This one's going to be long but there are pictures (including one of my notorious sign I taped to my table) I probably started a new con trend with that sign.
Anyways...
Chibi Chibi Con is a small convention ran by students at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
Why would anyone want to attend?
- With such a small attendance, Chibi Chibi is a little more personal than most cons. After awhile, it just seems natural to start up a conversation with one of the other few attendees there. Honestly, I have to say that it’s quite a nice difference from being surrounded by thousands of strangers at one of the major cons.
- Unlike most conventions, their choice in anime to show in the viewing rooms is not affected by what’s popular or what has been recently released. Some of the anime they played, such as Death Note, Nana, Air the Movie, and a couple of others, have not even been released in the US at the time this summary was written.
- No registration fees. Let me repeat that, NO REGISTRATION FEES! Unless you plan on buying something from one of the dealers, everything will be free. You get to spend an entire two days watching anime and AMVs, competing/judging a cosplay and talent contest, drawing/judging fan-art, and attending the “Chibi Chibi Prom” at no cost to you whatsoever.
Why the hell wouldn’t anyone want to attend?
- If you’re a dealer or independent artist, Chibi Chibi is NOT the place to come sell your merchandise. While I cannot be certain, I only counted about forty or so different attendees (excluding staff and dealers) throughout the entire two days. Most of them were either college or high school students with probably a very low budget, like with most students. Also, Sakura Con, a fairly large con in Seattle with over 7000 attendees and over 90 exhibitors, is but a few weeks away. I’m fairly certain that most people who attend Chibi Chibi would rather save their money for the bigger con. So there is hardly any chance of making a profit.
- Two, if you would rather spend money sooner, Chibi Chibi is not the place to do it. Throughout the entire weekend, there were only five dealers (myself included.) These dealers included two women selling their used anime goods (on Saturday only,) a woman selling “sushi pins,” volunteers from Kumori Con promoting their upcoming convention in Vancouver, staff from Chibi Chibi selling various anime related items to help raise money for their con next year, and my groupie and myself selling Kitty-hats, candy, and various imported items from Asia.
- With very few staff members running the con, apart from what I listed in “Reasons to attend #3,” there was hardly anything else to do. There were several times during the convention when everything became just plain boring.
My Own Tells From the Con
In Terms of Business
This was my and my groupie’s first time selling anything at a convention, so we weren’t sure how it would turn out. We didn’t make a profit, but we did get back about half of what we spent, which is pretty amazing considering there were only about sixty people there altogether (including staff and dealers.)
The first day we sold all of the soda, all of matsuri-masks we brought that day (within the first hour I might add,) two parasols, three quarters of the candy, six kitty-hats, and one ninja beanie. Things weren’t looking too great in the hat sells, so we both decided to lower the price a tiny bit for the following.
All I did was print out a sign that said “Last Day Price Reduction” with the price listing for both types of hats and they sold like crazy. We ended up selling a hat to almost everyone there that day. Other than that, we didn’t sell too much else Sunday. It doesn’t bother me that much because we sold quite a bit of the other items on Saturday.
All in all, I’m fairly satisfied with the way business went. Chibi Chibi Con was only a test place to see if our idea would work. We wanted to see if “Design Your Own Kitty Hats” would sell, and they did. I cannot say that my groupie or I will be returning to Chibi Chibi Con as dealers anytime soon, but the two of us will definitely continue selling at other conventions in the near future.
As For Everything Else
There was a time during the convention when my boredom had reached a point a fatality. I was on the verge of death and needed aide quick. After digging through my book bag for five minutes, I found nothing… hope was lost. I was going to die right then and there. That is when I looked up. There, straight across the room, just sitting behind a table flipping through a volume of Saint Sieyu, was my savoir. I had to act quickly. So I hurriedly grabbed a 20 and raced across the room. I returned to my table with eight volumes of manga that I had bought for $8. Quite a deal, don’t you agree?
People there were pretty nice, though there was this group of people who kept hanging out behind our table. The fan art table was right behind us, so it wasn’t uncommon for people to go back there. But sitting there all day acting like the assholes they were is just unacceptable. Ever feel like smashing a can of Mountain Dew into the head of someone sitting behind you? I have.
Like I mentioned before, Kumori Con was there. Hardly anyone paid them any attention so they were even more bored than I was. I feel sorry for them because I’m the one responsible for them being there. Long ago, I read on the Kumoricon website that if you wanted to promote their con at a different con, they would let you in for free. Before I decided to sell kitty hats, I thought about doing that instead and yeah… I shouldn’t have emailed them… heh heh… sigh
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( Pictures )So, that was my little adventure at Chibi Chibi Con. It would have actually been worth it if Olympia was closer. Anyways, there are only 16 days until Sakuracon and I'm really psyched about that.
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