John's wrap-up of Mobicon
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to cancel our plans to do a "promotional room" at Mobicon on Friday night. An old friend of mine died last week, and his memorial service was scheduled for Friday night, and I had to work at Bridgefest for a couple hours on Saturday morning.
From Syncboard:
We just got home from the con and it went pretty well. We got there about 2:30 Saturday afternoon. First order of business was a run to get our badges and see who was there that we knew. A few of the New Orleans contingent were there, but we learned that the former G.O.D. of Crescent City Con is in the hospital recovering from surgery. I also spent a few minutes chatting with Sharon Green, a novelist who always goes to the local cons.
Back at the room we got immediately to work and there was plenty to do, especially since there were only the two of us to do it all. It took about 4 hours to set everything up, including a run to Wally World for some cables that I needed. Fortunately the store is just on the other side of the interstate so getting there and back was quick.
We started getting people in around 8. We ran a vampire film and lots of old movie trailers, along with the usual music. The room looked really good. We actually remembered to bring the pineapple banner this time and lit it with two black lights which made it really stand out. I also got a chance to try out my new "disco light" and it looked really good.
Around 11 or so, I noticed that the A/C unit in the room was leaking like a sieve all over the floor. Water had traveled several feet into the room but luckily we always tarp the floor, so there was no damage to the rug or room itself, but this meant that we had to keep the unit turned off so it got a little toasty and humid in there. At one point, one of Alabama's famed giant flying cockroaches decided to join the festivities and promptly cleared the room of all the ladies. I had to hunt our uninvited guest down and flush his ass before anyone would come back in.
The room was pretty well attended, sometimes as many as a dozen people jammed in there and it was pretty constant all night, but it was not without issues. Mobile is a conservative town full of do gooding busy bodies and there always seem to be a few of these troublemakers on the grounds at the motel. I tried to run the movie "Cleavagefield" but that raised the hackles of con security who asked me to turn it off making the film officially banned at Mobicon!
As the time grew later, we were asked to turn down the music a couple of times which we complied with. That last bit is pretty routine at Mobicon as their tolerance for loud music is much lower than at any other con we have ever done a room for.
We kept the room running until almost 5 AM, when I finally crashed. For a one night stand, it was pretty enjoyable. It would have been a lot more fun if we had some help, so we are trying to put together next year's room in cooperation with some other con people. Hopefully this new arrangement will make for a better room that we can actually leave once in a while to see other rooms.
We have already preregistered for next year's con, taking advantage of the $25 preregistration price.
'Til next time...
From Syncboard:
We just got home from the con and it went pretty well. We got there about 2:30 Saturday afternoon. First order of business was a run to get our badges and see who was there that we knew. A few of the New Orleans contingent were there, but we learned that the former G.O.D. of Crescent City Con is in the hospital recovering from surgery. I also spent a few minutes chatting with Sharon Green, a novelist who always goes to the local cons.
Back at the room we got immediately to work and there was plenty to do, especially since there were only the two of us to do it all. It took about 4 hours to set everything up, including a run to Wally World for some cables that I needed. Fortunately the store is just on the other side of the interstate so getting there and back was quick.
We started getting people in around 8. We ran a vampire film and lots of old movie trailers, along with the usual music. The room looked really good. We actually remembered to bring the pineapple banner this time and lit it with two black lights which made it really stand out. I also got a chance to try out my new "disco light" and it looked really good.
Around 11 or so, I noticed that the A/C unit in the room was leaking like a sieve all over the floor. Water had traveled several feet into the room but luckily we always tarp the floor, so there was no damage to the rug or room itself, but this meant that we had to keep the unit turned off so it got a little toasty and humid in there. At one point, one of Alabama's famed giant flying cockroaches decided to join the festivities and promptly cleared the room of all the ladies. I had to hunt our uninvited guest down and flush his ass before anyone would come back in.
The room was pretty well attended, sometimes as many as a dozen people jammed in there and it was pretty constant all night, but it was not without issues. Mobile is a conservative town full of do gooding busy bodies and there always seem to be a few of these troublemakers on the grounds at the motel. I tried to run the movie "Cleavagefield" but that raised the hackles of con security who asked me to turn it off making the film officially banned at Mobicon!
As the time grew later, we were asked to turn down the music a couple of times which we complied with. That last bit is pretty routine at Mobicon as their tolerance for loud music is much lower than at any other con we have ever done a room for.
We kept the room running until almost 5 AM, when I finally crashed. For a one night stand, it was pretty enjoyable. It would have been a lot more fun if we had some help, so we are trying to put together next year's room in cooperation with some other con people. Hopefully this new arrangement will make for a better room that we can actually leave once in a while to see other rooms.
We have already preregistered for next year's con, taking advantage of the $25 preregistration price.
'Til next time...