2019 Calgary Comic Expo

[CorbeauNoir]

I'm mostly just disappointed he isn't turning up to perform. I'm not a big taker on these added-cost events the Expo sets up but I'd absolutely pay to witness the musical equivalent of The Room taking place before my very eyes.

[WhiteTiger]

This is my first year not either going or volunteering for the last 6 years.

I don't like the new management, and I'm just not finding the show that interesting. I'm not a big 'celeb' person (though Christina Ricci IS tempting, I must admit) and mostly prefer the costumes and sales floor artwork.

But just not enough to go this year.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Never been to this before and I'm going to check out the Back to the Future talk tomorrow night. Have a rookie question: tickets to just the BTTF thing are $20. General admission tickets to the Calgary Expo itself are $40 or $50 tomorrow. If I buy general admission would that also get me into the talk? Or separate things?

Thanks! I wrote an email to them yesterday regarding it but it says wait 3-5 business days for a response..yeah that's gonna be much too late.

You definitely need a Friday admission ticket on top of the BTTF ticket.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by craigwd

You definitely need a Friday admission ticket on top of the BTTF ticket.

Thanks, I legit didn't know that. Hmmm...think I may pass now, bet my buddy will at that news.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

This is my first year not either going or volunteering for the last 6 years.

I don't like the new management, and I'm just not finding the show that interesting. I'm not a big 'celeb' person (though Christina Ricci IS tempting, I must admit) and mostly prefer the costumes and sales floor artwork.

But just not enough to go this year.

Curious how things will be run this year. Last year was pretty bad and I saw this a few weeks ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CalgaryExpo...ssons_but_the/

[Johnny Makarov]

It's game over for the Calgary Expo. They didn't answer a single question on facebook the past 10 months. They have over 60,000 followers on there.

Walking around today and it felt like I was in Northland mall on a Tuesday. No lineup for lemonade stand which is unheard of.

Talked to a few of the main vendors and they said that they have 1/4 less vendors than last year due to their pricing. I can't believe Informa ruined the show in 2 years! Sad.

[Robbob]

At least they listened and moved the table top gaming back to the big four, probably 2 or 3 times the amount of tables as last year when it was stuck in a small room in the BMO building. I think Friday and the Weekend will be the true measuring stick. I think a lot of the people just show up to pick up their passes on the first day, that being said the new RFID badges thing might turn out to be a nightmare.

[CorbeauNoir]

Thursday's always been just a glorified sneak-peek day, crowds are always small since there isn't much of anything going on in terms of guests or panels. The amount of dumb corporate booths still taking up space in BMO isn't encouraging though. Mazda and friggin' Alberta Ballet? Really?

No idea what they think is going to be an improvement with the new badge system either. Having everybody stop for 3-5 seconds to wave a sensor over their badge is going to be disasterous when the heavy crowds turn up.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

It's game over for the Calgary Expo. They didn't answer a single question on facebook the past 10 months. They have over 60,000 followers on there.

Walking around today and it felt like I was in Northland mall on a Tuesday. No lineup for lemonade stand which is unheard of.

Talked to a few of the main vendors and they said that they have 1/4 less vendors than last year due to their pricing. I can't believe Informa ruined the show in 2 years! Sad.

Yup. I did high level volunteering every year I was there except for one (and that year, I went as an attendee to get that experience). Last year was so bad it was my last year there, with much regret.

They have managed to chase off or "let go" just about anyone who made that show. I've talked to some of the folks I know, and fans arne't happy. Vendors are really not happy (One of my friends there has had their booth size cut by 40% while the cost went up 30%).

Combined with the expected weather for this year...really makes me wonder what is gonna happen for next year. Informa doesn't like losing money.

[Northendzone]

saw lynda carter on the news last night. she brought back some nice memories of boyhood as she still looks very good

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Robbob

I think a lot of the people just show up to pick up their passes on the first day, that being said the new RFID badges thing might turn out to be a nightmare.

The big conventions moved to that a few years back but it has been workable if the security and support staff are aware/knowledgeable. Those Cons tend to have a way higher interest to available badge ratios though with scalping being a huge problem. These days, they are literally (and digitally) tied to a specific individual - we don't really have a big scalping problem in Calgary do we?

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

Informa doesn't like losing money.

Calgary has been good at doing the high end meet and greet/experience stuff. Good if you've got the money for it I guess. I could see them doubling down on that even more in the coming years.

[Fuzz]

Looking forward to the parade at 10:30, anyway. It goes past my building so we head down to check it out.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by chemgear

we don't really have a big scalping problem in Calgary do we?

Yeah, looks like they're still selling badges for every single day online and at the door. Something absolutely unheard of for any of the big conventions.

[CorbeauNoir]

I'm not quite sure how the passes prevent scalping, it's not like they're checking my ID alongside my badge information. If anything it's much easier to sell off a lanyard badge than it is trying to trade off a wristband.

Also wow, having saturday tickets still available to buy can't be a good sign.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by CorbeauNoir

I'm not quite sure how the passes prevent scalping, it's not like they're checking my ID alongside my badge information. If anything it's much easier to sell off a lanyard badge than it is trying to trade off a wristband.

People used to try to scalp badges from things like Comic-Con but it's mostly disappeared since they've made the change over. Each badge is tied to an individual (account). They can easily cancel/revoke them or issues new ones if you lose it for example. With it also being tied to individual, it would be pretty easy to ask for matching ID if there were any issues even if it were just the name. You also scan out along with scanning in, so they can track badges being lost (or never leaving).

In the past, you could try to get away with buying a badge on the side but these days people don't really bother knowing the system they have in place now.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by chemgear

we don't really have a big scalping problem in Calgary do we?

We did for a couple years after 'The Incident'. But we kept on top of it and had managed to bring it down enough that it wasn't that big of a deal anymore. Now, with attendance numbers dropping or plateauing, average guest lists, and the economy all taking slices out of demand, scalpers are not finding it very easy. With legit passes outright available, it's even harder for them.

We saw most of the scalping issues rearing their head in the 3 years post "The Incident", with Expo being sold out months in advance. It was a problem, and a fun one looking into/combating it.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by CorbeauNoir

The amount of dumb corporate booths still taking up space in BMO isn't encouraging though. Mazda and friggin' Alberta Ballet? Really?

I have been really hoping we'd be able to get rid of those but if anything they have only grown: Ballet, Bow Valley College, HP Canada, Brewing companies, Mazda, Youth Employment, Humane Society, Army cadet corps, etc.

Anybody else get their app? Is it just me or are all the maps blurry? I'm trying to see where specific exhibitors are an when I zoom it, it is like they put in low resolution images and I can't see the booth numbers.

[psicodude]

Today will be my first time attending this event as my son is almost 12 and is a huge Back To The Future junky. I ordered a family pass and paid for the passes to be printed and shipped to me (Figured it would be a cool keepsake). They never arrived. I contacted the Calgary Expo folks last night and the response was "Oops, sorry. We will refund you the $20 for printing/shipping". Not a great start...

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

We did for a couple years after 'The Incident'. But we kept on top of it and had managed to bring it down enough that it wasn't that big of a deal anymore. Now, with attendance numbers dropping or plateauing, average guest lists, and the economy all taking slices out of demand, scalpers are not finding it very easy. With legit passes outright available, it's even harder for them.

We saw most of the scalping issues rearing their head in the 3 years post "The Incident", with Expo being sold out months in advance. It was a problem, and a fun one looking into/combating it.

what was "the incident"?

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

what was "the incident"?

When it was still pretty much a baby Expo in 2012, the owners scored a major coup in a Reunion show of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast. It'd been 10 years since the last time they had all been together, and it was a major feat for Calgary to score it.

At the time, tickets were sold differently. You could buy a 1 day pass, but it was for ANY of the days, not a specific day pass. Also, they sold passes at the door. Since at that point they'd never filled to capacity, it was not really a big issue with them to keep track of how many people were there between the one day passes (they assumed folks would average out the day they showed up, so they weren't well tracked) and the door sales. So the only way they had of knowing how many people were actually currently, at that moment, inside was...none. They couldn't have told you a straight answer.

But the interest in the Next Generation Reunion threw everything into chaos, as everyone who had a one day pass wanted to use it for that day, and everyone who didn't have a one day pass mobbed the on-site sales.

To say that the Expo wasn't prepared for that is...an understatement. Poor line control, poor 'people traffic' management around the grounds, and many MANY more people than they could possibly handle.

It got so bad as there were so many people crammed in that they were forced to refuse entry, regardless of what kind of pass/reason you had. If you left the building for ANY reason (like, to go have a smoke) you were refused re-entry. It got bad enough that the Fire Marshal was pondering shutting the entire thing down.

Eventually the Expo and the Fire Marshall came to terms as things got dealt with, but it was a huge mess and left a lot of people quite (justifiably, imo) upset at several aspects of the Expo, as well as opening the Expo Management's eyes to the fact that their little show wasn't so little anymore.

Part of the fallout from that was the hiring of someone who's job it was was to basically redesign and reschedule the Expo and events, so that 'the crush' didn't happen again.

From part of the fixes for 'the Incident' was the creation of the Crisis/Response Team, of which I was a part of for 5 years.