Wincon 2015 - Help Us Have Our 10th Anniversary Con!
I have been severely slacking in updating LJ at all this year; sorry guys! I check my flist every couple of days, so I've been reading all of your entries (and commenting sometimes? we all know how terrible I am at comments), but most of my fandoming has been taking place on twitter and tumblr this year, and I haven't usually had the energy to write lengthy entries about what's going on with me. If you're on twitter and/or tumblr, you should come say 'hi!', though, for sure. Especially if you had as many feelings about Captain America: The Winter Soldier as I did, because I am always up for flailing ridiculously about Bucky Barnes. :D
I am here for an actual reason, though! Which is basically to beg you for your help. /o\
As many of you know, I go to wincon every year. It's my favorite time of year because I get to see and hang out with people I know from the internet, and meet new people who I will then go on to stalk on the internet (in a totally not-creepy-at-all way, I swear)! Getting to talk fannish things in person is seriously the most amazing thing ever, and it's why I kept going to Wincon when it was still Winchestercon, even though I wasn't in the SPN fandom anymore. (In case you didn't know, Wincon used to be a Supernatural con, but switched to multifandom in 2010, and we have had a huge variety of panels and activities in a wide variety of fandoms for the last 5 cons.)
We've typically had about ~100 attendees per year, but that size is just not sustainable for us anymore. As you know, cons are expensive. The less people that attend, the more expensive they are. Our tickets are usually in the $100-$115 range, and so a lot of people who would probably have an amazing time don't come, because they can't afford it. And we want everyone who is interested in a fans-only fancon to come and (hopefully) have a great time!
So, for 2015, we are trying to make the con more affordable (and get even more people to come, because seriously it is the most fun and even more people means even more awesomeness!), so we want to grow to 250-300 attendees. This would allow us to offer the weekend pass for $55 (or $65 if you want to attend Winprom, our Saturday night dance party). But we can't do it without you! We're running an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to finance the con for 2015, which you can check out right here. We're trying to raise $15,000 by January 4th, but if we don't fully fund the Indiegogo, we won't get any of the money, and we won't be having Wincon 2015. Or any other Wincon.
Basically, it boils down to this: if we can't fund Wincon through this Indiegogo, there will be no more Wincon. 2014 will have been our last con.
It honestly makes me want to cry just thinking about the con ending, because I've had some of the most fun in my life at Wincon over the years. I knew literally no one before my first con (LA in 2007), and I am really shy meeting people in person, but I met a lot of great people over that weekend that I still hang out with to this day. The atmosphere is so welcoming every year, and you can participate in as much or as little as you want to, which is awesome for those times when you just want to hermit, rather than having a lot of social interaction. Plus, I've gotten to visit a whole bunch of places I wouldn't normally go, since we hold the con in a different city every year. 2015 is scheduled for Pittsburgh, at a gorgeous hotel that's right downtown and close to a bunch of cool stuff.
I could write another few thousand words about why I love Wincon so much, so feel free to ask me anything about the con if you're interested. I would love for you to check out the Indiegogo and buy a ticket for Wincon 2015, or buy one of the awesome perks we have for sale (art commissions, knitting, fancraft-y things, etc. -- more will be going up tomorrow, actually!). Or even donate a few bucks out of the goodness of your heart, to keep a long-running fan con going into its 10th Anniversary (and beyond, hopefully).
Any help that you guys would be willing to give would be much appreciated. Signal boosting online, telling your RL friends, donations, anything. I love you all and would love to meet every one of you next October. ♥♥♥
[eta:] I crossposted this to tumblr here, if you want to reblog.[/eta]
I am here for an actual reason, though! Which is basically to beg you for your help. /o\
As many of you know, I go to wincon every year. It's my favorite time of year because I get to see and hang out with people I know from the internet, and meet new people who I will then go on to stalk on the internet (in a totally not-creepy-at-all way, I swear)! Getting to talk fannish things in person is seriously the most amazing thing ever, and it's why I kept going to Wincon when it was still Winchestercon, even though I wasn't in the SPN fandom anymore. (In case you didn't know, Wincon used to be a Supernatural con, but switched to multifandom in 2010, and we have had a huge variety of panels and activities in a wide variety of fandoms for the last 5 cons.)
We've typically had about ~100 attendees per year, but that size is just not sustainable for us anymore. As you know, cons are expensive. The less people that attend, the more expensive they are. Our tickets are usually in the $100-$115 range, and so a lot of people who would probably have an amazing time don't come, because they can't afford it. And we want everyone who is interested in a fans-only fancon to come and (hopefully) have a great time!
So, for 2015, we are trying to make the con more affordable (and get even more people to come, because seriously it is the most fun and even more people means even more awesomeness!), so we want to grow to 250-300 attendees. This would allow us to offer the weekend pass for $55 (or $65 if you want to attend Winprom, our Saturday night dance party). But we can't do it without you! We're running an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to finance the con for 2015, which you can check out right here. We're trying to raise $15,000 by January 4th, but if we don't fully fund the Indiegogo, we won't get any of the money, and we won't be having Wincon 2015. Or any other Wincon.
Basically, it boils down to this: if we can't fund Wincon through this Indiegogo, there will be no more Wincon. 2014 will have been our last con.
It honestly makes me want to cry just thinking about the con ending, because I've had some of the most fun in my life at Wincon over the years. I knew literally no one before my first con (LA in 2007), and I am really shy meeting people in person, but I met a lot of great people over that weekend that I still hang out with to this day. The atmosphere is so welcoming every year, and you can participate in as much or as little as you want to, which is awesome for those times when you just want to hermit, rather than having a lot of social interaction. Plus, I've gotten to visit a whole bunch of places I wouldn't normally go, since we hold the con in a different city every year. 2015 is scheduled for Pittsburgh, at a gorgeous hotel that's right downtown and close to a bunch of cool stuff.
I could write another few thousand words about why I love Wincon so much, so feel free to ask me anything about the con if you're interested. I would love for you to check out the Indiegogo and buy a ticket for Wincon 2015, or buy one of the awesome perks we have for sale (art commissions, knitting, fancraft-y things, etc. -- more will be going up tomorrow, actually!). Or even donate a few bucks out of the goodness of your heart, to keep a long-running fan con going into its 10th Anniversary (and beyond, hopefully).
Any help that you guys would be willing to give would be much appreciated. Signal boosting online, telling your RL friends, donations, anything. I love you all and would love to meet every one of you next October. ♥♥♥
[eta:] I crossposted this to tumblr here, if you want to reblog.[/eta]