Does your convention have a security plan?  If not you might want to think about what occurred today in San Diego at ComicCon.  I have written about ComicCon before and it is one of the conferences I would most want to attend.  It is unfortunate that today it had an issue with attendee violence.

It has been reported that in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center where ComicCon was taking place that an attendee of a session was attacked by another attendee and allegedly stabbed in the eye with a pen over a dispute involving a seat.  The attendees of ComicCon are very loyal fans and apparently issues caused the escalation of the incident.  I read about the incident on Twitter and Facebook, which seems to be the breaking news rooms of today.  I am not sure what all the facts are at this time but it made me think about convention security.

I will ask the question again.  Does your convention have a security plan?  I am sure in this particular instance the San Diego Convention Center had all the bases covered and it seems that the incident did not get further out of hand.  As I understand it they had police there quickly and had the matter under control.  I will discuss more about security in conventions or trade shows, but for now let’s see how the story of this unfolds.

I have been wanting to get to Comic-Con out in San Diego for a number of years now and I was thinking that this would be my year, but alas it appears that the show has once again sold out.  A month away from the ever popular event in San Diego, and I was thinking I could perhaps get in as press to cover the event and that is almost tougher to accomplish than to buy a regular ticket. The event is now closed to any press requests as well.

This from their press room:

The 41st Annual Comic-Con International event will be held at the San Diego Convention Center from July 22 – 25 with a preview night on July 21. The event is SOLD OUT. Comic-Con International 2010 Press Registration is NOW CLOSED. There will be NO on-site press registration.

While I would love to go to the event it would probably prove impossible to find a place to stay or a place to hang my hat for the event.  As I have written in the past about Comic-Con and San Diego, it is the toughest ticket in town to get as far as the San Diego Conventions Center is concerned!  I wonder if my friends and clients over at Graphic.ly could get me in?  They would probably just make me work!  Maybe if I found my costume and showed up as my superhero self…

Staying with the Comic-Con thoughts this week, since they are having a 40th Anniversary Celebration, I thought I would just let everyone know that Google is helping them celebrate by changing up the Google logo a little.  They are also helping out the celebration by having some cool Google themes to choose from as stated on the Google Blog:

The themes showcase the amazingly diverse world of comics. Browse our gallery (www.google.com/comicsthemes) to choose from nostalgic comic strips like Peanuts, iconic heroes like Batman and Iron Man, or alternative comics greats like Dan Clowes, author of the graphic novel, "Ghost World." The dozens of themes represent talented artists from around the world including Rumiko Takahashi from Japan and Lewis Trondheim of France.

In addition to the Google themes, Google has also unveiled a new logo that has changed to reflect the cool super heroes of the comics.

Google had also this last week shown us a logo that was reflective of the moon with craters spelling out the Google name celebrating the Apollo 11 anniversary.  We have a Conventions.net anniversary coming up I wonder if the folks at Google will oblige us with a logo?  happy Anniversary to the people at Comic-Con.

Tags: Comic-Con, Google, San Diego, Super Heroes, Comics

This year when I met with the folks at the San Diego Convention Center and the Visitors Bureau I mentioned how intrigued I was about Comic-Con. This is clearly one of the premier events in San Diego and they enjoy great crowds every year. I have discussed this event before and I am always intrigued by how an event changes from year-to-year.  The facility has been given the green light for bigger expansion and this should help the size restrictions. 

Did they have better luck with accommodations?  I am not sure and I have not yet heard whether this year and the economy has changed their overall numbers.  I have been following along with the stories I am reading on blogs and across the Comic world.  I will have more info probably once it ends but for now it is in full swing with an opening party last night and the full on convention occurring now.  Stay tuned.

Tags: ComicCon, San Diego, San Diego Convention Center, Conventions

Just thinking about the folks at ComicCon and their last show in San Diego and how that show has outgrown the San Diego Convention Center.  I wonder how much that had to do with the decision to expand the facility in San Diego?  With the fact that they are seeing record crowds for this show, it may pay the bill for the expansion of the facility.

Trade Show Week reports that the folks at San Diego Convention Center Corp., voted 6-0 to increase their land and acquire a lease of adjacent property to their existing facility that may increase their square footage by 500,000.  This one year lease option will cost up to $1 Million, and an investment in my opinion that would make perfect sense.  The 8.5 acres of land and water would be a good fit, but not available to make an impact on their facility until 2014.  I hope that it will have an impact on the shows that are thinking of making San Diego a part of their short list.

I was reading through a client’s drafts of a blog post today and came across an interesting story that I thought I could expound on it given the nature of the idea behind the story. The story essentially discusses the idea that this town in the south near Muscle Shoals, Alabama, is beginning to see its end of days.

Their economy is bad and they have no real reason for people to visit, that is, until recently. The new reason they are excited? The Golden Bear has come to town. Jack Nicklaus and his golf company are opening an exclusive golf resort to include, condos, shops, retail areas and of course 18 holes of public golf. This may be just what a struggling town needs to become more than just your every day blip on the screen on that spec on the map.

This made me think about what a good convention or a trade show could do for the economy of a small town like the one named in the article. What would a convention say the size of a Comic-Con do for a town that has no real draw. The City of San Diego makes millions of dollars on that convention, and that for some towns could be the entire annual budget to run the entire city.

The Marriott Muscle Shoals Hotel and Spa is located near the City and has a few hotel rooms as well. This is an interesting article and interesting implications for the economy of a town. What concessions would be given to a large trade show that would come to a town that would have the ability to handle nearly all of the needs of a 100,000 person convention or trade show. The Comic-Con trade show is a show that I thought of because it was just recently all San Diego could handle, and I even blogged about this before as an issue that the City of San Diego could not handle as they did not have nearly enough local rooms. I guess they actually pulled it off as the numbers don’t look too bad. It reminds me of the idea of a small little party that takes place in South Dakota each year with a few motorcycles. I wonder how much money that brings into a small town city in the middle of nowhere?

Growing up as a young boy on the western slope of Colorado we didn’t have much for television.  In fact I think we had a local farm report at 6:00 in the morning and part of the Dick Van Dyke show at about 6:00 in the evening.  It must have been related to the satellite that made it’s way around the planet every twelve hours.  Since I didn’t get the same chance to watch TV as other kids my age, I got into comic books.  I loved sitting and looking at the stories, and later when I was old enough to read actually reading the stories.

I have been waiting for a comic book convention to come to town that I can attend, but it does not look like that will happen anytime soon but I could travel out to San Diego, California for Comic-Con International.  The event is set to take place July 24-27, 2008 at the San Diego Convention Center.  This is the 39th year for the event and if it has the same success it had in 2007, the event will see 125,000 attendees.  The event was sold out last year and they fully expect to see that happen again in 2008.  They do not sell passes for the event on site so you must register online.

One of the things that caught my attention with this event was their use of a blog to help attendees with their questions and problems with getting a place to stay while in San Diego.  The blog relates:

In 2007, Comic-Con International had 125,000 attendees. We realize the challenges related to an event of this size. One of the most challenging aspects of attending Comic-Con is trying to reserve a hotel room. Each year, we open hotel reservations only to have them initially sell out in a matter of hours. And while rooms almost always are added or become available due to cancellations, the simple fact of the matter is there are not enough hotel rooms in San Diego for everyone who wants to attend Comic-Con.

This seems to be a real problem, and I really wonder why they continue to have the event in San Diego when apparently the event has outgrown the host city.  A blog is a big help to communicate to your attendees, but you would think they would address the problems of the lack of hotel accommodations with a different location or some other solution.  Good luck if you have not booked your room for this convention.

The pet industry is a huge market around the globe, and like any other industry, it has to have a trade show or convention to support the many people involved.  My company actually helps manage a blog in the pet industry and I happen to know it’s big business.  Just stand outside your local pet store or look at the way we run to that window of pet shops to see the latest crop of puppies or kittens.  You have to be able to support that following, and the best way to keep track in the industry is to attend Global Pet Expo.

The Global Pet Expo will take place in Orlando, Florida,  February 12-14, 2009, at the Orange County Convention Center.  The 2008 convention took place in San Diego, California, and the numbers were not readily available on their site, but the numbers for 2007 were impressive.

“Global Pet Expo, the pet industry’s largest annual trade show, is presented by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) and Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA). The 2007 Show featured 760 exhibiting companies utilizing 230,000 net square feet of exhibit space. More than 850 new product launches were featured and 4,600 pet product buyers from around the world attended.”

The site provides excellent information about their event and also provides other information about the show and the industry.  One of the things I found interesting as I scanned their site was that Labrador Retrievers, have been the AKC’s number one popular breed of dog for 17 straight years, and Bulldogs have moved into number 10.   I suppose I can file that under other useless knowledge I pick up while surfing the Internet.  I wonder if they have dog walkers and poop scoopers attending this event?