Wednesday, May 28th 2025: CFXX Postmortem

Alright, last entry in the CFXX series, promise. Three blog posts back to back is starting to feel like overkill, but I do have a lot of things on my mind!

Some things I've learned as a vendor at my debut sale at CFXX

• Bring your own meals from home! Con food is hella expensive
• No caffeine on the first day, yes caffeine on the second (you need sleep before the 2nd day)
• Lugging around boxes is not ideal. Bring a trolley or suitcase
• You can have a 'closing hours' discount, selling items at slightly reduced prices near the end of the event
• BIG SIGNS. NO SMALL TEXT. NOBODY READS SMALL TEXT.
• You can close shop earlier, for any reason, especially if you still have boothmates manning the table to keep up appearances
• Sneakers are THE best type of shoe to wear when you're going to be on your feet all day
• Poop in the morning before going to the con to avoid causing long(er) lines
• Complimenting people's outfits, cosplays, and makeup goes a long way!
• Talk to your booth/table neighbors! Buy candy to give out, it makes a great ice breaker
• Speaking of ice breakers, trading art (be it OCs or fandom) is a great way to start socializing! Put up an "art trade" sign on your booth to advertise!
• You could always make adjustments to your display at the start of day 2!
• Bring a spare lanyard or two, in case your nametag's lanyard breaks
• I didn't really need to bring an alterations kit, people bought things they liked without wanting anything changed to it
• Talking to people is fun!

Now that the bullet points are out of the way, I'll elaborate more (but I wont follow the structure of the bullet points to a tee). I had more fun on day 2 because I had a friend with be that was touring beside me around the con. I had more fun coming in later in the day (8 am) because I was less miserable thinking about waking up in the morning. Definitely skimp on makeup and outfit on day 1, so you can wake up closer to your departure time and not spend as much time on appearances. Unless you're willing to make that sacrifice

I also went home earlier by day 1, due to a combination of factors such as a) needing to take public transit home, which takes 2 hours vs. 30 mins by car, b) going to the medic room and reaching my limit, c) not seeing many sales, and d) having had no coffee to get me over the 3-4PM energy slump considering I've been awake since 4 AM. This was definitely the wise thing to do in retrospect, as my social battery was drained and I wasn't having any fun at the con at that moment.

On day 2, closing hours, I spent a lot of time sitting around because my cleanup was relatively quick and easy (No grids to disassemble). I let the atmosphere set in and realized the bulk of my fun came from interactions with other people, less sales and vending experience. Don't get me wrong, I love getting money, but I don't have that entrepreneurial spirit in me that wants to hustle and bustle all day long. Heck, I barely did any prep and didn't open any pre-orders!