Regular Bleeding Cool writer Alex Wilson reported from C2E2 with something I hadn't seen before…

I have to admit Reed Pop puts on amazing conventions. They provide adequate seating for fans to rest instead of maximizing booths; they offer press an extremely nice lounge to write, rest, and a place to put your coat. They even have computers set up in there for use. Over all Reed Pop treats their attendees with respect and do so with grace.

There was, however, one major problem I found with Reed Pop's C2E2. They charged for tables. What I mean by this is when someone purchased a small press booth they did not receive anything but the space.

No table, no chairs.

A few small press retailers were not aware tables and chairs were not included in the purchase of a booth. I know of at least two in particular, who both work 9-5 jobs to make a living to afford to come to these sorts of convention, both of which did not make anything close to their money back on their booths.

The image above is the receipt from one of the small press exhibitors. This was his bill for a 6 foot skirted table and an 8 foot skirted table for his corner booth. Also of note is the purchase of these tables for this three-day convention did not include chairs in any way. Chairs were extra.

The problem to me is not charging for these things (OK, the price and the fact tables don't come with chairs pisses me off a bit.) My biggest problem is these small press exhibitors, who work so hard every day to come to these shows, were not explicitly aware tables were not included. I'm completely confident emails were sent out explain these policies but my question where in the email this information was? Leading up to C2E2 I ended up getting an email every single day for about a month coming up to the convention from either C2E2 themselves or various exhibitors. I simply did not have time to sit down and read every single thing send to me, most simply received a light skim.

Both exhibitors I talked were not necessarily angry about the prices of the tables or the fact they had to buy them. They simply wished they knew what they were getting into from the start. If table prices had been included in the price of booth purchase then these exhibitors would have been much happier. The fact they were surprised is what upset and disappointed them the most.

Like I said above, C2E2 put on an amazing convention and treated attendees with respect. The situation above was a problem though, admittedly seemingly the only major one in my mind. I hope C2E2 and Reed Pop will work on this policy for future events.