GlassCityCon cancelled?

Darryl owner of the Game Room on Slyvania has a decent size place and often has companies come in there and demo new products and such.

He is a really decent dude and it's always worth the try.

Owen's pulled the plug on GlassCityCon. I know the guys behind it. It's a shame that Owen's felt that there isnt "enough interest" in the event considering it pulls in over 2000+ attendees. Yet their tiny niche sports teams will keep going....

The people behind GlassCitycon are going to keep trying to push and open it as a commercially run / owned for profit convention. There is a lot of demand, and this convention was growing every year.

Huh. Never heard about this. How long has it been going on? We used to get a lot of the 'cons when I lived in Orlando, and they were always a great time, both for attendees and the local economy.

Ah, so "funding" was an "issue" and the administration needed another pay raise and money to build the new administration hall they've been wanting for the past 10 years so they get bigger, nicer offices?

I wonder if Monroe Community College would be a new host? Even Lourdes University -- they've been trying to broaden their appeal lately. Please keep us posted & good luck with finding a new place.

I know next to nothing about cons. (Only what I've read here on TT over the years.) But does it have to be tied to a college? I guess that would be a place that might have inexpensive space and perhaps a built in market from the student body.

But this is something that could be held independently at any suitable space, if the funding is there, correct?

P.S. 2,000 people? I didn't realize it drew so many people. Was it all local, or is that something people travel for?

Disappointing.

Trying to go commercial is a tough endeavor, especially in this area. I looked into it several times when I ran UT Bash and coordinated BASHCon a few years ago. To get a space at an affordable rate, door fees and/or table prices for vendors would have to go up. If you're a well established convention, such as the Sci-fi/Fantasy (and gaming) convention like MarCon (Columbus, usually around the end of May) or if you have corporate sponsors/owners such as GenCon.

Unfortunately in a location like Toledo you're more likely to end up like the old TolCon with dwndling numbers. It becomes even tougher when you consider tabletop gaming is on the decline compared to 10-15 years ago when TCG/CCG's were still huge as were wargames and pen&paper RPGs.

Mom2 - they do not need to be tied to colleges. However colleges typically offer suitably large spaces to their student organizations free or at little cost. It keeps entrance fees low. Space isn't cheap. Then there's the liability factor. Many of the student run conventions can always rely on the school to cover liability issues should something unforseen happen (stage collapse, choking on food, whacked out socially awkward teen flailing around with a Klingon sword). If you go commercial you lose that umbrella of protection. There are plenty of conventions that are independent (most of them even), but most have corporate owners or sponsors.

What exactly was GlassCityCon? I see mention of table top games - what did they do there??

i really think an issue is marketing. outside of OhioKimono's posts on toledo talk, i have heard zero about this event. no facebook posts, nothing on tv, no ads or newspaper articles. for something that brings out thousands of people, it's odd that i've only heard about it from one stranger on toledo talk.

Thanks for the explanation, taliesin. I was surprised to learn at the Toledo Soup event (fundraising, small businesses) that some of the potential entrepreneurs needed the funding specifically to pay for insurance. They would handle materials, labor, etc. from their own funds. But the cost of insurance is a hardship for smaller enterprises.

As for marketing, I assumed that Kimono and others who are into games probably belong to some robust online communities and they all get the word out to each other.

If they were piggybacking on a UT student organization, it is really really rare that UT groups let anyone outside their own community know what's on the schedule. I suppose cost of ads & having "media partners" are factors. Plus, students are usually run ragged putting on an event itself -- no time (or expertise) in publicity.

Having said that, last year I was aware of the event (thanks to Kimono) and it would have been great to roam the halls, looking at Klingons and games and watching the action! Too bad my work interfered :-( I was hoping to go this year.

I had also never heard anything about it, other than OhioKimono's postings here. But then again, I'm not exactly the target demographic...I assumed it was being marketed in other ways that I just didn't see.

If it did draw 2,000 people, I hope the organizers can find a way to keep it going. Especially if a lot of those 2,000 people were bringing in out of town dollars!

I have mentioned and promoted GlassCity Con several times on TT...just do a search. Every year it was in the newspapers, and on the tv.

It was 2,000+ each year and growing.

Also..it was a lot of business from outside the area that came here in the form of attendees eating, traveling, and getting hotel rooms...

I actually helped professionally market this event and have a portfolio tearsheet collection from it of the various newspaper features and more...

sure, but beyond your posts... where would we / anyone have found out about the event? you are the only person i've ever seen make any mention of it anywhere. i haven't seen any mention in the blade, free press or city paper. and while i don't watch a lot of television, i've seen nothing on TV and other than toledo talk, nothing online.

did they have an advertising budget, or was it mostly word of mouth?

I helped do publicity for nonprofits for a few years. I know how aggravating it can be to have a file full of media mentions and still have people say "I never heard anything about it!"

I do remember reading Kimono's posts on TT in the past. But upso brings up a good point: if you don't have the money for several rounds of ads in the local papers, you don't get much attention. Or if you don't have a celebrity partner like one of the local TV anchors ...

Owens? Budget? It is to laugh.

...Upso - dead wrong..in fact later tonight Ill take some photos of the newspaper articles I saved talking about the con.

Try googling the con some and you'll find articles written...and news crews did come out. There was ample coverage every year. It even made the front page of a few papers.

To prove my point..behold a small sample of articles and more that are referenced online, these all were once printed articles:

http://www.toledoblade.com/Peach-Weekender/2011/07/07/3rd-anime-convention-at-Owens-this-weekend.html
http://www.toledoblade.com/Books/2011/07/15/Woman-s-manga-hobby-is-helping-shape-her-career.html
http://www.toledofreepress.com/tag/glass-city-con/

Also...they have had a facebook page for years....

It's impossible to reach everyone...and even if you saw the ads, would you even care enough about the cons to recall them?

https://www.facebook.com/events/155237604511319/ with 408 attending - 2011, 2010 and 2009 also had pages...

This is NOT from a lack of promotion.

Oh and 2012 article...

http://www.toledoblade.com/East/2010/07/21/Special-niche-of-Japanese-culture-animates-Owens-College-campus.html - I can keep piling on all the media to drive home the point that this event was unique, good business, and well covered...

Sorry if Im coming off as aggressive, I was just involved in a major car accident....yes there will be a story to come soon, and even photos.

Sorry, I'm not dead wrong. Your posts were the only ones I ever saw about the event. Glad you're ok from the car crash.

^^^I agree. I had never heard of it besides OK's posts. Maybe I'm not the target market though.

So, this is an Owens student club event. I didn't know that. Since it's a college based club, just about everything needed to hold the convention is provided at no charge to the student club by Owens. The 'founder' mentioned in one of the articles is probably a faculty or staff advisor.

Is this an active club at the college? Maybe they don't have enough student members this year to run a convention of that size. Student clubs only allow the advisors to advise with whatever expertise that they have in that area. The students have to do all the leg work to get it up and running.

Advertising and security are likely the big things the organization would pay for. If they show movies they may have to pay for the rights to do so. I remember cutting a check for security at BASHCon that would take up just over half of the convention's earnings.

If you didn't know about it..after it was published in several major media locations and through social media....it can't be helped.

From reading the article I gather it was a joint effort of three separate clubs.

"Owens pulled the plug on GlassCityCon."

How so? Were all the clubs told "no" by administration? Or did one or more of the clubs choose not to participate, leaving it unworkable for the remaining clubs? Club events can be difficult. There might not have been sufficient numbers of students in any of them to pull it off. I'm also curious as to what the purpose of the event was, such as proceeds for club(s) educational activities? I guess what I'm asking is how did this event further the educational aspect of any of the disciplines the clubs represented?

The LTM club needs no security or any other input from Owens administration for its annual plant sale event. All that was needed was two folding cafeteria tables and some outdoor lawn space. The proceeds pay for the PLANET student competition and any other educational opportunity that they can arrange. The LTM club students also do some landscape installation jobs with the proceeds going for the same educational purposes. So, its a hands on learning experience. Very valuable. Was this "Con" event a teaching experience?

That..I can't say because I don't know the details beyond what I was told. What I do know is that at this con there were several panels/classes taught about Japanese culture...including a language class, my own kimono dressing class, a tea ceremony class...and more.

There were educational elements.