Game on. The National Sports Collectors Convention opens in Cleveland.

Paying VIP members, dealers and their "staff" and those of us with journalistic duties were the first to walk the floor of the National Sports Collectors Convention Wednesday night.

With VIP admissions priced at over $100 (decent value though they may be), there was no significant wait to get inside the I-X Center in Cleveland. The annual show, which runs through Sunday, is back in the Midwest, much to the delight of dealers in that region and the acceptance of eastern dealers with significant inventory who couldn’t make last year’s gathering in Anaheim, CA.

Read a few first day impressions in the Editor’s Blog…and get a show preview from the local newspaper, The Cleveland Plain Dealer. For a quick lowdown on the convention’s autograph guests and more, click here.

Some major corporate exhibitors at the show rely on trade show experts to help them get the most bang for the thousands of bucks required to set up a booth. If you’re one of them –or are planning to be at some point–here are some points to ponder.

Can’t go to the show? Grab authentic autographs at ProSportsMemorabilia.com