This event was something I signed up for rather impulsively since many of my artist friends were attending already. I grabbed a random hotel in Stoughton (which I checked out on the way back from Tekko in July) since all the Madison hotels were either booked full or very expensive. I paid for my table June 4th, so basically right after I got back from Nashville Comicon.
So around July, they sent an email mentioning hotels being booked out due to Alabama football stuff which explained also why I couldn't find a hotel easily at the time I was looking. They did include suggestions in the email, but I had already booked my hotel by then.
In August they sent us information for the event including the map, more hotel information, load-in information, hours of the event and VIP access hours, parking costs and hours. What was nice is that if you arrived before a certain time, parking was free. In this case if you showed up before 9am, no parking needed to be paid. It wasn't expensive even if you were late. It was about $8 and given how much I got used to paying for parking in large cities, that was nothing.
There were no games of chance allowed or gambling at this event and I am not sure if gacha stuff or blind bags fall into that, but maybe make a note of it in case you decide to apply to it in the future so you can ask.
We did an Adventure Time stamp rally though, hosted and organized by the lovely Lizbie Cafe as well. Check out how freaking cute these cards she designed are! She did such an amazing job! 
For anyone unfamiliar with what a stamp rally is, it's basically an organized event where people who are participating collect stamps from various locations as a way to earn a rewards/prizes. We made ours where if you buy anything from any of our booths, you would get a stamp. Once you collected all the stamps you would get a prize pack with a design from each of the participating artists. It's a good way to bring people to your table even if they don't fill up the card in the end. It may bring people by who otherwise may not have looked nearly as closely at your goods.
An email was sent closer to the event date reminding us of everything sent in the August email as well as noting check-in location and that our table locations could change.
Amanda got a new to her vehicle (Mitsubishi Outlander) so we decided we'd carpool (which ended up being really fun!). Amanda and her husband are delightful people to share a car and hotel with. Thanks for letting me drive so much!
Before the Event & Setup
We loaded up Amanda's car on Thursday night and headed to Madison on Friday morning since load in was from 9am to 7pm. We basically went directly to load in and then to the hotel after. The convention center we were at was under construction and a little confusing. We actually drove by a giant stable area before we found where we needed to go. Normally there would have been a straight path to where we were going, but they were fixing the roadways.
You could either walk in through the small door or the large door that would randomly open and close. Convention staff were helpful and super friendly. I loved talking to them while I was waiting. I really love this convention center location despite the construction! I will say the parking lot was a bit rough, but I assume they are working on maintenance for the whole place. Guess we shall see next year.
On the left side was artist alley when you walked in from the loading dock and right side was vendors. Attendees would walk through what is the back side of the building in this photo, so they saw vendors first. The artists were to the right and the celebrities were all the way in the back so all attendees had to walk through the vendor hall or artist alley to get there. It felt pretty well laid out? I could be wrong.
I failed to take a booth photo until sometime on Sunday so oops. The tables were pushed up against each other. I am not entirely sure how much space was behind us, but it felt like there was enough space between us until everyone started putting up their backdrops. Once those went up, it became like some sort of crazy maze you were trying to not knock over if you wanted to go out either side. I was used to having at least enough space for a wagon to pass through on either side of my table. Not sure I am a fan of this sort of table setup, but since I had more space on one side to leave than the other, it was okay for the most part. I do think this would be problematic though if you were limited for movement for some reason.
The bathroom was directly across from where I was, which is always nice. It was large and they kept it clean the duration of the event. I don't remember being concerned or grossed out by it which has not been the case at other events.
We had dinner after everyone was done at Niji Asian Cuisine - recommended by Lizbie! She got a table for all of us (I think there were 9 of us total) in some sort of event room so that was cool. The sushi was so good and it does have non-sushi options for the more picky folks. I want to mention the sushi was HUGE. I actually ordered way too much and couldn't finish my meal. No regrets though.
After dinner we went to our hotel in Stoughton. It was about 20-30 minutes or less to the event center. Not terrible but in the future I definitely want to stay a little closer. It was nice that Dunkin Donuts and a Walmart were both within walking distance. There were also many fast food options although we basically ate in Madison every night we were in town, so that didn't matter in the long run.
I want to admit that I failed super hard to be prepared for this particular stamp rally and finished my art like the week of. Brittany of Wolf Dynasty Studios basically saved my tail on this. I had to hand cut the stickers, but at least I had them? I spent most of the morning Saturday cutting them. I did cut a few on Friday evening at the hotel just so the first few prizes were ready.
I will not be hand cutting stickers in the future. Look at how terrible these cut lines are haha. I am very thankful that this was an option though. My daughter's school and sports plus my medical issues really consumed my time for the month. Heck, I'm writing this blog at the start of October trying to remember things so as you can imagine I was just busy and fell behind pretty hard - which included falling behind on about five different blogs. I should have gotten a picture of the prize package, but sometimes I don't think about all the things I should take photos of. Just know it was a very cool prize pack.
The Event Itself
Realistically I mostly had so much fun because of all the artists in attendance for it, but the crowd was also super chatty and fun. One of my old guildmates from Synthesis (Cabinetmoose) in World of Warcraft stopped by my table on Saturday as well. That was a treat. He was there so his brother could get a Spongebob signature for his birthday. His cousin even flew in from PA for the surprise birthday party that was happening for him later.
Saturday was very busy but most people were in lines for voice actors for a large portion of the time. I am not sure if this made a difference for sales but given that I know at least 3 people were there for Saturday only and not to shop, I do believe there was probably a large chunk of people who didn't care about the vendors as a whole. I fully believe this is probably just something that goes hand in hand with events that do focus heavily on pulling big name voice actors.
I feel like my sales were still pretty good for the despite everything though. I know others did a lot better than I did and some did worse. I don't fully know how to vet these crowds yet.
We went to dinner with Lizbie and her husband after Saturday closed since she paid for my dinner with how weird that sushi restaurant worked with checks. Not sure why they couldn't give several of us individual checks, but whatever. I paid for their meal Saturday night to make it even instead of giving them cash which was just a pain to do. We went to Liberty Station Tavern which was right outside the convention center. It was actually extremely good and if you attend or sell at this event, I highly recommend it. We also ate outside since there was no wait while there was a line out the door for the inside seating. It was a nice evening so it worked out perfectly.
I got the half rack of ribs and it was still way too much food. I do suggest if splitting this with someone if you go. None of us could finish all our ribs haha. It was amazing though and the beans were like cheesy baked beans? I mean it is Wisconsin. I have no idea what I expected.
Sunday was mostly slow. The Spongebob voice actor wasn't supposed to be there Sunday but ended up being there for some reason so the lines were very short. I did make an okay amount of sales. I broke even but fell short of my overall goal.
I am learning pretty quickly there is a big difference between the spending habits of people attending more american focused events - I want to say comic cons specifically but I could be labeling them wrong - and the anime focused ones. The voice actors seem to be the prime reason for attending at these with buying from vendors and artists as an after thought. This feels opposite for anime events and I am not sure why. I also don't traditionally have any fanart, so your experience may be wildly different from mine. Despite the sales not being spectacular, I had an amazing experience and expect it to go better next time.
I also had some drama on Sunday afternoon. In the morning before opening, I was talking to Ajax, one of the artists from the discord who was selling there at the end of my row. We heard two vendors got removed - one for bootleg figures and one for AI art. That's always nice to hear since people shouldn't be selling that sort of garbage to begin with. I of course mentioned The Geek Boutique being there and how they used to sell bootlegs and stolen art (they say they aren't anymore, idk, not my problem) but someone clearly went and informed them that I mentioned them at all. I think I know who it was, but alas, it doesn't matter.
They stopped by and blocked my table to confront me and also ask why I never told them and went behind their back for things. I contacted event organizers and artists (other people contacted other artists, so it wasn't just me and they have a history of this from the year before I started to begin with). I basically said it's not my job to teach you how to run a business, they had excuses and eventually left after I apologized which I never should have had to do. A lot of people were trying to see what was at my booth and couldn't get to it and it was really annoying. It's really easy to not steal art. There is more but it's their personal business and while they tried to play victim, it's not really worth bringing up some of the serious things mentioned.
I was pushed to report them (thank you lol), which I did later. They could have spoken to me once the event closed but decided to interrupt my ability to get sales. Oh I would like to note they let us renew for 2025 while we were there, which I did. I really enjoyed that being an option. While I was told they would reach out to me about the incident, I never was so who knows what came of it in the end.
Load-out was just as easy as load-in. It was a little slower since we had to wait to bring the vehicle over, but once we were in, it was load and go!
Shout out to Lizbie Cafe, Amanda Nelson Design Co, Wolf Dynasty Studios, WingingIt Studio, Ajax (idk your website??) and Nakama Nerd Op for making this entire weekend a blast! I couldn't have been surrounded by a better group of artists.
What Worked & What Did Not
Tables in the artist alley had no space between them on the sides and this was my first event experiencing that. Once people had their backdrops up, space was really tight so hopefully they adjust that before 2025. Even half a foot would have helped a bit.
The convention center staff and event staff were all so helpful and friendly.
Load-in and load-out was so easy to do. They had convention staff directing people as well so it went smoothly and they told us where to move vehicles afterwards so there was no confusion.
I loved that parking was free if we arrived before 9am. I don't mind meeting a condition to save money.
Conclusion
For a first year event, this went so much better than anticipated. So many people showed up because of the Spongebob voice actor. The event was smoothly run and well organized. They also run Twin Cities Con in Minneapolis. It made me really excited for that event.
The Details (TLDR)
Event: Madison Comic & Pop Culture Expo 2024
Dates: Sept 14th & 15th, 2024
Location: Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, Madison, WI 53713
Hours: Saturday 10am-6pm & Sunday 10am-4pm CST
Total Vendors: ~157
Attendance: 3,000-4,000
Travelworthy: Probably best for local or within a 3-4 hour drive if you can keep costs down.
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Booth Cost: $229.95
Total Sales: $746.05 (this is before all costs are taken out)
Transaction Fees: $13.34
Taxes: $36.66
Total Profit: $466.10