Preaching 'Scape at DortCon, part 2:
Okay, on to the second day...
Well, we got up sometime between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. (meaning, some of us got up at 8, and the rest got up one by one between 8 and 10 a.m., since there was only one bathroom, anyway. We had a very basic breakfast and then made our way to the con. I was supposed to meet with Mark there at 11 a.m. but he arrived a little late. I passed the time before his arrival standing around in the lobby with Christian, wondering if we were ever going to see a simple con guest - for some reason, everyone we saw seemed to be either an organiser, a helper or someone giving a talk or a presentation. We were really relieved when we finally spotted a guest! Christian seemed to know everybody, btw... and I had a very brief opportunity to meet Claudia Kern, sf serial author and genre journalist, and apparently also a scaper. She seemed nice, but mysteriously missed my talk later that day, although she reportedly had wanted to hear it.
When Mark finally arrived we asked one of the organisers for a room and took our equipment - which Mark had brought - there for a general check-up. Mark, whose claims to fame include the organisation and hosting of our semi-annual mailing list meetings #3 and #5 (http://fstreffen.allabouthmpf.com), had brought a notebook, a video beamer, and the 150 or so flyers Dashan and Christian had produced. (Have I recently mentioned how much I love you guys? Consider yourselves hugged. All three of you.)
Well, the equipment and the video clips I had selected worked just fine together, and after that had been ascertained, I once again tested my presentation in front of a scaper audience, this time consisting of Christian and Mark. Christian told me I had improved a little bit, but I'm not sure if I should believe that... ;-)
Oh, and for those who are curious which clips I was going to show:
- Tazey's fabulous fan vid 'Right Here, Right Now', for which I should have sent feedback ages ago 'cause it's so great!
- a clip from 'We're So Screwed 2: Hot To Katratzi' - the 'American' scene
- one of the CNN clips
- one of our latest batch of commercials
- the 'morale booster' video by Tiriel and co.
At 14:00 Christian left for his own presentation, and Mark and I joined his audience a little while later, after I'd grabbed a banana for lunch. Christian talked about a somewhat 'exotic' subject, the Masters of the Universe cartoon series from the eighties, and the audience was... well, not exactly huge. This had me worried a bit, as I had no idea how popular or unpopular Farscape is in German sf fandom. I half expected only a handful of people would turn up for my talk... After all, the show disappeared from German TV about a year and a half ago. I wasn't sure many would remember it, especially considering that it had been run late night on Sunday. Not the best slot for gaining new viewers, methinks.
At 15:00 Christian and I changed places, me taking his place at the presenter's table, and him joining the audience. At first, there wasn't much of a crowd, but as Mark was preparing the equipment, people started arriving, one by one... and soon I had a good crowd there (some 20 or so people), and began to get seriously nervous. Of course, I handed a flyer to everyone who entered the room!
Well, and then Mark was ready and I sat down at my table with my five pages of text and some rather pronounced 'rattlers in my stomach'. I apologised in advance for being nervous and for reading too fast, and in the following twenty minutes was very glad to find the audience very gracious. I started by stating the importance of Farscape for the genre at large, then spoke about the 'end' of the show, and then launched into an explanation of Farscape's greatness... though I almost decided to skip that part of the presentation as it turned out that most of my audience actually already knew Farscape (so, I probably didn't make many potential new fans... ah well, can't have everything, I guess). After my praise of the show followed a summary of the history and achievements of the Save Farscape campaign.
Of course, I was too fast again. However, the audience was very gracious and kind, and seemed to take into account that I was doing this for the very first time... After having delivered my talk I replied to questions about the cancellation and the campaign, and encouraged everybody to take part (of course!).
Well, and then it was over, or almost... 'cause some people from the audience stayed to talk to me and give me flyers of their own - among them some SeaQuest fans, whom I guess we scapers should consider as something akin to family, since their show was also created by Rockne and DK and cancelled prematurely... Rockne really has rotten luck with networks, it would seem!
Roger Murmann who has a monthly sf program on a local radio station also stayed to talk to me, or rather, to interview me, and Christian as well. Christian went first, and then it was my turn. Once again, I was dreadfully nervous, but Roger was quite good at asking the right questions, so I got to repeat the main points of my talk very neatly for his show... Unfortunately the interview will be aired quite close to where I live, so there's a certain danger of people who actually know me hearing it! I hope I didn't come over too incoherent! ;-)
When the interviews were over the con was almost over, as well, but I had a nice bit of talk with a guy whose name I didn't catch yet, who had actually been convinced to give Farscape a try - should he ever get an opportunity to see it - by the clip from 'We're So Screwed...' (and hopefully also a bit by my talk!!! *g*) So, I may have made at least one potential new viewer. We'll see.
And that was that, more or less. There wasn't much left to do except tell people farewell, and exchange some addresses... Mark was so kind as to take me at least part of the way to Frankfurt, so my train ticket would be a bit cheaper, and after some complications (travelling with two backpacks with a weight of over 20 kilos *always* means complications!) I arrived in Frankfurt at 23:00, very exhausted indeed, but also still on a convention high. Of course, this was followed by the post-con depression the next day... but that is another story... ;-)
Well, we got up sometime between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. (meaning, some of us got up at 8, and the rest got up one by one between 8 and 10 a.m., since there was only one bathroom, anyway. We had a very basic breakfast and then made our way to the con. I was supposed to meet with Mark there at 11 a.m. but he arrived a little late. I passed the time before his arrival standing around in the lobby with Christian, wondering if we were ever going to see a simple con guest - for some reason, everyone we saw seemed to be either an organiser, a helper or someone giving a talk or a presentation. We were really relieved when we finally spotted a guest! Christian seemed to know everybody, btw... and I had a very brief opportunity to meet Claudia Kern, sf serial author and genre journalist, and apparently also a scaper. She seemed nice, but mysteriously missed my talk later that day, although she reportedly had wanted to hear it.
When Mark finally arrived we asked one of the organisers for a room and took our equipment - which Mark had brought - there for a general check-up. Mark, whose claims to fame include the organisation and hosting of our semi-annual mailing list meetings #3 and #5 (http://fstreffen.allabouthmpf.com), had brought a notebook, a video beamer, and the 150 or so flyers Dashan and Christian had produced. (Have I recently mentioned how much I love you guys? Consider yourselves hugged. All three of you.)
Well, the equipment and the video clips I had selected worked just fine together, and after that had been ascertained, I once again tested my presentation in front of a scaper audience, this time consisting of Christian and Mark. Christian told me I had improved a little bit, but I'm not sure if I should believe that... ;-)
Oh, and for those who are curious which clips I was going to show:
- Tazey's fabulous fan vid 'Right Here, Right Now', for which I should have sent feedback ages ago 'cause it's so great!
- a clip from 'We're So Screwed 2: Hot To Katratzi' - the 'American' scene
- one of the CNN clips
- one of our latest batch of commercials
- the 'morale booster' video by Tiriel and co.
At 14:00 Christian left for his own presentation, and Mark and I joined his audience a little while later, after I'd grabbed a banana for lunch. Christian talked about a somewhat 'exotic' subject, the Masters of the Universe cartoon series from the eighties, and the audience was... well, not exactly huge. This had me worried a bit, as I had no idea how popular or unpopular Farscape is in German sf fandom. I half expected only a handful of people would turn up for my talk... After all, the show disappeared from German TV about a year and a half ago. I wasn't sure many would remember it, especially considering that it had been run late night on Sunday. Not the best slot for gaining new viewers, methinks.
At 15:00 Christian and I changed places, me taking his place at the presenter's table, and him joining the audience. At first, there wasn't much of a crowd, but as Mark was preparing the equipment, people started arriving, one by one... and soon I had a good crowd there (some 20 or so people), and began to get seriously nervous. Of course, I handed a flyer to everyone who entered the room!
Well, and then Mark was ready and I sat down at my table with my five pages of text and some rather pronounced 'rattlers in my stomach'. I apologised in advance for being nervous and for reading too fast, and in the following twenty minutes was very glad to find the audience very gracious. I started by stating the importance of Farscape for the genre at large, then spoke about the 'end' of the show, and then launched into an explanation of Farscape's greatness... though I almost decided to skip that part of the presentation as it turned out that most of my audience actually already knew Farscape (so, I probably didn't make many potential new fans... ah well, can't have everything, I guess). After my praise of the show followed a summary of the history and achievements of the Save Farscape campaign.
Of course, I was too fast again. However, the audience was very gracious and kind, and seemed to take into account that I was doing this for the very first time... After having delivered my talk I replied to questions about the cancellation and the campaign, and encouraged everybody to take part (of course!).
Well, and then it was over, or almost... 'cause some people from the audience stayed to talk to me and give me flyers of their own - among them some SeaQuest fans, whom I guess we scapers should consider as something akin to family, since their show was also created by Rockne and DK and cancelled prematurely... Rockne really has rotten luck with networks, it would seem!
Roger Murmann who has a monthly sf program on a local radio station also stayed to talk to me, or rather, to interview me, and Christian as well. Christian went first, and then it was my turn. Once again, I was dreadfully nervous, but Roger was quite good at asking the right questions, so I got to repeat the main points of my talk very neatly for his show... Unfortunately the interview will be aired quite close to where I live, so there's a certain danger of people who actually know me hearing it! I hope I didn't come over too incoherent! ;-)
When the interviews were over the con was almost over, as well, but I had a nice bit of talk with a guy whose name I didn't catch yet, who had actually been convinced to give Farscape a try - should he ever get an opportunity to see it - by the clip from 'We're So Screwed...' (and hopefully also a bit by my talk!!! *g*) So, I may have made at least one potential new viewer. We'll see.
And that was that, more or less. There wasn't much left to do except tell people farewell, and exchange some addresses... Mark was so kind as to take me at least part of the way to Frankfurt, so my train ticket would be a bit cheaper, and after some complications (travelling with two backpacks with a weight of over 20 kilos *always* means complications!) I arrived in Frankfurt at 23:00, very exhausted indeed, but also still on a convention high. Of course, this was followed by the post-con depression the next day... but that is another story... ;-)