Con Review: Tulsa Pop Culture Expo

Convention Name: Tulsa Pop Culture Expo
Date: Nov 3&3, 2019
Cost: $300, 1 table (spot I ended up in had TONS of space)
Location: Tulsa, OK
Grade: B

 This was a large convention. Definitely the largest that I have ever attended. There were quite a few celebrities and lots of space for this one. The price is most definitely the biggest I have paid for a booth, double what my highest was up to now. Because of this, I was definitely nervous. Initially I had decided not to do this one because of the cost, but I went ahead and dove right in to see how things would go for a larger convention.

The location of the expo was in a mall. There wasn't much clarification on this on the website or in any of the emails. I wasn't sure if this was an old mall that had been turned into something else, or just being held in part of the mall. When I arrived, I had to drive around the place, and I finally located a big sign on the side of the building. Turns out, this was being held in an old Sears store in the mall, 2 stories of space.

Check in was really easy. There was a table setup right by the door, so I checked in and was shown where my spot was right away. I ended up going the day before for setup. In the communications, setup/load in was on Friday, and I didn't see any times listed for Saturday morning before the con. This was a bit annoying because I now have an extra night of hotel just to be able to setup. My setup takes, at most, 2 hours to do. Granted, the extra setup time allowed me to take my time, but since I had my niece with me this time, we still had it done in about 2 hours.

My booth space was was great. You know how in department stores there are the tile "pathways" and the merchandise is located in carpeted areas. My booth was in one of the areas along a wall, so I had all that space between the "aisle" and the wall. It was doubly good because I was at the corner, so there was an "aisle" to one side of me, too.

In the picture, we are near the wall, and there was a HUGE space in front of us before the aisle. The other tables and I talked with the people in charge and were able to move forward up to the aisle so we would have better foot traffic.
My location was great, too. That aisle to the side was between me and the booth area where the celebrity photos were being held. So, I got some good views from the photo people while they waited for pictures. I also got to see all the celebrities walk right past my table on their way to their assigned photo time. It was great!

For this being such a big con, I expected to do much more business (especially with a $300 table fee). I didn't lose any money, but I wouldn't call this con a success. If the table fees cost the same next year, I highly doubt I will attend this con again. It just isn't worth all the work and time and money to just barely break even. The table fee is why I gave this con a B.

This was my niece's first con (she only had gone to the craft fairs with me before), and she LOVED it. I have been trying to get her to come to cons, since they are a lot more fun, and now I think she is hooked. She even tried to get days off from work to go to the next one in two weeks, but she wasn't able to. Hopefully I will have her for many more in the future, though!