Overview

In a lucky return to the Convergence Dealer's Room, this blog covers our experiences with setup, the event and how it compared to 2024. I will also be noting things that have changed from the previous year and if it felt like I made any improvements.

Applications, Payments & Planning

On July 10th, 2024 I received an email that said that dealers applications were open for 2025. I always apply for the dealers space either way, but you get a 6x6 floor space with two dealers badges and a Convergence badge for $250. You can get a larger space with more badges or buy extra Convergence badges, but I am not quite that level just yet. I didn't ask to be near the bathrooms this time around to see where I would end up being placed and if it was going to be worth the trouble of running across the hall if I had a bad spot.

Everyone who applied to dealers received an email December 30th, 2024 apologizing for the delay in selecting people for the event. The head of the dealers room was sick. I received my acceptance on January 14th, 2025 with information about when to expect to pay as well as several reminders that Convergence does not offer refunds at all. ST-19 is required for this event before setup. You can email it or you can fill it out during the event.

I paid for my table February 21, 2025 for the $250 spot and received another reminder about what I paid for on March 9, 2025.

On June 15, 2025 we were sent information about participation in the dealers room. My specific load in time frame was from 4pm-6pm. I don't use the driveway at this hotel because it's a literal nightmare so we know to walk things inside. The parking ramp has been under construction forever as well, so parking will always be such a weird issue at any event at the Hyatt until that whole thing is completed.

Before the Event & Setup

We arrived back home June 1st after driving all night the Monday after Tidewater Comicon. I did not plan this out very well, but thankfully Convergence is a local convention so I didn't have to think super hard about how this will go. I am very familiar with the hotel, so June 2 we brought a single box of the grid cubes, hooks and paper bags for the products to be in if anyone needed them.

It was a little more slower for me to check-in this year. I was asked why I didn't plan to stay after the dealer hall closed and it felt a little weird. Convergence badges are $135 while teenager badges are $75, so they aren't cheap. We had a small chat where I basically said my daughter would not be coming since she'd be camping with a friend and the staff apparently thought that was worse than going to the event. I mentioned Detour as a thing she brought her friends to, but it was definitely an awkward interaction since I was mainly there to make sales. Since I had dropped off staff for Anime Fusion after some changes I didn't like, I didn't even have any reason to stay to help for a party room like I did the year before. Aside from that, it was mentioned that there were a lot of new faces this year. So that could be good or bad, but I am excited to see who else made it in.

I guess I didn't send my ST-19 this time around or something nor did I remember to print it before leaving the house. Either way, I had to fill that out before they would tell me that I would be at number 14, located on the opposite side of the room compared to 2024. I even asked where the bathrooms were located only to learn that there is only the one bathroom on the side I was on last year. 

My setup is never exactly the same. Since I had brought the bare minimum of cubes I could get away with to Tidewater to conserve space, I just brought the same exact box with the table items in it to put together this display. While I was setting up the grids, my husband was throwing up the hooks. Pretty quick in and out. Since I had not gone through all the Tidewater things prior to realizing that load-in was literally the day after we got back home, I had to do that still.



I want to note that sometime between Detour and this event, parking changed. It now has some hourly charge when before the parking was a cheaper rate if you arrived before 9am or something. Not a fan, but I guess that it's worth noting. I assume this is to help cover the repair costs on the never-ending construction that is going on in the parking garage. It will be nice once it's finished, but until then, parking is very limited still. I think two of the floors (I forgot to count) were still closed as of me writing this.

The Event Itself

Thursday we were running a little late, but we got there in enough time to set up before it opened. During setup I realized I never grabbed the Toby plush like I had wanted. Since he was set to finish production on July 8th (he actually finished July 4th), I wanted to get him in people's faces so they could see how cute his prototype was. My husband ended up setting two keychain plush up where Toby was supposed to go until we could bring him Friday. I honestly don't even know if the Toby plush will be a hit or not since people don't usually ask me for red-headed tricolor merch, but I do hope people are thrilled to see one as a plush. I think as far as the more common colors, sable is the last one I really need to make at this point.



We may not have had a bathroom anywhere near us, but we were blessed with the water station. It started off not having a trash can near it, but they did eventually add it over the course of the weekend. They really wanted me to have no complaints for my blog. Good job guys! 



We didn't bring snacks or anything since Thursday was pretty short. While it felt slow for sales, traffic was actually pretty steady. People were stopping by to chat and mention seeing me at previous events as well as tell me they were very excited that I was at Convergence. I think this is probably one of my favorite conventions just for the crowd alone. 

I should take more cosplay photos when people stop by, but alas, I never do. These two were probably my favorite cosplayers the whole event even though there were so many good ones. They gave us some shenanigans ribbons as well, which was fun. I had a whole white board of ribbon plans and just never actually made any ribbons. I'm terrible at this haha. Convergence is a ribbon con and maybe in 2026 I will actually get some ribbons.



We snagged Panda Express in Roseville on the way home since we were hungry but wanted something quick and tasty. 

There was a cool electrical storm after we got home. Probably stayed up later than we should have watching that. I took some videos but 

Friday was slow, heat warning, stuffed pillows



Someone lost a cellphone, so I asked in discord how to get ahold of lost and found. They gave me a number to text so they could come collect it. I do hope it got back to the owner. Later on the same day con ops brought us a paper with information about how to get ahold of them. I don't remember getting this in 2024 or perhaps I forgot.



Friday was 4th of July and it was a heat advisory day. We got to the event early enough to walk around and chat with people. Ordered at the restaurant for lunch only for my husband to show up and see it was closed. We then got food from Brits Pub but my husband didn't get something he'd eat and just had fries while I had fish. He was snacking all day on the snacks we brought though.

Saturday we showed up very early to make it to a panel. You can't access things at CVG without a proper badge since helper badges don't grant access like normal badges do. Anyways, the volunteer watching the door that morning didn't recognize what the badge was anyways (or question it when I said it was dealers) and let us both in. We were going to see a panel moderated by Amber of Raden Studios called "Managing Financial Expectations as an Artist" since it was definitely within my realm of interest. Honestly, the way socials work they tend to just show me things days after an event has ended for some reason. I am glad I happened to notice she was running the panel and it was early enough that I could go see it. It was at 9:30am so we got there early with the plan for my husband to head back to the booth to open at 10am.




Charles Urbach had some art at Pittsburgh Gaming Expo 2024 when I had gone to see if it was worth vending at. For those curious it's mostly a bunch of tabletop and resellers of retro games which is awesome, so I was a little familiar with his work already at least. He's been in the industry and convention scene for a long while now and worked with a lot of large companies. Anyways, I think he had some really insightful things I took notes on. Take what you will from this. I summarized what was being said on my phone so I apologize if the quotes aren't perfect, but here they are! 

"Don't always trust the narratives you see about their success because you're not seeing everything behind the scenes. Like someone may have a spouse that works for an airline and they get to travel for free or someone who is an influencers in the art field may actually be making their money from sponsorships and videos instead of their art."

He opted to focus on retail because of the money potential and he's able to keep it. He also does licensing to others. I actually asked him about this after the panel since they ran out of time to ask questions. Usually companies come to him and ask about licensing certain things for products and if the deal is good, he considers it.

Sunday was a pretty slow day. Most people tend to start packing up and leaving on those days and it shows with sales usually. Sometimes people come and grab something last minute so they weren't trying to manage it all weekend. 

Someone apparently got into a fight with the toilet seat later in the day as well. The bathroom in the dealers hall tends to not have a lot of use since people always go to the one by the front desk since there are many stalls and people are aware it is there. Well, I don't usually have to go there, but after checking twice and the two stalls that were not destroyed were always occupied, I was left no choice. I've seen a lot of crazy bathroom  things I never want to see again, but the toilet seat hanging on the side was really amusing to me for some reason. I am sure whoever did that did not have a great time in order for that to happen.

I do think one thing I am struggling with is comparison. 2024 was my first year doing conventions and I did go from 0 to 60 pretty quickly. My first repeat convention was Momocon and I basically made the same amount I did the previous year. Convergence, being my second repeat convention, I was down about $500-$600 from the year before. It doesn't feel great especially when you're ridiculous like me and have really lofty goals. Managing expectations is a part of this business I really struggle with.

It's also extremely hard not to compare yourself to others in the same space and constantly ask yourself question. What are they doing differently than me that makes them more successful? Is it product variety? Is my art really bad? Is my product quality not what people are expecting? Are my prices too high? Is my booth not aesthetic enough? I could keep going, but when they say "comparison of joy" - well, it really is.

We're all in different stages of our businesses. Some people do this for fun, which I guess is really what I am doing it for currently since I am not a profitable business yet. I break even on things generally, but I am not making enough to cover a lot of things I am doing. Products are expensive, expenses for life keep increasing which translates into high convention costs as well between hotels, gas, vehicles and booth costs. I think everyone is being squeezed and it's so easy to just get down about it. Maybe this is something I shouldn't be talking about, but I definitely feel the rollercoaster that is running a business. Some shows leave me with an extreme high and others make me feel like I should just throw in the towel. 

As of this blog, I am still trying to raise funds to finish paying off my Piles of Plush Backerkit project. I could write a whole blog on that another time but I really expected sales this year to help cover the remaining plush. It could still happen, but we're into July and I'm feeling a little more down than I expected to by this point. I did make enough money to finish paying off Toby and made sure to order enough of him that I won't run out half a year into events.

What Worked & What Did Not

The vendor/artist hall was smaller this year than it was last year which was a pleasant surprise. I really appreciate that. Maybe people just didn't show up, but it was a really good size either way.

My husband didn't like that helper badges were basically useless for the event. He didn't come last year, but the way badges work is you have to have a full pass to do anything at the event. Most of the time we're just working and leaving after anyways. We saw Amber Raden had several panels she was running, but only one of us could technically attend any of them because of how the badges worked. Either way, this was really the only gripe.

Someone lost their phone in the bathroom in the vendor hall and discord quickly got me info to get in contact with Ops who handles lost and found. That was great.

Conclusion

I always have a good time at Convergence, so I will try and come back again for 2026 if they let me back in! I think this year was more fun for me just because so many people were happy to see I returned. It really made my time there better. Staff is always great and so are the other artists and vendors.

The Details (TLDR)