C2E2 Follow-Up

We're now back to a normal (or as normal as things get around here) Monday after a weekend of C2E2. Great show, as I (and many others) have been posting about over the last few days. What's striking to me about this, or any other show, is that part of its relative success is what YOU put into it as an individual. And I'm not necessarily talking about pros here, I'm talking about the fans walking up and down the aisles.

As I've noted, I went all three days of the show. The last day, though, I brought the S.O. along with me. She wandered the con floor while I went to a few panels and, when I came out, she saw a couple of things she wanted to get my opinion on. We went back to the con floor, where she proceeded to wind through the aisles until she came across the booth she was looking for. Not only had I not seen that booth at all in the past couple of days, I had missed most of the others that we had to pass by in order to get to that one! I can understand missing a booth or two if it didn't have something to readily catch my eye, or if I completely glossed over it because it was focused on something I had no interest in. But, here, in the last hours of the con, I realized that I had missed at least a noticeable chunk of it.

I went to dinner on Saturday with Brigid Alverson, James Anderson, Matt Brady, Denver Brubaker and Michael May. I got into some good conversations with several of the dealers throughout the show, and I chatted with I-don't-know-how-many creators in Artists' Alley. (Special shout-outs to Steve Bryant, R.J.Casey and Dan Govar!) And that's what I was primarily going for -- not to gawk at some people in costumes (though I did see some that were pretty incredible and/or clever) and not to buy stuff (though I did pick up a few things).

I got out of the show what I put into it. That is, I went to meet and interact with friends/colleagues and, since I did a decent amount of that, I walked away feeling like it was a successful show. I would've liked to have talked with even more people, but there's only so many hours in a day.

Now, granted, the show has a measure of responsibility for success as well! If, for example, they couldn't get anyone to attend, then I'd have had no one to talk to in the first place! But if you spend the entire show looking at booths and expecting to meet up with old and new friends, you might find yourself a bit disappointed.

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