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Looking Back and Forward: A Chat with David Glanzer

Andrew Farago makes his debut as the new Fresh from the Festivals reviewer with five short films: Isabelle au bois dormant (Sleeping Betty) by Claude Cloutier, Jeu by Georges Schwizgebel, Madame Tutli-Putli directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, Me les pigeons vont au paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven) by Samuel Tourneux and The Pearce Sisters by Luis Cook.

Following the convention, I contacted David Glanzer, Comic-Con International's director of marketing and public relations, to get an inside look at this year's WonderCon, and to get a sense of what to expect from the convention in the future.

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Andrew Farago: Do you have the overall attendance figures for the convention yet? How does this year's attendance compare to previous years?

David Glanzer: We don't have figures yet. As you know, we are very meticulous in counting our attendance. We want to be sure any duplicates are omitted and that numbers accurately reflect the people who attended. I hope to have a number by early next week. Although I can say pre-registration was up this year and we had a longer line than usual for a Friday morning of attendees waiting to enter.

AF: Were there any problems this year with the convention floor reaching capacity, and people not being admitted to the floor on Saturday afternoon? This has been an issue in years past, and I've heard conflicting stories about it this year.

DG: Safety is always a primary concern for any of our shows. We are lucky to have so many years experience in not only meeting planning, but on planning specific to comic conventions, that we are very adept at both being able to move people around the building, and gauging potential conflicts in crowd control before they do become an issue.

So the quick answer is no, there were no problems in terms of the site reaching capacity. We noticed by late Friday a greater number of people coming through the door than in years previous. By noon on Saturday the exhibit hall floor was packed, as were the various meeting rooms, so we took the precautionary move of turning off online registration for Saturday. This was done to make certain that those who had already purchased tickets would have no trouble entering the facility. We were able to resume online registration after a couple of hours.

AF: Has CCI made arrangements with the Moscone Center to keep WonderCon in San Francisco in February on a long-term basis, or is the situation still being resolved year-by-year? How important is it to keep WonderCon as the first major comic convention of the year?

DG: It is extremely important to book days for a facility as far out as possible. This allows both exhibitors and attendees to plan accordingly.

While we would love to have, at the very least, a contract 12 months out, this isn't possible in this facility. While WonderCon has been in existence for 22 years, we have only been in San Francisco for the past seven. We are still considered a newcomer and, sadly, have to wait in line for space. That being said, the facility knows which months we prefer and we keep in constant contact regarding this.

It isn't so much an issue of import to have WonderCon the first show of the season, really. The most important thing is to produce the best show possible for both attendees and exhibitors.

AF: The exhibitors that I've spoken with agree that "Big Hollywood Saturday" was by far the busiest day at the convention for them, and some exhibitors either didn't set up on Friday or went home early on Sunday because of historically slower sales on those days. What is being done, programming-wise, to help Friday and Sunday compete with Saturday?

DG: Actually, we took an extremely non-scientific survey of exhibitors on Friday and were happy to learn that most saw increased sales. This makes sense, as we saw an increase in foot traffic through the doors on Friday. Saturday was big for a great many exhibitors as well, and I hear Sunday wasn't bad either.

I will say, however, that WonderCon is a three-day event. If someone were to purchase a ticket for just Friday, or just Sunday, they should expect to experience the same kind of exhibit floor that someone would on Saturday. It is the policy of WonderCon, and all of our shows actually, that everyone must set up on Friday and cannot break down their booth until Sunday. Those who do are in violation of the exhibitor contract they signed, and we regard that very seriously.

I should say that Saturdays are almost always going to be big days. It's just the nature of the beast. Friday is, typically, a work and school day. Saturday is typically the first day of the weekend, so more people attend. That isn't necessarily the case in San Diego however, where it seems a great many people take off work to be with us on Thursday and Friday.

As you know, we spend a great deal of time and effort in planning our shows. As an example, Friday this year had some pretty great comics programming, but we also added Hollywood programming as well.

I don't think one could characterize Saturday as being the big Hollywood day since Friday saw Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, Jack McBrayer, James McAvoy and Brendan Frasier.

And Sunday certainly had some Hollywood celebrities with the appearances of Jericho stars Lennie James, Brad Beyer, and Alicia Coppola, as well as Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, and Brian Austin Green promoting Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

I might also mention that while we did have a large programming room for the bigger panels we never really had to turn people away and the exhibit floor stayed very busy. This tells us that while there may be an element there to see Hollywood cast members, a great many of those people spend time on the exhibit floor or at other panels and programs.

We have spent many years making sure that each of our events is fun, educational and diverse enough to attract a wide array of attendees. It is in this way that we are best able to promote our mission statement which tasks us in "... creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular art forms." And it's a task we take on happily.

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