With a cattle convention in the same place you would think they would have plenty of brisket.

Cool 😅. You need to keep going to cons and giving them feedback on what they do right and what needs work 👍🏼

In regards to the overselling….. they do it for the whole con (passes/ photo ops/ meet and greets.) They honestly don’t care. It has become common that the FanEx Canada building (which is massive, covers several floors and encompasses 2 buildings separated by a connected pedestrian bridge,) on Saturday will be at capacity by late morning. People who have paid for the whole day will be forced to wait outside, sometimes for hours at a time, just to be allowed access to the building. This is why I’ve made it a priority no matter what time I have panels and such, I go for opening and once I’m in….. I stay in.

Omg your artist alley has such wide aisles!!! FanEx Canada has like half of the size so when you get more than 20 people it get horrid!!!! I get super panicked when I go there

I used to love going to the con here in Calgary and then Fan Expo took over the con and it's been downhill ever since. I'm actually not going to go this year for the first time in about 15 years. Last year was just the last straw. Thank you for giving them feedback because gods know they don't listen to the little people.

As someone who attends Fan Expo Canada almost every year since 2001…. Yah….. everything you’ve mentioned is typical……The staff is primarily volunteer based (usually students getting their required volunteer hours here in Canada.) As for the activation for the badges…. Yah that’s a sore spot for me. The staff tells at us to keep moving along but we have to stop to do the required activation before entering. Needless to say I’ve had a few choice words with staff when they are bellowing at us to move. The massive hall that has the con exclusives is usually the meeting place/ crashing place/general loitering area… which I don’t overly mind as it prevents people from popping a squat in the actual vendors area. Panels and photo ops tend to be a crapshoot. They’re always crazy and more often than not, they run late or oversell sooooo it’s a mess. Hayden Christiansen’s photo op event delayed the Masters of Cosplay Contest for at least a half hour (not the actual show… just the allowance of us to get to the area so it could get organized.) I have Toronto Comic Con in a couple weeks and I just know that it’s going to be chaos…. I’m very fortunate that I work with a charity group that has a booth/room at the con so I get Vendors Access.

I love how this channel is sewing chaos, vintage patterns AND organising events? I like this

I would ABSOLUTELY squeel in delight had I seen you in person........💚 As a fellow seamstress, collector, and lover of all things sewing antique and vintage just adore and love you content. I, too, have desired a vintage sewing children's clothing shop. But now at 63 yrs old, stylish vintage ladies clothing has made a huge comeback.

You do, of course, have every right to be annoyed, but THE BACK TO THE FUTURE CAST!!! That was amazing!! And you got to meet Rachel, which is also amazing!! ❤❤

And here's my Stephanie Canada impersonation: But you do have a studio....it's your house.

I'm in a discord with a Very Popular games actor, and they had a section dedicated to letting people share updates from Megacon. The set up for signings was a shitshow, they had overbooked presale, and were still signing people up even though they were already over booked. That wasn't the actor doing that, that was con staff ETA: I also heard that con staff were blaming some actors with overbokkings by saying it was their fault for not going fast enough. For taking a moment to actually connect with their fans, who paid to talk to them.

They did what... pen people in a room for too long and then tell them it's first come first serve. Are they trying to start a riot. I don't understand the wait in a dark theatre. Same for what they did to the food. I'm glad you two had a good time. You met 'Effin Birds! So cool... - Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi

You are so brave! This whole thing sounds like my worst nightmare. It took me weeks to psych myself up to go to the Knitting and Stitching Show here in the UK. I really enjoy your channel and your sense of humour is terrific. Keep up the good work! 💙

The Effin Birds creator lives like an hour away from me!!! Met him at Niagara Falls Comic Con. Super nice guy!!

I love getting the perspective your professional experience gives you. As a con-goer and volunteer before the 'vid, you put words to some of what I saw done (poorly and well). I'm so glad you were still able to enjoy yourself! I always loved cons as a way to enjoy a fandom with fellow nerds, and I actually have a couple long-time friends I met at a con. Hopefully you'll have more to enjoy in the future.

According to the lore, creation entertainment puts on the most organized cons out there.. on time, helpful and plentiful staff.. but yeah, bring your own consumables.. always. For some of their shows.. it does qualify as a break the bank weekend.

I personally think the best run for most efficiently run convention is San Diego Comic-Con . Lines move, signage everywhere. A massive number of experienced workers, the volunteers usually knowing what they're doing because they're veterans to the convention. You would hate Anime Expo in Los Angeles. Horribly run the most part, then security had to get added on to it because of the issue in a different state. So that's slowed down everything you were going okay when they started to do the mail out of the badges cuz people were waiting upwards of 8 hours just to get their badge, and the line for registration with across several city blocks. Thank God they started mailing tickets out a couple years ago. They have issues with walking off entrances for the cosplayers in designated cosplay areas and not tell anyone. Especially since they were the large areas that could handle 200 plus people. There's issues with artist Allie getting shoved further and further back into the parking garage with poor ventilation. There are heating issues also with artist alley as well as crowding issues. I mean, I don't think anyone has gotten hurt officially. But enough that people complained about getting headache or feeling nauseous because poor ventilation because the area is not intended that many people in one spot and it couldn't pump out all the nauseous feelings getting leaked in from the parking section that is next to. There's issues with crowd crush. There was, at one point, it took 20 minutes to walk from one side of the building to the other across the street bridge. We were at standstill at the very tipping point of if someone just fell forward or pushed in the people, people would have fallen over into a crowd crush. The only issue that I can think of what people call for ambulances was heat related because it's held on the 4th of July weekend, and it has been times where the temperature gets over 100°. I think the hottest it's been was 103, and it almost took me out. Luckily, someone has told them you can't let people stand in line to get inside your air-conditioned building and without at least providing water. So they now ship them pallets of water to hand out everyone. I don't know if I gotten better with the VIP ticketing, where VIPs get a special area to line up in and for certain panels they will wait overnight to get into them. And they essentially ruin lining up for panels beforehand, and forcing people to wait in line in the sun. They try to mediate this by clearing out the rooms, but it just pushes the issue to the line. And all these issues were before they got to the point of selling out of tickets. I personally have been going for over a decade but the moment I heard that they hit a point where they sold so many tickets that they sold out back in 2022 or 2023, I resole my ticket for profit because I did not want to know what type of 💩 show that was going to be.

Was the Hoof GP with the cattle people?? 😂

Aaaahhh!!! You got to meet Rachel!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Whew, thank you for confirming my instincts that I would never survive this type of event. I am a stress ball just watching videos of it! Too many people, too much walking(chronic illness), too much unpredictability. Thank you also for filming your experience and sharing it with those of us who can't go. I'm attending vicariously through you. 😊

When Bruce Springsteen headlined Glastonbury festival and was running late Michael Eavis (owner of Worthy Farm and organiser) made an active decision to let Springsteen keep playing and personally pay the set fines for overrunning the cut off time for music. Reports in the press implied that the locals who were sound affected were ok with that. Thats a good, involved and proactive event organiser.

I've been going to conventions for 20years and we call it con time lol nothing runs on time it never does it's not just them xx

This con is a NIGHTMARE.... and this year was BETTER! Last year it was so entirely oversold that EMS couldn't get through to real medical emergencies on Saturday. I go only on Thursday now. The ONLY reason I went this year was to see some artist friends and see Rachel. When cons get crowded like this one, my anxious self can't take it. BRAVO for a well-done video critique. I think I will stick to my DragonCon for the most part going forward.

I tend to go toe to toe with FanExpo staff at every con because of the rude staff and volunteers.

I was taken a back when you said you weren't a big youtuber since, I've seen your channel mentioned on other youtube channels. Charlie at The Stitchery just mentioned you in her last video. Oh and btw, I've watched Rachel Maksy's channel I much perfer your channel and watch all of your videos, and have binge watched it once i found it, to catch up. I rarely watch her channel even when notified. Just saying dont sell yourself short I find you much more enertaining and informative. 😊

Thank you for this. MegaCon certainly has changed from when I went to it....omg 20 years ago. I loved your event planner perspective.

We had the same delay at FanExpo Philly on May 3rd-5th. The reason was because Dark Vader and Ahsoka were still doing signings and photos. The DJ just played more music and we did a bunch of karaoke. I was about an hour past the start time before it began, not to bad compared to the 6 hour wait for photos.

Wow, it’s so cool you got to see these stars! It’s a total bummer about the problems you experienced.

Wow, you got off easy in that line! Those Cons are horrific. I was a mother of a kid obsessed with Sakuracon. She was 12 the first year she attended, so guess who had to go with her? 😢

We are in Adelaide Australia - so the showgrounds they use for Comic con are huge and seating hasnt really been a problem. However we have travellled to Melbourne for comic-cons in the mid 2000-teens, and they once oversold tickets to even get into the grounds. Even those who bought tickets to get in online, STILL had to wait in line and failed to get in if they didnt arrive early enough, because the venue could only hold a certain number of people. As people exited, more were let in. It was suffocatingly hot - and this was winter! They had thousands of ppl lined up, snaking all around the complex, and those thousands of people waiting never even got in the door. These are not tickets to "talks" or meet and greets". This was general entry. We have had dinners with STar Trek cast members, - awesome experiences there - and they have always been well organised dinners with very small numbers of tickets per guest. But the general entry was a totall dogs breakfast. Sadly I cant say other comic cons were better. BTW - we watch Back to the Future EVERY - repeat EVERY Saturday night. Sad. Tragic. But true. It never gets old...whether we are sitting really watching it - or its on in the background while I sew or we play games...its always on. I repeat - it NEVER gets old.

Did you wear these pearls just to be able to clutch them at the right moment??? 😂😂😂 Also: That Backpack!!! 😍

26:48 As for having two different cons at the same time in the building, my local big comic con, is normally on at the same time as The Creative Craft Show, allows access to sister shows Sewing For Pleasure and Fashion & Embroidery. Looks like this year they aren't doing that, but for many years it happened, and seemed so stupid, as cosplayers also would like to go to a craft show.

Great Video! I am a con-goer, and you're absolutely right about a lot of things in this video. First off-- sorry that your BTTF panel was late. :( I've been to one of those meet & greets, and I gotta say, they ( the cast) usually try to meet everyone they can and spend as much time with the fans as they do which drives the delay. I know that specifically Michael J Fox often invites people from the local charities that he is associated with, to bring people to meet him -- they should really schedule those after the panel, but once again, the talent does get tired. As for the VIP people-- having been one myself at one point ( it was a con that Carrie Fisher was attending and I just had to meet her and ask her to adopt me) -- those tickets are pricey and are only worth it for a once in a lifetime experience you want to have. They are oversold, but other than the perk of skipping some lines when you want to ( for me it's because my cosplay is huge) but they can certainly do with more planning-- such as allowing VIPpers to "check in" to larger panels so that they know how many will be attending it -- and if you miss a check in time, then your seat is given away. I'm glad that you had a good time otherwise. Cons are fun, but best when you go with someone who knows the ropes. Always hydrate, wear reasonable shoes ( cement floors are not fun), and have snacks on you ( hangry is deadly)-- and then later you won't suffer the wrath of the con.

The parking thing has huge "Australian stadiums vs American stadiums" energy. Our cons are all in the city or nearby enough for PT to be totally feasible. Hearing "$46.50" made me nauseated you poor thing.

Honestly, I’d totally watch you go to more cons and give feedback. So many cons seem to be run like this and they need to learn lol! It’s also just interesting hearing it from someone who has worked in situations similar.

Im not into BTTF like that, but being in the same room with them would have made me geek out totally.

Stephanie, you need to at least check out Amanda of Swell Entertainment. She reviews conventions and other events, mainly in california as that's where she lives, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot from each other/have fun comparing notes.

Just wanted to say thanks for the video! I am hosting my first comic con later this month (much, much smaller than this!) and am obsessing over every detail to make it the best it can be. I now feel better about all the signage I just got in. Lol!

Wasn't a con but I went to a craft fair a while back that I think did something you would've found annoying as an event manager. Basically during the event my friend had to go out of the venue briefly, whilst my friend was doing that they suddenly decided if you went out and had to come back in you had to rejoin the entry queue. This entry queue went out of the venue, around the corner and down the street back to a tube station it took my friend... I think nearly an hour to get back into the venue. When we'd initially queued for about 30 minutes to get into the building. And I'm really surprised they didn't have a rentry queue of some sort. I think in this case they underestimated how many people were coming to the event as it's not a prebook one it's a turn up on the door one. The venue was also a nightclub so I think it wasn't quite designed for so many people as certain parts of the venue got a bit choked. Also catering there was a bit of a mess as it was like they had three food options like a beef one, a veggie one and a chicken one and by the time my friend and I decided to get food they'd run out of the veggie one.

I'm having flashbacks to the last time I ordered my C2E2 badge after mail deadline. I wasn't sure if I was going to go until closer to the con, so I dealt with will call. This wasn't my first time doing that, the first time I went to C2E2 I did the same. I go on Saturdays but I park in lot C, I don't reserve for a parking spot as a result. I simply leave early, but I was still living in IL at the time. Even though I was close to the cheddar curtain (WI border). Now I'm north of the cheddar curtain, which means I'm going to have to leave at the butt crack of dawn. UGH

We once had a con with a mariachi convention simultaneously, another with a dog show.

Thank you for sharing this. I watched Adam the Woo's video on this. It definitely was a different perspective. I have never been to one of this and am quite intimidated to try one, but this video really helped. :-)

MegaCon sounds like a 1950s sci film. "Godzilla vs MegaCon" - I'd watch it. I've only ever attended steampunk & anime conventions on a much smaller scale (35,000), but I do adore their Artists Alley. Just hit the merch side usually for specialty foods and maybe a missing manga or dvd. Artists Alley is where I get my buttons, and handmade plushies, and bookmarks. And people watch. Such talented people, they are.

I attend Fan Expo Canada regularly and my advice on where to park is always "At the most convenient Go station and take the train to Union" Super cramped Artist Alley seems to be a trademark of this company's cons. I only ever brave it on Thursday or Sunday. As are bad food and overselling. In Toronto they're notorious for straight up overselling the VENUE and not letting people move between floors because of it.

I find this so refreshing as I feel this way every event I go to.

I saw a sign that said, “Cosplay is not consent.” Do you have anything to say about that? Thanks.

WOW! Must have been neat to see the Back To The Future cast, I grew up with those movies! Even Michael J. Fox! How wonderful for you! I am only slightly, no, extremely jealous!

You would’ve hated Saturday they had us move upstairs for Hayden Christensen, because 1 o’clock people were still in line we didn’t get out till 8 PM

I've had similar experiences at DragonCon and AwesomeCon. Lack of signage, line management, time management, and over crowding of the venue seems to plague them all. My worst experience was having to wait 2+ hours -- in "it's just going to be another 30 minutes" intervals -- for a Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman panel because the autograph and photo lines were allowed to get too long and, apparently, that took priority over several thousand of us sitting around in a ballroom, missing other panels we really wanted to go to.

And we got to see your amazing Husband! All said, it looks like fun!

You pinpointed so many of the issues that we see at Cons. Also- Guy Gilcrist is amazing! So glad you got to meet him!

I have a very small amount of organising events, purely customer facing only. I should apply for a job working at Megacon. Scream - just scream Birdy

I was laughing so much. How do they get away with calling it Megacon? And in fact it almost seems to want to live up to it's name! Parts of it (parking) definitely seem to be a con. 🤣🤣🤣

Careful, Stephanie, MegaCon might try to hire you. Lol. You have never truly seen event chaos till you’ve found 2 Mandilorians going at it in a bathroom, authors chasing their own around with magically appearing palm trees, and the White Ranger.

Effin' Birds! I love my calendar and it's sitting right beside my computer.

Oh. My. God. I need that Grogu!!!!! Do you remember who the artist was of the Grogus?

Wow, as someone who only has experience with Australian Comic Cons, it's shocking to see such massive crowds. We get a lot of people for the space we have, but it'll never be like the United States, where the population far exceeds ours. The way they ran that convention stuns me. Here in Australia, they have so many volunteers at every stage/corner of the convention. Need to find the convention? Signs everywhere. Lining up to get inside? They have dozens of people helping the lines run smoothly and getting everyone in as fast and safely as they can, barring any technical problems. Any questions? If they can't help you specifically, they know who to find. Schedules? Yep! There may be a lot to do, but they are all on time. Would you travel to see any other conventions in person?

Rachel Maksy and Dapper Danielle! I love them!

I've heard vague horror stories from Megacon and now I understand a lot more because WOOF. I went from Motor City Comicon to Galexycon about three weeks apart and the difference in crowd control made me want to cry in a not good way. That being said, I AM SO HAPPY YOU'RE INTO CONS NOW!

First, LOVE the hair. Second, you're braver than I am. Can barely stand my own family on a daily basis let alone a comic con lol Happy you and hubs had a good time and survived the bad food. 🥰🥰☺☺

Looks almost empty next to Comic Con International (San Diego). The escalators and hallways around them are packed, and there are trufans lining up for a couple of days outside the convention center for the big room panels. Line Management is a big department for the

You aint seen nothing until you will see it in the other building next year! That building has always been trouble even before FanExpo took over!

Just bought the Back to the Future bicycle playing card deck today.

One of my pet peeves is paying for a strip of cement to park my vehicle. Paying 46.50 to deposit a car would give me apoplexy. No, I would turn around and go home before I would ever pay that sum of legal tender for an automobile resting place.

if you ever go to another con, i feel like you and Amanda from Swell Entertainment should meet up to dissect the whole thing in terms of event management

If this was held at the convention center, let them know you are media and parking is free. I did that as a beauty blogger when I would go to the Orlando Convention Center. All I did was just tell the parking attendant. *shrug

You now know Jen, but do you know Dolores from HR? KZfaqr Sunflowerstardust.

Oh my goodness! What a mess! Keep informing. Some people don’t know how to organize! Organizing is a skill- learned or inate.

I'm so sad I had miss it! Next year

Not related to MegaCon, but your hair looks amazing!

Cons everywhere should pay you lots of money just to consult. What you're describing re: the Back to the Future session is why I stopped going to the Toronto International Film Festival. I do not like spending lots of money to be treated like cattle -- or like an idiot because I couldn't divine how to exit the building using the approved, yet un-signed, path.

Funny enough, I went to a con that same weekend called Missouri Comic Con. I could make an entire video on how poorly ran it all was. Like I'm a 4x contest winner, that contest?? BAD. I had NO fun and the judges weren't good either. Not even saying that bc I didn't place. There were people who I felt should have WON who didn't and i had CHILDREN in the SAME category as ME

Oh go for it and try to get into SDCC. Lines? Where we're going we don't NEED lines...

The badge activation thing is something my local con has and I HATE IT, my first year I did not know you had to do activate and the con had no public wifi and I don’t pay for a data plan on my phone cus I just don’t need it, I volunteer staff member had to use his phone as wifi hotspot to let people activate there badges, the 2nd time I went they had public wifi but it’s just a mess! Why can’t the badges already work when I buy them there $70 already that’s so much money already!

Your husband is so cute 😍 😊💛 I'm glad you had a good time just the same.

❤

Where did you park to pay $46.50? I gotta avoid it for next year bc that's wild! Max I payed was $35 at the Hilton but even the grass lots were only $30

For as long as they had you waiting it would have been smart for them to screen the movie to at least build the hype and pass the time.

the army is almost at every comic con to recruit the gamers who play military based games including the army funded ones and fps shooters, but also all of the nerds who are working in tech and cyber to see if they can poach them unfortunately. its very weird imo.

Stephanie! Did you see yourself pop up on Sarah Spaceman’s computer screen in her last video?! 😍

😃👍

Army has an e sports thing. So it works 2 ways lol.

Imagine completing a thought with out a jump cut.

The volunteers there admitted they oversold so can't complain.

Oh… 1) this is going to be spicy and 2) telling it like it is! Ive got some experience in event organising and stewarding, although mostly not professionally and some of what I see at events is utterly ridiculous. Poor staging, poor planning, poor timing, lack of information and inexperienced stewards, on top of overly officious (and inexperienced) paid staff/security argh argh argh

So....Vintage Con?

If you don’t enjoy big crowds of people,would going to smaller conventions be better ? And ouch $46 dollars for parking ? How’s the transit?

Unfortunately corporate America doesn’t care about the consumer comfort or convenience. They do not need to make the consumer feel uncomfortable. Especially with such high money fees.

As someone who has been a vendor at Megacon for the last five years running, it's getting worse every year.

over selling vip defeats the purpose of vip. you get to a point where what you paid wasnt worth it.

Where the hell did you park? You can park for free at the wheel. Take the tricky to the convention center.

It would have been nice if you started your video by saying what Megacon is for people like me who watch your sewing and fabric videos and have no clue.

Ticket verification was implemented due to scalpers. Normal con goers knows this by now lol. Did ya get con crud?

Oh, my, GOD! You were abused.

Signage is CHEAP! There, I've said it again after saying it probably a thousand times over the course of 15 years of doing craft fairs and some really big events. SIGNAGE IS CHEAP. If you don't tell people where to go, they will amble around until they find a group they think is going for the same event but find out they have followed other people who don't know where they are. This is UNIVERSAL folks! Stephanie, I can imagine you nodding your head at this moment. There is a reason well run organized events have signs EVERYWHERE. And as a vendor I can't tell you how many times I have wondered where all the people are only to find out those people are wandering around the entrance not knowing where to go. I have actually left my booth to direct people to the entrance to the event before--(drawing attention by spinning on my drop spindle) so yea, SIGNAGE helps. :D My rant over, I'm happy you had a good time!

Interesting but I have no idea what this event is for. Does not look like fun to me. Way too many people. I hope you enjoyed yourselves.

Retention is mad low😂😂 and most military members are big ass nerds so its no surprise the army was there looking to recruit 🤣🤣🤣

Yeah no.. I wouldn’t pay for that kind of mess.

I would have taken that sandwich back and demanded more meat. You paid a LOT of money for it and one piece of meat ain't cutting it.

I would not have enjoyed that event; because, I can't stand being in crowded (too many people) events.