Artists at their booth

[Juby]

This is a call out to fellow artists.

How many of you are sharing a booth with someone else, in which case you would need more than one chair?

I bought a second pass WITH my table, and apparently I am STILL only getting one chair. I do not understand the reasoning behind this. I would have thought $40 would have paid for at least one measly extra chair?

I am indignant that they are charging us extra for what is considered standard everywhere else, on top of the heavily exorbitant fee we already had to pay.

Not to mention... we aren't even part of the main convention hall?

[Candolf]

Hi Juby

I bought a second pass WITH my table, and apparently I am STILL only getting one chair. I do not understand the reasoning behind this. I would have thought $40 would have paid for at least one measly extra chair?

Unfortunately, if we were to include free chairs with badges, it would dilute the value of them. An exhibitor badge is priced at discount for $40. They have the full privileges of a 3-day General pass (which is currently valued at $75 before taxes). Because it would be impossible to enforce exhibitors to stay in their seats all day, we need to find a balance to keep everyone happy.

Please keep in mind that our Artist Alley is priced as low as virtually possible given the cost per square foot, tables, and chairs. You have seen for youself the price of what a chair cost.

I am indignant that they are charging us extra for what is considered standard everywhere else, on top of the heavily exorbitant fee we already had to pay.

Not to mention... we aren't even part of the main convention hall?

I know that you are caught in a frustrating situation. You are actually in Exhibition Hall B (same as vendors). I'm not sure where you heard about not being in the main convention hall.

In addition to that, 'standard' for convention centre pricing is typically in the $700+. Before deciding on our booth pricing, we examined all the typical convention pricing standards.

Eat Vancouver I believe was about $1k
Tattoo Con was about $1k
Home and Garden show booth was about $3k

If you are comparing the standard with other University level events, unfortunately, that is a space we can't compete in. Where they are able to be provided free tables and chairs, we don't have that luxury.

Where they are charged pennies per square footage of space, we are charged dollars.

Feel free to email me personally if you are still having issues.

Thanks

[Juby]

Hi Juby
I know that you are caught in a frustrating situation. You are actually in Exhibition Hall B (same as vendors). I'm not sure where you heard about not being in the main convention hall.

I just noted that only the artists' alley registration page has a map specifically for them, so it seemed to me that we were the only ones in that space. I am glad to know that is not the case, however. Thank you for the clarification.

In addition to that, 'standard' for convention centre pricing is typically in the $700+. Before deciding on our booth pricing, we examined all the typical convention pricing standards.

Eat Vancouver I believe was about $1k
Tattoo Con was about $1k
Home and Garden show booth was about $3k

I am not comparing to the university prices, nor should the above conventions be used to reflect what an amateur artist alley should be priced. In fact, Anime Evolution did have a convention at VCEC before, and the prices were nowhere near this high, nor did they only supply single chairs per table.

Perhaps an unsuccessful convention is not the best example, so I will use another; at Otakon 2012, a single table (with two chairs) plus a badge cost ~$230. And Otakon is the second largest anime convention in North America, with an attendee number of over 30k. Anime Revolution is a baby-con, with an unconfirmed attendee number, but surely it does not match 30,000. In any exhibitor's perspective, the number of attendees should reflect the cost of exhibiting, since profits depend heavily on this attendee number.

As an attendee and as an artist, I am not impressed at all with these prices, and I am sure others would testify. Honestly, this convention seems like a huge gamble to me since it cost what it did on its first year, and I have no idea how it's going to be. But I will see how the convention goes before I judge. The chair issue is still a huge setback to me and my tablemates though, especially since artists are selling pretty much the whole time.

[meru]

I have 2 booths, but am possibly sharing with 3 people, so I may be in the same situation with you – however I won’t know until closer to the convention to see what I might have to do

In regards to the second pass - Candolf is correct - we did get a discounted pass which helps a lot with cost of having another artist share the space, but the pass wouldn’t have anything to do with equipment rental for the table/chair/booth…. I find the one chair per table is usually what happens with conventions held in a convention centre (or at least the ones I’ve been to). (Eg, The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. You have to pay for extra chairs if you should need them). Most convention centres from what I know have a rental equipment agency that they(or the company doing the con) work with when they rent the space. So the fact that AR cannot supply extra chairs at no cost, is no surprise with me….

The only place I have never had to pay for an extra chair is Otafest in Calgary – which is held at the university. So I have nothing else to compare this too.

Perhaps if you live in the Vancouver area – See if AR will allow you to bring a foldable chair with you? When I was at Anime Evolution a few years back, I brought 2 camping chairs for my table since i was sharing with other people, and they didn’t seem to have an issue (since you pay for the space)...

[Gretel]

AR is approaching soon, and I am worried about the chair situation as well. I am also sharing with someone, so we need to know if we are allowed to bring folded-chairs or if anything has changed. Please let us know as soon as possible, thank you very much.

[norimaki]

You are allowed to bring your own chairs to the convention. To be safe, you should label your chairs so that the convention centre knows that they are not their chairs.

[SiguusaEcho]

You are allowed to bring your own chairs to the convention. To be safe, you should label your chairs so that the convention centre knows that they are not their chairs.

And in case someone else is short on chairs and sees your vulnerable poor folding chair just--
Okay, I'm -pretty- sure no one would go that far, but do label your chairs in case they get mixed up xD

[Semi]

I remember Daiso in Arberdeen mall also sell small wooden folding chairs, not sure if they still do though.