My First Tidewater Horror Convention Experience
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend my first horror convention as a staff member, and I am excited to share my experience!
Tidewater Horror Convention just had its 5th run in Virginia Beach, VA. It was held at the Holiday Inn hotel located on the border of Virginia Beach and Norfolk. This location is reminiscent of my early days attending my first anime convention, Neocon, in 2003, and the first 2 years of Ring of Fire Convention (ROFCON) in 2014 and 2015.
This type of genre is not my usual style - many of you have known me for attending anime and comic-based conventions in the past, so something like this is “new” to me. I have attended Blood at the Beach a long time ago, so this would be the second horror convention I have ever been to.
Hotel Layout
From the front door, you’ll see the front lobby where you are greeted with the registration booth for pre-registration and day passes for attendees. To the right of the entrance, there were a few tables for vendors, and continuing on takes you to the hotel’s bar and restaurant. The first hallway to the left of the elevators was where you had conference rooms for panels, movie viewings, and Photo Ops (my department!).
On the second floor above registration was where one of the panel “rooms” was located. The Cosplay Costume Contest - hosted by the Norfolk Haunted Temple - was held on Sunday of the convention. There was also a DJ that played music throughout the weekend.
Past the bar at the front foyer, there is a hallway leading to more conference rooms and hallways where vendors sold their wares. There was a variety of goods sold - from spooky-themed candles, handmade jewelry, makeup and horror-themed memorabilia, to horror and fantasy authors selling their books, content creator and podcast promotions. In the far hallway, there was Celebrity Row, where more vendors sold goods, and there were tables for featured celebrities to meet and greet convention attendees.
My first staffing experience as a photographer:
At first I intended to attend this convention as an attendee, but I saw an opportunity to work with the host photographer from a post on Instagram. I have previous experience working as staff for conventions in my area as event operations, and was excited to be accepted to work in a different department. Here, I worked alongside Jake of Jake Collier Productions and his partner Maddie in the Photo Ops department, helping them with sales and greeting attendees and celebrities. We offered green screen photo opportunities for individuals and groups with various backdrops to choose from, and had professional prints available to take home as souvenirs (digital copies were available as an add-on or a la carte).
In between celebrity photo ops, I was able to take pictures in the hall. It was especially fun to see the cosplayers in costume!
The Cosplay Costume Contest was held on Sunday afternoon as the convention was winding down. The contest was split to the Youth and Adult categories, with prizes for the first and second place winners for each category including a free photo op. There was also a bonus winner from the contest from one of the judges.
Observations:
It was nice to work with a small group of people in the Photo Ops department. I feel that the combined experience of doing photography professionally and working in conventions and special events have helped operations run smoothly all weekend. The convention staff have been very helpful as well, checking in on us to ensure that they can pitch in help whenever possible.
One thing that we noticed from the beginning of the convention was the initial location of our department. The room was located in one of the conference rooms, and despite the signs that led the way, many attendees that came trickling in said that they didn’t know that this was the room that they had us for the photo ops. It was almost like a hole-in-a-wall location that it was very easy for attendees to miss us. Moreover, the hallway and rooms had low ceilings that made mobility for those tall in height and in cosplay very limited. (For example, one cosplayer had a prop that was mounted on their back, and hit the low ceiling as they set up for the picture.) The biggest concern was that the room was located so far off from Celebrity Row that there were missed opportunities for photos to be taken for cosplayers and/or with the celebrities.
Thankfully, we (the department, staff, attendees and celebrities) were able to voice our concerns, and had our department moved in front of Celebrity Row for Sunday of the convention. It was a big success - we had more foot traffic and interest for having pictures taken. Beverley Mitchell and Frankie G (Saw II) were so gracious and kind to check in on us Saturday night and throughout Sunday too!
Final notes:
A friendly reminder: I have worked with many conventions and events in the past, and it is without surprise that all events are not going to be perfect. It’s the team effort of all involved that we can hope to improve for the next event in the future. Overall, I had great experiences working this weekend, and I look ahead with my head held high for what is to come.
And with that, I can now say that I can add to my credentials that I have worked my first convention as staff! After a spooktacular weekend, I would absolutely love to come back to help out this convention!
Acknowledgements:
I’d like to acknowledge a heartfelt thank you to Jake Collier Productions for having me on board as an assistant for the event! You can check out his work via his Instagram and website - he is located to Roanoke, VA so if you are from or around the area, I recommend working with him! Also, thank you Maddie for being super sweet and making the handmade flyers that were floating around the hotel venue. She was also wonderful to ensure that we were well taken cared of throughout the duration of the event.
Another thank you goes out to Nicole, whom I initiated contact for inquiring of being in staff for this event. Thank you and the rest of the staff for being so warm and welcoming in this event and community. Your hard work and dedication to this event is awe-inspiring and your passion to make this event a reality shines!
Thank you Tidewater Horror Convention for having me, and I look forward to the next event, which will be the weekend of September 11-13, 2026!
xoxo,
Jenni
RELATED LINKS:
Tidewater Horror Convention:
https://tidewaterhorrorconvention.com/
Norfolk Haunted Temple:
https://www.norfolkhauntedtemple.com/
Jake Collier Productions
