Convention, Convention, Convention

Conventions, Conventions, Convention: Are we over them yet?

by Colleen Guzman

               So I guess everyone has heard about the whole debacle that was Space City Con in Houston. We didn't attend this year, we had in the past when it first started but weren't super impressed so we haven't been back since. Now come to find out the promoter didn't pay actors (god forbid those little darlings not get paid), nor did he pay staffers and other entities that were promised payment. Apparently, checks have bounced and accounts have downright been closed. All I can think is here we go again, this is the beginning of a downward spiral for conventions in general. I mean have we forgotten DashCon already? 

               I realize that not everyone can make it to the grand daddy of all cons, that most people don't have the funds or stamina to withstand something like San Diego Comic Con so these little regional conventions are great for those people, however my question has quickly become "Are they really that great?" I wonder at times what is it exactly that these poor people are paying for? If you have never been to a convention do you realize that some of these people pay in the ballpark of $500.00 to get into the convention, to get to meet a bundled group of celebrities for about 5 minutes or so, they get a group photo that looks like it was taken at Sear and Roebuck in the 1970's (The photo is one my friend's family took with a celebrity at a comic convention, notice the lame background.) they get some autographs and some convention swag and that's about it for $500.00. Then what? Do they get to ride the magical pony into fairy land? No I don't think so. Do these promoters and celebrities know that these people who make minimum wage have to work 40 hours at their jobs for 2 weeks to afford something like that and then that is all they get? No dinner and a movie, no second date, just a strange pic, a how-do-you-do and off with you next cattle in line please....oh and don't forget to go to the vendor room and spend more of your hard earned money. So when these promoters screw the celebrities over and the celebrities have a fit and leave then the people who really lose out are the sad fans who probably spent part of their rent money to pay to meet these idiots in the first place. These celebrities do know that just by speaking to people for less than 2 minutes and signing those autographs, if they just do that for 20 people per day for 3 days they make $2400.00 dollars which is about what a minimum wage worker makes in 2 months not 3 days.

               Now don't get me wrong I am all for conventions and I see nothing wrong with them as a general rule. I mean San Diego has some really nice events like movie announcements and exclusives and that is great and all but these regional conventions don't offer those things because San Diego has already taken them all. So what is it that people are paying for when they go to these conventions? It seems to me that they are paying to meet celebrities and to hear them speak. I know one of the greatest convention moments I had was at Alamo City Comic Con in San Antonio when I went to the panel where Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen and some other voice actors read the script of Back to the Future using the voices from their animated characters. I felt like that was something special, something unique that I could not get anywhere else. I also saw an artist who was there painting on clear plexiglass, he painted the image backward from his perspective so we could see it come alive from our side of the plexiglass. That was also something special. These things don't always happen at the convention and they can't happen every year because then they become less special and lose their value but I believe that something like this should be happening. I think that when people are putting on a convention they need to give the people some entertainment and not just let them pay to get in so they can stand in line and pay again to get some celebrity to sign a picture of themselves or worse yet to have to pay to get to take a selfie with the celebrity, they don't even come together you have to pay for each or either.

              I think the market has become so saturated with conventions in every city and in every state that they are losing their uniqueness and that special quality that once made them great. In my opinion these conventions need to find a way to get back to the roots of what a convention should be about. If you have a comic convention then have a seminar where I learn how to draw like a cartoon artist, or I get to watch a

colorist take a piece and turn it into the wonder that we see in print. If you have a horror convention then have a haunted house area that is included in my ticket price, or a seminar on how to do spooky make-up with things in your home or zombie prep your house, etc. There are ways you can get people from the community who love the fandom, who have talent who will do these things for free or a small fee. If you have 30,000 paying $80.00 each to get into your event you can have a little something for them to do. If you screw up and you don't have the money to pay for things then you need to be up front, you have to refund people's money and you have to tell the celebrities not to come. All the promoters out there need to think about what they are doing to conventions and the legacy that was built before they tried to ride those coat tails.

          Are we over them yet? No I don't think we are I think we still like to gather and talk to people who love the same fandom that we love, I think we love to see people in cosplay, I think we like to see the talent of the artists and the wares of the vendors. I do however think that we may not be able to take much more and eventually things will have to change or conventions may be simply a memory.