OmniCon 2014 Review

[Cinnamon_of_Slumberland]

Hey, ya'll. Wanted to get this review out before the details get fuzzy.
OmniCon is a small convention in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Overall Experience: 4/10
The convention was on a Friday and Saturday and I only had time to go Saturday. I ended up staying for about four hours because there wasn't enough to do.

Panels/events: 1/10
There were literally no panels I was interested in attending. No events, either. Well, except for the costume contest, which I didn't get to enter. I arrived an hour before the cosplay contest was supposed to start and was told I was too late to sign up. I heard from other who were also turned away but arrived an hour and a half early, which seemed weird because there weren't that many entries.
I think I should also mention that I tried to contact the con three times about hosting panels and never heard back from them.

Guests: 1/10
The only guests were the Power Rangers and some cosplay models. stare

Artist's Alley/ Dealer Room: 6/10
Okay, I know this isn't that big of a deal for most people but...the entrance to the dealer's room had turnstiles. Narrow, little turnstiles you had to walk through to get into the room. Here's what I was wearing.
http://i61.tinypic.com/2ryn7fp.jpg
You get the idea.
After struggling to get inside (it was so not lady-like), it was actually pretty decent. The artists were awesome. I got some pretty cute stuff at good prices and one guy even gave me a free art print. This is where I spent most of my time because really, this is where the only interesting stuff was happening.

Customer Satisfaction: 4/10
It was $35 for entry, which is way too expensive, in my opinion, for such a small con. The tables were also way overpriced. I think it was like $135 for a table in artist's alley. Comparable cons I've been to have charged less than $100. I tried to find out about getting a fan booth for my cosplay group but they didn't have tables for non-profits so we weren't able to. They also didn't let you bring in outside drinks. I guess that was because the convention center where it was located had food vendors but seriously, it's south Texas in the middle of summer and people are walking around in fursuits and ball gowns. A security guard stopped me from bringing in a bottle of flavored water. One of the artists told me she had to eat her lunch outside. And of course, all the food vendors were overpriced and there weren't really any options for people with restricted diets.

All in all, it's another disappointing Valley convention. But at least I had a lot of people come up and ask me about my cosplay group and got to do a little promoting. Now onwards to the next con...  

[Cinnamon_of_Slumberland]

smithers456

Thanks for giving us another review of a con that you went to. That means a lot. Wow, some cons are getting a little too picky and they should have had a better way to get into the dealers room. At the prices that they had for renting tables I'm sure that the dealers themselves were not happy. If people have a hard time getting into the dealers room they will either not go in or get frustrated and not buy much. For me the dealers room and artists alley are important to me because I love chatting to the vendors, buying stuff, and checking things out in general. Some of the artists at the artist alleys I know personally so it's nice getting to see and talk to them again. For all of your trouble that was nice that you got a free print. If you go to this con again I hope that it's better.

Oh, it's no problem. I think it's important to get con reviews out there so I post them on most of my social media sites. If the con doesn't get feedback, they never improve. smile