the event. Like Ted, going to the post office or FedEx in NYC would require me to wear a Haz-Mat suit. I'm glad it went well and look forward to future events. To encourage more premium membership, I would also suggest: 1) Day 1 shopping should be exclusively for premium members only. Surely, paid membership is worth more than 2 hours. This would be similar to conventions having Preview Night. Everyone else can shop on Day 2. 2) Only allow Premium members the ability to contact other members / send messages. The ability to network with other collectors is reason enough to pay for a membership. Cheers! Nelson Hi Nelson, There are a lot of options on the table for certain for future events. Since we will probably limit this to weekends I can't see an entire day being devoted to premium only but we can figure out something for sure. If we had more engagement from our Exhibitors ahead of time to promote what was for sale you'd have a better idea what booths you wanted to see first, etc. Since we provide a booth preview, it would be good if we gave premium users the ability to bookmark their favorite booths in advance so they can see them easily in searches, and browse just their artwork faster when the show opens to premium members. Your second idea would mean that everyone would have to be premium and that would limit things enough some exhibitors would not exhibit. There has to be a happy medium between free and premium, with the advantage going to premium members always in a major way. Twanj 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuggit Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 1 minute ago, Varanis said: Not sure if this would work well, but having some pieces in an auction could be a way to develop a sort of perpetual interest during the event as interested parties check on the bids. Lots of logistics there, but could be interesting. Doesn't that kind of go against why this was created in the first place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodou Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 44 minutes ago, Varanis said: 2. This is tough, but one big advantages of cons is the ability to see the art in person. Pictures rarely do art justice. I'm curious if there could be an option for dealers to add videos for pieces to show them off better. Or maybe you can even have a dozen or so of the highest profile pieces featured by the sellers in between panels. Not sure my recommendations are actually any good, but thought it was worth thinking about. The savviest will see this comment and next time YouTube "their 18" and link it to the item descriptions! To those that run with this, suggestion: just line the pieces up in a row (or several rows) and run the camera across them, that will give everybody the immediate sense of relative size and "curb appeal" from a modest distance off the art, and allow eyeball color comparisons - sharp inks, fading, sun shadow and other discolorations. Varanis, Squeezy McSphincter , NicoV and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cox Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 1 minute ago, Varanis said: Not sure if this would work well, but having some pieces in an auction could be a way to develop a sort of perpetual interest during the event as interested parties check on the bids. Lots of logistics there, but could be interesting. Logistics and liabilities but something that we considered for this and future shows. They auctioned off a Paolo Rivera piece in his panel and it went fine. He worked on a Wonder Woman artwork in pencil during the panel, and based on the auction end price knew how detailed to make the finished piece. I thought it was a great way to do it. BCarter27, Varanis and Catwoman_Fan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cox Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 2 minutes ago, fuggit said: Doesn't that kind of go against why this was created in the first place? Not really, many in-person Cons have an auction component - whether strictly for charity or to benefit the show. It would certainly not be the main focus of what we do, but could have a place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varanis Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Just now, fuggit said: Doesn't that kind of go against why this was created in the first place? I don't think so? I've seen auctions at cons before. You obviously want the bulk of art to be sold at a set price by exhibitors, but auctions are an option for an interactive experience. They're also something that gives you a throughline / story for the event. I.e.; you could tweet or otherwise communicate out updates on the auction to get people's attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varanis Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 4 minutes ago, vodou said: The savviest will see this comment and next time YouTube "their 18" and link it to the item descriptions! To those that run with this, suggestion: just line the pieces up in a row (or several rows) and run the camera across them, that will give everybody the immediate sense of relative size and "curb appeal" from a modest distance off the art, and allow eyeball color comparisons - sharp inks, fading, sun shadow and other discolorations. Exactly! Gives more of that "comic wall" vibe you get at cons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cox Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 3 minutes ago, vodou said: The savviest will see this comment and next time YouTube "their 18" and link it to the item descriptions! To those that run with this, suggestion: just line the pieces up in a row (or several rows) and run the camera across them, that will give everybody the immediate sense of relative size and "curb appeal" from a modest distance off the art, and allow eyeball color comparisons - sharp inks, fading, sun shadow and other discolorations. This goes back to my inability to give direction to our exhibitors because we were both programming and trying to organize this first show. In order to drive interest in what's in your booth, or whom you have doing commissions, you have to do your own PR, and share that PR with me to share it for you. I can tell you that those that did some advance promotion did incredibly well compared to their peers. And everyone by and large did well as an Exhibitor. Catwoman_Fan and John E. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varanis Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 8 minutes ago, Bill Cox said: Hi Nelson, There are a lot of options on the table for certain for future events. Since we will probably limit this to weekends I can't see an entire day being devoted to premium only but we can figure out something for sure. If we had more engagement from our Exhibitors ahead of time to promote what was for sale you'd have a better idea what booths you wanted to see first, etc. Since we provide a booth preview, it would be good if we gave premium users the ability to bookmark their favorite booths in advance so they can see them easily in searches, and browse just their artwork faster when the show opens to premium members. Your second idea would mean that everyone would have to be premium and that would limit things enough some exhibitors would not exhibit. There has to be a happy medium between free and premium, with the advantage going to premium members always in a major way. IMO the 2 hour window is plenty of a benefit. Even 10-15 minutes of lead time is huge when you're talking about purchasing one of a kind pieces. Imagine being able to buy 10 minutes of lead time for a Felix art drop - I've missed out on pieces by less than 30 seconds before! John E., Andahaion and hmendryk 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cox Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 1 minute ago, Varanis said: IMO the 2 hour window is plenty of a benefit. Even 10-15 minutes of lead time is huge when you're talking about purchasing one of a kind pieces. Imagine being able to buy 10 minutes of lead time for a Felix art drop - I've missed out on pieces by less than 30 seconds before! Allowing for more than 2 hours will boil down to the growth of the show and the opportunities available to buyers. Because this is all done online that means sealing a deal takes more time than someone handing you cash at a con. Some Dealers who were taking commissions and trying to manage art sales struggled to keep up with the replies they needed to make. It's an area we are going to look to improve upon, for certain. John E. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malvin Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 16 minutes ago, vodou said: The savviest will see this comment and next time YouTube "their 18" and link it to the item descriptions! To those that run with this, suggestion: just line the pieces up in a row (or several rows) and run the camera across them, that will give everybody the immediate sense of relative size and "curb appeal" from a modest distance off the art, and allow eyeball color comparisons - sharp inks, fading, sun shadow and other discolorations. Easier said than done. Many of my pieces I did not take out from storage and only did so after they sold. Malvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Cox Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 19 minutes ago, malvin said: Easier said than done. Many of my pieces I did not take out from storage and only did so after they sold. Malvin Emphasis on "they sold". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
