Best and Worst Con Experiences

[elionwyr]

shadowwolf13 wanted to hear about my best and worst con experiences.

Worst Con Experience:
Some of my memories about this story are hazy – perhaps deliberately so.

In the late 1980s/early 1990s, I was active in Philly-area “Doctor Who” and “Blake’s 7” fandom. (Trivia: I wrote B7 episode reviews and have had one piece of Who fanfic published.) I think this story involves a “Blake’s 7”-esque con…I had volunteered to help work the con with and for some friends in New Jersey.

And I came down with a horrific cold. The kind of cold that wraps your brain in cotton and turns you into a snot-zombie.

I know they took me with them anyway, and I am very sure I did absolutely no useful work. I have vague collections of – I *think* - being leaned up against walls and trying desperately to breathe but mostly being in a near-coma-like state all weekend.

I can’t even remember how I got home..

Lesson learned: Know your limits, and stay the hell home if you’re sick.

Best Con Experience:
…Hm.

The thought that comes to mind first doesn’t entirely count because it was at a trade show, not a convention – but this hits a bit of the request from hughcasey(?) to tell tales about the haunt industry.

In 1999, I attended my first TransWorld Halloween and Party trade show. The show was in Chicago and was so large and overwhelming to country-mouse-me that I had to take breaks from the trade show floor. Descriptions will not do it justice – but imagine a convention center filled with party store vendors and costumes and make-up and props for haunted houses, and – off in a corner – someone is selling lightning-making machines that sporadically whip out lout CRRRACK!s of lightning…my first few years of TransWorld were amazing, surreal experiences.

And because I can’t resist a volunteer job, I raised my hand and found myself on a board of directors working to create a haunted attraction association. Which I may write about later today.

This story, however, is about my third year on the board. I had headed up the nomination committee for elections for the new board, and had been put through hell the weeks leading up to our annual meeting at TransWorld. A haunter was trying to get himself on the ballot and hadn’t been nominated, so was trying to strong arm me into adding him to the list.

He didn’t know we had already discussed him, both on the board and on the committee, and not only did we as a group choose to not nominate him, I’d had people tell me, “If he gets voted in, I quit.” 0_o I tried to be kind and not tell him this; as a result, I suffered through a three hour phone conversation with him where he tried to persuade, sweet talk, and then bully me into doing as he wished.

Going into the meeting, I was terrified. Absolutely terrified. I was convinced he was going to make good on his threats, storm into the meeting, and denounce me in front of the entire membership. I wasn’t a haunt owner. I was a haunt manager, actor, constructor…but not an owner. What right, really, did I have to be here?

What I learned that night is that I had as much right to be there as anyone else did. I was valued enough that the membership actually put a bouncer by the door whose only job was to make sure that my naysayer did not in fact cause a scene. I had a room full of my peers who made it very clear that they accepted me, embraced me, and valued me. (Indeed, one later told me I was his hero because I hadn’t allowed my naysayer to chase me out of the industry, as others had in the past.)

It was a pretty amazing experience.

And this, I’d say, was hands-down my best con experience. :)


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Comments

[harkalark.livejournal.com]

What was the Who fanfic that was published?

It kind of seems like Abbott or Costello should have said that sentence.

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

Ummm....a small fan club called The Zero Room published it as a four parter in their newsletter.

I'm sure it will not surprise you in the slightest to hear it was about someone traveling with The Master.

[norda.livejournal.com]

Ye gods, I wish there were still B7 conventions here.

[shadowwolf13]

Very awesome con experience! :D

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Yay! Glad you liked. :)

Funny how things come around...

[horrorvenus.livejournal.com]

My first TransWorld was Chicago 2000. I wasn't part of the group you mentioned (though G was) but I was a part of the Howl2000 group who met in the lobby outside that year's Official Haunted Attraction Club meeting so we could meet up and greet up. I'm certain that you and I have seen each other face to face on a couple of occasions, we've just been that much outside of each others circle.

Re: Funny how things come around...

[elionwyr.livejournal.com]

Ha! Was that the year of the Haunt Naked Halloween-L t-shirts..?