**REPOSTED FROM DISCORD** – Alex
Hey everyone !! Some quick updates on our Exhibit Hall Applications – and some notes for the process next year that I wanted to share with everyone!
**ARTISTS** – the Artist Alley is now officially sold out; as stated in the packet, a fixed number (200 or so applications, a mix from both new and returning artists) will be transitioned to the “Wait List” status, and the other pending “Under Review” applications will be moved to the “Denied” status. THIS DENIED STATUS DOES NOT PREVENT YOU FROM APPLYING IN THE FUTURE. We had 1100+ Artists apply (JUST artists!) this year – the primary reason we don’t keep ALL of the artists on the wait list is because realistically it is very unlikely we will make it through even 100 cancellations/refunds/etc. and it is unfair to keep your hopes up/weekend booked when you could be targeting other shows/events!
**VENDORS** – there are a very small number of vendor booths remaining, and we continue to issue approvals, but we don’t want to over-approve and oversell the room, so it’s slow going on the last few (much as it was with artists). Once the room is sold out, we will then do the same wait list/denied shift as described above in the Artists announcement.
**NEXT YEAR** – here’s a little preview to some changes for next year! We know that as the landscape of Exhibit Halls and Conventions changes in the industry, we will always have tweaks and improvements we can make; we are already in the works to ensure the smoothest possible experience both on our end and for the exhibitors, and inevitably provide the best possible exhibit hall for the fans! We also want to ensure that the most artists and vendors possible can get into the room, and that we maintain a standard of quality and monitoring on everything in the room.
A couple of things I KNOW are coming for 2026:
– we are shifting policy next year to limit artists to 1 table each; any approved artist will only be able to purchase 1 table;
– we are no longer allowing table sharing starting in 2026 in Artist Alley unless artists apply together under a SINGLE application;
– continued refinement of the “returning vs new” application categories, and how we manage those independently vs together
There will surely be more coming, but we are always working to ensure the best experience for everyone involved – thanks for all the feedback we’ve received so far, and I hope to work with many of you in the future even if you weren’t able to make it into the Hall this year! As always – if you have questions, please reach out to exhibits@metroconventions.com via email, but it’s always helpful to us if you check the Exhibitor Packet on the website first, since a LOT of questions are answered in there!
*Edited to correct some spelling and a quantity mistype*
