MLP Conventions!

[Iris Patch]

Heya guys! I'm thinking about attending/vending at a MLP convention. I've been attending various fandom conventions since I was a teenager, but never a pony con!

I was wondering what you guys think of the following conventions:

http://www.sweetapplecon.com/
http://www.grandgallopingbronygalacon.com/

Especially if you sold stuff there, I'd like to hear from you!
Thanks!

[Tupin]

From what I've heard based on those who have attended, the major conventions seem to line up with major cities. BronyCon is moving to Baltimore next year, there's some convention in NYC taking its place, Equestria LA was pretty big, ditto for Everfree Northwest. Those are the kinds of conventions where you get thousands of people, big names from the show, etc.

Not sure about smaller cons, but I've heard they're like big meetups but still provide a good place to sell. Keep in mind I'm just relaying secondhand experience, though I have heard a lot of it.

[Iris Patch]

From what I've heard based on those who have attended, the major conventions seem to line up with major cities. BronyCon is moving to Baltimore next year, there's some convention in NYC taking its place, Equestria LA was pretty big, ditto for Everfree Northwest. Those are the kinds of conventions where you get thousands of people, big names from the show, etc.

Not sure about smaller cons, but I've heard they're like big meetups but still provide a good place to sell. Keep in mind I'm just relaying secondhand experience, though I have heard a lot of it.

true that- I've heard of the big ones, never really heard of these ones. Unfortunately due to high travel costs, it is impossible for me to attend the big ones though, unless I was REALLY confident in my products. There were some cons planned for Georgia, but they fell apart in planning, which bums me right out!

[NoDivision]

Seems like there are a lot of pony conventions popping up geared more towards just the FiM show. Those two are both new to me! You might want to see if the conventions you're looking at have their own forums as you might be able to get more info that way

[Diamond]

Depends on what your selling, if you have all generation merchandise I am gonna say the pony fair is the way to go.  If you have more just G4 then a con aimed at those collectors would be good.  Either way be prepared to haggle and bring lots.  I came with a full trunk to the last RI Fair and did super.  But I made lots of deals and at the end sold all my left overs cheap to just be done with it.  Both my daughter and are do not really collect G4 so have no experience with there Cons.

[hathorcat]

Lol NoD - I am the same...I cant keep up with the sheer number of these events which seem to be popping up. I guess this fandom just keeps on growing!

I think Diamond hit it straight on - if your work is mostly G4, then some of these cons are the way to go but if its multi gen perhaps the Fair is a better idea [although it could be too far for you to travel as well perhaps]. From the people I have spoken to who have attended pony cons they are largely a similar experience to most fandom conventions; I would guess as many of the people running them have a background or experience perhaps in other similar fan conventions. 

Eskara offered some amazing advice in this thread about selling and attending pony con events as a vendor - http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,313488.msg484802.html#msg484802

[Iris Patch]

Thanks for offering your perspectives. I have dealt at cons before, but never an MLP con. I am hoping to hear from past attendees of these two events, see if the con was well-run, if they had a lot of attendees, etc. The sites seem to be rather light on that sort of information!

Yes, my merch is pretty much exclusively G4. Where is the Pony Fair held?

[hathorcat]

The Pony Fair moves every year but this year its in Indianapolis! Here is their website - http://mylittleponycon.com/ You will get loads of G4 fans there as well

Were these events definitely run this last year or are they perhaps the first time - maybe they are now big enough to be Cons but had previously just been meets?

[NoDivision]

There are so many smaller FiM themed pony meets and cons now that this probably isn't the best place to get lots of first hand information about them if they're not one of the major more well known conventions. Maybe try putting the names of the two you are looking for in your post title? But I think you'll have better luck finding more people if you go to the forums for the conventions themselves - looks like the sweet apple acres one at least has their own forums, I dunno about the other one.