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Auckgeddon 2017 Event Review

Posted October 30, 2017

The single biggest public expo that Auckland has ever seen has now come and gone. This year’s Auckland event was the crown jewel in a spectacular year and overwhelmingly well received.

With the largest exhibitor displays present covering all four main halls and beyond, this year’s event featured some incredible technology and presentations including wonderful new additions from Logitech, Disney, Lenovo, Samsung, Hewlett Packard and more, adding to previous exhibitors PlayStation, Mighty Ape, EB Games, Fiveight, Total Interactive, Nintendo, Asus and beyond.

The event had some significant changes this year, with additional access ways open between Hall 3 and 2 releasing stress between the halls and the move of the event celebrity hall to Hall 6 in constant demand. Having Nintendo in Hall 2 and the Logitech E sports arena in Hall 1 also drove attendees throughout the event much more evenly, allowing for a smooth flow through the show.

Areas that did have some issues this year included the main entry on Saturday morning, which was in high demand from 9am onwards, with some traffic and congestion issues. The weather, while not bad, was grey all weekend, with Monday being a wetter day, this reduced activity outside somewhat, but was still good enough that attendees could eat and spend time outside without issue.

The addition of our biggest celebrity line-up had a considerable effect on the event, with the Logan Campbell Theatre in steady use, and full often (3,000 seat capacity) and the signing areas spread around the event with long steady lines. Some issues on length did arise, but these are expected when we have such popular guests. Cosplay (costuming) was very prominent around the event, with many new attendees cosplaying for the first time as well as others from across the country present. The event sold 59,533 physical tickets, with an approx. total audience of 70,000, one of our highest numbers ever. 71% of tickets were sold online, 29% at the event itself, showing a strong destination drive for the event. This high presale does give us a better idea of attendee location, with over a quarter of attendees travelling from outside of Auckland to attend the show 73% - Auckland city, 7.5% - Waikato, 3.5% - Northland, 3.3% - Bay Of Plenty, 3.2% - Wellington, 2.5% - Canterbury, with the remaining 7% from across NZ as well as 0.07% of attendees travelling from overseas (China, UK, America and prominently Australia).

Plans are already underway for the 2018 shows, which have some changes as the events will be held during three of the main holidays in 2018, starting with Wellington on March 30-April 1st (Easter), Tauranga May 26/27th, Christchurch June 2-4th (Queens Birthday) and Auckland October 19-22nd (Labour Weekend). The event exhibitor pack for the Wellington, Tauranga and Christchurch event will be sent out Tuesday Oct 31st with bookings now open. The 2018 Auckland event bookings are open for larger exhibitors now, with general company bookings open from early May.

Here’s a few images from the event, including a great 360 degree view from the upper PlayStation stand here - https://photos.app.goo.gl/cvud81QwR7iLDMWt1 

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