CBR: Talking with Fan Expo Canada's Kevin Boyd

[CBR News]

The third largest convention in North America, Fan Expo is set to return to Toronto, Canada August 28-30. CBR spoke with Event Coordinator Kevin Boyd, who shared some more big league talent added to the guest list.


Full article here (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21397).

[johncage1000]

Nice line-up this year. I'm looking forward to the show (although I really, really, really wish they'd do something about the ticket lines since the last couple of years have had two to three hour wait times).

Have a good day.
John Cage

[Batman was taken]

Nice line-up this year. I'm looking forward to the show (although I really, really, really wish they'd do something about the ticket lines since the last couple of years have had two to three hour wait times).

Have a good day.
John Cage

If you show up on Friday after work or something, the lines are a LOT shorter, sometimes there are none.

Anyways, yeah, should be a good time this year.

[starvenger]

I don't really want to be negative, but that article seemed to be little more than an ad for the Fan Expo.

[KevinB]

Well, yeah, it was basically an FYI interview about Fan Expo Canada.

Is there anything else you would like to know?

Kevin Boyd

[KevinB]

Nice line-up this year. I'm looking forward to the show (although I really, really, really wish they'd do something about the ticket lines since the last couple of years have had two to three hour wait times).

Have a good day.
John Cage

Generally the line to purchase tickets on the event days is long. If you preorder your tickets in advance TicketMaster's pickup line is shorter and faster.

[ComicbookJeff]

Great show.
This will be my 8th year in a row attending.
Any upstate NYers looking for some serious bang for your comic dollar, need to be there.
I make the 3.5 hour drive from Syracuse and I'm never sorry.

Good stuff as always Kevin!

[gryhpon]

it was fun last year so ill probably go again.

[parsimony]

I hope DC ends up having a presence at Fan Expo like they did last year. Not really much of a Marvel reader at the moment.

[KevinB]

You will be happy then, because DC will have an even bigger presence at Fan Expo Canada in 2009 than they did in 2008!

We'll be making an announcement about that this week.

[KevinB]

Just to make this clear, I am one member of a team, and every member of the team works on this event in different ways, with the overall goal being the best show we can do for the fans in Toronto and who come to Toronto.

On the Comic Book Expo, International Guest Coordinator Tiziano De Santis works tirelessly on behalf of the Comic Book Expo and for Fan Expo in general and he deserves a lot of credit for booking the amazing International (non-Canadian) guests that we have this year.

[gryhpon]

You will be happy then, because DC will have an even bigger presence at Fan Expo Canada in 2009 than they did in 2008!

We'll be making an announcement about that this week.
that is awesome

[starvenger]

Well, yeah, it was basically an FYI interview about Fan Expo Canada.

Is there anything else you would like to know?

Kevin Boyd
To be honest, I was more hoping for something that would give us insight into why you've as long as you have and maybe what you guys have learned since you started all those years ago. 15 years for a large show (ok, it wasn't really large the first few years) is pretty impressive and there have to be some stories along the way that would've been interesting for readers.

Also, I'm not sure if the Gold/Silver/Bronze ticket system for featured guests is unique to Fan Expo. I'm not a huge fan of it - although I certainly understand why you have it - mostly because the pricing structure seems to put it out of reach of a lot of attendees. I'm curious about the feedback you get concerning the system and if it's something you would ever consider changing, especially given the current state of the economy.

[KevinB]

To be honest, I was more hoping for something that would give us insight into why you've as long as you have and maybe what you guys have learned since you started all those years ago. 15 years for a large show (ok, it wasn't really large the first few years) is pretty impressive and there have to be some stories along the way that would've been interesting for readers.

I agree, but in some sense that comes down to the questions I was asked.

While our experience running shows and other events before we came to the Expo does come into play here, it's tough for me and the other Comic Book Expo coordinator Tiziano to relay our personal experiences from the earlier days of the Expo, as we've only been with the show for the past few years - certainly we have our experiences as attendees from before that.

I do see a big difference in the Expo now than the Expo, say, in 2000... and that's that the organization has grown to have people from within the industries/communities hired to work on specific areas of the show, as opposed to one small team working on everything and relying on volunteers, which was a problem I also faced when I was running events elsewhere.

Tiz and I work on comics, and we work to make the Comic Expo as appealing and interesting to comics fans as we can... but meanwhile there are also teams concurrently working to make the Horror, Anime, Sci-Fi and Gaming Expos the best they can be for fans coming for those elements. I can't think of any specific stories, most of the experiences I can recall are incident specific, while we are mostly talking about generalities in the interview.

Also, I'm not sure if the Gold/Silver/Bronze ticket system for featured guests is unique to Fan Expo. I'm not a huge fan of it - although I certainly understand why you have it - mostly because the pricing structure seems to put it out of reach of a lot of attendees. I'm curious about the feedback you get concerning the system and if it's something you would ever consider changing, especially given the current state of the economy.

It's not something that I see happening on the Comic Expo side of the show very often, as featured comics pros are available to all attendees with any kind of pass every day -- there are no usual tiered pass level requirements to see comic pros --- there have been some exceptions (such as when a creator is only available for a signing during a limited window of time on a specific day, and in that case, preference was given to weekend pass holders). If there is an exception we work very hard to get that information across on the website.

Yes there are, on occasion, celebrity guests that require different levels of access -- for example when William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were guests three years ago, there were different packages that came with different options - such number of photos/autographs, access to a limited talk, etc. This is not unusual at other conventions across North America, as logistically it is often the only way to balance anticipated demand, celebrity appearance costs, amount of time we have access to the celebrity, crowd control and seating space available in the auditorium where the talks are held.

[starvenger]

I agree, but in some sense that comes down to the questions I was asked.
Agree with you there. I really felt it was a missed opportunity to get some insights into the business of organizing conventions - especially one I've been going to annually (save the last couple of years due to my daughter being born and all the fun associated with fatherhood).

Anyway, I appreciate you making yourself available in the forums to answer questions Kevin.

[KevinB]

Almost two dozen new guests announced today for the Comic Book Expo at Fan Expo Canada, including:

Featured Guests

CHRIS BACHALO
Artist, The Amazing Spider-Man, New Avengers, The Sinister Spider-Man

DAN DIDIO
Senior Vice-President - Executive Editor, DC Comics

GEORGES JEANTY
Artist, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

RICHARD ISANOVE
Artist, Stephen King's Dark Tower

MIKE CHOI
Artist, X-Force

Publishers/Studios:

DC COMICS

Also Appearing:

J. BONE
Artist, Super Friends, The Spirit

MICHAEL CHO
Artist, Owl Magazine, Age of the Sentry, X-Men: First Class

SCOTT HEPBURN
Artist, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures

KARL KERSCHL
Artist, Teen Titans: Year One

RAMÓN PÉREZ
Artist, NYX: No Way Home, The Resistance, War of Kings: The Warriors

CAMERON STEWART
Artist, Seaguy 2: The Slaves of Mickey Eye, Sin Titulo webcomic

CHRISTINA STRAIN
Colorist, Marvel Comics

and many more:
http://www.hobbystar.com/fanexpo/index.php?/comicbook/guests/category/featured_guests/#FEATURED%20GUESTS

[KevinB]

No worries. Dick Giordano, announced in the CBR article, is now unable to attend.