Manic May 2024 - Part 1
So, what made May 2024 so manic!
It is crazy to think that we are barely over a year old, and in fact, MCM Comic Con in May was our 1 year anniversary of doing shows! We have never been a team to shy away from pushing the business and we aim to say yes to whatever challenges come our way.
Across May we attended 3 Multi-day cons. Each came with something different, new challenges and fantastic opportunities. But let’s start from the beginning…!
The Prep!!
We learnt a lot from our first few cons in 2023. Some things we now feel like we have the hang of and others still very much need perfecting (did someone say something about healthy eating and hydration).
One of our biggest learnings and something that needed a drastic change was our packaging and packing systems. As our stock was increasing, so was our need for efficiency! Goodbye brown boxes and massive carrier bags full of stock and hello beautiful new black boxes, consistent branding and lots of Really Useful Boxes (they are living up to their name)!
So let’s take it all the way back to the beginning of April when we had a month to go until Manic May and we decided to completely change our packaging and packing systems. One of the big challenges at cons in 2023 was trying to package stock in front of customers and not leave new customers waiting. Because of this, we decided to pre-pack every single mini into 3 different box sizes. Yes, it took forever. Yes, the house looked like a mess for weeks. Yes, we enlisted Flossy’s mum to come and help! Along with new boxes, we also created a brand new labeling system (yay to the new speedy label maker) so that each product is super quick and easy to find.
Along with these lovely new black boxes, we also decided to change how we packed everything for cons so that it fitted into the car constantly and efficiently and also made transporting to and from the show floor easier. In come the Really Useful Boxes! With measurements and trials we worked out how many black boxes (of each size) fitted into each Really Useful Box (of which there were 2 sizes). This then meant we could work out how many of each product we could take in one car… along with all the general con paraphernalia! We then labeled our Really Useful Boxes so that everything could be found easily whilst being busy at cons and everything could be repacked in the same place to make the pack down quicker!
After 4 weeks of designing, printing, de-supporting, curing, spray painting, re-packaging, gluing, stickering and organising… we were ready… At least, we were as ready as we could be!
Portsmouth Comic Con — Portsmouth Guildhall — 11th - 12th May
Conversations for this event started in August 2023, so we had plenty of time to prepare! We initially emailed them asking for a vendor spot (they were fully booked) however they spotted we ran workshops on our Facebook page so booked us for that instead! Having only been running as an official business for 4 months (at time of booking), we were super excited so leapt on the opportunity.
We were asked to provide a Press Pack (the words “what on earth is a press pack” were uttered) but then we chatted to our wonderful expert friends and got ourselves sorted.
N.B. A press pack is basically a deck with all your key info they can use for marketing: long and short bios, selected images, logos and how to use them, social links and so on.
Fast forward to April 2024…preparations fully on the go and logistical decisions beginning to be made! Having never worked with Portsmouth before we were quite apprehensive about the parking situation and getting the equipment and stock to our space easily. There is no ‘proper’ parking outside the Guildhall, only limited road spaces so we were trying to plan for every eventuality. In the end we decided to head down super early on the morning of the first day (we could have gone the day before but that would have cost more petrol and as a small business, every penny counts). By doing this, we were basically one of the first people to arrive. We got a road spot right outside the venue for unloading and then moved our car to a local car park to free up the space for others.
The key to any event is to plan, prepare and be organised! We did this the best we could without really knowing the space we were working with or how busy the event would be. Unlike MCM we didn’t know the venue or how things worked, however once we arrived our preparations meant we could be flexible with the space and make things work for us!
Main Difficulties (and how we rolled with them and made them work)
Not knowing the area or venue. We did as much research as possible and asked as many questions as we could think of to enable us to have the smoothest show! We arrived early (way earlier than needed) so that we could get the lay of the land without the stress of a busy show floor and we came up with multiple scenarios and solutions! (Prepare for the worst but hope for the best)
Getting rid of waste water after the Paint and Take. This was not an issue we had considered. We hadn’t bought a bottle for waste water and running each water cup to the toilets/sinks would have taken forever! Luckily we went home after day 1 so we were able to bring something back with us.
Keeping stock organised and accessible! Luckily we had a large space to store our stock, however it wasn’t next to the stall so whenever I needed something I would have to leave the stall and this meant I rushed and made quite a mess. On the second day, I created a more efficient system by keeping our most popular products under the table.
Working in front of the stall (not hiding behind it)! At most cons you are behind a stall however as the space was limited we decided to push the table back against the wall and I (Flossy) worked in front of it! At first this was extremely overwhelming as I was amongst the crowds however it did mean I could demonstrate our new dice towers and show off the stock easier. I’m not sure I would do it again, however it was good to experience life from the customer's point of view.
Best Bits
As with every event, one of the best bits was meeting new people and making connections! Seeing both young and old enjoy the hobby and families connecting over joint interests is always a fantastic high! We particularly love it when a member of the group isn’t interested at first but then ends up being the person who takes the most time and enjoys it the most.
Our sales numbers. We hadn’t come into Portsmouth as a vendor but as a supplier of an activity however Portsmouth were kind enough to allow us a spare table to sell our models from! As we weren’t part of the main area, we were concerned the footfall wouldn’t be very high (only people attending the Paint and Take would find us) however we were so wrong! Perhaps accidentally, many people were coming into our room expecting to walk through and instead hitting a dead end and finding us! This lack of clarity led to a fantastic show for us.
Getting to launch our new laser cut products to a larger market and get some fantastic feedback. It was so great to see customers interact with something that was designed and made by us from scratch.
Pushing ourselves and realising our USP (unique selling point). We had only done one Paint and Take event prior to this (in Oct 2023 at MCM Comic Con), and we began to think of our business as 50/50 vendor/paint and take however working at an event where it was heavily weighted towards the Paint and Take part showed us just how much people loved it and wanted more! Could this be something we offer more of in the future?
Stick around for Part 2, where we chat all things MCM and UKGE!
