Southern-Fried Gaming Expo 2024
The deets
Where: Atlanta, GA
When: Mid July
Table Cost: $275
Attendance: estimated 10,000
The space
This was the first year we attended SFGE.
Booths at this event are very large. Alleys are separated by tall black backdrops which helps keep attendees from wandering behind tables.
We were originally in the outermost row, but had the opportunity to move to an an interior row right behind the big T-mobile tent which put us more in-line with the flow of traffic.
The market
There is no dedicated artist alley, so expect to be mixed in with folks selling things besides art. Lots of game resellers. We’re pretty sure we were 1 of 2 actual artist tables present.
The audience
The attendees of this con sways a bit older since it focuses on pinball and retro games, but there are some families and kids around since there’s a good number of activities they can do aside from vendors hall. Game or ttrpg fanart seems to do better at this event compared to anime fanart or original artwork.
The sales
We did not make back the table cost at this con.
For this 3-day con our total time investment was 24 hours of active vending, and 1.5 hours of combined set-up and break-down time (total of 25.5 hours).
Items that sold the best were fanart prints and stickers. Most people paid with card rather than cash.
The rest
This con is a bit weird in the hours. You can actually stay and vend so long as activities are going on, and the con staff are pretty transparent about wanting most vendors to stay for their peak hours. Typically things slow down around 8 pm though, so while you could stay later, I wouldn’t recommend it. VIPs get access to the hall half an hour early each day.
Load-in and load-out can be a bit challenging to navigate if you have a huge set-up as the loading dock will be crowded with big trucks carrying pinball machines and other oversized set-ups. If you can fit all your stuff in a pair of hand-pulled wagons, it’s not too hard to just haul your stuff from the parking deck, though the access to the parking deck is on a lower floor so you will have to navigate either the escalator or a trip on the single central elevator.
The TTRPG section is in a completely different wing, so the event feels pretty disjointed and spread out. This benefits thinning the crowd a bit and preventing congestion, but the map infographic is a bit hard to understand.
One of the things we like about this con is the other vendors. We’ve met folks we formed business relationships and friendships with, so as far as networking is concerned, it’s a great opportunity.
Pros
Table cost includes a 6’ table, 2 chairs, and 2 vendor badges
Huge booth space for additional tables
Attendees and event staff are friendly
Food vendors on site
Great con to network at
Promotional tables for indie developers are free (you are not allowed to sell anything at these tables)
Cons
Vendor hall is in the same huge space that the pinball machines are in, so there is a consistent level of noise
No separation between resellers and artists
Attendance is still pretty small for the size of the event, would love to see it get bigger
We’d like to point out that 2024 was an election year. From what we’ve experienced and what we’ve heard from folks with much more con experience than us, election years are always worse for profits in general. Our selection of products was also very limited, so take this review with a grain of salt.