I've recently been more involved in event planning than years past. This mostly means I've had more of a hand in helping to organize CV this year.

I've taken on web-management responsibilities, and will shortly be putting in service my resources on art show management for the event. Have also been providing some document creation support in the way of fliers and posters, which will be appearing throughout Calgary as we get closer to August. Hopefully starting this early in the game will help give the con a kick in the arse.

In any case, this has really spurred me in to being more sensitive to other Calgarian events that are along the same lines.

Obviously, there isn't another science-fiction/fantasy convention in Calgary, but there are a number of comic/toy related events.

Recently, the Alberta Comic Collectors' Association announced two such events, one on May 7, 2006 and one for May 27, 2006. Wise? I'm not so sure.

The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo is supposed to be weighted towards the 'entertainment' industry, which is supposed to mean, as far as I've been able to ascertain, a heavy emphasis on the gaming industry.

The second show, slated for May 27, is the usual Comic and Toy Fair, which is usually put on by the ACCA and is usually taken for Calgary's major comic event.

I dunno if I'm looking at this the wrong way, but it really Really REALLY seems to me the ACCA is shooting itself in the foot... and it almost seems like one faction within the organization up and decided it was a good idea to go and do their own thing while another part of the organization decided to stick with the original event.

I can't claim any bias towards either group, but I really don't feel having two events so close together will help either. People who spend all their money at the first event will be less likely to attend the second.... and if I'm to assume both events would be host to the same retailers.... why would they want to?

As an artist, I might be interested IF the events were quite far apart (IE: 5-6 months apart), but this doesn't seem to be the case, and attempting to vend my works at both events would likely result in a net loss in money AND time.

It really seems that, in an attempt to be more diverse, the organization behind these two events is really spreading their audience base thinly. I can understand wanting to build added interest by creating an event for alternative modes of entertainment, but I'm not sure creating a completely separate event that covers similar topics is necessary.

I remember thinking, in previous years, that ACCA's Comic and Toy Fair had a good thing going for itself, and that it could do better if only it would develop a longer event and a larger (and more interesting) programming grid that covered multiple media, instead of just having a few creator panels and stocking the room mostly with retailers who wanted to sell their back-issues.

I can only really watch from an outsider's point of view, and speculate as to whether attending both events would be profitable. What I do know is that I can no longer afford to drop money for a table and gamble to see if I can sell anything. I agree with Derek Ma, who has mentioned that, when you come down to the heart of the matter, unless you are working at a commercial level, working a table at any event is very rarely profitable.

I've only ever gone into the 'artist alley' thing expecting a loss. I usually come out even, and every once in a while, I come out on top.... but that's just gravy. But to do the same thing, twice in a month, without any indication whether it is worthwhile... I really have doubts about that.