Convention Fans

Holy April conventions, Batman! Seriously, there are so many lined up for the month of April. I may even start doing two convention profiles a day just to get caught up! Norwescon 32 is another early April convention (9 - 12th), and it takes place in Seatac, Washington, at The Doubletree hotel.

Norwescon is “one of the largest regional Science Fiction conventions in the United States,” according to its organizers. It has a focus on the literary side of science fiction, but also has programming for other sci-fi mediums and genres.

The current guest list for Norwescon is as follows: R.A. Salvatore (NYT best selling author), Todd Lockwood (an award winning artist), representatives from Wizards of the Coast, and Geno Salvatore (author).

There are numerous panels and events scheduled for the con, including a Masquerade, writers workshops, 24-hour gaming, an art show, The Fandance Film Festival, a Single Pattern Contest, along with much more still to be announced!

(more…)

Uh oh! This doesn’t sound good: Dragon*Con founder Ed Kramer is suing current director of Dragon*Con, Robert Patrick Henry, for “allegedly shortchanging him on stock proceeds.” According to the court documents filed by Kramer, Henry misspent funds in Vegas, and hired “unqualified” family members. Henry is also accused of hiding financial documents from  Kramer. And finally, Kramer is also accusing Henry of under reporting attendance figures to mislead the Fire Marshall. Kramer actually hired private investigators to case the 2008 con, where they counted 41,000 people. Whereas Dragon*Con’s estimate put that figure at more than 30,000.

Neither party has issued a comment to the press about the suit.

You can see the original news article here.

The only commentary I will add is that I have long heard rumors about the Fire Marshall situation being a problem. I am not saying that Henry, or anyone else, tried to dupe the Fire Marshall. Only that I know attendees have had issues with the Fire Marshall shutting down events, and otherwise causing some difficulties with evening programming and picture taking in the Hyatt.

I just hope this doesn’t impact the 2009 convention, or any future conventions, no matter what the outcome is (especially since Barry Bostwick is attending this year!).

It’s a teenager’s dream event: Harry Potter and Twilight together in one fandom convention! If you’re an Orlando HP or Twi fan, you have probably already heard about AccioCon. In fact, I’m willing to bet you’ve had your heart set on attending this convention for months now.

For those not in “the know,” AccioCon is an Orlando-based Harry Potter/Twilight convention, happening April 3 - 5, 2009 at the Holiday Inn International Drive Resort. The convention features guests from both fandoms, but the “big stars” are all from Twilight.

The following Twilight guests are currently scheduled to appear at AccioCon:  Kellan Lutz (Twilight), Ashley Greene (Twilight), and Edi Gathegi (Twilight). Musical guests include: The Whomping Willows, Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills, The Remus Lupins, Hawthorn & Holly, Witherwings, Fred Lives, House of Black, Marked as His Equal, and an appearance by Brian of Draco and the Malfoys. Other guests include Kevin Connolly (voice actor), Hannah Lees (cosplayer), and the creators of the “Wizardrockumentary”.

(Surprise surprise…Robert Pattinson isn’t on the guest list for this convention either. Sorry!)

(more…)

This is just a reminder that all nominations for the Convention Fans Hottest Girls & Guys of Cosplay Contest are due today! To read the rules and make a nomination, please see the original post.

Nominations will tonight at midnight Eastern time. The five male and female cosplayers with the most nominations will make it onto the final poll for public voting.

A poll will go up on Monday, March 2nd, and you’ll be allowed to place ONE vote for Hottest Male Cosplayer, and ONE vote for Hottest Female Cosplayer (tracked by IP address). Voting will run for one week.

So get those nominations in before the deadline!

A lot of my past interviews on this blog have been with cosplayers, and I have finally found a seasoned convention volunteer who has agreed to be interviewed! Nathan Lilly is one of the first contacts I have made in the Philadelphia convention scene, and I have asked him to share with you some of his comments about convention volunteerism.

The fact is, conventions would not exist without volunteers. They need them to help set up, man information booths, act as security, run programming events, take tickets, design promotional materials, check badges…the list is pretty much endless. The vast majority (if not all of the time), the only compensation these volunteers get is reduced or free entry into the convention. It’s a lot of hard work, but it can also be outrageously fun.  Anyway, on with the interview!

So Nathan, what was your very first convention experience like? How old were you, and what convention was it?

Nathan: My very first convention experience was at my University RPG group’s convention: RUCon. I was 18. It was a very small RPG convention. My first convention after that was many years later: GenCon 2000. I was 26 and it was awesome.

(more…)