Zenkaikon

This con overall was good for what you put into it. Good turnout, steady sales, not too cold AA, decent cell signal in the room, helpful staff. I was only 2.5 hours away and we packed our own snacks/water and split a hotel room so that helped keep overhead costs low.

The staff was SO helpful not only giving us directions but walking us all the way to the registration booth personally and showing us where the exhibitor space would be after. I really appreciated that. The layout was a little bit confusing (there were no numbers on the table so it took me a hot minute to find my table.

The crowd was really nice. Lots of younger adults/college aged kids who liked to spend money and loved to talk. I feel like there was a steady flow of customers but Saturday was obviously the busiest. There was a good mix of different artists too, and everyone there was talented and really sweet. they were down to support each other's work or art trade which was cool.

Downsides:

- I feel like Friday started too late (2:30pm) so there wasn't enough time for selling.
- They said there was discounted parking for vendors for $8/day, it was actually $10/day.
- the wifi the convention center was trying to sell us was $50-120 per DEVICE. not the con's fault, just a venue thing. ick.

- I also had an issue with the con chair emailing us all less than a week beforehand to let us know that proof of insurance was going to be required at this and all future Zenkaikons?? I understand that business insurance is good practice, but requiring people who do this on the side or as a hobby to purchase liability insurance for selling art on PAPER is ridiculous. Seems like they'll lose a lot of artists this way. I don't appreciate the con pushing the liability on us individually as vendors. it's simply not something that is needed to shell out money for if you sell prints or buttons or stickers. If you sell weapons, metal props or anything that could be harmful, or are a vendor who's reselling lots of anime inventory then i'd understand. In my 7 years selling at AAs I've never heard of this being a thing, and hope they might reconsider in the future, otherwise this was my first and last Zenkaikon.

I have been selling at this con for a decade, and it has been great seeing it grow! It has changed places a few times but my review is for its current home of the last few years in Lancaster PA. It is a midsized con at about 5,800 - 7,000 people. I always sell well there and the staff is great. Price is fair for the convention size. Hotels in the area split between 4-6 people are not crazy in price (though limited so sometimes getting a room can be a pain). Parking is reasonable.

The artists share the room with the dealers, who get about 60% of the room space. Also voice actor guests tables line one wall. The artists are at the back half but the room isn't that huge so people walk around the whole thing easily. I never feel like people ignore the artists whatsoever. Much the contrary! My table is often busy with customers.

My only gripes would have to be the convention hall can get cold at times, and the table layout could use bigger points of egress out of the created table rectangles. They could honestly fit a few more tables in, but I do know they want to keep aisles big, it does help traffic flow. Also in sharing the room with the dealers you close at the same time.

But yea definitely one of my favorite conventions, keeps me coming back every year!

I had nothing to really complain about at Zenkaikon. Although it was one space for Dealers and Artists, the tables are spaced out very well with no obstructions (Dealers were in the center of the room, Artists were along the walls). What interaction I had with staff was great and friendly, traffic was decent for the con size, and table prices were great (as mentioned in the Con details here on this site). If you are local enough, I highly recommend.

Oh, forgot to mention, up until now it was first come first served for getting a table. For 2016 they changed it, with 25/65 of the tables first come first served and the rest are random draw. So if you don't get in within the first few seconds, you still have an equal chance as everyone else who didn't get one of the first 25 tables.