One of the tables outside the ballroom where folks were taking a break, having snacks, sharing inks, etc.
The rate for this year’s hotel was $186/night (before taxes), which is higher than last year’s $159/night rate, but is at a better hotel, near the airport (which usually costs more,) and part of the Marriott hotel chain. Definitely on the higher side, but I also think this is the direction that most hotel prices are going in the past couple years. Aside from the hotel being more convenient for folks flying in, the hotel being a Sheraton means that folks can earn or redeem Marriott points for their stay (compared to last year’s non-chain hotel). (Note: I didn’t see anything on the show website about a discounted hotel rate, so it’s possible there wasn’t one.)
Another perk was the hotel’s airport shuttle, which was mentioned on the show website and on Marriott’s website & app. All it took was a quick call to the hotel and within 10 minutes, a shuttle appeared. Very handy.
Overall, the show hotel was solid and their staff was friendly and accommodating. Definitely better than last year’s hotel by leaps and bounds, but I’m not sure that’s saying much :-) Score - 8/10
Tickets - I don’t know if the online prices were cheaper than at the door, so I’m only listing door prices from the website. Ticket prices were the same as last year - $30/day at the door. Two day passes were $50 (for both days) at the door. $10 per day for students with ID and kids under 10 were free. Like I said last year, for a show of this size, the ticket price seems a bit steep, especially considering the similarly-sized shows charge $10-20/day.
Note: The following paragraphs are from last year’s recap (with minor edits.)
There was also an additional VIP event which cost $40 online and $45 at the door. The event was held on Friday from 3pm-6pm and included access to some seminars/panels; this year, there was also a cash bar and happy hour-type snacks. In addition, VIPs got a “Golden Ticket” which the holder could redeem one time during the event. Redeem for what, you ask? Good question. You would ask each vendor what kind of special or discount they were doing. This led to many folks walking the show floor to see what the vendors’ best deals were before redeeming their ticket, which really amped up the competitive vibe. I get that every vendor at every event is, to some extent, competing with each other for sales, but this just took it up a notch. “Did I offer them a good enough deal? Oh no, now they are going to the next table to find out what the other folks are offering.” All they knew was that their discount should be at least $40-45 to make it a good value for the price of the VIP ticket.
If a customer chose to use their golden ticket for a discount, the vendor would collect the ticket and, at the end of the event, submit them to the show organizer for a chance to get $75 or $50 deducted off their table for next year. Vendors turned in their tickets and hoped that their ticket would get picked. This means that a vendor could make a bunch of sales (with discounts) and still end up not getting picked.
I should also point out that none of the VIP ticket money went to the vendors, so they basically lost money by offering a Friday discount. So if you were one of those vendors who, let’s say, got 5 golden tickets, they would have lost at least 5 x $40 ($200) worth of income because of this event (they probably lost more since many vendors’ discounts were more than $40).
If the show wanted to draw in folks on Friday, they could still give folks a VIP experience by (1) making this a special ticket that included not only Friday entry (since the show wasn’t open to the public on Friday), but also Saturday and Sunday entry, and/or (2) by including show goodies like mugs, special lanyards or other schwag (maybe from Rickshaw Bags, for example) as part of that VIP experience, and/or (3) an after-hours special meet-n-greet with vendors. I spoke with several vendors who told me there wasn’t really anything in it for them, other than the opportunity to make some Friday sales and a slim chance at a discount for next year’s table, so several of them didn’t try too hard to be there for the event. Also, going to shows is expensive enough for vendors as it is, so why put them at a further disadvantage by cutting into their margins? I’m sure the VIP attendees were happy about the discounts but I think it added some pressure for folks to have good sales for the rest of the weekend to make up for the discounts they had to give. Ok, rant over, you get the picture.
Side note: I appreciate that you can buy tickets online, not just for the show, but for the various events and classes too.
Score - 4/10 for the cost of the tickets, but especially for the VIP ticket which put vendors on the hook for discounts.
Classes/Seminars - There was a good variety of classes and seminars, some of which were held in the area outside of the ballroom. I also liked that there was a wide range of costs, from free to $89.
While there was a list of “speakers” on the website, it wasn’t clear whether they were VIP speakers or seminar/class instructors. I also didn’t see a VIP session schedule, so I don’t know now who was presenting and when.