Like all good projects after the project is complete you need to review and develop your lessons learned.
It’s the time where you honestly reflect on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. SDCC is an emotional roller-coaster. There were times you hated being there. There were times you were ready to hand over your first born to guarantee getting tickets for the next decade.
What went well?
What went okay but you could improve?
How was your budget? Was it realistic? Over spend? Under spend?
Did you plan effectively? Or did you spend time wondering what to do next?
Did you know the layout of the convention center so you didn’t waste time getting lost?
Did you get up early enough to get into the panels you wanted or did you waste time in lines that were cut off?
Did you bring enough batteries/chargers for your equipment or did miss out on recoding something important?
How was the location of your hotel? What was travel time like to the convention? How convenient was it travel back and forth?
How are your feet and back? Blistered? Aching? Need better shoes?
Get enough to eat and drink (water, not alcohol)? Get enough sleep?
Did you network as much as you expected? Bring enough business cards or diverse enough portfolio?
Spend too much time twitting and not enough time participating?
Recording more than you saw? Fiddling with your gadgets and not paying attention to the panel?
Hitting on every booth babe when you could have been paying attention to the cute fangirl?
Over back? Under pack? What did you forget?
Did you have a roommate? Needed one? Get rid of one?
This is the time to analyze. If you want to attend next year, how do you make it even better? How do you make your friends envious? How do you get a leg up on the veterans?
So review your Good and repeat it; review your Bad and improve it; and review the Ugly and try to avoid it. Write down your thoughts and your plan for next year. Include a checklist of what your forgot and then save it in Outlook and add it as an attachment to your reminder notice for next year.
Then you need to review it BEFORE you start planning next year.
AH
Nice way to set up your battle plan for next year!
ReplyDeleteIt was definately an experience. Saturday was fustrating for my fiancee because she lost two autograph signings in a row...True Blood and Vampire Diaries. I got tons of swag and I had a lot of fun in the Gaslamp with all the different stuff going on.
ReplyDeleteI spent a lot of time at the Bioware base playing their new game The Old Republic, which im looking forward to. I went to the Nintendo lobby at a hotel next door and got to play a bunch of games and got a Zelda t-shirt.
Comic Con definately pushed my feet and body to a new limit. By 4PM I was beat but kept on walking and finding stuff to do. I followed your guide and brought all my own food and drinks. The Shuttle back in forth to my hotel ran until 3PM.
Hodad's in O.B. was the best food. Theres also good food in the Gaslamp such as Rockbottom Brewery. Your guide helped a ton! I felt I was well prepared for someone new, and had reasonable expectations that I was going to miss out on a lot due to waiting in line. The registration line for Friday was the longest line ive ever been it, it wrapped around the building and well out by the dock area but it went fast.
I embraced my inner cow...a lot. The Hasbro Toys were a hot item, so on Friday I stood in line for the booth ticket to have access to the Hasbro toys for about 4 hours. Then went to the actual booth to wait in line. That was about 1 1/2 hour and then I went to Fed Ex to ship it back home (it was too much to carry or take back) and Fed Ex took about an hour. So just for Friday most of the day was shot and I missed a lot of stuff, but I got one of my big plans done. You can pick one or two things to do a Day at Comic Con, unless you hang out in Hall H or BR 20. I spent most of my time in the exhibit hall in awe. Overall great experience!
Will I be back? I hope so. Next year will be busy due to out of state weddings and planning my own, so I may not be able to get back this year...we'll see!
Troy, I'm glad you had a great time. I appreciate the comments and the insight into the FedEx line. It’s always good to fine new places to eat.
ReplyDeleteI’ve never attempted the Hasbro’s line but I know those collectors are dedicated. The 4 hour wait you experienced seems like the norm.
I’ve not been lucky enough to get a True Blood cast signing. It would have been a real coup for your girlfriend. I’m pretty sure they only give out about 200 tickets – if that makes her feel any better.
SDCC can be fulfilling and exciting and very frustrating.
AH