10/02/2018
It’s been a week and two days since we did Danville’s first ever comic con. I have purposely taken some time to regroup my ideas, thoughts, concerns and more. With that being said, I am now going to share my thoughts and feelings on how it went and how things will be made MUCH different next year.
First and foremost, I believe it was an overall success. I rolled the dice on our city, region and area. And YOU showed me that you want something more. Different. Fun. And interesting. And I believe we brought that. I’m so many aspects. We had great vendors. Artists. Special guests. Sponsors. And special attractions. We had everything a comic con should have. I’ve been praised by so many people I know and people I don’t know for somehow piecing this thing together with no experience at all with a comic con. But I lacked the true experience and insight on how we should’ve done things. And I write that off to the bicycle method. You can’t learn something unless you give it a try and take the ride. And if you fall, you get back up and try again. Which I WILL be doing come 2019. But several things are going to happen to make it a better experience for everyone. Including myself. I didn’t even truly get to enjoy my own creation due to no help with direction and being trapped in a corner all day answering questions, addressing concerns and more. And that was NOT the plan. Due to a lot of people including myself not being properly prepared, we missed out on several key things I wanted done. I was to be a floater and ringmaster. Walking around checking on everything, making announcements and doing Q and A sessions. To be honest, I truly only had two people directly helping me up front with control. I had several friends assisting with shirts, ticket sales and more. But other than that, I was stuck. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t even get a break to grab a bite to eat and had to have water delivered to me by my volunteers who are friends. And I shouldn’t have had to do that. I should’ve had more people for quality control, information and questions should they arise. And that’s something that will be fixed this coming year.
Another thing that will be fixed is too many irons in the fire. From start to finish, I had three promoters including myself. And that’s utterly confusing. I needed help 50/50. And thats something I’m paying for dearly due to the whack VIP system I stuck with from the original “promoter” who was selling ghost tickets for an event he hadn’t even secured. All the while I’m booking vendors and special guests with ONLY my name on the contracts. So needles to say, if anything went wrong or money was owed, it all falls on me. And it did and has. Even with the awesome turnout, I had to pay every dollar I made to the guarantees the guests and special attractions were contracted to get. Plus the VIP hits which were INSANE. In the end I owed out almost 8K even after I paid what we made at the gate with cash money. Which is almost paid off from my own income recently from big events and then the credit card sales that won’t post until this week. But I’ll still be in the hole and owe. To which I’ll have to work out payments with whoever. Which sucks. Because it makes me look bad and will possibly prevent me from being able to book talent with some of these folks again or someone else through their agency. Which is again all on my shoulders. It’s actually got me to the point of possibly selling the costumed characters I own that aren’t con related. But hey, that was the risk and gamble I took to make a difference for Danville and our area. So with all this in mind and being said, here’s what you can expect next year:
•VIP tickets will be exactly that. And very exclusive. There will be no more of this three signatures or pictures garbage. That’s what sunk me in the end. VIPs will get exclusive rights to the event/con which I plan on making into two days. One day for twelve hours ran a lot of us down. And working on about three hours sleep for 48 hours, I wasn’t feeling it too well myself. So this second con will feature early entry access, an official T-shirt, a small gift/gift bag, lanyards and finally one official meet/greet/autograph session with our featured special guest of the day. That session will consist of a q and a session just for VIPs, meet/greet, photo op of you and the guest and a signed autograph that we have made special for this event. That is it. After that it’s all on you for signatures and photo ops and all guests will be made aware of this. We had people even hitting the photo booth up for vip photos. So this go round, VIPs will get exclusive rights to the above mentioned.
•Hours likely will only run from 10-7 or so. We will not drag it out into a twelve hour marathon.
•While we may have a few wrestling guests, there will be no wrestling matches this time. I feel it hurt us more than helped us as a lot of people complained about the room it took up, celebrity/guests tables being taken from their assigned spots, etc. The room it took up will be utilized for special guest performances, interviews, q and a sessions and more.
•We will have way more artists and true comic con vendors present. We will also bring in the special attractions like the cars, photo booth with various characters and more. These were def a hit.
•I will be partnering with a tried and true comic con mind and their various tentacles to make sure we put together the best experience possible for you for round 2. I’ve gotten feedback from so many people and I’ll be utilizing some of these brilliant comic con minds but at the same time, teaming up with a veteran on the comic con circuit.
•we will have one big special attraction much like we had this year with the muppet and creature museum. What we choose remains to be seen.
•we will do next years in July or early August. We will look at all of the cons nearby and make sure we are not stepping on toes and also cheating ourselves as we want everyone to support each con out there. This is not a competition. It’s a brotherhood and support system and I can’t thank the Roanoke Valley Comic Con and the Big Lick Con enough for giving me some pointers as well as contacts, the chance to attend theirs and advertise and then their awesome support. It’s so cool to see a business or event system like this where everyone is their to help each other.
•And finally, 2019 will be much better. Period. We will iron out the kinks, w**d out what didn’t work for us and truly focus on getting the best we can get. Featured big name artists is a huge focal point.
So In closing, tell me what you think. Share your thoughts. Your opinions. Be civil and cool in doing so. Share your requests. I’m not doing this for myself. I’m doing it for YOU. So let me know what you want to see change or get better!
Thanks again for making the first ever Danville comic con a success and I look forward to a awesome 2019 edition. Dates to come soon!
Much appreciation and love,
Steven Collins
Soundwave Entertainment/Danville comic con LLC
