dragoncon_lj_archive | Support the Dealer's Room

Freelancing is a tough road. Lots and lots of artists, merchants, designers, etc. actively try to make a living doing it. Travelling and working cons is WORK. The dealers rooms are places you can find things you just can't find anywhere else from some of the coolest people you would ever want to meet. Is it cheap? No. If you simply wanted to save a few bucks, go to Target.

In that same line, don't hamstring the dealers that PAID A LOT OF MONEY to have tables by side-stepping them and going to people that haven't paid the equivalent of Guild fees. It is just terrible Con Karma. If the dealers can't make ends meet, they don't come back. If they don't come back, how can you get that one-of-a-kind item? What would the con be like with a crappy dealer's room?

Is this a popular comment? No. Doing the right thing rarely matches doing the popular thing.

Thanks for listening...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sinfulpixie.livejournal.com

I'll assume that you're writing this in response to my post earlier today.
First, I did not expect the response to my entry to go as extreme as it is right now. I'm glad to help out all the girls with their make-up, seeing as how in the last 4 years I've attended all 4-days of DragonCon, I have never seen any such make-up counters anywhere, nor hair accessories therefore, and maybe I'm jumping the gun to assume, but who would I be taking business away from? It's not like MAC has a booth in the dealer's room.
Secondly, I am not a corporation, I'm not a high priced artist, I'm a college grad, whose making $9.00 per/hr at a call center in Florida with an eye for cosmetics and color. All of the make-up I'm using is my own personal stuff, I'm not selling cosmetics, just the application. And before you go assuming that I'm screwing over the hard working artists, 3 of those hard working artists will be my suite mates and suggested this as a way for us to pay for the high fees they will have in the dealer's room, as well as the hotel prices for the weekend (BTW, go see Andy Lee and Power Bomb Press with Bukshot!!) , and I'll say this politely, quit steppin on my toes like I'm doing something wrong.
And just FYI, in case you were unsure of it, I pulled this from the Community rules that are posted on the Info page of THIS journal...

9. SHAMELESS D*C SELF PROMOTION - Shameless Self promotion and plugging of your D*C panel/booth/event/concert/meetup/etc. is a big reason this community was created to begin with and is highly encouraged. However, spamming up the community with excess repeated plugging where other folks cant get a plug in WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Shamelessly plug yourself, but be considerate of other members and give them a chance to plug themselves as well.

I have made one small post, granted it's gotten more hits than most of the other things on here lately, but I didn't repeat it,I didn't force it on anyone, and I posed a question and got an unanimous response. Please stop bringing a negative light to my poor artistic eye. Thank You, Laura

From:

archway.livejournal.com

I completely understand why you are concerned. Money is money. Everybody has to follow what they think is right. Saying what I said was right for me. What you replied is, I assume, right for you.

From:

nisie.livejournal.com

I was thinking that your service is something better left to being done in the privacy of a room than on the dealer floor.

From:

sinfulpixie.livejournal.com

i was thinking the same, i'm not one to powder my nose in public either.

From:

lorenalis.livejournal.com

I thought I read somewhere through here a proposal to add a services area to the con. While there is the ever present problem of logistics (ie. where to put it) I believe this would be a wonderful idea. I'm sure there are folks who would love to have a place at con where they could go for make-up services or a massage. These areas would need to have some privacy, which is not offered at all in the dealers room and only in the Exhibitors Hall if you bring stuff to create your own private areas such as changing rooms.

From:

http://users.livejournal.com/spooksquad_/

Make-up and face painting services are offered in public, booths, what have you, all the time. Many artists prefer working in public too, so that others can see their work and possibly step up to have something done.

From:

nisie.livejournal.com

And some women, like myself, would prefer not to be stared at as they put on makeup.

From:

http://users.livejournal.com/spooksquad_/

Sure, the few times that I do serious makeup, I don't need an audience either. Wasn't talking about that though, I meant, in general, the make-up/face painting service is not something that has to be done in privacy, it's often done at a table or booth during events. Since Pixie doesn't have either, cool she's doing it from where she wants.

From:

marrus.livejournal.com

...not in the dealer's room, but in the art room. I'll also be selling prints of my paintings while I'm at it. I've been doing this at Dragoncon, as well as a bunch of other events around the country, for years.

I'm not a corporation and I don't have underlings serving my every whim. This is the only way I make a living, and I set up my schedule months in advance to ensure I have a table from which to work. I don't mind a little healthy competition in the dealer's room, but if you're planning on making money at a con, the ethical thing is to rent a table, just like the rest of us.

From:

zamiel.livejournal.com

You know, every year the art room gets more crowded and more overwhelmingly dense. The last thing I really want to deal with is a knot of folks right there at the side of the already narrow aisle. I'm almost willing to suggest that the reduced cost of your compeditor's entry is worth not having to walk all over them, from my perspective as a consumer.

From:

marrus.livejournal.com

...what appears to be under discussion are the ethics of selling out of a room when other vendors are paying to be there.

I've worked ren faires where we had nothing but rain all weekend. Patrons didn't show up, no one made any money, but the vendors ensured that the faire would last by supporting it with their booth fees.

Pehaps, given the demand for dealers who do body make-up, massage, henna, hair extensions, the Dragoncon powers that be might consider a separate "services" area?

From:

zamiel.livejournal.com

Well, the ethics of it are really moot, as I see it. I mean, its like debating the ethics of whether you must see a return on your advertising dollar, and if you don't, that the public has a responsibility to compensate you. That's prima facia ludicrous, and such is the suggestion that we, as the public consumers at D*C, are responsible for making sure the dealers who show turn a profit, no matter the state of competition. That's inane.

Perhaps the D*C convention chair might consider such, but given the generalized tightness of venue space as it is, it begs the question of where on Earth it'd go. Services vendors would want/demand to be near the dealer's room/exhibit halll, a place where there's not much space to put them. Unless you're suggesting they add a wing on to the Hyatt, which would make space somewhat cost-prohibitive.

And this sidesteps the issue of whether or not we, as consumers, have any ethical reason to prefer to spend more at a dealer's table than at a private individual's room. By that same argument, its unethical for you to offer a dealer's service from an art table, as unfair competition to the notional service renderer who might, possibly, have taken a dealer table.

Good attempt at a sidestep, though.

Ultimately, the argument you're putting forth is weak on logical bounds, and horribly broken on economic reasoning grounds.

(Now, if D*C has a rule in place which is signed by all badge owners which says you can't engage in commercial activity out of your room, its even less the responsibility of the civitas to eschew such services. Its D*C's rule; if they can't enforce it, its not my responsibility to. Moreover, if they have no such rule, there is likewise no incumbent responsibility on me to act counter to my best interests and throw more money at something than I have to.

Simple, really.)

From:

marrus.livejournal.com

If you own a bookshop, pay rent to the landlord and taxes to the state, spend a good chunk on advertising directing people to your location, someone can come along with a cart, set up in front of your shop, and proceed to sell books with impunity. Hey, it's a free market, right?

I never made the suggestion that the public consumers were responsible for ensuring the dealers turn a profit. What I did say is the money that the vendors pay to the festival ensures that many of its costs can be met - regardless of patronage.

Ultimately, the festivals I've attended all have had strict policies on unregulated vendors, and will happily revoke badges when they catch them, usually citing health & tax code violations.

From:

zamiel.livejournal.com

Actually, yes, they can, for the minimal cost of getting a business license. And if they have more of what the public wants, at a lower price, they can easily force you out of business.

It also suggests you're a pretty lousy merchant of books, if they can.

I think its safe to say that the dealer's room/exhibit hall table costs aren't paying the D*C costs. I suspect, at best, they're covering the floor space for the vast area the hotel's giving them. If there's less demand for the space, the space'll shrink, and cost's'll change. The rest of the Con won't blink.

The original poster's contention is (or was, since we have yet to see clarification) that the public should find it in their best interest to avoid buying things from non-dealer's/exhibit vendors in order to keep said vendors around. That's invalid at the most basic levels. The elaboration I've seen from other folks hasn't made it any more tenable.