Whinny City Pony Con 2018 - Con Report! · 3:10am Apr 19th, 2018
Hey there, folks!
First off, here's my mandatory Soarburn picture, courtesy of the book I wrote!
BAM!
Hit me up if you want one! I have about 10 left that are unclaimed.
On to the con report for my favorite convention, Whinny City Pony Con!
I was Programming Director for the first time this year.
See? This awesome badge came with the job! Thanks Charlie W., and great work on the art Sweet Cream!
Cowboy Dave has been busy with work, so he needed to simplify a bit, and I had some pretty big shoes to fill. Luckily, Dave is an awesome human being and was incredibly supportive (and I really needed the support).
Wednesday
My buddy Charlie D. (of "Not That Charlie" fame) and I flew out of Minneapolis on Wednesday night, after work. We rented a car for the weekend, which ended up being a great choice. It made getting to the hotel easier, and once there, we were spent.
…buuuuut it was Michelle Worthley's birthday! Charlie W. (the con chair and another wonderful human being) was nice enough to come pick me up. Everyone was at a dive bar for karaoke, and I sang my first live karaoke song ever! I'm told I did a great job (but a bunch of drunk people, so take that for what it's worth 
) with my song of choice: The Killers' "When You Were Young."
After getting back to the hotel, I flopped into bed and managed to get a decent sleep.
Thursday
On top of WCPC and getting Sensation out, work has been crazy, so Charlie D and I decided to take a sanity break with a day downtown. We did some quick shopping and had breakfast at the IHOP, then went to the Art Institute of Chicago. The highlights for me were Equestrienne by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and seeing the original A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. There was also a fantastic photography exhibit as well as the infuriatingly detailed miniature rooms.
It's us!
After that, we took a spin around Millennium Park, walked around a bit, and then headed back to the hotel. We caught a quick nap after navigating Chicago traffic, and then I spent the evening helping set up and checking in with various staff members (thanks for the help this weekend, Blanket!). Late at night, The Silly Duck brought out Cards Against Humanity, and you can probably guess how that went.
Friday
Heads-up that basically everything from here on out is kind of a blur, but I'll do my best.
Friday started with meeting my other staff members, Cheyenne and Mallo, who were phenomenally helpful all weekend.
I had to miss a big chunk of opening ceremonies, but the reaction seemed warm for everyone, and the Friendship Auction went mostly smoothly once we figured out a payment method. The A/V team were absolute heroes during the Guest of Honor panel – things that had been working minutes prior starting failing, but Larscis and Senshi got it figured out in the end, and everyone had a good time.
There were a few more late starts and other random problems throughout the day, which I took pretty hard. See, as staff, our goal is to make sure that the inevitable fires aren't visible to the con attendees. Bad stuff inevitably happens, but we don't want any of you to have to deal with it. As programming director, the pileup felt a lot like it was ultimately my fault, even though I told myself there was nothing I or others could realistically have done to prevent it. Dave ended up giving me a pep talk backstage that evening, and it helped me get through the rest of the day.
Still, I felt kind of bad even attending some of the special events I'd bought tickets for. I'm glad I went, though, because, the Solemn Oath Beer Tasting was an absolute treat. I got to sit with Charlie D, J Haller, Squirrel, Duck, and others whom I'm forgetting (sorry!), but the beer and atmosphere were tons of fun. Everyone even got a bottle of beer to take home with them (a custom beer just for the con), and it looks freaking awesome! If you're a beer drinker, you really need to make it to one of our cons sometime. Con Chair Charlie will take good care of you.
Is your con's mascot on a beer bottle? (Special bonus appearance by The Silly Duck!)
The 21+ Con Chair Chat was a wonderful pick-me-up as well. Con Chair Charlie brought out several bottles from his own collection, including a golden bottle of Sam Adams that might be the best beer I've ever tasted. M.A. Larson and Andrea Libman showed up, too, and I got to impress everyone with my beer reviews ("It smells like incense burned by a roommate you don't like."). I really need to use Untappd more…
Fortunately, the rest of the convention ran more smoothly than Friday.
Saturday
The big one.
After another quick hotel breakfast, things took off quickly. We tried something new with the episode screening this year by having an overflow room, and it's a good thing we did: several people wouldn't have been able to see the mane events if we hadn't. I'm proud of myself for making the call to change it to the Mustard Mark room when I did. It was ServerRat's idea, I think, or maybe Senshi's, but I feel like I pushed and coordinated with my staff in a way that at least helped. Again, giant shoutout to A/V for doing extraordinary work.
After the screening, we had the GoH panel, and just like last year, I got to do the Very Cool Thing™ that involves every fanfiction writer's dream but that I can't really talk about on here. It was absolutely wonderful to see, though, and everyone involved knocked it out of the park. #Shipping
I want to give a special shout-out here to Ian Hanlin and Caitlyn Bairstow. This was their first pony convention, and they were just about the best guests we could imagine. They were energetic, positive, great sports about everything we asked them to do, and more than anything else, they made attendees smile wherever they went. I really hope more conventions will bring both of them on, and I hope we can have them back at one of ours someday. I'd love to meet them both again.
After that, The Silly Duck and I gave our editing panel, "You Can't Post That on the Internet!" It was reasonably attended, and there was some good discussion about our editing process and what others can do to make their stories better. I had a great time presenting with Duck, and I hope I can do it again. I even sold a few copies of Sensation afterwards, which was great! Thanks again to all who bought it there!
The rest of the night progressed smoothly. The concert and dance started a bit late, but nothing egregious. I watched most of Vocal Score's set (go give him a welcome to the US!) and all of Ingrid's with her new music project Tempest. The energy during both was mind-boggling. I loved every second of it, and it was nice doing so with Zari and Charlie D.
After shutting down panels at 12:30 AM again — which is a very reasonable time, Jeffrey (j/k lol 
) —I cleaned up some mysterious spilled ice and crashed.
Sunday
The pre-post-con depression set in almost immediately, but we powered through.
The big thing in the morning was the Fanfic Authors meetup. I got to see Categorical Grant, Coffee, Noteworthy, Silly Duck, Eye-C Fox, and so many others. I had to duck out a bit early (duty calls), but we had a great discussion about tons of stuff. The meetup is always a highlight of the con for me, and I'm so glad I made time for it.
This is always a highlight of my convention.
The last big event was, of course, the charity auction. My wallet actually escaped relatively unscathed this time, despite my best efforts, but I ended up with a cool mascot print and a signed Blue Bobbin button. All told, we raised $15,000 for Generations Against Bullying this weekend, which I'm immensely proud to have been a part of.
After helping with cleanup (I'm getting really good at counter-coiling cables), I went to dinner with Charlie D., Zari, and Squirrel. I was sad to miss the staff dinner, but I been blowing off a lot of my other friends all weekend. We had dinner at Lou Malnati's, and it was a grand time. Zari was even kind enough to buy me dinner!
I got to hang with the other staff folks at the dead dog party, where there was some good conversation, some good booze, and Molort (shudder). I got to finally talk with Amber a bit as well as run into someone from college, which was fun. Fiaura was a fantastic barkeep, and we took the traditional "evoloution of beards" picture.
After that, I pretended to pack for a bit, then fell asleep.
Monday
Charlie and I got up early, which ended up being totally unnecessary, and after some delays, we made it home. As is becoming tradition, we watched an episode of MLP (A Royal Problem this time around) to help stave off the post con depression. Charlie left, I slept for 3 hours, then I woke up and had dinner before crashing into bed.
Lightning Round
Here are some other fun things I didn't squeeze in earlier or that I can't remember when they happened.
--I want to do a collab with Fiaura, who's rapidly becoming one of my favorite people in the fandom
--I got Larson to crack over the line "Boulder steels himself," which I will remember fondly forever
--I offloaded 11 of the 16 copies of Sensation that I brought with. Whoo-hoo!
Wrapping it Up
Whinny City is my favorite convention. The people, the hotel, the atmosphere, it's all great, and I hope we still have several good years ahead of us. I didn't get to participate in much this year due to my staffing duties, but honestly, I don’t mind. It's enough for me to know I'm helping other folks have a good time and making them smile.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sign a bunch of books before the con crud overtakes me.
I'm delighted to hear that regardless of not everything going according to plan you've had a great experience keeping the con running.
If that very cool thin was anything like the last one it must have been amazing, especially with shipping involved.
Glad to hear Sensation has proven to have been quite popular.
Great to see everything mostly went well, sounds like it was a lot of fun.
Although, now you've got me wondering what that "Very Cool Thing" ya did was about... Hmm...
Sounds like you had a good time. I really need to make it to a con one of these days.
That sounds pretty good. I don't drink a lot, although that's partially because i have no idea what I like and don't like so a tasting would be great.
Hello! If the Blue Bobbin pin you purchased was the “Is The Best Pony” one, then that was designed by me (I’m AfroThunder on the con circuit)! Thank you so much for your absolutely generous purchase! I only got to see the last hour of the auction due to being in the vendor hall, but someone informed me that one of my buttons had been donated and I was pretty ecstatic. Thanks again!
4842909
Thanks, Wireframe! It was a great con, and I really need to get back to your message. XD I'll try to do so soon!
4842933
You may be able to sleuth it out if you ask the right folks. Suffice to say, it's just about every fanfic author's dream, and I'm honored I got to do it.
4842935
I hope you're able to make it! Remind me, are you in the Midwest? Ciderfest is in October (on my birthday, even), and Whinny City is my favorite con.
4843214
Hey there! Yep, that was me! It was for a good cause, so I was happy to do it. Those buttons are fantastic, and I think I also bought a signed Starlight Glimmer one a while back.
...do you happen to carry any Soarin'/Braeburn ones?
4845548
No, i'm actually west coast. Although i'd be willing to head out for a con, i've never really been out there before so it'd be interesting to see the area. I might actually be able to make it out next year, we'll see.
4845549
4845549
Very awesome! I actually do have a Soarin’ one, but I don’t have a Braeburn design...however that may soon change since I’ve had several requests for him within the last few months. I noticed that you mentioned Ciderfest in an earlier comment—if you happen to make it to that convention, I should be there also and have him finished by then.
4845631
I'll keep my hooves crossed!
4845920
Awesome! I'll definitely be at Ciderfest. I'm slated to be the Programming Director again, so it's pretty much a guarantee. Bonus points if you have a "Soarburn is best ship" button.
4846233
I'm hopefull. My plan is to graduate in March, so I'll finally have some free time, and even if I don't it'll just be writing my thesis so I'd be able to get some time off. Plus I should actually have some money coming in this summer.
4846634
Nice! You're so close to the end. You've got this!
4846900
yeah, I guess i'm pretty close. It doesn't really feel like it though, i'm just starting my thesis.
4847075
It can be overwhelming, but you'll be able to do it. Best of luck with it!
4847666
Thanks. I've done massive projects before, just not a thesis. I'm feeling pretty good about it, I have a solid plan and managed to figure out a way to work around the hardest aspects (it helps that I can just work on it for class projects as well).