Indy Pop Con Has a Solid First Year

You’ve heard about Claire’s Pop Con experience, and Ryan’s first ever con experience at Pop Con. So you know mine had to be coming up next.

Some of you know, conventions aren’t exactly my thing. Nothing against cons themselves, it’s just….that’s a lot of people. I enjoy the Louisville Arcade Expo because it’s basically going to a really cheap arcade, and I like Gen Con because there are structured events that let me get out of the crowd. But when I heard that Indy Pop Con would be having booths that we could actually afford, I jumped on the opportunity. It would give me the ability to enjoy the con while being removed from the crowd.

As a Vendor

It was different attending a convention as a vendor. It’s even weirder being a vendor not actually selling anything. (We were classified as artists.) But it was certainly worthwhile. Pop Con organizers had put the podcasters/bloggers all in one area which was great for networking we had Nerds Domain and Nerd Wars on either side of us , and Billy and Brandon Watch Movies across from us. It was fun getting to hang out with those guys throughout the weekend. Plus, having similar sites around us allowed us to build up our network.

As a Panelist

Indy Pop Con decided to allow fans to submit panels that could be voted on to be a part of the con. This opened up the floor to all kinds of panels that you typically wouldn’t see. I took advantage of this and organized a Roller Derby Q&A panel featuring the Race City Rebels and Circle City Derby Girls and organized/participated in an Indy Geek Girls panel. The organization around the panels was a bit rough. I wasn’t alerted when my panel was selected. Timeslots would move and we’d just have to be on it to know. Also, as someone who had never ran a panel before, I would have loved a “hosting a panel FAQ” sheet or something to help me prepare.

There was something for everyone at Indy Pop Con

As an Attendee

There were a ton of vendors at Indy Pop Con. A ton. But that’s a side effect of having such a broad con. I know some attendees felt they couldn’t see everything, but I honestly don’t see everything at any con I attend (that’s why it’s handy that there are three of us now). I spent a lot of time in the indie game section because that’s my interest more so than comic books and movies. The letdown for me was the ebash gaming area. Not because of any fault from ebash, it just seemed slow most of the time during expo-hall hours. I think because it was kind of off by itself it was hard to make it out there. Hopefully next year that area will feel less removed.

Overall

Indy Pop Con did not feel like a first year con at all. There were some hiccups, but it was well organized overall. There was something for everyone. Aisle ways were wide enough you could get through without too much of a problem. I particularly loved the Indy focus of vendors. Indy has an amazing geek community and it was awesome to see so many of them in one place. I’m looking forward to next year to see how they continue to grow.