Post-convention report: Sac Brony Expo · 5:21am Sep 16th, 2013
tl;dr: If you're looking for the list of meet-and-greet participants, click this handy link.
So Saturday was the Sac Brony Expo, where what I thought was going to be a local gather thing turned into a 500+-person convention drawing folks from neighboring states.
I've got to give it props for a number of things. The decision to make it a one-day con was, I think, an excellent one. There needs to be more room in the fandom ecosystem for that sort of "more-than-a-gather-but-less-than-a-convention" get-together. The regional focus, the cheap price tag ($10 entrance fee), and the ability to commit to attendance without worrying about the logistics of a overnight stay were all factors that drew in a huge crowd I don't think we would have otherwise seen. According to staff at closing ceremonies, attendance was in the 600-700 range (!!); they recouped expenses with room to spare and will be donating the remainder to charity.
The one element that was frustrating to me was the event programming. There were some very clever factors in the way panels were scheduled — lunch and dinner breaks, for example, to give everyone time to eat and shop between events — but they also made some mistakes that I think could have been solved with better communication. For example, two of the musical acts were given the music room for half an hour apiece, and everything was scheduled back-to-back. This means that, with the clock ticking, the acts (one of which was an eight-person band) had to haul everything in, set up instruments, tune, sound check, play, and then cut their set short in time for packdown. With half an hour total, that's about 15 minutes on the stage.
That lack of communication was also directly frustrating to me for the event I … well, "ran" is being generous. The event I was responsible for.
First off, the reason it was a "meet and greet" is that I volunteered to run an event when I registered for the con, but despite multiple requests, I never heard from the organizers whether there were any other fanfic-based panels planned. (It turned out there was, but the other fanfic panel was a discussion via Skype with several authors such as shortskirtsandexplosions who didn't actually attend the con.) Not wanting to duplicate efforts — and not feeling comfortable running an Everfree-style in-depth writing discussion if I was going to be the only one up at the front talking — the only thing I felt comfortable pitching was moderating a birds-of-a-feather style social space.
So my "fanfic author meet-and-greet" got scheduled for 2 p.m. in the smallest event room. Before the convention, since nobody had mentioned any pre-reg numbers, I was estimating the expo would pull in maybe 200 people tops and I was seriously wondering whether I was going to have any attendance beyond me, Phoenix Quill (the only other local author I knew), and SoniContinuum (who RSVP'ed before the con). I brought a couple card games in case it ended up just being the three of us. 2:00 rolled around, passed, and I finally cleared the previous panelist (who was running pony videos on the room's projector) out of the room.
At that point I realized that I had fifty people to entertain.
The only thing I could do was desperately wing it. I didn't have the time to rearrange the room to facilitate smaller groupings (it was already 2:10 once I got the lights turned back on, and nearly every seat was full before I could even think about moving chairs). I didn't have the luxury of going back in time and prepping discussion topics for ten times my expected crowd size. I managed to at least get the juices flowing by arranging everyone in a circle, and then having everyone introduce themselves, along with mentioning a story they'd either written or else enjoyed reading. Things broke down from there — with a little discussion about dark vs. show-style fics, shipping, various sub-fandoms (such as Fallout: Equestria), and finally just people talking about whatever in little clusters, which was what I'd originally been hoping to achieve, but which was a bittersweet victory when the room was still 50 people all sitting in a circle. In hopes of re-creating the Everfree author's gather atmosphere, at the close of the panel, I suggested folks were welcome to drift across the hall to the tables in the open area by the dealers' room, but maybe five people ended up following me over. (Thanks, guys. That was good social time, and the games of pony Once Upon A Time we got in were delightful.)
Anyway, the one thing I did do right was to pass around a sign-in sheet so that folks who wanted to find each other after the con would have a chance to do so. I've compiled that list of participants over in the forums of the brand-new Writers of NorCal Bronies group, so go check it out!
Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who was there, for representing our fanfic community and for putting up with my complete failure of organization. (I'd say that it would be done better next year, if there was going to be a next year, but alas, at closing ceremonies it was announced that SBE was a one-time thing.)
I don't think you'll find a single convention where a phrase similar to "We should have planned this better" has not been spoken. Nothing caught on fire, the same number of people left the con as arrived, and a positive cash flow (or only slightly negative) was achieved, something that even major national political conventions fail at on occasion.
Good job!
$10? I got charged $15. But hey, the meet and greet was fun. Sad though that I missed another local author, even when we were in the same room.
1353821
Just wanted to tell you, that if you paid at the door, it was 15 dollars. Sorry that you had missed pre reg...
Anyhow, I had a blast! And I really hope that I'll be able to afford BABScon, so we could do this again then! (And, be better prepared for a proper panel.)
1353843Well I didn't find out about it til the night before. My friend contacted me through Skype and asked me if I wanted to go.