I missed out on FCBD completely, as I chose to attend the CV May planning meeting instead (see previous post for details). That basically occupied the bulk of my afternoon and evening, so by the time I got to Kinko's to print off handouts for Conversion and check my email, it was already well past 10PM.

I was surprised to find an email from Kandrix, who put together the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, stating that a table in the artist alley had finally opened up (after having been sold out for weeks) and asking whether I was still game for it.

So of course I phoned him back and confirmed my spot. Then, I basically spent all night preparing work for display and sale.

I got to the Big Four at around 8:30 or so the next morning, running on about two hours of sleep and no food. Setup didn't take too long, but I should remember not to bring the kitchen sink next time. All too often, I come to these events on my own, lugging in all my stuff from my car a bit at a time. It's tiring, time consuming, and not all that practical, considering the fact that I come to these shows mostly for the networking opportunities. I made back my table costs plus a little 'gravy', most of which went towards picking up a sketchbook by Alberto Ruiz and chinese buffet at Singapore Sam's.

Overall, I was very impressed by the scale of the show. Only in its first year of exhibition, CCEE managed to book a 31,620 sq. ft. hall, 37 guests (one absence due to missed flight), a plethora of dealers, gaming demos, a sizable Artist Alley. The hall was packed from the start of the show at 10AM and didn't really slow down until around 5PM or so. I met a lot of interesting fans and creators and saw a heck of a lot of people I hadn't been expecting. One guy from junior high, a couple of girls from high school, a former co-worker, a lector from my Parish (who was actually giving table-top gaming demos O_O), ACAD classmates, the Visual Communications Department head and a partridge in a pear tree.

A bunch of MICers decided to have dinner afterwards, so we all converged on Singapore Sam's for food and conversation.