Ohaiyo (Trotcon Retrospective) (Patreon)

Hey, everyone!

First off, I wanted to thank you all for your patience as I send Patreon packages and updates out. Following Trotcon in July and Everfree this month, it has been a nonstop logistics grind as I take stock of new and old inventory and place new orders for the two largest pony conventions of the year.

I had a few thoughts from the recent Ohio convention, Trotcon, and I thought I'd share them here! If you're interested, I'll have an Everfree follow-up very soon as well.

Trotcon was, without hyperbole, as intense as BronyCon in terms of workload and prep, followed closely by the amount of traffic. Their venue was based in the Dayton Convention Center, which was well over a mile from any utility shops or even the main hotels. Typically I can rely on a shuttle or Lyft from the airport to the hotel with a skybridge or other accessible entrance to the vendor hall to minimize the time I spend lugging my suitcases around. (Two large 50-lb suitcases + 1 slightly smaller 50-60lb suitcase + 1 30lb backpack = ouch) But with Trotcon, I had double the amount of luggage with half the carry space. My wrists were not ready for that weekend!

Luckily, the convention center afforded us enough space to spread out and test out some new product displays. I invested in a new photography stand and brought out a very old retractable banner (from 2015!).

Friday was easily the busiest day. It's always interesting seeing which day is the stand-out day of any convention, and how that can even vary from vendor to vendor. Fri and Sat are typically the better days, but people often buy larger-ticket or exclusive items on Friday (the limited plushies, the expensive wall fixture, etc), while spreading their purchases out on Saturday and finally pouncing on the Sunday sales as vendors try to sell out of their bulkier or older items.

Pros:

- The new colored grids I have are so much fun! They really add smooth splashes of color to a space, and they are easy to change up from con to con. My previous grids needed zipties to hold them together, and anyone who has helped me tear down can attest to how painful they are to cut apart!

- The new sign was something I had made specifically for this convention (based on Hobie's animation from Across the Spiderverse), and it was so much easier to assemble than I had predicted. I am very happy with how well the texture comes across, too. It's a nice banner option to keep for future conventions.

Cons:

- I didn't have enough display items to cover the colored grids! You end up seeing a lot of empty space, because the largest display items I had ended up selling out on Day 1, leaving behind huge awkward gaps. It's great to sell out though!

- The photography stand is huge! It's definitely not something I can reliably bring to other conventions, as it requires its own check-in bag slot on the airplane, and I can't justify bringing it in place of a 50-lb suitcase.

- It's so tough to bring cloth items to a convention. Hotels don't always have ironing boards, and it's a pain and a half to iron larger items, such as the bedsheets I bought for this booth.

- The convention didn't provide us with tablecloths! We only got naked wooden tables with no skirts. It looked ugly and felt like a poor cost-cutting measure.

The booth:

My booth was 2 tables wide, and placed in the far back corner of an already enormous (and mostly empty) exhibition hall. I was nervous to be positioned so far in the back, thinking that people would be too tired wandering the huge hall that they'd quit before reaching my booth. I did receive a consistent amount of traffic, but during large panels, the vendor hall became a ghost town.

Look at this space! The worst part was that this is only half of the exhibition hall; the left side (not pictured) is just as large, but completely empty. It looks sad.

Other than that, I can't complain about the overall booth space. I was spoiled for space, which is a real luxury when I'm used to pony cons being shoved into smaller hotel spaces with no real room behind the booth. Not only could I spread out back here, but I could swing dance, too!

Other:

As is the case with any convention, I hardly had the time to step outside of my own booth. I certainly didn't have time to attend any panels or events, and with the hotels so spread out, it didn't seem like there was a dedicated space to gatherings and parties after hours. But! We had a lunch break!

Lunch break:

I didn't realize what I'd been missing. On Friday and Saturday afternoon, the vendor hall closed down for an hour to allow vendors a "lunch break" period. The doors closed to the public, and we were free to wander in and out, for food or for rest, or just to remain at the booth and prepare for the next wave.

I've heard lunch breaks proposed to other conventions before, but I always assumed that it would cut into peak sales hours or ruin the adrenaline rush I thrive off of when I work a busy table. But it had neither effect. I actually had time, REAL time, to eat without sneaking bites in between customer interactions. AND I was able to wander the hall to see fellow vendor friends without worrying about the safety of my booth. It is a constant irony and tragedy that I never have the opportunity to walk the vendor halls and see friends, despite having been to over 40 conventions. It has become a real luxury.

All in all, Trotcon was a lovely vending and learning experience. There were plenty of takeaways, plenty of ideas I immediately worked to incorporate into my Everfree setup and system, and plenty of things I'd love to see brought over to other vendor halls.

And it rained!!!

I will definitely consider returning next year. Here's to you, Trotcon.