Setsucon 2014
Setsucon 2014 (State College, PA)
Convention Class: College convention; mid-sized
Convention Duration: Two day convention (sat & sun)
Sign ups around: Not sure
Sign up style: Juried
Electricity: I can’t remember if this was an option. I didn’t buy electricity, nor was I interested in doing so at the time.
Table Cost: 70USD with one free badge.
Responsiveness of Staff through e-mail: Good. It took a couple of days sometimes, but they’re all students. I totally understand.
Check in: Fairly painless! Checked in to the convention and alley at the artist alley. They didn’t check ID before handing me badges, but I did have a bunch of boxes in my arms. Still, I think they should have tried to check to make sure they were giving blank badges to the right person. There was no signage at the door nor in e-mails leading up to the convention about check-in procedures. There was some confusion as to if the tables were assigned by first name or last name or studio name (my last name is unfortunately a common first name as well) which resulted in me getting my table switched with a lady who had my last name as her first name; Even though all the tables were assigned to people based on their last names. Did the other person miss their own last name on the alley map which was mailed out before the convention?? D: This isn’t the convention’s fault – It’s just my pet peeve when people mix up my first name and last name. Regardless, check in happened very quickly (under 10 minutes).
Venue Quality: I was pleasantly surprised to discover that -- despite being a college convention -- the convention was being held in a full-facility has-a-pool conference center / hotel, which is part of the Penn State campus. It was beautiful and modern and spacious as far as I had explored. I didn’t stay at the hotel that was above the conference center area where the convention was being held, but I really want to if I go again next year. Speaking of the Penn State campus, they boast something like 40,000 graduate and undergraduate students on the campus. They have more college students than there are people in my entire hometown. o_o
Alley Location within convention: The artist alley is almost at the end of the hallway with all the panels and the dealer’s room. The entrance is just past the dealer’s room. I was a little worried about traffic because the artist alley is all the way down the hall, but because the panels are also in the same hallway, not to mention a drop-off car rotunda right outside the alley doors, the location wasn’t a problem in terms of traffic.
Bathrooms: Kind of far. You had to leave the artist alley and go all the way to the end of the hallway, past the dealer’s room entrance and two other panel rooms -- Practically a third of the way out of the building.
Alley traffic: Big rush when the alley opens Saturday around noon (do not be late – show up early morning to set up, otherwise you’ll miss the biggest rush of the weekend), teeters off a little when the dealer’s room opens. It’s definitely an alley that has waves and waves of people going through between panels, and then slower times / trickles of people for the rest of the day.
Number of tables: 20. Four tables all the way in the back were used to promote other conventions in the region. Three tables in the front were used for the convention itself & convention merch. There was also four tables in the middle of the alley reserved for the convention guests. So 31 tables altogether. I think for the number of people attending the convention, the alley was an appropriate size, or that it could possibly be a few tables bigger.
Alley layout: Good. I was facing the door so I was happy with where I was (the table switch worked out to my favor in the end) but I would’ve felt a little loopy if I had been seated at my originally assigned table which would have had me facing the back wall. However, considering the size of the alley hall, the layout they had was probably the best layout possible. They could’ve had it so that instead of three rows of tables in groups of 8, three columns of tables, with 6 to 8 tables against the left and right side of the walls as viewed from the door, and then a middle column of tables. It would look kind of like a capital M, or the letter E turned 90 degrees.
Behind the table space: Not a lot. Every time someone had to exit, people had to scoot up or stand up. It might’ve been 6 feet between tables. Since it was winter, we all also had big puffy coats on our chairs, adding to the congestion. Tuck your coat under your table, y’all.
Spaciousness of the walking area: The space is narrow. The space next to an end table was half as wide as the space in front of the table. People were pardoning themselves to get around at times. Leave the ball gown at home.
Alley Environment: Air conditioner was cranking at the max. Sometime during Saturday the air conditioner stopped working for a couple of hours but it only got a little warm. A side-note: it snowed for both days of the convention. There’s a lot a of cute snow cosplay photos from Setsucon.
Alley Performance: Very good! Lots of local high schoolers and college students looking for something local to do. Sales were accordingly good. I did as well as a Friday at Anime Boston or a Saturday at Katsucon. I’m not sure if they drive in or if they stay at the hotel, but the parking lot was packed both days for the convention hall (but there is lots of parking outside of the convention center/hotel. This is also not entirely representative of the area, but driving in, I saw a lot of farms and forests, not a whole lot to do outside of the town. Google maps seems to hint at something similar going on, where there’s a lot of young people in a small area with not a lot around to do in terms of anime or other nerdy fandoms. But I might be wrong. This may also be irrelevant ;) I am not sure if most of the convention attendees drove in for one day or both days, or if they stayed at the hotel. Judging from how many people had attended, I’m guessing it was 50/50 or 70/30 drive-ins/hotel.
Artist alley closing / break down: A lot of people started to break down a couple of hours before the alley was officially declared closed, but it was because the alley was really really slow a couple of hours before the alley closed. Most of the convention was lined up for something (cosplay masquerade, I think), and then when people in the front started to pack up, it looked from the door as if the alley was closed. I remember making only one or two sales in the last hour the alley was open. I was hoping that once the panel everyone was lining up for (and blocking the door to the alley) was over, they’d come into the alley for some last-minute purchases, but that didn’t happen. Come to think of it, maybe they can wrap the line around next year so that it doesn’t block the alley. The dealer’s room had also closed before the artist alley, But that didn’t create that big a crowd in the alley.
Dealer’s room: I heard a few comments about how the dealer’s room was a bit of a letdown. I like to walk through the dealer’s room to see how healthy the industry is and maybe to buy myself a gift. I went through on Sunday morning, so it might be that some venders had left Saturday night, but it looked like the dealer’s room was a bit empty. There was a tall and crowded island in the middle, some tables along the walls, but then also a big empty space that could easily fit 3 or 4 venders. I usually look for manga book merchants or kimono importers… I don’t remember seeing either. Lots of scrolls and figurines though.
Alley rules: Seemed reasonable. I don’t remember a display height limit or a fan art regulation. Setsucon does not permit table sharing, but I think they mentioned that they sell some half-tables.
Alley make-up: More crafts than prints, lots of small items like tiny figurines, buttons, keychains. I had prints, postcards, badge holders, tea cups, and commissions. I was booked up for commissions all weekend.
Alley staff: Visible and available, and they were vigilant about telling attendees to restrain from taking photos in the alley for the first half of Saturday. They all wore shirts and were easy to spot. The artist alley info table was always manned by someone.
Would I return: Yes!
First time attending: Yes.
Internet reach: The attendees are active on the convention's facebook leading up to and after the convention: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204933666/
