Yup. I’m so glad to be in France with my AA homies and colleagues but this is true. It is so disconnected from the event and we can’t even hear or see anything from our tables. Having us on the second floor = removes ALL FOOT TRAFFIC. Why so? People will walk up there and see you if they know it’s there? People will not go up there unless they have intention to visit and buy from AA. You no longer have the impulse purchase of people passing by seeing your branding or table advertisements/marketing. All of our table signs and set up mean nothing if no one can see it. All the money we spent on our table set up as investment for visibility are completely useless now. If you don’t go upstairs you won’t see @reiq ‘s giant wall of posters or my 8 foot Space Maria banners. Literally the only reason to go upstairs is to participate in BYOC or see the AA. No bathroom, no smoking area, no coffee, no vendors, no publishers or any other kind of exclusive incentive. NOTHING. If you don’t need to meet anyone at the BYOC or intend to specifically see the AA, you don’t need to go upstairs. AT ALL. I fully invested in the EU market and printed unique print sizes only available to the EU audience and this is the first time I’ve actually felt scared that I won’t get a return on my investments.