Booth set up with my booth mate, @fuyukoillust on Instagram (Left side)
I was at ACE from 19-20 August 2023. It was my first anime targeted convention event, and first time cosplaying, so it was especially exciting! Watch my event vlog below ~ Here's 3 things I learnt from the event:
1. It takes effort to draw in customers.
You won’t get sales just by having a pretty set up and striking art. I definitely saw a spike in interactions when I stood up and actually talked to people, asking them who their favourite characters were and being curious about what else they’d purchased, or even complimenting their cosplays! In contrast, people didn’t even come up whenever I simply sat behind the booth, hidden by the set up, or when I wasn’t at the booth.
2. Making friends and spreading your art
I didn’t join this event with intention to profit, and treated it more like a networking event! Even before the actual event, I was reaching out to artists to say hi! During the event, I introduced my friends to other friends, who in turn introduced me to their friends. I truly was never bored because of how many new friends I made who came to visit my booth/ me going to visit them. Those candid interactions with fellow artists helped recharge social batteries… as much as I adore chatting with customers, it can get very tiring…it’s also a chance to learn from other artists about their set up, their manufacturers, experiences etc 😊
3. Making the best of what you have
My keychain restocks came in the wrong size, but I still sold them, at a cheaper price! They were unexpectedly popular ☺️ I did not have time to get new art prints to showcase my new art styles, but instead shared them via my name card. It was an experiment to see whether people liked my new art style, and whether they enjoyed my original art. From how I was out of a box of cards in 2 days, I’m confident that my experiment was a success!
I also had a very limited number of characters in my merch, but interacting with people who came over was also a chance to gather feedback on what other characters were popular, for future merch!
All in all, in terms of profits, I barely broke even (rent + product cost), but to me, the event was a great success! I will prepare more for EOY in December, so see you then!
With love,
Glacecia =^-^=
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