Art & Story Alive! Episode 06
March 24, 2008 by Jerzy
Filed under Art & Story Alive!, Podcast
This week we’re joined by Audra Furuichi, Sally Scott, Tim Fischer of The Amateur Hour, and Matt Munn (and even more in the chatroom!) for a discussion on a wide range of topics. We talk about Hulu’s release of Beer the Movie copyrighting our comics, Mark’s new Requiem podcast, convention appearances, using chalkboards to sketch ideas, and whether or not anyone would care about a “Comics Conference”.
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Hi Jerzy, great episode of A&S Alive, I’m downloading #30 as well.
Following up on the Comics Conference idea, I was reminded after the A&S recording about the SPLAT conference held in Manhattan two Saturdays ago.
http://www.nycip.org/graphicnovelsymposium/
It looks so awesome, I’m heartbroken I missed it. But the thought occurs to me, there still isn’t one of these for the midwest.
Midwest Comics Conference…
That does look awesome. And yes, the Midwest has a bunch of really great artists and writers, so it seems like we’d be able to put together a good group of people for something like that.
We need a good acronym! That’s how you get folks to sign up!
The main concerns I have (and Mark and I have agreed to talk about this more on A&S) are:
Venue – We’d need a good space. A lot of public libraries rent out large conference rooms (they do at the Ann Arbor District Library, anyway), so that could be an option. Even if we get a free space from someone else, there’s the liability concerns. A comics shop might work, but it’d have to be a big one.
Compensation – If we’d want to bring some “bigger names” to the event, we’d probably have to compensate them somehow. So how do we come up with the money for that? Charge the attendees? Take donations? Sponsorship? Or would it be better to have it as a free event and hope for the best?
Then there are concerns about coordinating events, making a schedule and all that stuff. I went to a very small event like what we’re talking about years ago here in Michigan, and it was very roly-poly and laid back. As a result, I didn’t get much out of it. It was less about talking about comics than it was about socializing. I don’t mind socializing, but a conference, to me, is about sharing information first, camaraderie second. I think of the Webcomics Weekly podcast, where the hosts are having fun, but they stay on topic. I’d much rather have an event crammed with information, and to do that you have to find folks who are good speakers and the events have to be well-coordinated.
True true, it’s all in the name. With the right name, online comics superstars would PAY to be able to attend. Ha! More likely, some compensation is going to be expected.
Sponsorship seems like a good route. I know some smaller cons have been able to happen because of good sponsors. That and a small attendance fee.
I wonder how much of a difference there is between the financial mechanics of a convention (commerce centered with industry panels/workshops taking a secondary role) VS. a trade conference (industry panels/workshops as the main draw with little to no consumer draw).
I also like the notion of an all free event. The trade off being sacrificing luxury comforts and paying for big names in favor of donations of time and effort from a lot of dedicated professionals interested in the helping the cause. This kind of event would attract those seriously interested in the artform despite the lack of compensation.
I don’t think you’d have any trouble finding those willing to run panels/workshops. There are a ton of very competent and experienced creators in the region.
The whole subject is exciting because it’s exactly the kind of thing I want to attend.
It’s something Mark and I have been itching to attend for years. So yeah, I’m with you there.
Good thoughts on this, Lee. It would seem that a sponsor would be less interested in a trade conference, but we could make it more enticing by podcasting (both audio and video) from the show, with ads placed in the podcasts. We could make the argument that a podcast is out there forever and ever, so their ad would extend well beyond the day of the event.
There’s a lot to think about, and we’ll be using the Art & Story podcast to elicit ideas and reactions from folks. I’ll also talk to creators that I know to see what we can start cobbling together.
Podcasting/vidcasting the panels would be a big draw. I’ve heard of conventions commissioning video podcast trailers to use to advertise their event. Seems like offering ad space on recordings of the events would work pretty well.
I’d bet that for a first-time event, volunteer work becomes pretty important since the budget will most likely be modest. For instance, I’ve got a cousin with a videography business. I bet it wouldn’t be too hard to secure his help recording some video podcasts.
And once you’ve got enough volunteers like that, you’ve got yourself an event my friend.
If you setup a blog for the event and released the podcasts of the best panels, people who couldn’t make the event still get the benefit of the information presented. So that brings up the question, do you charge for that content? It might encourage people to not attend the actual event and just wait for the podcasts. On the other hand, you could talk up the fact that most of the event will be podcasted, the tech savy community would eat that up.