Home2024 Meeting Sponsors

SPONSORSHIP FOR 2024 ANNUAL COMIC INDUSTRY MEETING

The 2024 Comic Industry Meeting will be held in Pittsburgh, PA on February 22-24, 2024.

Click here for the Sponsorship Package (2024 Meeting) that will explain all the options for sponsorship.

We will also have an online component - through the web software WHOVA - for those that can't attend the meeting.

Thursday, February 22nd focuses on any Vendor that wants longer speaking time slots. (eg. longer than 12 minutes). Thursday is also the day of our exhibit hall that features Showcase exhibitors.

Friday and Saturday (February 23 and February 24) are when most vendors have their speaking slots and when the roundtable discussions occur.

For more information, or if you have any questions, please e-mail marco@comicspro.org

SIX TYPES OF EXHIBITOR SPONSORSHIP

There are six types of Exhibitor Sponsorship Levels. Three of them are NON SPEAKING SPONSORSHIPS. (i.e. no speech in front of entire group). Three of them are SPEAKING SPONSORSHIPS. For more information, please download our ComicsPRO Sponsorship Package (2024 Meeting)

NON-SPEAKING SPONSORSHIPS
Here is the application for non-speaking sponsorships.

Virtual Sponsors: Exhibitors who can't make the meeting in person. These exhibitors create a virtual booth in our conference software - WHOVA. - $350

Showcase Sponsors: Exhibitors who attend the meeting in person and display on a six foot table in our Exhibit Hall. The Exhibit Hall will be open for 1.5 hours on Thursday Morning and 1.5 hours on Thursday Afternoon. Showcase sponsors can also have a FREE virtual exhibit booth. Showcase Sponsors attend the conference on Thursday. $650

Roundtable Sponsors. For those exhibitors who want to talk to retailers in a controlled "speed-dating" process. Exhibitors will sit at a round table. Every 9-10 minutes a new batch of 3-5 retailers will come to your table to talk. Through this process, you will be able to chat with practically ALL the retailers who attend the in-person meeting. Roundtables will be held on Friday and Saturday. Roundtable sponsors can also have FREE virtual exhibit booth. - $1500.

SPEAKING SPONSORSHIPS
Here is the application for speaking sponsorships.

Premier Sponsors: For those exhibitors who want to speak in front of the entire retail group. Speeches will be 8 min, 12 min, and 16 minutes long. Premier Sponsors participate in the Roundtables and also have a FREE virtual exhibit booth. Most Premier Sponsors will speak on Friday and Saturday. Some will speak on Thursday. (From $2500 to $3500).

Platinum Sponsors: For those exhibitors who want to speak in front of the entire retail group. Speech is 30 minutes long. Platinum Sponsors participate in the Roundtables and also have a FREE vritual exhibit booth. Premier Sponsors can place a banner at their speech and also get some banner adverting in the WHOVA app. Scheduled for Thursday. ($5500).

Prime Sponsor: For those exhibitors who want to speak in front of the entire retail group. There is one Prime Sponsor. Vendor speaks in front of the entire group for 90 minutes. Sponsor gets advertising in common areas of convention, in-app advertising, logo/name on bags. Designed for the vendor who wants to use the ComicsPRO meeting to make a BIG announcement! - $9,500

We also have other sponsorship opportunities (reception sponsorships, virtual sponsorships, etc). Please e-mail marco@comicspro.org for more information.

Please fill out either of the applications and email it back to marco@comicspro.org. We will email you back with a confirmation.

INTERACTIONS

>> PRESENTATIONS

LIve at the meeting. Vendors can also provide a recorded presentation that we can upload to WHOVA for those that can't make the meeting.

>> MEET-UPS

Education/Networking. Attendees can use WHOVA to schedule meet-ups for in-person or virtual connections. So if you want to schedule a meet-up to show off your recent software .... or to schedule a dinner .... or a discussion about manga .... you are able to do that in-person or virtually.

>> VIRTUAL EXHIBIT HALL

Each vendor can set up a virtual booth that will go live 1 week before the meeting starts. This is a good way to put up pdfs of projects, order sheets, info for both online and in-person participants.

>> EXHIBIT HALL

Showcase vendors join us on Thursday and set up at a six foot table. There will be two sessions (1.5 hours on Thursday Morning, 1.5 hours on Thursday afternoon) when the exhibit hall will be open to retailers.

>> ROUNDTABLES

Up to 36 roundtable sponsors. Roundtables will be held in-person this year. No virtual component.

>> ONLINE FORUMS

some official forums, others participant generated. This is a great way to see what's on the mind of retailers.

>> PANELS/WORKSHOPS

focusing on subjects of interest to comic retailers.

If you would like to participate in a lecture, panel, or workshop - please email marco@comicspro.org with any idea/proposals.

2 TYPES OF RETAILER REGISTRATION

ONLINE: ComicsPRO members and non-members can go to virtual exhibit hall and some of the lectures. Retailers DO NOT participate in roundtables.

INPERSON: ComicsPRO members and non-members are invited to attend the meeting in Pittsburgh. In-person retailers participate in the roundtables.

WHOVA

We are partnering with WHOVA to run most of our conference.

https://whova.com/

We plan to use WHOVA in the following way:

to post the schedule of the conference. (Both online and in-person)
to post attendee information.
As a messaging tool. Atttendees can contact each other.
To allow attendees to schedule meet-ups.
As a repository to hold pdfs, order sheets, etc.
As a way to create forums that attendees can use to discuss whatever is on their mind.

WHOVA will be up and running 1 to 2 weeks before the in-person conference starts. And it will stay up for 3 months after the conference ends.

EXPECTATIONS

>> Vendors interact with retailers who come to the meeting.

>> Vendors can also reach out to retailers who stay at home! (Through WHOVA our online conference software).

>> The event will stay up on WHOVA for 3 months after the conference, so attendees can go back to see what they missed!

>>. We will have a videographer attend the conference. He or she will work with vendors, retailers, and other attendees to disseminate videos taken at the conference.

Our Conference Hotel is the

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Suites Pittsburgh Downtown

One Bigelow Square

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219

+1 412-281-5800

Conference rate is $139.00 a night.
Here's the link to reserve the room at that rate.

COMICSPRO ADVISORY COMMITTE

ComicsPRO is creating an Advisory Board of Publishers, Distributors, and other Industry Professionals to work closely with ComicsPRO and to give advice on programs, future growth, creating working groups on industry concerns etc.

Cost is $1000 per year.

Last year, at the Annual Meeting, we sponsored a presentation on Metadata Problems in the Industry. That workshop spawned an Industry Metadata Working Group that will present a White Paper at this meeting introducing a new Metadata standard called COMET 1.0. Comet Standard Website.

We hope to work closely with the Advisory Committee to create more of these industry working groups to tackle industry concerns.

Benefits of Joining the Advisory Committee:

Have the ear of ComicsPRO. Suggest programming, growth strategies, etc.
10% discount on all ComicsPRO branded events including the Annual Meeting.
Quarterly meeting with President of the Board, Executive Director, and other board members.
Priority Scheduling at CPRO branded events.
FREE yearly scheduled meeting(s) with ComicsPRO members.
Logo/Name on ComicsPRO website and in press releases.
More benefits coming!

* Note: In 2024, ComicsPRO is going to be charging non-advisory Board vendors $200 per session to arrange meetings with ComicsPRO members.

If you'd like more information, please e-mail marco@comicspro.org.

MEET-UPS

You will be able to interact with retailers by starting and/or attending meet-ups.

Meet-ups can be in-person in Pittsburgh. (eg. We want to take a group to dinner! Who wants to join us?" .... or "We are thinking of hanging out at this place to talk about manga!).

Meet-ups can also be virtual. You link up a virtual room using Zoom or any other video conferencing software.

ONLINE FORUMS

You will be able to interact with retailers and other vendors/distributors by posting and responding to forum posts. Forum topics can be started by any participant. There may be forums such as: Graphic Novels for Children, Best Manga, Using Grading Services, etc.

Both in-person and stay-at-home attendees can participate.

VIRTUAL EXHIBIT BOOTH

Each Sponsor can set up a Virtual Exhibit Booth. We encourage every sponsor to create one for several reasons.

Some retailers won't be able to come to the meeting, and they would really like to have some information about your company.
The virtual exhibit hall will be open 1 week before the meeting and retailers who are planning to attend will be able to find out some information about you.
It's a good place to post pdfs of comics, order sheets, vendor information, your contact information, that retailers can get easily.
It's easy to set up! If you have digital assets. it will take 15 to 20 minutes to create.
The virtual booth will allow you to get more eyeballs on your company. The virtual exhibit hall will be up for 3 months after the meeting. You can choose to leave it up there for others to find.

Set up the exhibit booth once and leave it alone! Or keep changing the booth for retailers to come and see new things!

A - Alphabetical List of Exhibitors

B - Prerecorded Video that Exhibitor provides. Please keep these videos around 3 to 5 minutes. You can attach them to our video hosting platform or use Vimeo or Youtube to host.

C - Retailers can sign up for more info.

D Coupons, Special offers. We recommend that every vendor offer a special convention-only offer. We will be letting our retailers know that they have to come to your booth to find out about the special offer.

E - PDFs and Photos. If you would like retailers to read an upcoming comic .... .or would like to attach a catalog for them to download, here is the place to post that.

F- Chat Function . Text chats can be turned into video chats. Also you can link to a zoom discussion.