Yaaay!!!
Kawakon came and went.
If you missed it, you're missing some epic stories, my friends.
Here it is in brief, bullet-point form.
The Good:
My Fantastic Team. OMG youguysROCK!!!
The Hyatt downtown is a fantastic and gorgeous hotel. The staff were awesome and the rooms were better than some places I've lived.
The programming was (as they say) OFF THE CHAIN. Seriously, those of you who have commented that there's nothing for you at one of these events is dead or simply phobic of people under the age of 20. Nearly all "fandoms" were represented, and as far as I could tell each track was filled with interesting and lively programming.
My own programming was absolutely fabulous. I had great guests in an intimate setting. The projector was never necessary, even for the detailed demonstrations.
At around a thousand people, it was an excellent size for the space. Since I'm not into those sardine-can conventions where you can easily lose your friends in a crowd, this was a good number. We could actually triple that and still have plenty of space, though.
Most of the tracks had their own spaces, so you could just poke your head into the various rooms and have some reasonable expectations of what to see.
The PJ party *HAD S'MORES!!!*
Project Cosplay had *Free Fabric!!!*
The Adults Only programming was silly and fun, and I did one interactive thing there that was hilarious and delightful.
Two Words: Box Fort. Also Solid Snake.
The Bad:
Numbers were down, which is to be expected when you change date *and* hotel, two years in a row.
Parking kind of sucked, because it was downtown. (But at $3-8 per day, not too shabby if you used the Mansion House lot.)
So... tired... so.... sore... I hauled a lot of stuff a lot of the time. Even with a team to help, I'm beat.
I did have to take a cardboard tube away from a young person and admonish them saying, "No hitting!"
The Ugly:
Dear Dionysus, Please explain to your worshippers that sacred madness and intoxication is NOT an excuse to be an asshole to everyone constantly, particularly those NOT participating in your festival. Love, Kukla.
Mardi Gras was this weekend. We were hit hard by the Bacchanalia, and I mean the kind that Orpheus got the bad end of.
This was the first time in my experience that the mundanes freaked the con-goers. There were actually fans who were afraid to use the elevators or the stairs for fear of encountering the Mardi Gras party crowds. Their fear was founded, because THOSE people were rude, belligerent, and aggressive.
So other than the parking issues and the horror of being on the riverfront for the Saturday before Mardi Gras, it was a FANTASTIC con!
If you missed it, you're missing some epic stories, my friends.
Here it is in brief, bullet-point form.
The Good:
My Fantastic Team. OMG youguysROCK!!!
The Hyatt downtown is a fantastic and gorgeous hotel. The staff were awesome and the rooms were better than some places I've lived.
The programming was (as they say) OFF THE CHAIN. Seriously, those of you who have commented that there's nothing for you at one of these events is dead or simply phobic of people under the age of 20. Nearly all "fandoms" were represented, and as far as I could tell each track was filled with interesting and lively programming.
My own programming was absolutely fabulous. I had great guests in an intimate setting. The projector was never necessary, even for the detailed demonstrations.
At around a thousand people, it was an excellent size for the space. Since I'm not into those sardine-can conventions where you can easily lose your friends in a crowd, this was a good number. We could actually triple that and still have plenty of space, though.
Most of the tracks had their own spaces, so you could just poke your head into the various rooms and have some reasonable expectations of what to see.
The PJ party *HAD S'MORES!!!*
Project Cosplay had *Free Fabric!!!*
The Adults Only programming was silly and fun, and I did one interactive thing there that was hilarious and delightful.
Two Words: Box Fort. Also Solid Snake.
The Bad:
Numbers were down, which is to be expected when you change date *and* hotel, two years in a row.
Parking kind of sucked, because it was downtown. (But at $3-8 per day, not too shabby if you used the Mansion House lot.)
So... tired... so.... sore... I hauled a lot of stuff a lot of the time. Even with a team to help, I'm beat.
I did have to take a cardboard tube away from a young person and admonish them saying, "No hitting!"
The Ugly:
Dear Dionysus, Please explain to your worshippers that sacred madness and intoxication is NOT an excuse to be an asshole to everyone constantly, particularly those NOT participating in your festival. Love, Kukla.
Mardi Gras was this weekend. We were hit hard by the Bacchanalia, and I mean the kind that Orpheus got the bad end of.
This was the first time in my experience that the mundanes freaked the con-goers. There were actually fans who were afraid to use the elevators or the stairs for fear of encountering the Mardi Gras party crowds. Their fear was founded, because THOSE people were rude, belligerent, and aggressive.
So other than the parking issues and the horror of being on the riverfront for the Saturday before Mardi Gras, it was a FANTASTIC con!