HauntX Halloween Expo 2006

On Saturday I attended my first ever Halloween nerd expo, HauntX at the LAX Hilton. I have been a Halloween nerd for a very long time and have decorated for Halloween in some form just about every year for the past fifteen or so years. I have frequented Internet Halloween forums and such, but had ever attended an actual event like HauntX.

I ended up attending the expo on Saturday, but spent a solid eight hours perusing and chatting with vendors as well as attending three different seminars and a seance. All of the vendors on the floor had amazing products and were of course quiite willing to discuss their products and explain indepth why you NEED whatever they were selling. Everyone was very friendly though, especially the guys from ParallaxEFX, a microcontroller manufacturer. One of the ParalaxEFX guys also gave one of teh seminars, which I found extremely helpful and will definitely help me scare the crap out of the kids this year even better than in the past.

I also attended a seminar by Leonard Pickel, the editor of Haunted Atraction Magazine and a long-time professional haunt consultant. Leonard’s presentation was more geared toward the professional haunter trying to cut costs, but also addressed the new pro haunter trying to get into the business for a reasonable price. The information was quite helpful, and gave an aspiring pro haunter (myself) some hope that one day I may have my own pro haunt. We’ll see how that turns out…

The seance is a story for another blog, and it will show up sometime soon. My HauntX experience was definitely positive, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s expo. If you are even marginally interested in Halloween and haunting, I would highly recommend going next year.