ConnectiCon is the only convention I attend each year. That's by choice. The ConnectiCon staff pay special attention to their guests, and the whole thing is very webcomic friendly. The whole thing is a mash of Anime, Fantasy, Webcomics, Video Games... everything that serves to entertain we champions of Geekdom.

Now, every year I ask that they put me on a lot of panels. I don't care what it's about. They pay for me to come out; I just want to feel like I'm earning my keep. But, each year, I get assigned to one panel maybe two. So this year, figuring it would be more of the same, I decided to do the one thing I usually avoid like the plague: I'm manning a GU booth. But, I'm an anal sod and everything has to be just so. To that end I have great plans for a booth that serves to invite rather than solicit.

Folks at conventions do like to toss about their disposable funds though. So, I've started assembling items they might just decide are worth a dollar or three. None of these things are currently available in the GU store, but should be after the convention. Unless of course we have a very, very good convention.

Getting back to the matter of panels, ConnectiCon has only assigned me to one; a computer graphics Q&A/Tutorial panel with Hawk from AppleGeeks and Garth from Comedity. To help promote the event, and since all three of us use one in some form or fashion, our pals at Wacom have provided an Intuos 3 6x8 to give away to one of the attendees.

The only thing left for me to decide now is if I want to set up a Guitar Hero station in my booth or not. It would give me something to do while I wait for the 1 person in 1000 at the convention that actually know of GU to stop in and say hi, right?

Sounds like a golden opportunity to network to me!

My hubby's oldest sister makes little ceramic animals for a living and routinely attends trade shows to promote her wares...she's usually one of about 1000 or more booths in a HUGE space. So often times people are just in a hurry milling around, not truly paying attention to much. Most don't really stop and honestly look at your setup on their own, so what she and whoever goes with her tend to do is find something random to compliment a passerby on, and if nothing else it gets them to stop and really take a look.

Can guitar hero be played as a multiplayer game? If so, maybe setting up guitar hero so others could play with/against you might be fun...

ConnectiCon isn't that big. Everyone that would be somewhat beneficial to network with, I already know and they aready know me.

I don't really need advice on how to manage a booth. And again the ConnectiCon is not huge; so, the dealer room is not so massive that you have to ignore stuff to find what you're really looking for and it still takes you all three days of the convention to track it all down. Besides, like I said, I'm not really there to sell anything. When you go into a convention with the idea/hope that you're going to make a killing, you're disappoined when you do not. I have no such desires or expectations. I'm not even taking GU shirts.

Handling a booth is a lesson in comparative social dynamics. The booth that is different (either good or particularly bad) is the one that is remembered. And people do not ignore one's "setup" unless they are 100% uninterested in what you have on display. I may avoid managing a booth like the plague but I've been to enough conventions, and am a strong enough observer of people to see how they respond to things (it's part of being a passable artist) such as booth design, item display, and merchandise types.

Both Guitar Hero games have a multiplayer element, and I don't play against people. That's not how I enjoy games. "With" would be the acceptable alternative. If they want to play against someone they can go to the game room next door to the dealer room. Guitar Hero had a huge screen for that last year (thanks Best Buy) with kids playing songs with the guitars behind their back or not looking at the screen at all. So, I'm sure it will have a prominent position on the floor again.

I'm hoping to go, though I'm not sure what my schedule looks like for next month. If I'm there, I'll definitely be stopping by.