The hours are different to allow for people to leave the dealer's area around 6pm, but still be able to walk around and see artworks till 9pm for Friday and Sat; It was still packed during that time. For all 3 days, it had constant walk through even though the room layout was a bit odd in these large 'pod's that had giant center areas for the artists. It was ok, but wished it was a different layout.
We were positioned up at the front but facing a wall so it wasn't the best location. From who I talked to, it didn't really matter since most people at AZ walk and sell ALL of the artists and vendors. There's really not a lot of them so its not super saturated, which is a good thing. The venue, Raleigh Convention Center, bottom area is broken into 3 large rooms. 1 is AA, 2 is Dealers and 3 is an empty hall used for a rave/stage setup.
We were so busy the entire time and the hours were long that we didn't get to enjoy the con that much or visit any panels. Lots of programming and because the whole con stayed open till 2am, it was awesome to hangout during after hours and nice to see lots of people have fun still. The con seems to have hit it's peak at being around 14-15k, but that's fine with me as they rent every nook and cranny of RCC.
As a local artist, it was great and even if I was traveling far, I would mark this con on my calendar as a vendor.
The Bad:
-Getting my things in and out of the Alley were difficult. The convention center's elevator system was slow, and unorganized. A more accessible loading dock would've been nice.
-Our booth was right next to where they were holding the auctions and classes. The microphone for the classes was set at a reasonable volume. But during the auctions it was difficult to hear customers.
The Good:
-Check in was simple and fairly quick early on Thursday.
-The artists nearby were amazing! We made tons of friends.
-Sales went well. Customers were generally engaging.
