This was only the second Long Beach Comic-Con, and the first time the CCAS has had a table there. I was able to get in for free as a "Pro", and I attended Saturday and Sunday. (I was working late on Friday, and had to miss the Friday panel about Crumb's Genesis book. My thanks to Buzz for posting a recording of it!)
My overall impressions: online registration was needlessly complicated, but the actual check-in at the show was a breeze. Parking was easy. The show floor was much improved since last year, with the aisles widened and rearranged to avoid bottlenecks if crowds happened to stop by a booth for special events. I didn't go to any panels, but I heard that the rooms were located on the other side of the convention center and required a walk around the exterior. The show seemed well attended. There was steady foot traffic, with the crowds generally smiling and having fun... but not buying much. It wasn't just at the CCAS table, but with every other exhibitor I spoke to. For whatever reason, there was a lot of browsing but very few sales.
Table space at the CCAS booth was open and roomy enough for three volunteers to work comfortably at a time. The frequent rotations helped prevent burnout -- none of us spent more than two hours at the booth at once, giving us plenty of time in-between shifts to stretch our legs, grab a bite to eat, and check out the rest of the show. The table provided us with an opportunity for lots of interaction. We gave away lots of tracts (including our full inventory of Eric Jansen's The Christ of Prophecy) and had dozens of prize drawings where we gave away copies of David C Cook's new Action Bible. We had a few interactions with unbelievers, but our primary reaction from folks at the convention was surprised relief from other Christians to discover that "I'm not the only one!" We met several new friends who will (Lord willing) be joining us here at the online site and at other local California events.
Overall, this was a very fun show and I'd love to go back. I just wonder how much the economy will have to improve before this can be a profitable show for the organizers and exhibitors. (I personally would have loved to have purchased more comics and artwork to help support my fellow creators at the show... but I'm just clawing my way out of a seven month stretch of unemployment, and the budget is tight. I suspect that many of those in attendance were in the same situation. It's tough to financially support the work of starving artists when you're a starving artist yourself.)
I'll try to update this post later once I'm able to see if any of the photos I took at the show turned out OK.
Comments
The show layout was good, but the aisles might have been too big (if that's possible) for the amount of people in attendence. Friday attendence feel greatly below my expectations and Saturday's was better, but like Kevin said, alot of people just seemed to be walking the floor with very few making purchases. In fact, not many even grabbing FREE stuff! In two days at the NYCC I gave away about 400 posters. At LBCC over the same 2 days I only gave out about 50. It's just evidence that not a whole lot of people even got close enough to the table to know there was something to get.
Seems like they've got a good foundation, a great venue and a nice area (downtown long beach) but they've got to market it a bit better to draw better from this huge area, which draws 140,000 to CCI each year. Locals commented that there might just be too many small shows in the LA region and it just delutes the base.