Con Report: ACEN 2012 (Part 2)
Last time on the convention report for ACEN…
Trevor got out of work late, arrived at the show, met up with his friends, and stayed up too late with the other guests. Now begins day 1 of the actual convention. Will our hero be able to make it through the most fun weekend ever? Let’s find out!
FRIDAY:
An early morning to start setting up the tables, the group then went to the VIP area for breakfast. I selected the buffet (they had unlimited bacon!), so we got our convention day started off on the right foot – with a belly full of food!
The group enjoying breakfast in the VIP suite
After breakfast, we all bum-rushed it out to the floor so we could get to work on finalizing set up and start selling. Unfortunately this year I didn’t have anyone to watch my table for me, so I was unable to attend Opening Ceremonies.
The show had moved the comic guest this year to a new location. Originally by the entrance to the show floor, now we were positioned behind registration. Other conventions – and a giant Yelp.com booth – were our neighbors. Unfortunately, many people said they had difficulty finding us – including one of my friends who was looking for me – since we were not in the same location as the last few years. Despite this, the new spot didn’t affect the fun factor of the weekend.
I took the corner spot, since I was going to have Beth and artist Gabriel Bautista helping me out the entire weekend. My job was to filter the people back to the rest of the group, which was a very difficult task….
Making a sale
After the show floor ended, I had two panels practically back-to-back. I rushed off to the Breaking into Comics panel, which was an all-comic guest panel at the Hyatt. It was pretty well attended, and we got some great questions. I got to do the panel with fellow comic guests (and good friends) Russell Lissau and John Bivens.
Immediately after the panel, the comic guests went to dinner with our handler from last year and I ran to the VIP suite to grab a quick bite of dinner. After that, I took off for my final panel of the evening: The Panel That Shall Not be Named!
This is a seriously fun panel for me, especially since 3 years ago when they first gave it to me I had no idea what I was going to do. Every year the group size grows, and every year everyone has a blast. I can’t get into too many details here on what goes on during that panel (it would ruin the surprise), but it’s a hilariously good time.
After that panel I headed back up to the Green Room for some much needed booze, hung out with the other guests and chit-chatted the night away, and around 1:30am or so decided to pack it in. Saturday would be the big day at the show, and I needed to get rested up.
