red bird

I’m not much of a blogger about each of the anime conventions I go to anymore. I have a full-time job, a few full-time side projects (writing-wise — *cough*TalesoftheBigBadWolf*cough*) and therefore at best I can only pick up driveable regional conventions or one or two long distance ones that would involve vacation time.

Because time is money, I need to pick conventions that are worth the stress of preparation and have some measurable or immeasurable benefit.

Rather than write about each experience, I developed a table and sat down one evening this past fall to sort out my thoughts by filling in data points in this table. I used this process to help me think through my decision whether to apply or go the following year (which is where the table ends).

The rows signify some aspect of the convention or my own preparation that I felt could possibly influence my overall experience. I’ll discuss the reasons for each factor below, in hopes that some of the newer folks to the AA actually start thinking through this prior to applying to “any convention USA.” Because of our current economic landscape, I urge new artists to be careful about where they jump. As always, start local to avoid costly food or lodging fees and start with a convention that doesn’t break your existing budget. Sales are never guaranteed!

These were the variables that I used in the linked
worksheet.