Sorting through Anime Convention Artist Alleys 2011
Originally published at red bird. You can comment here or there.
I’m not much of a blogger about each of the anime conventions I go to anymore. I have a full-time job, a few full-time side projects (writing-wise - *cough*TalesoftheBigBadWolf*cough*) and therefore at best I can only pick up driveable regional conventions or one or two long distance ones that would involve vacation time.
Because time is money, I need to pick conventions that are worth the stress of preparation and have some measurable or immeasurable benefit.
Rather than write about each experience, I developed a table and sat down one evening this past fall to sort out my thoughts by filling in data points in this table. I used this process to help me think through my decision whether to apply or go the following year (which is where the table ends).
The rows signify some aspect of the convention or my own preparation that I felt could possibly influence my overall experience. I’ll discuss the reasons for each factor below, in hopes that some of the newer folks to the AA actually start thinking through this prior to applying to “any convention USA.” Because of our current economic landscape, I urge new artists to be careful about where they jump. As always, start local to avoid costly food or lodging fees and start with a convention that doesn’t break your existing budget. Sales are never guaranteed!
These were the variables that I used in the linked
worksheet.
Location and Unemployment rate
Size of convention (more or less)
Price of admission
Demographic
These four variables really are some attempt to understand the real buying capacity of the attendee. Obviously a high overall unemployment rate or high rate among the convention’s key demographic (e.g., 25 and under) is a worrying sign. It means that if a region is declining that it’s likely your conventioneers (presumably mostly regional) might have less to spend than in the past. Of course there are exceptions, particularly with destination conventions, but it still need to be thought through.
The price of admission is rarely thought through from the standpoint of impact to the artist in the Artist Alley. However, if your 10,000 person convention goes up 10 dollars year to year, that is 100,000 dollars moving from attendee to the cost of the convention. It’s also 100,000 dollars less from the general spending pool that goes to the retailers nearby and at the convention.
Duration
To me, this hasn’t been really an important factor, although theoretically buying behavior varies at multi day cons vs. one day cons. I think people are actually more likely to be lost at multiday conventions as sales to the AA unless the AA is really what they value most. The truth is, from what I can tell from comments here and there, the big draws for the young demographic is the Dealer’s Room, the cosplay stuff, and gaming. Granted, the DR’s have largely flattened in diversity of product the past few years because of the bad economy and the weak dollar/yen ratio, so the AA tends to benefit slightly when the DR content becomes too similar.
Size of alley
This is the big elephant in the room. Remember that hypothetical 100,000 dollars I mentioned before as spending power? Yeah. The more tables that are added year to year , the more artists there are. If the attendance growth rate is flat, well, that’s more artists fighting over the pie with the Dealer’s Room and the food retailers.
Composition of exhibited material:
This… debatable. Really, a fixed percent sometimes has little to do with sales or performance. And sometimes, when the key demographic wants something and you don’t have it, well that’s really the main issue. I’d like to capture more data before I say something, but my feeling is that 50/50 is going to be the deciding line for artists in future years and their interest in a convention. Granted, a little education of attendees could go a long way to keeping anything with a higher original composition rate more attractive to artists.
Location within convention space
My location within the AA
Crowding factor
Having an easy to find AA is good. Having one in a high foot traffic area is awesome. Not facing a wall or column or being a dark corner, also good things. My storefront wants to be in a good spot. These are obvious no brainer influencers to overall interactions/sales with people.
My available items
Display used
What sold
These are mostly notes to myself and points of interest. That said, I do like to experiment with my display within the confines of the rules. The more stuff I had visually assaulting people though (and increased points of interaction), the better I did. I’m a firm believer in big is good. Very good.
Sales compared to other conventions
Sales compared to previous years
These figures were weird. More attendees and larger size definitely does not equate to more sales. I’m satisfied that my other variables explain some of this apparent discrepency quite well. As for comparisons to previous years - I’m trying to understand both the changes at the convention as well as possible changes in economic situations. I’m hoping that next year I can hold these figures otherwise I can’t really justify the time and money going into stocking so many prints xD.
Do I want to return
What I would change if I return
More or less, these are the concluding points and the last two rows I fill out after putting the pieces together. I will have to keep rereading this when it comes time to stay up and attempt to apply for these conventions. Also, I used the last row to capture some thoughts I want to reflect on the next time, if there is one.
In sum
I don’t know that these variables are really all-inclusive, so welcome your input in the comments below as to what you think “your version of the table” should look like. If you like the worksheet and want to modify it for yourself, you can download a blank one here. And yes, I’d be interested in knowing how you’ve adapted the worksheet and what variables or “factors” you concluded were telling in terms of explaining or accounting some part of your experience/performance.
Other Feedback
Any other topics you want me to blog about related to AAs or anime conventions? Let me know.