STGCC Aftermath: Toy Scores, Flashback Intentions & Abject Failures / Living The STGCC Dream with TOYSREVIL
This be my awesome toy-score from the recently concluded Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention 2009 the weekend just - via the kind generosity of folks = thanks, everyone!
Truth be told, after costs for prepping for the Booth C16, I had zero extra funds to buy toys & stuff for STGCC. I shit thee not. But I steeled myself and my toy-desires, and as much as I wanted to support the folks exhibiting at the Con (and of folks I blog about daily) - I still had a booth to run and pay for, and an investment of stock to recoup, all this on top of covering the event as "Official Blog". Just trying to keep it very real (no b.s. on the TRE-blog, fhanks).
But make no mistake - I had an awesomely great and humbly enriching time @ STGCC! Meeting everyone (both old and new-found friends) was the highlight of the Con! CLICK THRU to read the rest of my personal journey into making Booth C16 and of my 2nd Con experience!
REALITY BITES
The concept of blogging and selling at the same time proved too lethal a combination of circumstances, which led to the inevitable failure on both ends. Convention coverage in miserable tatters and sorely lacking, while the black-hole of financial debt grows ever larger with every dollar-count. I would argue the non-financial gain has been more than adequate to balance the lack (and it has been, moreso than I had imagined and hoped it would be) but the scales tip for the negative, in the physical plane of mundane existence, and into oblivion I slide (throw me a rope, why doncha?). Self-satisfaction and customer-happiness do not pay my bills, dollar-bills do. The happiness of others (and of myself) makes me work harder for it, of course - heh :p
BROKEN ARROW
The choice had been mine to begin with, I'd realized it had unknowingly shifted my focus, with a failing aim. The bow was wound up so tight, but the arrow was off target once it was shot. In the end I shot my own butt LOL
Although I imagined if I had not taken on a booth, the amount of money spent on toys, prints and other convention memorabilia, would frankly be a tad credit-crippling, I reckon! Tis after all, the second toy convention to be held in Singapore, and the biggest one yet! And the toys, THE TOYS!
CONVENTION-TIP: Do your location and product recce on the first day possible and buy them asap. Do not expect nor hope for any price-reduction, unless you are not afraid of seeing the products being snapped up first! Apologies for folks waiting for Booth C16 to shout "DISCOUNT" - because I did not :p
The only toy-purchase I had made on the last day of the con (2 x WWR Squares - within the last hour of closing LOL) were cash "borrowed" from my booth cash-float (Never want to mix bizness with pleasure) - which frankly, makes for quite an incomplete Convention experience, at least for me, IMHO. Heck, me Mum went around and scored more toys than me! LOL
A Convention experience consists of: Buying Stuff, Seeing Stuff, Experiencing Stuff, and generally Scoring Free Stuff.
One of the best part of the Con experience, at the end of the day, was having my family supporting me throughout, from prep to post-event - and of them being immersed in the pop culture I dwell in on a daily basis, and for them to know and understand what it is. Because a toy culture shouldn't be about just "buying" and "collecting". If that colors me naive, then frak it, bathe me in the radiance of a kindergarten crayon rainbow.
SALESMAN-TRE
Never have I pitched repeatedly for a consecutive duration of days, in my entire adult life! Most folks thought either: (1) I was a toy-manufacturer, or (2) A retail shop. When I mention TOYSREVIL is an online blog "blogging about toys", the WTF-pause in every conversation was deafening! LOL - but tis all good, and I got to pitch the blog and make friends, and (hopefully) new local readers.
Although with the sleep deprivation, and high-stress levels I was experiencing, I had not been in top form, barely pumping at 20% of who I was, and can be. Sorry if I bored or disappointed you folks who took the trouble to pop by tho!
PRESENTATION-TIP: Looking fresh but not feeling fresh makes a difference. Product knowledge and knowing how to sell, is a thin razor-line divide. Get good rest and learn your homework before you go out to meet the masses of folks who do not know about your product in the first place.
The LOL-irony was I am a toy-blogger who ended up doing sales-pitching and promotion instead of blogging about the event itself. Something is very wrong with this picture, innit? Nah, t'was I who started sketching this picture in the first place, or allowed the picture to be painted thusly - no one else to blame but myself! Buy some cool toys, you stingy-toy-collectors, you! MUAHAHAHA
FAMILY BUSINESS
Dad, bro Benny and sis Cindy took turns running the sales at different times of days (Only a max of 3 exhibitors are allowed in a booth at any time, thanks - and both siblings have day-jobs to contend with too). Mum did food runs (ye gawds I was so fearful of the entire scenario turning out into a "family picnic", but fucken having gastric-probs and no square meals everyday - them snacks made for manna from the merciful heavens LOL), and turned freelance photog for TRE (altho the 2000-pixel per image nearly melted my Mac / prepare yourselves for the coming of "TRE-MOM-Vision"! LOL). Sis supported the arts scene (so envy the Allen Ross original art-score!), While Bro constantly ran to and fro Crazy Label's booth, and also scored some super sweet buys from the event (Bought himself some Treesons-mini figures while I got none *sob*). My jealousy of their Con-experience is nigh high - like srsly! LOL
The initial "fear" I had, was that having my aged parents sitting at the booth (much less doing sales), might give off a "wrong vibe", or at least a "wrong demographic" - for this is after all, a young adults domain of influence, and not a "mom-and-pop-store" set-up ... but you know what? YOU come and slave for me without any renumeration and expectations, or shutdafuckup - fhankyouverymuch LOL
EDUCATION BEGINS AT HOME
Understand this, my fam does not do toys. They bare with it because of me. And now, I am proud to say the "4-day TRE-Immersion-Course" was a success, and their "lives are more enriched because of it" (backaches and sore feets notwithstanding though). Heck, I am 100% behind the addage: "Education Begins At Home" - particularly in this instance ;p
Comparing toy-scores at the end of the work day, and slaving over the booth, has brought my family much closer than it ever was - and that, I will eternally be thankful and grateful for (to my family, not for the experience). Who woulda thunk it, innit? *Cool*
TOYSREVIL has always been just a one person entity (me!). Now my fam are honorary TRE'ers - for life! LOL
[Thank gawd for IKEA bags! LOL]
WHY GET A BOOTH IN DA FIRST PLACE?
I had wanted a booth: (1) to be a base for TRE - to both blog from, and to meet folks, (2) to have a physical presence at the Con, and (3) to showcase my exclusive YOKA (what? peddling my toys from a pull-trolley suitcase? "buy 2 get 1 free"? LOL) and as well as both ANTZ's and PHU!'s goodies. (Singapore Represent, yo!)
And with a booth, the possibilities and opportunities abound! As a purely branding standpoint, I could keep it strictly TRE-focused, and at the same time showcase our local artists and designers - which in connection to the YOKA and Mini-G-Robot, made for perfect "creative" sense (at least to me, of course). ANTZ could come in and do signings for his "Thunder Ape"-design, PHU! could showcase his Rebel Yoka prototype (seen in public for the first time? hell yeah!) as well as launch his Rebel Pilots resins. And I could launch my TRE-YOKA. Hella good times, innit?
But alas, all that dwelled in my fetid mind, was "what can I do to pay for all of this?" = and that, without a shadow of a doubt, was the beginning of the downward-spiral...
TOYS ON SHOW
Compared to the other tables and booth spaces brimming with multi-spectral colors and shapes of product and items - the TRE Booth had a grand total of 4 product types, running two genres. Vinyl toys had first-time-seen-in-Singapore YOKAS and Mini-G-Robots, while D.I.Y. Munnys (Standard & Minis) were a revelation to the non-toy-crowd. Papertoys had Jack Hankins' and Sjors Trimbach's crafts on point. On display were also customs from ANTZ and PHU!, and even humbly from me.
[FYI: The showcase-display changed daily, if even slightly. last day was all-out product-pimpin'! LOL]
Mini-Munnys flew off the counter-top (for folks who got them to get the artists to sign/draw on them) until some artists begun charging for sketches (they shall remain ever unnamed). Although it was pretty alarming how many folks did not know about the D.I.Y. Mini-Munnys, no doubt something new and neutrally non-"threatening" for folks starting out in the hobby - both as a new artist, and as a curious hobbyist, IMHO.
DISPLAY-TIP: Especially in Singapore - show prices of products. Product details work if only to educate the "Interested". The "Curious" are swayed more by "Cuteness". Looking "cute" may well trump all other types, regardless of genre types, IMHO.
THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE DA TOY BUSINESS
I would understand that folks not see the practicality of my "business plan", in fact, the business notion of paying for a physical booth space, and carrying / displaying brand new products yet unseen in Singapore, done by a local toy-blog and not a retail entity - may well baffle many who walked by, and thru the booth, and even to folks reading this now.
How would he make any money? How can he afford anything that is an obvious luxury to many? Why the heck did he even bother to print 3 posters, when instead product pics will do?
Well, I didn't, I can't and I had to. Surely I can't just have a counter-top in the middle of a space with just a laptop on the surface? I couldn't be walking around the convention halls toting a pull-trolley peddling my exclusives like a street-side vendor, innit? Hindsight is twenty-twenty and I see very clearly now what I could have done, to prevent even further (financial) damage to myself, but perhaps that would be left to another post (or even be made know at all).
UPSIDE
The upside to all of this was getting myself out there = to let folks TOYSREVIL "existed". And that local artists like ANTZ & PHU! are practicing their craft right here on our lil island country state. The products from adFunture complemented the YOKA-exclusive, while Papertoys is an emerging (but very young) trend in Singapore. In this regard, I truly feel the booth was a success, IMHO :)
One of the incidental kickers were from folks who were obviously rushing by C16 to head-on elsewhere, but would mutter and giggle with their friends, as they point to the booth and mention: "Toys Are Evil! heeheehee" - but did those pay for the booth? No. But they made me smile in my heart, now and again ... naaaah, I lie - they made me smile every single time I (over)heard them :)
[Rubbing off a bit of ANTZ's limelight as he did his toy-custom demo while I signed my YOKA]
SHOULDA COULDA WOULDA
Would things have been "better" if I did not have a booth, and stock? On the financial view-point = most definitely! Then my focus would be solely for the event itself. But what difference would that make as compared to my coverage last year? Or to the coverage by others who had attended the event, with more impressive camera-snaps, and instantaneous hassle-free blogging? Would I constantly have to blog literally by sitting on the convention floor? Or seek refuge in other booths? And tap their electrical sockets to charge my laptop too? ahahahahaha
What I had learnt in this crash-course of having quasi-produced a toy, prepping for an event this scale, and actually living the event (the jury's still out on "surviving this event", folks) in quick back-to-breaking-back succession, is priceless, and necessary - for both my development as a toy-blogger, and peruser of the pop culture, IMHO. Where this will lead to in time, will be revealed in time :)
Do feel free to disagree with my notion and methods, but I'm living it now, and will gladly share with you the facts as I live and see'em.
SURVIVAL-TIP: Do not bite off more than you can chew, or it will come back and bite, or even swallow you whole if you're not careful. Can you afford to gamble? What is the cost of failure? What be the price for success?
THE MASTER PLAN WAS...
Misguided by my dismal abilities, I had intended to blog "live" from the floor, with the booth as both meeting place and Blogging-HQ (low-tech style, mind - I ain't rolling in cash, yo!). The display showcase with spotlight (which was an additional cost borne by me btw and does not come with the booth-package) was a necessary cost at the time, as it would have served the duo-purpose of both displaying goods, and be lockable if I had needed to bug-out for snaps and interviews, if need be.
Understand this - all of this was planned with me as the only sole operator of booth C16. Folks are working weekdays, and no one I know is or would be insane enough to follow me and be committed in this insane ride (except for my fam, of course muahahahahaha). If I could afford to pay for hired-help, this might have been a tad alleviated, of course. Thank the gawds for non-Union / "free" family members! LOL (*cough*)
FREE WI-FI MY HAIRY-PIMPLED-ASS
On hindsight, paying for a confirmed Internet-Line would have worked out better than depending on the non-existent free Wi-Fi in the Suntec Convention hall with a mystery password for access unsolved still (there, Myth-Busted!). But not with the non-existent budget that I had (What? You think I'm being paid? ahahahaha) ... although I hope I can pay for my daily Tweets when the bill hits me later on (LOL) ... I was stupid enough to (borrow and) lug along a laptop with me everyday of the Con, and try for three days straight. I should have wised up and given up on the first.
BLOGGING THE CON
I knew from the get-go, and from last year's STCC experience - there was no way in blazes I could attend the Con, and still blog about it the night afters, gawds forbid if I was running a booth too.
One of the primary reasons why I spread out the signings, was to allow myself to be able to blog in-between. But then again, that times was spent chatting with and pitching to folks who popped by the booth :p
In the end, it was Twitter all the way, and from the visual arc of my booth, which saw the entire stretch of the Walk Of Fame, and of course the relentless queues for Brian Bolland's sessions!
Twitpic? Sponsor me an iPhone lah or shutdafcukup. L0L
SPREADING DA WORD
Thank gawd I had my namecards done - no doubt a necessity. I had really wanted postcards too - printed with full explanation and text etc - something for folks to bring away with, and refer to, long after the convention had ended ... but lack of time and budget were prevailing issues, and the notion was dropped with a heavy heart. (Perhaps an incarnation may reveal itself sometime down the line...)
But if I had to gauge the success of the event, with the measure of how many cards I had handed out, then it would've been an abject failure. Luckily for most folks, no one gauges it this way, do they?
[My fav Cosplay girls of the entire event: gregarious Gwen and the gorgeous Ai Ling
rocking their DOLLS personas and working their sore-feets off promoting booths!
Photography by Amano7 - thanks for letting me calafare! LOL]
POSTER-POWER
I love me my posters. The initial plan was to include write-ups of what vinyl art toys are, what customs are etc - basic vinyl art toy education - not to preach the converts, but to perhaps bring in new blood to the game and hobby.
TRE was actually the last perp to send in graphics (or so I'm told / again done by myself, to save costs) for the event (I live dangerously, yo). Kudos for Michael of Colourscan for all the assist and help - and most of all, I envy his toy-score at the Con! (do let your boys know they were excellent in their help in the set-up!)
BOOTH-TIP: Settle your booth displays and graphic-related print materials earlier on in the game, as they are time and labour-sensitive issues that can be avoided with early preparation. Consider product images as an add-on til laters (if they exist at all).
The posters, and showcase ads proved their worth time and again, if not for incidental event coverage (peep the Cosplay-snap with TRE in the background as seen on in the nation's newspaper muahahaha), or for snaps with friends and new acquaintances, or at the very least to see folks having a grand ol' time taking pictures in front of them :) Wish I had wall-space at home to put them up tho LOL
APOLOGIES
I stand by my decision to obtain a booth - in many cases, the best decision I have made so far in 2009 (on all fronts except the financial aspect lol) ... but frankly regret the consequence of the result. For this, I sincerely apologize to my readers, for the lacking in TRE-coverage of the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention.
After all the dust has settled, and toys safely packed in carton-coffins (after a heartbreaking tumulous stock-check) - all I can focus on for now (besides sorting out a way to peddle my toys to you guys LOL) is to perhaps provide a post-event summary of the various happenings, to what I reckon is an huge leap and improvement from last years, and something I am proud to have taken part in, regardless of the cost.
Truth be told, after costs for prepping for the Booth C16, I had zero extra funds to buy toys & stuff for STGCC. I shit thee not. But I steeled myself and my toy-desires, and as much as I wanted to support the folks exhibiting at the Con (and of folks I blog about daily) - I still had a booth to run and pay for, and an investment of stock to recoup, all this on top of covering the event as "Official Blog". Just trying to keep it very real (no b.s. on the TRE-blog, fhanks).
But make no mistake - I had an awesomely great and humbly enriching time @ STGCC! Meeting everyone (both old and new-found friends) was the highlight of the Con! CLICK THRU to read the rest of my personal journey into making Booth C16 and of my 2nd Con experience!
REALITY BITES
The concept of blogging and selling at the same time proved too lethal a combination of circumstances, which led to the inevitable failure on both ends. Convention coverage in miserable tatters and sorely lacking, while the black-hole of financial debt grows ever larger with every dollar-count. I would argue the non-financial gain has been more than adequate to balance the lack (and it has been, moreso than I had imagined and hoped it would be) but the scales tip for the negative, in the physical plane of mundane existence, and into oblivion I slide (throw me a rope, why doncha?). Self-satisfaction and customer-happiness do not pay my bills, dollar-bills do. The happiness of others (and of myself) makes me work harder for it, of course - heh :p
BROKEN ARROW
The choice had been mine to begin with, I'd realized it had unknowingly shifted my focus, with a failing aim. The bow was wound up so tight, but the arrow was off target once it was shot. In the end I shot my own butt LOL
Although I imagined if I had not taken on a booth, the amount of money spent on toys, prints and other convention memorabilia, would frankly be a tad credit-crippling, I reckon! Tis after all, the second toy convention to be held in Singapore, and the biggest one yet! And the toys, THE TOYS!
CONVENTION-TIP: Do your location and product recce on the first day possible and buy them asap. Do not expect nor hope for any price-reduction, unless you are not afraid of seeing the products being snapped up first! Apologies for folks waiting for Booth C16 to shout "DISCOUNT" - because I did not :p
The only toy-purchase I had made on the last day of the con (2 x WWR Squares - within the last hour of closing LOL) were cash "borrowed" from my booth cash-float (Never want to mix bizness with pleasure) - which frankly, makes for quite an incomplete Convention experience, at least for me, IMHO. Heck, me Mum went around and scored more toys than me! LOL
A Convention experience consists of: Buying Stuff, Seeing Stuff, Experiencing Stuff, and generally Scoring Free Stuff.
One of the best part of the Con experience, at the end of the day, was having my family supporting me throughout, from prep to post-event - and of them being immersed in the pop culture I dwell in on a daily basis, and for them to know and understand what it is. Because a toy culture shouldn't be about just "buying" and "collecting". If that colors me naive, then frak it, bathe me in the radiance of a kindergarten crayon rainbow.
SALESMAN-TRE
Never have I pitched repeatedly for a consecutive duration of days, in my entire adult life! Most folks thought either: (1) I was a toy-manufacturer, or (2) A retail shop. When I mention TOYSREVIL is an online blog "blogging about toys", the WTF-pause in every conversation was deafening! LOL - but tis all good, and I got to pitch the blog and make friends, and (hopefully) new local readers.
Although with the sleep deprivation, and high-stress levels I was experiencing, I had not been in top form, barely pumping at 20% of who I was, and can be. Sorry if I bored or disappointed you folks who took the trouble to pop by tho!
PRESENTATION-TIP: Looking fresh but not feeling fresh makes a difference. Product knowledge and knowing how to sell, is a thin razor-line divide. Get good rest and learn your homework before you go out to meet the masses of folks who do not know about your product in the first place.
The LOL-irony was I am a toy-blogger who ended up doing sales-pitching and promotion instead of blogging about the event itself. Something is very wrong with this picture, innit? Nah, t'was I who started sketching this picture in the first place, or allowed the picture to be painted thusly - no one else to blame but myself! Buy some cool toys, you stingy-toy-collectors, you! MUAHAHAHA
FAMILY BUSINESS
Dad, bro Benny and sis Cindy took turns running the sales at different times of days (Only a max of 3 exhibitors are allowed in a booth at any time, thanks - and both siblings have day-jobs to contend with too). Mum did food runs (ye gawds I was so fearful of the entire scenario turning out into a "family picnic", but fucken having gastric-probs and no square meals everyday - them snacks made for manna from the merciful heavens LOL), and turned freelance photog for TRE (altho the 2000-pixel per image nearly melted my Mac / prepare yourselves for the coming of "TRE-MOM-Vision"! LOL). Sis supported the arts scene (so envy the Allen Ross original art-score!), While Bro constantly ran to and fro Crazy Label's booth, and also scored some super sweet buys from the event (Bought himself some Treesons-mini figures while I got none *sob*). My jealousy of their Con-experience is nigh high - like srsly! LOL
The initial "fear" I had, was that having my aged parents sitting at the booth (much less doing sales), might give off a "wrong vibe", or at least a "wrong demographic" - for this is after all, a young adults domain of influence, and not a "mom-and-pop-store" set-up ... but you know what? YOU come and slave for me without any renumeration and expectations, or shutdafuckup - fhankyouverymuch LOL
EDUCATION BEGINS AT HOME
Understand this, my fam does not do toys. They bare with it because of me. And now, I am proud to say the "4-day TRE-Immersion-Course" was a success, and their "lives are more enriched because of it" (backaches and sore feets notwithstanding though). Heck, I am 100% behind the addage: "Education Begins At Home" - particularly in this instance ;p
Comparing toy-scores at the end of the work day, and slaving over the booth, has brought my family much closer than it ever was - and that, I will eternally be thankful and grateful for (to my family, not for the experience). Who woulda thunk it, innit? *Cool*
TOYSREVIL has always been just a one person entity (me!). Now my fam are honorary TRE'ers - for life! LOL
[Thank gawd for IKEA bags! LOL]
WHY GET A BOOTH IN DA FIRST PLACE?
I had wanted a booth: (1) to be a base for TRE - to both blog from, and to meet folks, (2) to have a physical presence at the Con, and (3) to showcase my exclusive YOKA (what? peddling my toys from a pull-trolley suitcase? "buy 2 get 1 free"? LOL) and as well as both ANTZ's and PHU!'s goodies. (Singapore Represent, yo!)
And with a booth, the possibilities and opportunities abound! As a purely branding standpoint, I could keep it strictly TRE-focused, and at the same time showcase our local artists and designers - which in connection to the YOKA and Mini-G-Robot, made for perfect "creative" sense (at least to me, of course). ANTZ could come in and do signings for his "Thunder Ape"-design, PHU! could showcase his Rebel Yoka prototype (seen in public for the first time? hell yeah!) as well as launch his Rebel Pilots resins. And I could launch my TRE-YOKA. Hella good times, innit?
But alas, all that dwelled in my fetid mind, was "what can I do to pay for all of this?" = and that, without a shadow of a doubt, was the beginning of the downward-spiral...
TOYS ON SHOW
Compared to the other tables and booth spaces brimming with multi-spectral colors and shapes of product and items - the TRE Booth had a grand total of 4 product types, running two genres. Vinyl toys had first-time-seen-in-Singapore YOKAS and Mini-G-Robots, while D.I.Y. Munnys (Standard & Minis) were a revelation to the non-toy-crowd. Papertoys had Jack Hankins' and Sjors Trimbach's crafts on point. On display were also customs from ANTZ and PHU!, and even humbly from me.
[FYI: The showcase-display changed daily, if even slightly. last day was all-out product-pimpin'! LOL]
Mini-Munnys flew off the counter-top (for folks who got them to get the artists to sign/draw on them) until some artists begun charging for sketches (they shall remain ever unnamed). Although it was pretty alarming how many folks did not know about the D.I.Y. Mini-Munnys, no doubt something new and neutrally non-"threatening" for folks starting out in the hobby - both as a new artist, and as a curious hobbyist, IMHO.
DISPLAY-TIP: Especially in Singapore - show prices of products. Product details work if only to educate the "Interested". The "Curious" are swayed more by "Cuteness". Looking "cute" may well trump all other types, regardless of genre types, IMHO.
THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE DA TOY BUSINESS
I would understand that folks not see the practicality of my "business plan", in fact, the business notion of paying for a physical booth space, and carrying / displaying brand new products yet unseen in Singapore, done by a local toy-blog and not a retail entity - may well baffle many who walked by, and thru the booth, and even to folks reading this now.
How would he make any money? How can he afford anything that is an obvious luxury to many? Why the heck did he even bother to print 3 posters, when instead product pics will do?
Well, I didn't, I can't and I had to. Surely I can't just have a counter-top in the middle of a space with just a laptop on the surface? I couldn't be walking around the convention halls toting a pull-trolley peddling my exclusives like a street-side vendor, innit? Hindsight is twenty-twenty and I see very clearly now what I could have done, to prevent even further (financial) damage to myself, but perhaps that would be left to another post (or even be made know at all).
UPSIDE
The upside to all of this was getting myself out there = to let folks TOYSREVIL "existed". And that local artists like ANTZ & PHU! are practicing their craft right here on our lil island country state. The products from adFunture complemented the YOKA-exclusive, while Papertoys is an emerging (but very young) trend in Singapore. In this regard, I truly feel the booth was a success, IMHO :)
One of the incidental kickers were from folks who were obviously rushing by C16 to head-on elsewhere, but would mutter and giggle with their friends, as they point to the booth and mention: "Toys Are Evil! heeheehee" - but did those pay for the booth? No. But they made me smile in my heart, now and again ... naaaah, I lie - they made me smile every single time I (over)heard them :)
[Rubbing off a bit of ANTZ's limelight as he did his toy-custom demo while I signed my YOKA]
SHOULDA COULDA WOULDA
Would things have been "better" if I did not have a booth, and stock? On the financial view-point = most definitely! Then my focus would be solely for the event itself. But what difference would that make as compared to my coverage last year? Or to the coverage by others who had attended the event, with more impressive camera-snaps, and instantaneous hassle-free blogging? Would I constantly have to blog literally by sitting on the convention floor? Or seek refuge in other booths? And tap their electrical sockets to charge my laptop too? ahahahahaha
What I had learnt in this crash-course of having quasi-produced a toy, prepping for an event this scale, and actually living the event (the jury's still out on "surviving this event", folks) in quick back-to-breaking-back succession, is priceless, and necessary - for both my development as a toy-blogger, and peruser of the pop culture, IMHO. Where this will lead to in time, will be revealed in time :)
Do feel free to disagree with my notion and methods, but I'm living it now, and will gladly share with you the facts as I live and see'em.
SURVIVAL-TIP: Do not bite off more than you can chew, or it will come back and bite, or even swallow you whole if you're not careful. Can you afford to gamble? What is the cost of failure? What be the price for success?
THE MASTER PLAN WAS...
Misguided by my dismal abilities, I had intended to blog "live" from the floor, with the booth as both meeting place and Blogging-HQ (low-tech style, mind - I ain't rolling in cash, yo!). The display showcase with spotlight (which was an additional cost borne by me btw and does not come with the booth-package) was a necessary cost at the time, as it would have served the duo-purpose of both displaying goods, and be lockable if I had needed to bug-out for snaps and interviews, if need be.
Understand this - all of this was planned with me as the only sole operator of booth C16. Folks are working weekdays, and no one I know is or would be insane enough to follow me and be committed in this insane ride (except for my fam, of course muahahahahaha). If I could afford to pay for hired-help, this might have been a tad alleviated, of course. Thank the gawds for non-Union / "free" family members! LOL (*cough*)
FREE WI-FI MY HAIRY-PIMPLED-ASS
On hindsight, paying for a confirmed Internet-Line would have worked out better than depending on the non-existent free Wi-Fi in the Suntec Convention hall with a mystery password for access unsolved still (there, Myth-Busted!). But not with the non-existent budget that I had (What? You think I'm being paid? ahahahaha) ... although I hope I can pay for my daily Tweets when the bill hits me later on (LOL) ... I was stupid enough to (borrow and) lug along a laptop with me everyday of the Con, and try for three days straight. I should have wised up and given up on the first.
BLOGGING THE CON
I knew from the get-go, and from last year's STCC experience - there was no way in blazes I could attend the Con, and still blog about it the night afters, gawds forbid if I was running a booth too.
One of the primary reasons why I spread out the signings, was to allow myself to be able to blog in-between. But then again, that times was spent chatting with and pitching to folks who popped by the booth :p
In the end, it was Twitter all the way, and from the visual arc of my booth, which saw the entire stretch of the Walk Of Fame, and of course the relentless queues for Brian Bolland's sessions!
Twitpic? Sponsor me an iPhone lah or shutdafcukup. L0L
SPREADING DA WORD
Thank gawd I had my namecards done - no doubt a necessity. I had really wanted postcards too - printed with full explanation and text etc - something for folks to bring away with, and refer to, long after the convention had ended ... but lack of time and budget were prevailing issues, and the notion was dropped with a heavy heart. (Perhaps an incarnation may reveal itself sometime down the line...)
But if I had to gauge the success of the event, with the measure of how many cards I had handed out, then it would've been an abject failure. Luckily for most folks, no one gauges it this way, do they?
[My fav Cosplay girls of the entire event: gregarious Gwen and the gorgeous Ai Ling
rocking their DOLLS personas and working their sore-feets off promoting booths!
Photography by Amano7 - thanks for letting me calafare! LOL]
POSTER-POWER
I love me my posters. The initial plan was to include write-ups of what vinyl art toys are, what customs are etc - basic vinyl art toy education - not to preach the converts, but to perhaps bring in new blood to the game and hobby.
TRE was actually the last perp to send in graphics (or so I'm told / again done by myself, to save costs) for the event (I live dangerously, yo). Kudos for Michael of Colourscan for all the assist and help - and most of all, I envy his toy-score at the Con! (do let your boys know they were excellent in their help in the set-up!)
BOOTH-TIP: Settle your booth displays and graphic-related print materials earlier on in the game, as they are time and labour-sensitive issues that can be avoided with early preparation. Consider product images as an add-on til laters (if they exist at all).
The posters, and showcase ads proved their worth time and again, if not for incidental event coverage (peep the Cosplay-snap with TRE in the background as seen on in the nation's newspaper muahahaha), or for snaps with friends and new acquaintances, or at the very least to see folks having a grand ol' time taking pictures in front of them :) Wish I had wall-space at home to put them up tho LOL
APOLOGIES
I stand by my decision to obtain a booth - in many cases, the best decision I have made so far in 2009 (on all fronts except the financial aspect lol) ... but frankly regret the consequence of the result. For this, I sincerely apologize to my readers, for the lacking in TRE-coverage of the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention.
After all the dust has settled, and toys safely packed in carton-coffins (after a heartbreaking tumulous stock-check) - all I can focus on for now (besides sorting out a way to peddle my toys to you guys LOL) is to perhaps provide a post-event summary of the various happenings, to what I reckon is an huge leap and improvement from last years, and something I am proud to have taken part in, regardless of the cost.
