My first con - A Retrospective On Facts 2025 Fall Edition
It’s been two weeks since my first con.
It was exhausting, but I learned a lot. So I wanted to look back.
Before the Con
On the 1st and 2nd of November 2025, I did my first real convention. Well… technically not my first first, but definitely my first one of this size. FACTS gets around 40,000 visitors every year. Before this, the biggest con I’d ever done had around 600 visitors. And it was also the first time I did a two-day event.
My boyfriend and I arrived a day early to set up. I’m glad we did, because we would’ve wasted so much time otherwise. First we couldn’t find the parking. Then I couldn’t find my booth. And then it still took us 1.5 hours to set everything up and my setup isn’t even that complicated. 🫣
I didn’t put my products out yet, because I didn’t want to leave anything overnight. I’ve seen way too many TikToks about theft, so I wanted to be careful. But when I left, I noticed a lot of artists did leave their entire booth stocked and just covered it with a cloth. So maybe I was overthinking it?
Day 1
The next morning I arrived an hour before opening to put out all my products. Early birds could enter at 9 AM, but honestly the real foot traffic didn’t start until around 11 AM… which is also when I finally made my first sale!
Someone bought one of my new products. The troll dice bag! I was so happy, because they were the first person ever to buy it. A few people also bought mushroom dice bags, and that gave me a nice confidence boost. At least now I knew there is an audience for my stuff.
Unfortunately, sometime during the con the lights in the artist alley hall got dimmed. It suddenly got quite dark, and it wasn’t great for showcasing products. Luckily I had two small lamps and some fairy lights, but next time I’m bringing more. I’ve seen TikToks about bad con lighting, and I guess they weren’t lying.
At one point there was also a sewer smell near my side of the hall. I’m assuming something went wrong with the toilets, but yeah… definitely not the most pleasant part of the con experience.
By the end of the day I had a few sales, but nothing impressive. I didn’t make my table fee back...not even close. But I expected that risk. One of the main reasons I chose this con was for market research. I wanted to see if this was the right audience for my products.
After closing, we packed up everything and took it back to the hotel. Again, I saw a lot of artists just covering their booths and leaving all their stock there. I started wondering if we were overthinking it, but honestly… better safe than sorry. You never know what could happen. A leak, a freak accident, whatever. If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a massive pessimist. 🫣
Day 2
We arrived an hour early again. Just like the day before, I expected my first sale around 11 AM. But this time I got my first sale at 9:30 AM. I even remember the customer. They bought my "You're old but not prehistoric" greeting card. A good start to the day. I am always happy when something I made actually makes someone smile.
I have not mentioned this yet, but we had a talking mushroom at the booth. Every time someone walked close enough, the big mushroom on the left would say something. Sometimes a pun, sometimes a greeting. It was funny watching the reactions. Some people thought they were hearing things, others laughed, and one person said it was creepy...sorry! 🫣
It was not very loud though. Next time we might get a better speaker.
Day 2 actually went much better than Day 1. I did not expect that at all. I sold some fang dice bags. I also made back my table fee, and my Wi-Fi and parking were also covered. Only half of my hotel stay was paid back, but honestly, I expected worse, so I counted it as a win. The products I did not sell can be sold at another con, so the work is not lost.
We can definitely do better next time. I hope.
Thoughts
By the end of these two days, my bestsellers were stickers, mushroom dice bags, and greeting cards. These have completely different price points, so I guess if people see value in something, they are willing to pay for it. That is a huge compliment for me.
I also noticed the average spend per customer was around 12 euros. So I am going to think more about creating products in that price range.
In the end, this con was mainly an experiment, and I would say it was successful. This is my audience. So maybe I will be there again next time. It was fun and exhausting. I did lose money, but for some reason I would still do it all over again.
Is that weird?
