Posted By Kathleen David on September 13, 2010
Yeah, after this I am putting DragonCon to bed for this year. Hard to believe that a week ago I was down in Atlanta having breakfast with Paul Dini and his lovely wife Misty Lee.
The Art Show
I honestly think that John and Anne Parise don’t get enough credit for what they do. And how much of their time they give each year in doing it. Nor does their staff get the kudos that they seriously deserve. The Art Show at DragonCon is a well-oiled machine that manages to get that many artists and pieces of great artwork in and out of that ballroom with peak efficiency including the sales from the print show to the patrons who bid and buy the artwork. This year, due to time constraints, I had to remove my art a little earlier than usual due to this year’s school calendar which started early for us. They had someone there who helped me close out my paperwork and I got out of there in great time.
Now if you have seen the DragonCon Art Show, you know how massive a beast it is. They make sure that they have people circulating the entire time the show is open and people in there during the night. They have people at the entrance and exits checking bags and sealing up cameras. This takes some pretty good people skills and the people they had were firm but polite all the way down the line.
So I am grateful to the Staff of the Art Show for all their hard work. It makes it one of the finest art shows in the world to be a part of.
The Costuming Track
Lee Cox took over this year and deserves many kudos for making a good track better. I did the Friday Night Workmanship contest which was fun and hard all at the same time. I did one panel this year and hope to do more next year (hint hint). Lee and his staff did yeoman’s work on making sure that they covered as many topics as there was interest. Some were hands on and others were demos or discussions but I think they had something for every type of costumer there. I plan to be a part of that track next year and Lee and the gang are why. If you haven’t checked out that track, I highly recommend it because there is so much you can learn in a weekend. We may be adding something next year but have to sort out the details before we can announce.
I am grateful to Lee, Aurora, and the rest of the gang for such a good time this year.
Young Adult
I didn’t see Bev the entire weekend but I did enjoy the panels I was on. If you have any interest in YA lit, this is the place to go and find out about what is out and what is coming out. You don’t have to be a YA to enjoy it either. There is a lot of young adult literature that 10 years ago would have been in the general fantasy, horror, or science fiction collection so don’t think it is just for little kids.
I am grateful for the panels I was on and sorry about the one I missed since it was my favorite to be on.
The Writer’s Track
I was on one panel on Monday and it was a lot of fun. Nancy does a great job of assembling a group of people who have a broad knowledge of a topic. We can either discuss with each other or with the room about the topics we are presented. And I have met some really swell people there that I have later had a chance to have longer conversation with.
I am grateful to Nancy and her staff for their southern hospitality and charm. Makes ever panel there fun.
The crowds
This year there was a new feature to the Marriott and Hyatt. There is now a habitrail that allows you to go directly from one hotel to another without having to go through the food court and it doesn’t have any steps. This did relieve the pressure on the food court entrance into the Hyatt, which could get rather sticky at times. However we had a bit of a bottleneck at the Marriott at the junction where if you went straight you went to the blood drive or several panel room, if you went left you went into the passage to the food court, or if you went right you went straight to the Hyatt. Along with this were the lines to get into the ballrooms in the Marriott and the area where everyone and his sister were taking pictures of the various costume groups. So getting from point A to point b means that you had to add 15 minutes to your travel time. My suggestion is basically what they do at Disney prior and during the parades which take up a chunk of walking space, have a designated area for foot traffic that is kept moving along the way so that you don’t suddenly slam into the backpack in front of you (whole other rant about knowing how wide you REALLY are with all your extras attached to your body in or out of costume). Also this prevents from you being stepped on by the person behind you who wasn’t expecting to stop while they were texting their buddies.
Overall the hotels and DragonCon Staff did what they could but with all the attendees and all the extra gawkers, it was not an easy job at any time of the day.
No Touchy
Here is one of probably the most difficult things that DragonCon has to deal with that most large convention (NYCC, SDCC, MegaCon, Star Wars Celebration etc.) don’t. DragonCon takes place within a number of hotels and not only do you have the DragonCon goers but you have other hotel guests and people who wandered in off the street to see the crazy costumes as well. The other conventions happen at convention centers and are controlled spaces that they rent and they can keep people out without a badge. Also most of the other convention don’t run 24/7. There may be a few activities after say 7pm but they really don’t go on all night at the convention center.
So you have a mix of people that are not all attending the convention. There is usually a football game on Saturday which draws which ever teams fans that are playing. There is, occasionally, just another convention that is going on at the same time although I have a feeling that the hotels are waving them off to make room for DragonCon. And there are the people who just happen to pick that weekend to be in Atlanta for whatever reason.
This year there were reports of inappropriate touch, rude comments, and physical assault. This was not only done by those not attending the convention but also by a number of folks who were attending the convention. It is not all from outside forces but also from some idiots within our ranks who were worse than the non-con attendees.
Kids, No means NO not maybe or ask again. No thank you means NO. Leave me alone means NO. Go away is most defiantly a big old NO. We may not be able to police those outside the convention but we can within our own ranks and we can protect our own without breaking the law (yes, someone does have an assault charge against them for trying to help someone they didn’t even know out of a sticky situation. I am figuring that the charges are going to drop since both security and the people originally being harassed are going to be there to say that these people were stopping a crime in progress).
There seems to be a Mardi Gras (some people are starting to call DragonCon Nerdy Gras) type atmosphere to the weekend which leads to some rather wrong headed thinking by the participants that needs to be changed. They see it as a weekend of safe drinking and debauchery which is not why a majority of us attended DragonCon but as usual it is the minority that is screwing it up for the majority. I managed to get myself out of the line of projectile vomit twice while walking back to my hotel room. I also, along with a friend, pulled a guy off of a girl who was rather plastered and found a D’Con security staff member to get her to wherever safely. I use to do security at various conventions so I know how hard that gig is esp. after a certain hour. I think the guy got his badge pulled but don’t know for sure.
Common sense seemed to go out the door after 7pm with a bunch of people. But then there are the harmless groups that are doing something slightly annoying (riding up and down in elevators in packs singing Lady Gaga songs) who were seriously rousted by security. Yeah, they were teens but none of them were drinking except maybe a Red Bull and they did get OFF the elevators if they saw that someone had a need to get into the elevator esp. for wheelchairs, scooters, canes, crutches, and strollers. It was controlled chaos rather than what else was going on the floors below that was detrimental to people’s welfare. It is a balance between the silly and the serious.
But NO TOUCHY means NO TOUCHY and that is one that we all have to make sure it is enforced. No one should be scared to go to DragonCon or feel unsafe at the convention at anytime. I don’t care what clever excuse you have for your behavior, it was wrong from the outset so knock it off.
I am grateful for all the fans that did behave. Y’all make this convention worth attending and participating in.
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