Starting out on doing conventions

Bonjour !

How are you? I’ve been wanting to do conventions or a while now and I am starting out on doing conventions now. And I was able to have a table in a small convention the weekend before. In this article I want to talk a bit about my experience and how it went.

Setting up a table for a convention.

If you have read my previous article, you know that I have spend a good amount of time getting some goodies, prints and artworks ready for the event. A week before the event Mefisheye and I decided to do a test of our table to see how it could look like. Did I tell you ? Mefisheye and I were sharing a table. Sharing a table is a good idea to try out conventions, it allows to share the expenses for the location of the table but also to travel to the event and accommodation.

starting out on tabling at a convention
Our test table

So we tried setting out a table as what we expected to have during the convention. It is a very personal choice, but for our own table we decided to go for wooden boxes to give a bit of volume and a blue cloth. Honestly most of our choices was because we had those elements lying around at home. Since we had already invested quite a lot of money in the prints and goodies, we wanted to be more cheap on the displays.

The event

mefisheye setting the table for a convention
Setting the table at the convention

The day before the event we went to set our table on the actual location of the convention. And the next day we finished up and made the table as pretty as we could.

What do you think? Was it nice enough?

tabling at a convention
This is me getting ready to the opening.

Two people is better than one.

The odds were not really in our favor. There was a nation wide strike and a lot of people stayed at home that weekend. The convention went through Saturday and Sunday and we met very very few people. I was even more happy we were two to behind the stand because we could chat and while one was on guard the other one could go have a look at the rest of the convention.

Meeting new people and connect with other artists.

I was also very happy to meet with our tabling neighbors. Very nice people with more experience than us on doing conventions. It is something I had a very nice memory from my old days and it has not changed since, conventions is really a good way to meet new people and extend your connections. There is the artists tabling around you but also the public, some people are artists too and often the one that get closer to your booth are artists themselves or art enthusiasts. It is very great and you are sure to have a topic of discussion at hand!

The aftermath

It’s all fun and games, but you might be wondering did I actually made money? Yes and no?

Yes I did sell enough to cover the cost of the table and some more but no it wasn’t what I had expected. Knowing the convention was far from big centers and cities, I did not expect to make big money but I hoped I could get a decent payment for the work made during the weekend. What we did was honorable but not worth the trouble. I’ll put everything on the size of the event and the big strikes going on but I’ll admit we were a bit disappointed.

It won’t stop me from trying again and do more conventions

me, today

I very much loved the event and the overall mood of it all. I loved that we were able to meet so much people and my inside introvert find the setting quite appropriate. You can go see my video for a more “vivid look” into the convention and how it went:

I hope we can do some more events and If I do I will surely talk to you about it!

Have a nice end of 2019 because I’m not sure I’ll have time for a new article by the end of the year.

Lots of love <3