Discworld con wrapup. *Sigh*

[neadods]

I have to remember that there was a lot I liked about the convention. I have to work on remembering that, because the complaints outnumber the compliments about 5 to 1, and I'm no longer willing to cut much slack for "oh, but it was a first convention" after the 221BConcom pulled off their first without a hitch during the weekend

Comments

[redpanda13]

Nice costumes, but man in back of the third one looks like Sir Terry without the hat....

[neadods]

I know, and he was usually made up as a zombie during the con. Very disconcerting!

[renn]

I'm not surprised that the Discworld con was underwhelming. I went to the first two (Phoenix and Madison), and even though they were run by people that had run cons before, they were still somewhat lame. (Although not as lame programming-wise as the most recent one, from your description.) It's my understanding that they N.A. ones have to conform to what the British ones do, else they're not allowed to be run.

Neither of the ones I attended had breakfast included in the ticket price.

[neadods]

Did the previous ones have panels that talked about the books? Because in retrospect, it was the egregious mishandling of the panel programming that ruined the con for me; everything else (including sausages) was a minor detail.

If the previous American ones couldn't talk about the books and they're run on the model of the British ones, I'll rethink both other American and British ones...

[renn]

There were books discussion panels at the other two cons, just not in great numbers. A lot of panels were all about the World (i.e. food, social structure, etc.) as opposed to what happened in the books. Some crafting panels, a lot of gaming, lovely goody bags, quite competent masquerades (I was the second in command at the Madison one, so I might be biased)....

So-- yeah, probably the panel programming person at the Baltimore not only dropped the ball, but let it roll away from him/herself.

[neadods]

I would have enjoyed discussions about the world in general, but those only seemed to happen by accident. I don't think I've been to a con with such bad panelling in my entire career as a convention goer!

[starcat_jewel]

I'm not even sure I'd accept "first-time con" as an excuse, since there were 2 previous NADWCs whose experience the concom could have drawn on.

We weren't staying in the con hotel, so the breakfast issue wasn't an issue for us. But providing a vegetarian option should be BASIC by now.

BTW, when I get my con report up, I'd appreciate it if you'd check thru my photos and ID any characters I've missed.

[neadods]

I don't accept first-time con as an excuse at all. There were previous concoms to talk to, and anyone with three brain cells should have thought that fans would want to TALK ABOUT THE BOOKS!