MHC Feedback

[graystone]

I am out of town so I did not get to attend this year although I always enjoy the show that Barry, Kathy and the gang put on. I wanted everyones input on what they thought. I have talked to a few vendors already and they said sales were nothing to brag about. Some say attaendance was bigger, some say smaller, bla, bla! However it was I know everyone did the best job they could and I am sure at the end of the day everyone had fun. Just wanted to hear from others! Shane and it's I bet everyone is tired! Shane!!

[Darkblood]

I just got back from MHC a few hours ago (4 hour trip).
It was very well attended...very busy!
The show floor seemed packed with vendors (the most I've seen in 5 years).
In my opinion it gets better each year! Can't wait for the 10 year anniversary next June!
Good times, good times!

Kirk

[Jolly Pumpkin]

I volunteered Friday and Saturday. From about 2:10-2:50 there was a big surge of people picking up their pre-registration packets, various tickets, shirts and registering onsite. There were big lines for about 40 minutes. I was in charge of greeting people and directing them to the area they needed to go to. I was there from 2-6. Rex Hamilton helped from 2-4, but would come in and out to see how things were going. When the buses dropped people off from the Paranormal Bus Tour, there was another surge of people. Except for the first 40-45 minutes, most groups came in small numbers. The History of Halloween Class next door didn't have many people attending it. I'm not sure if people realized that it was at 5. I would say that on Friday there were about 500 people picking up their packets or registering onsite. But, I didn't count each different person that came through to pick something up. So, I could be way off. I also volunteered on Saturday from 12:30-2:30. When I showed up there weren't that many pre-registration packets left. I counted less than 20. Most people on Saturday were registering onsite from what I saw.

I only worked for about an hour on Saturday because the other volunteer had everything taken care of. So, the pre-registration booth was pretty dead when I showed up. Most people were registering onsite. The T-Shirts were a big hit this year with purple being the favorite. The T-Shirts were running low and so was everything else. So, I'm guessing that before I showed up there was a big surge of people registering onsite and purchasing shirts. The woman who was volunteering before me said that less than 10 packets were picked up for pre-registration before I came.

Over 1,500 people had tickets for the costume ball. It didn't look like there were 1,500 people at the party, but I didn't count. It was very packed and the ball room was plenty big enough to accommodate everyone. The Columbus Convention Center is huge and the floor the tradeshow is on is massive. I think this is a big reason why the tradeshow might look small because of all the floor space not being used. If the convention was on a smaller space then it would look massive. There were a total of 105 vendors and the tradeshow was packed on Saturday. The Monster Makeup Wars was the most crowded I've ever seen it. I had a hard time walking around to take pictures.

I'm not going to guess exactly how many people I think attended the show because I'm really not that sure. If you count people who checked out the tradeshow floor each day, I'm sure it would be in the thousands since you would be counting the same registered people more than once. But if you're just counting registered people once, it obviously won't be nearly as high. I know that it seemed more crowded than it did last year. I'm done for now. I'll save the rest for my article.

[DarkTikiEntertainment]

I thought most of the booths looked packed for most of Saturday... Packed to the point that it was difficult to get close to some of them. Predictably, some of the more business-oriented booths (ticketing, card readers, ATMs, etc) had few or no people in front of them. Sunday things thinned out quite a bit, but there was noticeably less inventory to choose from too. I stopped by the BrainChow Studios booth on Sunday and talked to Michael, and he said they had sold out of 75% of their inventory.

I think a few of the vendors kind of "shot themselves in the foot" a bit though. There were a few particular booths that seemed to never have anyone working at them. There were others where the person manning the booth was on his/her cell phone the whole time. There was one booth that was selling haunt music CDs that had speakers set up, but we passed it at least five times over the weekend, and not one time did they actually have any music coming out of the speakers. Weird! With that being said, the majority of the vendors were quite friendly and helpful! On the whole, the convention was awesome!

[MovieRelics]

Hey Shane,

Sorry you didn't make it this year. Was hoping to see you there. We've posted some photos from the show including the tradeshow floor, some of the people that stopped by our booth and the great costumes from the costume ball! We're working on the video from the show for this weekends release of "The Haunt Brief"! Hope you and everyone else enjoys!

http://www.hauntersdigest.com/2012/0...nvention-2012/

[john haines]

was UNCLE Jerry Vayne there ?

and was he behaving ?

[Spoils]

As a vendor we did quite well. MHC was our test run for Transworld. We came with over 60 costumes distressed to the core and came home with only 5. We took some orders but overall "as it has been said" it is a cash and carry show. This was our first MHC show as a haunter too. I got to get the rest of my stuff for the year that I had somehow missed at Transworld. The Costume Ball seemed happening. My only complaint is the people there. I was dress up, in character, and ready to party. This did not last long. The people I did interact with in character who were also in character did not respond well. They kind of looked at melike I was crazy or gave me the look of death. Really disappointed being that this is an actor convention on that part. All and all we were glad we finally made it to this show.

[graystone]

Bart

As a vendor we did quite well. MHC was our test run for Transworld. We came with over 60 costumes distressed to the core and came home with only 5. We took some orders but overall "as it has been said" it is a cash and carry show. This was our first MHC show as a haunter too. I got to get the rest of my stuff for the year that I had somehow missed at Transworld. The Costume Ball seemed happening. My only complaint is the people there. I was dress up, in character, and ready to party. This did not last long. The people I did interact with in character who were also in character did not respond well. They kind of looked at melike I was crazy or gave me the look of death. Really disappointed being that this is an actor convention on that part. All and all we were glad we finally made it to this show.

I seen some pictures and I would have loved to have got some costumes from you guys! Shane and it's they looked veryyyyyy good! Shane

[FrightProps]

MHC - Had a blast

This was my first MHC and I brought my son Jack. We had a really great time! Saturday the tradeshow floor was very busy, Sunday was pretty slow. All smallish vendors (no animatronics at all) but a lot of cool stuff worth buying. The attendees really seemed to have a good time. The costume party attendance and participation was impressive, best of any haunt shows I've been to. Why don't other haunt parties have good DJ's and MC's? Makes all the difference! My seminar was packed, but the room only held about 50 people. Downtown Columbus is pretty cool... lots and lots of great restaurants.

Will do again next year!

Doug.

[pickle]

Great Time...I'll Be Back!

I'm with Doug...I flew in @ the very last minute from the Atlantic City, NJ area & had a blast. I even got lucky on a room cancellation and got to stay right @ the Hyatt. Attended two great seminars Friday. I got to meet both Doug & his son and enjoyed their great display. First Haunt Convention for me & although it sounds much smaller than other Haunt Conventions, I don't know how the people (both the convention attendees/participants or the locals) could have been any more friendly. Great downtown area to walk around & visit...met quite a few people...and a few characters. I intend on attending 2-3 conventions next year but I'm going to make MHC a stop every year. Your never going to please everyone every time so I take some of the negatives with a grain! It takes time & great effort to build conventions up. To those who put it all together...you did a great job...keep up the good work!

P.

[slaughtermail]

my first midwest show

This year was my first Midwest show. It was a nice "change" for me because we usually only go to Transworld, and when we are there I'm so focused on the "business" side of the show I really don't have time to enjoy the people that are around me.
As a smaller haunt we are just starting to get to the point of going to several shows a year. Meeting and socializing with contacts & staff of other haunts & vendors we have met is one part of the shows I enjoy, & Midwest offered a lot of this.
I look forward to going back next year.

[Dalloween]

Jay, Allen and I got to premiere our new company The House of Boo with our first product line "Night Terror Toy Shoppe". The show stayed pretty busy, and I agree that it was the largest trade show since we started attending MHC. We managed to hit the top end of our goal for sales, which was exciting being our first convention as a vendor. We'll be at TW this next year with some changes and additions to the toys product line.

[Ironman]

MHC was great

This was not only our first time vending at the Midwest, but our first time attending as well. Of course it is a smaller show than TW, but because it isn't as big, we had more time to spend talking with customers on the trade show floor. We actually did better floor sales there than TW. And the socializing both during and after the trade floor was closed was fantastic. We saw a lot of old friends, and met quite a few new ones. I know that we will be back next year without a doubt, and we will definitely reserve more booth space. That way maybe we can keep more stock on the floor instead of having to make so many trips to the truck to restock. Winding down on Sunday evening we had a chance to sit and talk with Barry and he asked if there was anything we had issues with or any suggestions. The only thing I could think of was to possibly make the show aisles a little bigger. We always had a crowd at our booth and at times it was tough for folks to get through.

On a side note, because of the popularity of our portable actor animations, we got some great new ideas from folks, and several will go into production just as soon as we catch up with orders.

[Spoils]

I seen some pictures and I would have loved to have got some costumes from you guys! Shane and it's they looked veryyyyyy good! Shane

Thank you Shane! It is not too late...

However, it looks like we will be at Transworld 2013 and will have more to offer in the selection of costumes.

[maliciousstudios]

Mhc

This was the first year vending for Malicious Studios.... I've gotta say "Wow!"

I could not be happier with the results we had from the show.... I was tired when I got there and I was BEAT when I left but I will say sales were awesome we left with what we had on the table and everything else SOLD!! With a few orders we are currently finishing up and a few stragglers coming in from the show I think it was very profitable.

I will definitely be back next year with more...

Thanks Again Everyone !

B.