Indy PopCon 2018
Indy PopCon is Indianapolis's big pop culture convention. It's not quite as big as Indiana Comic Con, although at times it's tried to be. This year it was held over the weekend of June 8-10, 2018 at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. They'd switched to some smaller halls, perhaps because of logistical difficulties with the larger setup they'd been using in earlier years.
As vendors, we were able to get loaded in on Thursday. I took out some last few items that had arrived right beforehand, and then we headed downtown to load in. We'd cut back on the amount of merchandise we were taking compared to Indiana Comic Con because we had a smaller setup, but somehow it still took pretty much just as long to haul it all in as.
On the other hand, we did seem to get further along on setup before the doors closed and we got shooed out. I left with a much more hopeful feeling about the possibility of getting everything set up in time and actually being ready to deal with customers when the doors opened.
In the evening we went back home to have supper, since this is a smaller show and we didn't want to do any unnecessary spending if we could help it. I also did a little writing before turning in for the night.
On Friday we headed back downtown to the convention center to finish setting up. On the way to the parking lot, I came very close to a nasty wreck in the car because of an idiot who couldn't figure out his own lane and stay in it. I was still rather shaken by the time I walked from the parking lot to the convention center.
Worse, when I got back, I found a family member in a serious grump, which made the process of setup a lot more unpleasant than it really needed to be. However, once we got done and actually had a little time to look around before the doors opened, things improved a lot.
Then the doors opened and people started filtering in. We did have some sales, but they were almost all very small. Although small sales are good, if they don't add up fast enough, you can end up losing money instead of making it.
Once the exhibit hall closed for the night, we headed back home to have supper. I tried to do a little writing, but I was so tired and sore that I really wasn't up to much of anything.
On Saturday we got up early so we could head back downtown to the convention center to get our tables open and ready for business. We did have some more business than Friday, but we were still a lot lower than I would've preferred. We were especially lacking on the larger sales, and I noticed that, unlike Indiana Comic Con, we were seeing no real interest in the tea sets or the books. By the time we closed for the day, I was starting to really worry about our ability to restock for some of our upcoming conventions.
We went home to get supper, and then I went up to the storage unit and collected some merchandise to restock. After that I did a little writing and we turned in for the night.
On Sunday we took the van down to be ready for load out. The weather was miserable, with just enough rain to make everything damp, and I was not looking forward to the walk back from the parking lot at all. But after I dropped off my husband at the loading dock, the gate guard turned me around and told me that we were all to park there in the loading dock. It was a very pleasant surprise after a disappointing weekend, so I thanked him profusely and hurried to find a space.
As a result, I was finally able to do at least a little looking around. Then I had to hurry back to our tables when the doors opened, but it wasn't like we were getting a flood of customers. In fact, there were a number of times when I was pretty much bored out of my skull and fiddling around on my phone to keep occupied. We did have some customers, but not nearly the level we really needed to see.
I was so frustrated that I started packing right after lunch, focusing on the stuff that hadn't seen much interest. With the nasty weather, I did not want to be stuck loading out until midnight like at Indiana Comic Con. I also ended up donating an entire box of fairies to a charity that sent a representative by our tables, since those figurines had gotten little interest and I just wanted them out of our stock.
When it came time to actually load out, several of the people from the convention came by with the little flatbed trucks and helped us load everything out. They weren't using any tarps to cover the merchandise, so I was left hoping nothing got damaged, but they did help me get stuff in fast. I ended up heaping it instead of stacking it properly, and just focused on keeping heavy stuff on the bottom and arranging it so it wasn't likely to shift. I wouldn't have wanted to do it that way if we were traveling any great distance, but since I just had to get out to the east side and our storage unit, I was glad to get done and on the road.
When we got home, we decided to go ahead and have supper at Steak 'n Shake. Maybe it was a foolish indulgence, considering that we hadn't done all that well, but we were all miserable from the rain and needed something to pick up our spirits.
Copyright 2019 by Leigh Kimmel
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Last updated June 21, 2019.