emobandito666.ttv · @emobandito666
9th Aug 2022 from TwitLonger
My experience with GScon.
Hello,for those of you who don’t know me, I'm Luna or Emobandito666. I’m an Autistic content creator and Charity streamer. This post is going to be me explaining about MY personal experience with GScon as a team and how I have had things go for myself. This is not hate to them at all, I am just talking about what has happened with myself since getting my GScon ticket. I have experiences on 2 different sides with GScon. I have experiences as myself being a content creator and I have experience as a business owner.
I heard a little about GScons first event last year through another streamer that I know and I had seen a little bit of their streams. There wasn’t too much about the con at this point.
March 21st I put a tweet out looking for my communities advice
emobandito666.ttv
@emobandito666
Mar 21
I want to try and improve my streams. Anyone have any ideas on how I could improve? Anything that doesn’t cost is great as I'm unable to spend money to go toward improvements. I just feel like my streams are bland and missing something but I don’t know how to improve!
That same day GScon came into my stream chat saying that they think my streams are completely fine and don’t need any improvement. Which I appreciated but I was trying to get a little advice as I did and do still feel like I need to improve a few things.
I told them I recognised them and watched their streams last year. I can’t remember what the exact response from them was but it was something to do with their discord.
I joined the discord seeing no harm in it. I got a DM from them saying
GSCON
—
21/03/2022
Hey there Thanks for joining the Discord , Great stream if you let us know if you are going to the event we will like to offer you a free upgrade to VIP so you will get all the benefits of VIP for the prize of GEN ticket , including personalised ticket and lanyard and you get to go to the ICE breaker party on the friday if you wish
^Printed just as they said.
I had mentioned a little interest in going but I was a little nervous as I’ve never been to a convention before.
That very same day I decided to buy a general ticket for the event and announced it to my twitter and my discord.
emobandito666.ttv
@emobandito666
Mar 21
WE'RE GOING TO GSCON! I have officially booked my tickets and hotel for GScon! I cannot wait! If anyone is interested in going I do have a 10% discount code for you to use: EMOBANDITO10 Let me know if you're going!
The code came from them after they sent this message to me
GSCON
21/03/2022
also we can offer you a sponsor program if you think you can benefit from it , if you think any of your community will want to come meet you
basically you can earn a little for every ticket sold with your code and gives your community a discount
Now, I know I definitely had 1 person use my code. This person is Merlin, my Fiance. After that, there was no mention of the ‘earn a little’ section of it. There’s no form of a portal or anywhere to track your code usage or anything. It’s just a plain 10% off code. So that was the first lie from GScon.
I’m not sure if they were unprepared for this or what not but I feel that they really need to look into this before continuing to offer this. I’m not the only person to have not gotten anything from my used code.
I asked GScon about seeing if Merlin could also get a VIP ticket as an upgrade if he got a ticket due to my autism and anxiety and me needing support. He agreed to do so if the Merlin purchased a general ticket before the last VIP ticket sold. Which we do believe he did but my message to GScon about the offer had been ignored by them so he didn’t get the upgrade. The scariest part was Friday night knowing that there's a VIP party and I had to go in there alone with a bunch of creators I don’t know and no one I’ve met in person.
The same day they started asking me about my Business (LunasMelts).
At this time I just made wax melts. They asked me a few questions about my wax melts
GSCON
—
21/03/2022
Can we ask you a question your wax melt kits do you make them yourself like the shapes and colors etc
To which I responded
ttv.emobandito666
—
21/03/2022
For my wax melts I have a supplier for me wax dyes and the moulds (they’d be really had to make) But I make every single on of my wax melts myself and I even make them on stream
They then said that maybe I could make some GScon ones using their brand colours. Which I was fine to do. I asked them about the shape and scent and they said Yellow Hearts scented as Lemon Sherbet.
We sorted that out and I gave them the price it would be for them to get the wax melts. They wanted 50 packs of wax melts which would’ve been £100 but I would’ve been more than happy to give 10% off and make it £90. These wax melts were supposed to be for the VIP goody bags that each VIP gets.
GSCON
—
21/03/2022
let me know a price for 50 we will look to order in a week or so
I said to them if they wanted to order through Etsy to let me know and I’d make a custom listing (etsy does all the tracking needed for me and makes it a little easier) to which he said
GSCON
—
21/03/2022
well we would pay you direct and get you to invoice us and yeah you can bring them to the event with you
Which is fair enough but Etsy makes things easier as I don’t know how to deal with all the personal payment side of this.
During this conversation he brought up the topic of event tables to me. They have tables at the event for businesses and orgs to buy and use the space for the weekend or just one of the days. At this point I said I was unsure about it as I wanted to talk to my Fiance about it. Having never done a table event before due to starting my business in covid I knew I would need some help if I did get a table.
I put thought into it for months and months, in the end I did buy a table but it was months after the first mention. Between the first mention and me getting the table he mentioned it to me a lot. Almost as if he were desperate for me to buy a table space.
I paid for a table for Saturday and I had expected to see a post about my attendance after seeing EVERY other business or organisation. Also a message from them on 24/03 a few days after the first mention of tables to me with no contact inbetween.
GSCON
—
24/03/2022
If you decide to have a table at GSCON we can promote it through our orgs attending platform etc on all our socials which will also get you some sales
I bought my table space for £49 on 14/05 and waited a few days to see if any post would be put out. Nothing had been posted so on my Business discord I sent him a message. (Please mind the different name I recently had a slight re-brand)
There was only 1 post that mentioned the roughness of my business. It didn’t even name me, it just states wax melts.
GSCON
@GSCON22
May 15
Brands So Far
@Ebuyer
@EveryoneCanUK
@Become1992
@Directions4Men
@ManchesterMind
@StreamseedGG
@streamlabs
@GoodGameCaf
@Playerammohq
@skinpixellive
@BirdandBlendTea
@three_fan
@PlayBeyondN
@heavy_waite
Slime and Wax melts What else do we have in store for you ??
When we questioned Matt, he gave the reason of “I looked to try and tag you but I could find you through your @” Which we replied “You could’ve at least named the business. To which he then said “Well, we are limited on characters we can use per tweet”
Which is a fact, yes, but what would he have done if he could tag me? It’d have taken 2 extra characters and that's all. So no matter what I’d have taken 2 more characters if the post actually stated my name. Which left me feeling like this was about post characters. There are definitely a few ways multiple characters in that post could’ve been substituted with easier wording.
Upon them being questioned in the comments as to what the Wax Melt business is they responded tagging my PERSONAL account. Not even then mentioning my business name.
GScon
Slime is on instagram , They dont have a twitter , but has advised us they are creating a Twitter - the wax melts is @emobandito666
we cant seem to tag her business page - Its all on the website too , the wax melts will be added to the site today in our website updates.
They also got asked about the slime company as she hadn’t been named on that post either but has since had multiple posts made about her.
LunasMeltsNMore — 05/17/2022
Hey Matt, I was wondering if there is going to be any for of promotions posted on the GScon socials about me attending GScon. I've seen that all the other attending business' have had posts but I haven't and it feels slightly unfair. I'd have thought with you being a small convention you'd understand being small within the business industry and how sometimes a little help is needed. It'd be nice for people to know that I am attending. Yes, I am aware it's only for the Saturday so not everyone can visit my stall but it'd be nice to see something posted out or even get named.
I thought this was a fair message considering he had mentioned to me that he would promote it and he hadn't.
I got a lengthy response from Matt about this
GSCON — 05/17/2022
Hi, I understand where you are coming from, and also why you might be disappointed in the promotion you've received from a public stance. It's simply not feasible to dilute our channels and discord for every individual business. Please keep in mind that to personally support you, we are ordering 50 units to give away as a promotional gesture to you, which is sizable, comparative to other events that would expect you to self-promote, in addition to buying the space. Whilst I wish that we could promote and market every business in a capacity that everyone would deem fair, it's just simply not possible. We've done what we can to promote up until now, but that's not all! We will have a promotional pack release nearer the time which will mention all businesses and the dates they are attending - so you can expect more coverage, also within reasonable parameters to highlight your attendance on what dates. We'd just encourage you, as a business, to continue to promote your own brand and attendance at the event. You have rented space at our event and from a purely business standpoint, the onus is on you to self-promote. Don't be disheartened with that level of honesty, however. With larger entities coming on board, now is the best and most exciting time to get involved. We'd just ask for some professional courtesy where we re-align the expectation that it isn't our responsibility to promote you, beyond the acknowledgement and adequate referencing that you will have a table, which will be covered off fully in the upcoming promotional pack prior to the event. Our GSCON/business discord, we'd encourage you getting to know the people coming, not just posting a link - as we would have to limit people to self-promotion in the appropriate channels. The community is incredibly supportive and also incredibly influential; we have people buying into the message of GSCON, and we hope to see your continued support despite the above re-alignment. We can't wait to see you, and I'm sure the VIPs are going to love the melts we've included in their gift packs already. Best regards, GSCON
They also added links that I’m on their exhibits slide show and brands list on the website (No point in the links anymore as I’m not on there)
I took some time to respond to them as I wanted to word it right and professionally
LunasMeltsNMore — 05/18/2022
Thanks you for the feedback, We still feel that promoting us could of been handle better and more fair, we understand that we only have table for one day and we are "Much smaller than the others", The information under our logo on the brands list is incorrect "Personalise / custom made wax melts " It would be more fitting to have " Homemade, vegan friendly wax melts" We would also require the order for the VIP Wax melts, This is due to the time it will take to make them all, along side stocking for the stall and normal sells. The deadline for this would be the end of the month "31/05/22". Please confirm that you still require the amount you quoted, also confirm the scent, shape and colour required. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Any information require about ordering the VIP Melts please don't hesitate and contact us Many thanks Lunasmelts
We found this to be a fair message and a fair amount of time for them to place the order (Not needing to pay completely upfront we would’ve accepted a deposit if asked about). Considering he first asked about wax melts on 21/03, nearly 2 whole months prior to this message.
We got a response of
GSCON — 05/18/2022
You didnt send us a bio , We will cancel the order , we did mention to you at the time of discussion it would be end of June we would place the order as we have other things to focus on before we buy wax melts im afraid. We have other committements. We did promote you , there is still 80 days until the event , there will be more posts going out aswell as videos over the course of 80 days. Im not sure what else we can do.
Also bare in mind , the other brands we announced have been in preperation for weeks/months wasnt just a all of a sudden announcement , you only bought your table couple of days ago , Our promise to you is a Table to sell your products at GSCON we will do promos with the run up to the event as mentioned in our previous message but we wont market other brands,traders,orgs - Its their job to promote their own products & services
Now, In my defence I messaged them on my main account asking if they needed any information for a bio
ttv.emobandito666
—
15/05/2022
Hey, do you need me to send you and info over to do with Lunas Melts?
Which got ignores but my next message got a response from the same day do they clearly saw it
ttv.emobandito666
—
15/05/2022
May I ask, what is the table size do you know?
GSCON
—
15/05/2022
06 meter x 1.2m
So it was mentioned to him. Just on my personal account.
LunasMeltsNMore — 05/18/2022
We had actually messaged you asking if you wanted any information about Luna's Melts and you hadn't responded but we know you'd seen is as the message not long after that one had been responded to. In regards to the order. You did not at any point state it would be at the end of June, as the screenshot below will show you, back in March you said you would order them in about a week or so. You had never informed me about any form of date change towards the order or even a delay to you placing it.
(Here I attached screenshots that included the messages you’ve just read)
GSCON — 05/18/2022
we must of not seen the first message , as you can appreciate we get loads of messages a day from all people and orgs -
GSCON — 05/18/2022
we will look to order , was not a guaranteed placement , it was to help you as a small business / starter business - We did want to order things for our VIPs from all of our orgs , brands , traders - We are working round the clock but we have our own deadlines and 31 may is too much short notice to demand order completion , there is still 3 months until the event. sure 5 weeks notice would of be sufficiant
These were the 2 replies that we had got. First one, eh fair enough but the fact you responded to one and not the other when you’d have seen more than one notification on the tab…it’s…questionable.
In terms of the order side. We replied to them
LunasMeltsNMore — 05/18/2022
I think till the end of this month was quite a fair offer if you consider the amount of time it would take for us to make said wax melts. Your order would've required 200 total wax melts with extras just in case. So it was a 200 wax melts minimum. Those wax melts would take me 2 days to be able to make. Now I still have all my normally wax melts to make and gosh knows how many for the con its self. I won't be able to make wax melts every single day, nor every week. Like next week I have a minor op going on so I will require a week to rest. In a few weeks, it's my birthday and I won't be home to make wax melts. So I have reasons as to why I am not able to make wax melts 24/7. As a solo person business it's not easy as I cant just ask for help, I don't have anyone around to help me. I'd have thought someone like you being a solo person owned Convention would understand the struggle or running something as a one man team. I want to get all the wax melts sorted for at least a week before GScon so I can get some form of rest before the event. I understand that you said we will look to order but that implys that you are interested and are going to place an order. If you'd have phrased it saying 'We will look to order but we aren't completely sure on that just yet' I'd be a little more understanding of this. You've had just about 2 months to talk to me about the commission of wax melts and haven't said anything further since that. Hence the push with a deadline for the order.
And a short response to the message about all the DM’s
LunasMeltsNMore — 05/18/2022
I understand you get many a message a day but if you saw the second one how did you not see the 1st? Discord tells you how many notifs you have from one person.
At this point there was a 2 day gap in between and message. The next message to us from them was a message asking to schedule a call with us. I responded saying I was available that day but wanted to wait a few hours for Merlin as he's the background man in the business so as a member of it I thought it’d be best we were both present for that.
The call was disheartening to me, hurt me and left me in tears. The call lasted about an hour and we discussed 3 things all from Matt himself.
1. My financial stability and ability to attend the convention and afford the table.
2. The order they asked about (wax melts)
3. “Self promotion” in peoples streams.
Now, let's break these down and talk about these points individually.
1. My financial stability and ability to attend the convention and afford the table.
So, I’m a very open person on my channel about finances as a content creator. Now bare in mind Personal money and Business money are kept completely separate as they should be. But yeah, as I mentioned I’m open about financial issues. Not to try and get people to give me money or make people feel bad for me, but to make people know that it’s okay to have money struggles. It’s okay to talk about it and you shouldn't feel ashamed that you struggle financially. Many people do and it’s completely fine to talk about.
In this section of the call he said “Numerous people have contacted me worried about your financial status and that you’re spending money you don’t have”. Now, as much as I appreciate the concern, that's not their business. They don’t seem to think the funds are separate. Which I informed Matt about.
He then went on questioning my ability to make enough for the day. He said something along the lines of (this isn’t word for word as we lost the recording of the call. The recording was permitted from both parties)
‘We fear you won’t be able to provide enough stock to last the whole day, that you will sell out too quickly and waste the day’
That’s a big judgement for someone to make considering I already have a lot of stock made up for my Etsy store and I was more than willing to sit and make many more for the event.
I felt a little insulted by this comment as coming from a small convection owner you should be trying to support any business (regardless of size) who shows interest or buys a spot at your event.
After the whole conversation on this topic and how things had been worded I ended up left upset and disheartened. Matt offered to refund me the table on the side that he was worried about my finances and the fear I wouldn’t be able to take enough stock. Merlin and myself decided in a mutual agreement that we would accept the refund and cancel the table as we no longer felt welcome at the event as a business. This being due to the fact that after his first mention of refunding the table he kept mentioning it throughout the whole of the call and it seemed as though he wanted to have it for someone else. He had also stated in the call that he had other people (Businesses/Organisations) messaging him and looking into getting a table. So we felt like we weren’t wanted and it felt a little like we were being pushed out.
In this section he also pointed out how in my streams I talk about not being able to afford stuff for my lunches and stuff like that. We all know it gets tough at the end of the month when payday is around the corner. That’s when I struggle. I do still eat and I have a place to stay as I live with my parents so there’s always food in the house. I don’t commonly eat lunch but when I do I don’t like taking the stuff my brother has for his school lunches as that’s not fair to him.
2. The order they asked about (wax melts)
He brought the order up in the call after re-reading the messages and stated “When you messaged me yesterday you said we wanted 200 wax melts. We don’t want 200 we wanted 50”
Now lets backtrack a little bit where he messaged me about this ‘order’
GSCON
—
21/03/2022
Sherbet Lemon be good - how much are they per pack
ttv.emobandito666
—
21/03/2022
A pack of 4 wax melts is usually £2 but depending on how many you are wanting I could offer you a discount.
GSCON
—
21/03/2022
let me know a price for 50 we will look to order in a week or so
Now, here I state the price for a pack as he asked how much per pack. 1 single pack includes 4 individual wax melts.
Let's do the simple maths of 4 x 50. We get 200. So I would need to make a minimum of 200 wax melts.
I would have made more than 200 in case any messed up and so I could sell some of them at the event too.
He mentioned again about the ‘unfair’ time that we have given him to settle the order down but we don’t feel he took into consideration how long it actually takes to make wax melts.
Let's do a brief run down of the time.
I make wax melts in small batches as I am still a very small business and I don’t have any fancy equipment. I have a heart mould that has 15 holes to pour into. I usually make enough in one jug to pour roughly 23 wax melts at a time. Now the time this takes can vary depending on how hot my wax is and the length of time it takes to cool, or if I'm waiting for more wax to melt. Usually a batch takes me around 30-45 minutes.
So simplifying this down we have 200 ÷ 20 = 10. So roughly 10 different batches would’ve needed to be done. The making time of these doesn’t include the time it takes to pack and label all the wax melt packets.
Just the making alone would take 20 x 30 = 600 converted into hours is 10 hours.
Making wax melts for 10 hours in one day isn’t very easy. Plus on the side of this I'd have needed to make stock for my Etsy AND stuff to take to GScon with me.
Packing isn’t something that I really watch the time on but I do know that it can take a while.
Now, while I know I would’ve had time to complete this order even if they placed it after the given deadline anything could’ve happened that could cause a delay and a let down. For this order I needed to get a new scent in and new CLPs (Allergen/safety labels) which don’t always have reliable delivery. Plus between stated dates I have had a few trips and I have a lot of medical stuff going on (that I wasn’t expecting and didn’t know of at the time)
So in my defence I was simply giving myself safety time to ensure the order could have been fulfilled to the best of my ability with no hiccups or last minute worries. I didn’t want to be making wax melts all the way up until the day before the event, life can be unpredictable and having time to make the wax melts would’ve been my best option.
I also realise now, while looking back on this, that the price I have quoted him was significantly lower than it should be. At that time I did charge £2 a pack. Thinking on this now £100 for the 50 packs equates to £10 an hour with 10 hours crafting time. The packing time would’ve taken around 2 hours for all 50 packs making that then £8.33 an hour.
For the materials and everything else it would’ve cost me around £57. That price includes materials, packaging, CLPs and electricity.
With me offering him a 10% discount the order would’ve only cost £90 meaning I’d get £33 in profit. Which if we take that for the price of the table I’d have -£16 so in order to make profit if this order did go ahead and I did have my table i’d have had to make at least £17 to be anywhat in a profit. So looking over all of this, I wouldn't have had anything that I can take away from this.
Anyway, back on course. After the mass overview of this order it really doesn’t seem like it would’ve been worth it in the end. Yes a bunch of people would’ve had wax melts from me. Yes, they’d have a business card too. No, that doesn’t guarantee me a single customer. So in the end it feels like it would’ve been at loss but it’s still a point from myself and one of my experiences with them.
Whilst on this topic of the call the word reminder came up. Matt had said that we could have messaged him earlier asking to see if he still wanted the wax melts and to have kept up to date with him on that. To which I responded with my reason as to why I don’t order chase people.
This reason being I have had so many people in the last 2 and a half years running this business tell me that they’re going to order. Whether they state a date or a time period I don’t ever fully believe them. People show interest in things all the time and say that they will order something but then they don’t. Whether it’s that they simply forgot, or that they never actually meant it we shall never know. But I don’t feel like it’s my job to go round chasing after people who have shown interest in my store. I feel like that's money chasing and as if I'd be trying to force my products onto someone.
Put this idea of this in terms of you having commented on someone's post about liking their content and you wanting to check out one of their streams. You end up getting busy as life always does and then you end up with a DM. It’s the author of the post you had commented on. The message consists of their twitch link and a little bit of text saying “Hey, you said you were interested in my content. I’m live now and haven’t seen you in my streams yet. So come on and say hello”
Would you really want someone doing that? I know I wouldn’t and that is one thing that would make me block someone and that’s not what I want as a small business. My intent is to grow, not get blocked for forcing myself on others.
3. “Self promotion” in peoples streams.
Now this section of the self promotion is aimed purely at the business side. As a content creator I would never self promote in anyone's chat about my stream UNLESS they ask me about a stream I have had or if I am a streamer too.
Whilst in the call Matt mentioned that he has had a FEW not one but a FEW people talk to him about me self promoting in other people's streams. I asked him if he had any proof of this to which he responded with one SINGLE screenshot. Not a few, just one. Now if he’d have had a FEW people tell him, wouldn’t you expect a FEW photos for evidence?
I will not include the photo in this post as I don’t want to expose the streamers chat it came from although they have nothing at all to do with this. But I will quote what I said.
Little backstory on it, I was watching the GScon stream when they raided out into a different channel.
The streamer asked me after seeing me in the GScon raid if I had a table for my business at GScon. My messaged word for word after that (mind the typos I will add a bracket next to them correcting them)
“I’m excited for yhe (the) stands!”
“I do have a stand yes!!”
“Luna’s melts is going to GScon yeah!! We’re doing a stall for the Saturday with out (our) wax melts”
You can clearly see by my responses that I have been asked about my stall and I’m not just self promoting out of nowhere.
I’d like to add that in the screenshot the word GScon is in it 2 times. Both times the word is highlighted (the bttv feature). So this leads me to think that it’s either from Matt himself OR from one of his mods as I don’t really think anyone else would have a watch for the word GScon.
I had noticed at one point in the GScon discord server that Matt uploaded a screenshot of him being timed out in an attendees stream (it seemed to be a little server joke people had) and in that screenshot the word GScon was highlighted.
Not saying that confirms it was him but it makes it a little more suspicious on his side.
So on this tab what I’m getting at is that Matt was trying to accuse me of self promoting without permission.
So understandably, by the end of this call I felt very upset and ended up crying. I personally tweeted about the finances side of things
emobandito666.ttv
@emobandito666
I didn't think I'd ever make a tweet like this but here I am. I just want to apologise to everyone who watches my streams who may have ever been made to feel uncomfortable around money talks. I know I talk about money and money struggles on stream, sorry if that hurt you. 1/6
I, however, shall not stop talking about my money issues on stream. I want people to know that despite being a streamer I too still have money issues. Not all streamers are rich and can afford the world, in fact most can't. I choose to be open about it. 2/6
I would also like to apologise on the matter of talking about my business in people's chats. I don't try to talk about it unless asked or prompted to by the streamer before hand. If I have ever spoken about my business in your chat without permission then I deeply apologise. 3/6
I would also like to note, money for my business is separate from my personal money and that is my job to worry about so please, don't worry on that. I have plenty of stock ready to sell, which is why we're at a stalled moment with it but think of how life is right now. 4/6
We are finally getting back to normal life after 2 years of being inside. People are back at work, going on holidays and visiting family. The price of living went up so I am completely fine with the business being quiet. We just need to understand that's what is happening. 5/6
So just to wrap this up. I am sorry. <3 If you don't feel comfortable around the financial talks please step out of the stream briefly or mute them and come back in a few minutes after. 6/6
Followed by this one the day after
emobandito666.ttv
@emobandito666
·
May 21
As a follow up from yesterdays tweet, I shall no longer have any tip goals on my overlays for the foreseeable future. You guys already understand i’m struggling and I don’t want to ram it down your throats or cause worry for you all. It’s the last thing I want to do. 1/2
I shall do my best to cause less worry for you all and don’t want people feeling worried enough to contact other people about me. If you are worried about me PLEASE reach out to ME! I’m ok to answer questions, I’m not going to be mad at you messaging me worried. 2/2
So as you can see, his comments on my finances made me feel very low and really bad. I really didn’t expect a comment like that from anyone, especially not from Matt. Someone who knows the money struggles as he had told a few of us that he had to go back to a job that he hates to be able to afford this. So he was short on money himself but still said what he did, making me feel really bad for being open.
CONCERNS.
There was one occasion I remember where multiple confirmed attendees (at this point) ended up being worried. Matt had a little joke going at one point that he ended up having to stop. He kept telling people that he wasn’t going to be at the event on Saturday night. Which of course brought much concern with it. Why wasn’t he going to be at his own event? Who would be running it?
It turns out he was planning to attend wearing an Iron Man cosplay and then reveal himself. He revealed this in a community call.
In the same call he talked about the event and the venue.This call took place 31/03/2022 in the GScon discord server. Matt admitted to us all that he was currently being pushed to pay for the venue as it hadn’t yet been paid. He’d paid 4k toward the 10k. At this point it was 4 months until the event. This worried a fair few of us that had already gotten tickets for the convention.
Now admittingly Matt does do this all by himself so I have to give it to him but cutting it very close to a deadline time caused a fair amount of worry. A convention is something that preferably needs a few people as a team to run it and they can then all help split the venue cost. With the event also being non-profit I can’t see how this benefits Matt at all. He spends all his time working on GScon and makes no profit out of it. 10k is a lot for the venue, then there’s the website, giveaways and more!
Like I said at the start, in no way is this a hate post, It’s me talking about my experience and I really feel Matt needs a team around him. Next year he’s wanting to do 2 events. GScon UK and GScon USA, That’s going to cost a lot! He also included in the partner programme that one GS partner will be selected to be sent over to the US con. So that’s more money to come out of his own pocket.
Upon watching the live streams for the event I noticed that the Virtual pass they had sold to people was basically the same as watching the live stream. No monitoring over it from staff and no walks/talks or anything interaction wise with virtual passes.
One last thing, the lack of social posts around the time. No one knows anything about the cosplay contest. No one knows anything about the winners of any awards what-so-ever. As someone who was supposed to attend the event but couldn't due to personal reasons, I feel a little left out by not having an ability to have any knowledge on any of this. Not even a stream of this stuff either.
I don’t have anything else that I'd like to add to this post. But this is my experience as both a content creator and a business owner. I hope this opens up room for improvement whether it be personal or conventional improvements.