During Hiroline's Holiday Fair, we felt quite accomplished and pleased with our table setup. However the next day, we looked up videos of StocktonCon on YouTube for research and I became dismayed. Our table setup would not cut it.
- There will be no space between tables to display the display board and cardboard standee.
- Looking at a table setup standing on its own is very different from viewing it squeezed between other tables.
- Every booth is selling. Unless something catches their eye, people are likely to glance at a table for no more than 3 seconds before looking at the next.
- It might be worth considering catching people's eye with something at a taller level that can be seen several booths away.
In a joint effort to address these concerns, we decided to incorporate the display board into the table design by having the front sliver of the table feature the towns and route assets from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. My talented, skilled, perseverant partner began to earnestly create a planogram of the table. By the middle of February, the brilliant thing was built.
Objectives:
✅ practice load in and set up in a larger venue
✅ gather data based on reactions and interactions from passersby
✅ break even
For this convention, the artist alley (for one 6' table) fee was $196.65. We were allowed to set up the day on Friday between 4 PM - 9 PM. Setup on Saturday began at 7:30 PM, and we must be ready to go by 10:45 AM. For both days, the event hours were from 11 AM - 5 PM.
Load in was quite smooth. It was a great opportunity to time how long our display would take, as it was quite elaborate. It took about 2 hours to set up, and 1 hour to add products and iron out small details.
One thing I would note is that I did NOT like the chairs. I didn't take an exact picture, but it basically is like this one. When I was standing and put my hand on the seat for support, it flipped upwards in a way where my hand plummeted downwards.
I'm extremely pleased with our table display. It addressed most of the concerns I listed in the beginning of this post. Many people would at least look at our display, and then maybe look at what we were actually selling.
