The Changing World of MoCCA Fest

This past weekend, I attended the premiere event in the east for indie comics.  In case you haven’t made it to MoCCA Fest, it is a fundraiser for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.  The festival is also a great opportunity to truly hobnob with the indie creators of today.

Like last year, I attended as a volunteer, not only to get the perks of volunteerism, but to hang out with a amazing group of geeks.  I was assigned to the A/V team, which meant I was working all of the panels.  Unlike last year, I didn’t get to watch any panels this time around.  I did get plenty of time to wander the floor and meet some new people as well as catch up with some old friends.

Gary Panter accepting the Klein Award

In my opinion, the floor of MoCCA Fest had a much different feel than last year for a few reasons.  The individual creators were more likely to try and get your attention.  I felt that more and more people were stepping up to show me their creations.  This is exactly what the fans need, and I think it helped the energy in the room.  Another great addition was the presence of Boom! Studios and Archaia Entertainment.  These publishers represent a more mainstream presence at this event, but they didn’t take away from the indie feel.  As one Boom! representative told me, they’re trying to bring their more indie titles, not big names like Irredeemable.    Despite all of these great things, the floor still seemed fairly uncrowded.  I imagine that holding it the same weekend as Stumptown on the west coast hurt attendance.

No matter what, MoCCA Fest is still the premiere place to find new indie comics on the east coast and hob nob with all of these awesome creators.  With each table, I had the chance to meet the brains behind great comics, and every purchase I made went straight to the creator.  Especially in this economic climate, that makes me feel great.  I highly recommend that you add this to your con list next year.

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What Makes a Great Volunteer?

I recently shared a few ways to help my fellow geeks afford comic cons.  One of my moolah-saving suggestions was volunteering at events.  Personally, I have volunteered and managed volunteers at a lot of different events over the past few years.  In that time, I have worked with some really dedicated, caring people that believe in the event they are working.  If you want to volunteer, make sure that you are committing fully because the effort will be worth it. 

Despite my experience, I went to someone that works with geek volunteers for a living to tell you how to be the best con volunteer possible. I got to email the person with all of the answers, Kristin Heise, the Community Manager of ReedPOP.  She manages all of the volunteers for some of the biggest geek gatherings in the country, including New York Comic Con.

What are the driving factors for someone to volunteer?

I am sure the factor(s) vary by person, but below are a couple reasons I have heard more than once from a volunteer use as their primary motivation:

 ·To give back to the community they love. The positive energy at any well-run show is infectious, and we usually attract individuals who want to contribute and promote that sort of atmosphere at New York Comic Con. Ironically, by gathering a group of passionate individuals together to support a common goal, they in-turn create their OWN niche community of fellow crew and staff members—a welcome bonus to hard work!

· The volunteer program lets fans 'peek behind the curtain'. It's a great way for recent graduates and professionals alike to gain more experience while they observe key aspects of event planning and execution.

Do volunteers need to have any specials 
skills?

Besides impeccable hygiene and never-ending enthusiasm? Nope! (Author's note: Impeccable hygiene is also a must for every attendee.)

However, we do ask volunteer applicants to tell us about their skills and interests so we can assign them to an area in which they feel comfortable and excited to help.

What are the top characteristics you want in a volunteer?

The typical laundry list that makes any person awesome: proactive, resourceful, patient, friendly, understanding, engaging and, above all else, willing to help.

What are some of the things that volunteers never expect to do, good or bad?

ReedPOP staff members always balance working hard with having fun. Likewise, we encourage volunteers to not only enjoy the convention on down-time, but to OWN their role. In other words: Laggards need not apply!  (Author's note: I totally agree!  Nothing is worse than having to cover for another volunteer!)

How early should someone try to volunteer to make sure that they get in?

We released the application mid-May and will begin accepting volunteers on a rolling admissions basis beginning the end of June through September 16. However, we may fill up slots before September, so the best rule of thumb is to submit an application as early as possible.

A final note is the time WHEN one signs up matters less than WHAT they can bring to the table as a potential volunteer. We aim to recruit helpful, great people to run a fantastic event for our fans—if that sounds like you, give the program a shot!

If volunteering still sounds like a fun idea to you (it really is), then start applying now!

  
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My Time at MoCCA Fest!

I went to MoCCA Fest for the first time this year and I went as a volunteer. Volunteering is an awesome, fun way to support your show and your comic addiction all in one. I highly recommend it as a unique way to see the show. While you won’t have as much freedom than if you went as just a fan, there are a lot of benefits to volunteering. You meet and work with amazing people who are as passionate as you are about geek culture. You also get to see the show in a way fans never realize. The work that goes into these festivals and cons is insane and crazy and not always organized, but the passion is always there and it shows in every worker that is there. The show also provides you with great incentives. For volunteering I received a free pass to the show, meals, a t-shirt and a ton of free books at the end. If you are going to volunteer though, please honor your commitment. These organizations only succeed because of volunteer support and dropping out at the last minute is unfair to them and the other volunteers.

I was working on the programming team, which meant a few things. There was a lot of technical setup, some actual responsibility in making sure that the panels ran smoothly and the panelists were happy, and the opportunity to see a lot of awesome panels. I promise, I did work, but it was great to see panels I never would have gotten to see if I was on my own. Plus, I got to meet and hear some amazing people at the panels including Jerry Robinson, Jackson Publick, R. Sikoryak, Bill Plympton, Al Jaffee, Kate Beaton, Sarah Glidden, Lisa Hanawalt and Jeffrey Lewis. Even when I was standing outside of the panel guarding the door, I got to meet Greg Houston, an illustrator for NBM. While at the time he was just looking for caffeine, we chatted, and I have had the chance to look at some of his work and it is fantastic. I really hope to learn more about his upcoming projects soon.


The most entertaining panel I attended was The Cross Hatch Carousel. It was a live comic reading starring Kate Beaton, Lisa Hanawalt, Jackson Publick, Julie Klausner, Jeffrey Lewis and R. Sikoryak with my Programming boss Brian Heater moderating. For all of you thinking how can reading comics out loud be entertaining, you just have no idea. The excitement that they brought to the reading really made it fun. Also, the comics were just super funny. Because of this panel, I actually cornered R. Sikoryak (He told me to call him Bob! Squeee!!!) and made sure that he put me on his mailing list for the next reading. I will make sure to bring Wysefyre and Getsuyobi for all of the fun.


The most interesting panel I attended was the Batman, The Joker and Beyond: The Career of Jerry Robinson. I loved hearing all the side stories about his work. Two tidbits stuck in my mind. Mr. Robinson’s brother was a champion bridge player and his family played a lot of cards. When he was up one night working, the idea struck him for a new villain and he grabbed a deck of cards from them and The Joker was born. The second tidbit was in the creation of the sidekick for Batman. Despite popular belief, he didn’t name Robin after himself. When they were working on a name for this character, Mr. Robinson thought back to his favorite story, Robin Hood, and that’s where we got the Boy Wonder from. It was neat to learn about comic history from someone who was there living it.

Despite my busy panel working schedule, I did get a chance to walk around the show a bit. I got to meet a ton of interesting people. I actually hit up a lot of the same places that Wysefyre and Getsuyobi went. I swung by Jeph Jacques to pick up my own copy of Questionable Content after reading Getsuyobi’s copy. I also visited Pronto Comics and Lush Comics and had a blast talking with those two publishers. We really hope to bring you more from them soon. I stopped by the Evil Twin Comics table to say hi to Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak, who was sharing the table on Sunday. I got a copy of Greg Pak’s Vision Machine, which was a fantastic story. I encourage you to read it and I will be posting more about it soon. I got an awesome necklace from Amy Lynn Duengfelder’s table. She had some fantastic stuff and I am looking forward to really exploring her work. At Richard Codor’s table, I picked up a signed copy of the Joyous Haggadah, which is totally getting me in the Passover spirit. I also saw some great Star Trek, Star Wars and X-Men artwork at Justin Peterson’s table but at that point I was out of cash and totally kicking myself. His website is on my list to visit next payday! Same thing happened at Braden Lamb’s table, where I saw some terrific Star Wars art. Serves me right for being conservative at the ATM. One thing I did miss on the floor was the freebies and discounts that a lot of the volunteers were getting from the vendors. I was so focused on the tables I wanted to see that I missed out on some good deals but maybe next year!

I really enjoyed the feel of the show. It was a group of creators that really wanted to just hang with their fans. Yes, Wysefyre is right that there were creators that didn’t sell themselves correctly, but this is a nice change from a big con. I really didn’t miss the tables and tables of back issue sellers and was totally happy to be in a giant Artist Alley. Next year, you should join me as a volunteer if you can because it is a great experience for a great organization.

Let us know what you thought of MoCCA, did you love it, hate it....

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