Con*Quest Adventure Journal: Indy PopCon - HERE WE COME! New Reviews and Dallas Re-cap

We have been doing a whirlwind of shows over the last few weeks and it's been crazy! We have our BIG, FAT LAUNCH in my hometown at Indy PopCon, we've gotten some awesome reviews and finally I'll give you a down and dirty Dallas Comic Con recap.

Indy PopCon Hometown Launch!

I ndy PopCon, which is being held May 30 to June 1 at the Indiana Convention Center, is going to be an amazing convention organized by the coolest group of local guys. We have the pleasure of working with them to promote our journals. Indy is my hometown and for all of these reasons, we are making this event our BIG RELEASE! We'll be right up front in booth 912 and will also be handing out fliers with the most awesome promotion to go along with our launch! Come out and see us!

You can pre-order your journal NOW for pick up in our booth! $40 for journal and bag, ORDER HERE!

Reviews!

Next up, we've had two new and amazing reviews coming in! Geek Girl with Curves Amy Ratcliffe posted a wonderful review of the journal on her blog, which can be found here. And from my hometown peeps, Awkward Geeks posted a great review here. We were SO PROUD when we read these reviews. Even now I get goosebumps. What we are doing feels so right, I can't wait for

everyone to catch up with us and GET IT. (remember, we're kinda impatient.) This is why I know we'll be successful. Because it feels so right.

Dallas

This is a show that used to be a lot smaller. And at a different convention center. FanExpo bought this con last year and moved it to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Dallas Convention Center. We went into this event knowing that it might be a little rough for many reasons. First, a new owner is always going to have some logistics they are not unfamiliar with. And new location adds even more potential pitfalls. Finally, we were unable to get any response from the show management regarding marketing opportunities for the journal. At all. We have found that our biggest challenge is getting the word out to people about the journal and what it is. When people get it, THEY GET IT AND LOVE IT. A cosplayer and media darling, Dallas Fan Girl, did make a wonderful review video and hold a contest, so at least we had that for promotion.

So we charged forward. Only to wait in line for TWO AND A HALF HOURS.

The meaning of vendor hell right here.

Yes. Those of you who know Ted and I understand that we are not patient people. Frankly, that's how we get so much done. But we actually handled this pretty well. Ted got out and took pictures of the hundred + cars behind us in line. At one point, the men handing out the pink papers that indicated we could drive up to the dock to unload just drove off. And said nothing about coming back or what the hell we were supposed to do next. I was tweeting and emailing like crazy. I can only assume the other vendors don't know how to use Twitter or are much more delicate than I. When things are done badly, I feel compelled to let the organizers know. Why do I do this? Because I have worked with the BEST before in convention management and I have seen how well it can be done.

Rant over. Set up went smoothly after that but we were concerned that there were no banners or numbers indicating the aisles. Our plan was to hand out fliers with our booth number and a special promotion. But it they couldn't find the booth or even the aisle, how would they find us?

Before the show opened, my brothers-in-law and an awesome friend of theirs handed out hundreds of fliers. This can be pretty hard work because people can be very cold when you're out there trying to sell something. But for those people who stopped, listened and bought a journal, we thank you! Generally speaking, the 3 day pass and VIP people were simply awesome to us.

So the show went and there was a big crowd there. It was ok, but not great, which is pretty much what we expected given that there were no marketing opportunities for us there. I did some great shots at the show: