How long have you been attending cons as part of your job?

I’ve been working trade shows and conventions for more than ten years. It’s only been in the past few years, where my job has taken on a pop-culture/otaku focus, that comics, anime, and J-Pop conventions have been in the mix. And I couldn’t be more happy about that development.

Do you remember what your first con experience was like?

The first time I ever worked a big trade show was an American Bookseller Association trade show (the big North American book-trade show that was the precursor to today’s Book Expo America.)  It was the first “big” show that I’d been asked to work (I’d actually done small conventions and conferences previously) so I felt like a ball player called up from the minors. Complicating matters was that the Sales Director also sent to the show was newly hired—it was like this third day on the job.

So the set up for the show was me, who knew nothing about how a big convention works, and him, who was just getting familiar with how the company did things. And as we’re muddling through trying to get set up for this show (because, of course, his predecessor didn’t take care of as much of the pre-show groundwork as we had expected…), we’re also feeling each other out: is this guy a cool dude? Does he get my jokes? Are we gonna be able to work together? 

As it turned out, we both turned out to work well together, so it was a bonding experience, to say the least. Even though that trade show was very different from the anime conventions I look after today, the lessons of those few days still serve me well.  I always say that working a convention is like going into battle armed only with your wits, and setting up that show certainly demonstrated that.

Would you say that because of your licenses (Moyashimon, for example), that Del Rey is best prepared to battle swine flu?


I certainly hope so!  But if Del Rey proves resistant to swine flu, it may just be that New Yorkers are a scrappy lot (especially after having been the locus of the last outbreak) rather than anything specific to our manga program.  I bet the folks at Yen and Vertical are equally healthy…

As a representative of Del Rey, what purpose does attending conventions serve for you?

We tend to look at these conventions as promotional opportunities, as an opportunity to present our wares and activities directly to fans. Beyond that, there’s always their usefulness as a locus of publicity, so that any announcement, activity, event, etc. that we can undertake at a convention might capture some further media attention to have an impact beyond the folks who happened to be at that particular convention.  In essence, attending conventions is our way of participating in the community of fandom, and that’s just a joy.

You guys at Del Rey often have some of the most entertaining panels. How much of that dynamic of working with the crowds is natural and how much of it do you really prepare for?

Well, we certainly prepare the news and new announcements that we’re making for the panels. But all of us on Team Del Rey Manga feel that the question-and-answer sessions are the most fun part of these panels, and there’s no way you can really prepare for the questions that’ll come up.

All that there—yeah, that’s unrehearsed. It actually means a lot to hear that you find our panels so entertaining. I’ve long felt that Del Rey Manga’s most important asset—bigger than any particular license or any particular publishing plan—is its staffers. Team Del Rey Manga really is an excellent, excellent bunch of folks, all of whom are really good at their jobs, really passionate about the work we’re lucky enough to do, and really fun to work with. I’m gratified that that comes across on our panels.

You spend a lot of time on show floors, shaking hands, selling products and answering questions. What about your off time at the shows? Do you just collapse in your hotel bed once you're done, or does the tie get loosened and you go wild on the town?
 
More often than not, we have evening obligations after a convention’s exhibit hall hours, so there are often business dinners, late meetings, important events, etc. So we’re usually still “on” even after the exhibit hall closes.  That said, there are usually a night or two in there where the staff can grab dinner or drinks together (just the family, as it were,) but usually we’re so bone tired that those aren’t going-wild-on-the-town events. At least not the ones I go to; the younger staffers with heartier constitutions might have later and greater misadventures into the evening.  

My general view of working conventions—one that I think I’ve impressed upon colleagues who work them with me—is this: we’re there to work. We’re not there to have fun. Fun may be had—will be had, because conventions are intrinsically fun—but our first purpose is to work the show. Go wild on the town if you must, as long as you’ll still be there for your next shift working the booth.
 
What's your best and worst experience at a convention?

Honestly, there have been so many amazing convention experiences that I couldn’t pick a best one. And as for the worst convention experience? Let’s just say…no comment. ;-)

Alright, if you won't answer the question directly, how about this: You get a lot of repetitive questions or ones you can't answer ("Are you going to license XXX?"), or sometimes stories without a point. But surely there must have been some encounter with a fan that surprised you -- whether through a poignant question or story -- something that ultimately stuck with you. If so, could you tell us about that?
 
A few years ago, at the San Diego convention, we did a cute promotion where we gave away origami instructions & paper and asked fans to fold cranes, to see if we could get 1000 cranes folded before the convention ended. Which, of course, we did, because our fans are awesome. Fans were folding cranes all day and, in some cases, all night.

The whole thing had a bit of a flash-mob feel to it, where a lot of people do a specific unexpected thing for a while, and I was happy to be part of the cause of that. Folks waiting for Laurell K. Hamilton’s autograph were folding cranes.  Kids were racing one another to see who could crane-fold faster. One fan came back to tell us that she was folding cranes while waiting in line for Yoshitaka Amano’s autograph, and he noticed and signed a crane as well. That makes me happy.
 
As a postscript, in a later year’s San Diego Convention, ABC promoted their TV show Lost by handing out instructions on folding an origami swan. I like to think they got that idea from us ;-)

--

Once again, I'd like to thank Ali for taking the time to talk with me, and remember: if you've got your own conventioneering story to tell, let us know in the community blogs. We look forward to hearing from you!