Geek.kon 2018
Geek.kon is an anime and popular culture convention held every year in Madison, Wisconsin. We'd gone there once, and done very well, but in subsequent years I hadn't been able to get back in. So I was very excited when I finally was able to get space in their vendor hall again.
This year it was held over the weekend of August 24-26, 2018 in the Marriott Madison West, which is on the outskirts of Madison and away from the downtown area where parking for big vehicles is nearly impossible to find. We'd hoped to stay at the nearby Baymont where we'd stayed in 2014, but by the time we got our acceptance, it was already full. So we ended up having to settle for a room in a Day's Inn that was a good distance from the main hotel.
Since load-in there is very late on Thursday and we wanted to hold down expenses, we decided not to drive up there until Thursday morning. It also gave me a little time to change merchandise after the previous weekend's convention, and some general downtime.
Even so, I was tired as we drove over to my dad's place in Illinois. It took me two energy drinks and two regular caffeinated pops to get there safely, and then I just said hi to Dad, carried in my stuff, started a load of laundry, and took a nap until supper time. I also discovered that I'd managed to forget some things in the hurry to get on the road.
After supper, I finished laundry and got our meals cooked for the weekend. I also did some catch-up work and a little writing before we turned in for the night.
On Thursday we got up early and I carried our stuff back out to the van before saying good-bye to Dad and hitting the road. At first I was doing pretty well, having had a decent nap the day before. But by the time we got through the country roads that bypassed the toll road around Rockford and crossed the Wisconsin state line, I was starting to feel really tired.
I managed to stay awake to get safely to our hotel and get everything dragged into our room. However, I decided to take at least a little nap before heading over to load in.
Actually getting to the main hotel proved more complex than we'd expected, since the drive took us through some open country, where the roads didn't always have the best of signage. We passed a couple of fair-sized dairy farms where I could see the cows in their barns.
When we got there, I fully expected to have to wait for the official load-in time. Instead, we were able to get straight into the dealers' room and start carrying things in. As it turned out, several other dealers had already started loading in.
As a result, we were able to get everything hauled in and even got a good start on building structures. I loaded about half of the t-shirts into their hutches before the dealers' room staff came by to shoo us out so they could close for the night.
Driving back in the dark was an interesting exercise, and there were a couple of times when we got lost and had to reorient ourselves. But we got back in time to get a quick supper and I even did a little writing before we turned in for the night.
On Friday we ate the hotel's breakfast, and were more than a little disgusted at how scant the offerings proved to be. Apparently some of the staff were abusing their access to the breakfast nook, and were helping themselves to large numbers of yogurts, leaving nothing for the actual paying customers. The boiled eggs were disgusting, and there wasn't any hot breakfast. I managed to scrounge up a few unsatisfying items, but they didn't really nourish me, so I was tired and miserable as I drove back to the main hotel. At least this time we knew the way and didn't get lost in neighborhood streets, but I was still glad to be able to pull into a parking space and shut down.
Then we had to finish setting up as quickly as we could. We actually got done faster than I expected, probably because we were low on merchandise after the previous weekend's event. With less to put out, we could get done sooner, and even have a little time to walk around and look at other vendors' setups.
Then the doors opened and the sales began. I was actually quite surprised at how much we were selling. Even with our being down on merchandise after two large cons and limited funds for restocking, we were getting a fair amount of money coming in. However, I still had a feeling that we were probably leaving money on the table because we were out of some lines of product, especially some sizes of most t-shirts.
When we got back to the hotel, I got supper ready and did a little writing. I also went through our cash box, and thought the results boded well for the success of the convention.
On Saturday we got up and had the hotel's complimentary breakfast. At least this time someone had made sure that there were yogurt tubs left for everyone, which meant that I could actually eat something that would hold me to lunch. Then we drove through the countryside to the main hotel and got our setup open for the day. We also had some time to walk around and look at other vendors' setups.
When the doors opened, we were getting decent sales, but they were still slower than we would've liked. By the time we finally wound up for the evening, it was clear we were not going to meet the expectations set by our 2014 success. However, it's quite possible that being so understocked on t-shirts was hurting us badly.
In the evening we headed back to our hotel and had supper, then I did a little writing. I really wanted to soak in that hot tub, but there simply wasn't time left and we needed to get to bed.
On Sunday we had breakfast and headed back to the main hotel. We got our tables opened and then did a little visiting around the room. Then we hurried back to our setup as the doors opened.
We continued to have sales, but not nearly at the rate we'd had when the dealers' room first opened. It really felt like everyone had blown their wad on the first day and now was stuck admiring things they could no longer afford.
About mid-afternoon I started packing the figurines. We were able to get three really great helpers who got all our merchandise out with astonishing speed. Even after a nasty storm had gone through right when it was time to load out, we were still able to get done in time that we could get back to our hotel in time to finally get a soak in that hot tub. However, it was having some problems, so it wasn't as good and hot as I would've liked.
On Monday we carried our personal possessions out to the van and hit the road back to Dad's place. Even with the road construction in Wisconsin, we managed to make decent time. We got around Rockford without too much trouble, other than missing one final turn and having to find our way back to I-39. But we still got back to Bloomington in time to make our deposit, then continued to Dad's place.
After supper I did laundry and bookwork. I also had time to talk with Dad about some stuff, and I finally got the acceptance and invoice for a con I'd almost given up on.
On Tuesday we got up and carried our stuff back out to the van. Then we said good-bye to Dad and hit the road home. We made pretty good time back to the Indianapolis area and dropped off consignment merchandise. But then we ran into some heavy road construction that really slowed us down, and meant I had to turn off the air conditioning again.
Still, I was very glad to pull into the driveway and shut the van down at last. I was tired in that way that often happens with a convention that fails to meet expectations.
Copyright 2019 by Leigh Kimmel
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Last updated June 21, 2019.