Farpoint: Conventions Doing it Right

I’m no expert in the backend of running a Con, and I won’t tell you that Farpoint was the be all end all. I have little point of comparison. (You can see the little list of Cons I’ve spoken at/will speak at in the future over to the side.) I’ve never been to Dragon*Con or San Diego Comic Con and I doubt I will any time soon. When I think of a convention, I really am thinking of small to medium sized fan-run conventions. Gencon Indy is the biggest I’ve gone too and plan to continue to go to since it’s such a big deal for pen and paper RPGs.

All that in mind, from a speaker/panelist point of view, I was happy and sane by the end of Farpoint, and sane at the end of a convention where you’re doing more than one panel is a sort of state of Nirvana. (Especially when you consider I was carrying around a three month old with me the whole time.)

The staff was knowledgeable and helpful without being fussy or snotty. (Sad fact, snotty staff at a convention kills a good day for me faster than pigs blood on my new prom dress.)

What’s more, things were set up so that I didn’t even have to talk to staff if I didn’t want to! Really, I actually had all the information I needed at hand from check in to leaving. How is this possible, you might ask? Pay close attention other conventions, I’m talking to you.

When we checked in, we got our passes, and typed clearly on the back was a little list for me of times, places, and panels I was supposed to be at. Holy heck, I geeked out about the convince of that pretty much all weekend. I know, it’s a small detail, and I don’t know how much time I took to prepare that little luxury, but it seemed like it saved me so much work and I hope saved staffers work as well.

Eli Senter was our point of contact and I think doing the main wrangling for the DIY portion of the convention. Great work, great stuff and he was oh-so-friendly. I’d work with him at any con in a heartbeat. He answered emails! Do you know how awesome that is with convention staff? Even weird emails like, ‘what panels am I on?’

Some of the panels had a bit of low turn out, but hey, that happens when Felicia Day is down the hall signing autographs. As my friend Kelly mentioned over at her Con report, a little descriptor on the schedule and by the doors might have been nice, but I’ve come to think that if I’m a speaker, there’s a little bit of self-advertising I need to do anyway.

That said, I plan on going back to Farpoint next year as a speaker or even just and attendee, the atmosphere was fantastic, the staff was great, and you can’t beat good solid organization.

Other People who rocked Farpoint for me:

Sally Catlin, who did a really beautiful job at the World Building panel and pointed me toward Little Details.

Blake Schreurs for the Angry Prostitutes.

Sarah Martinez spoke with a really level head about geeking-for-profit. This lady knows how to promote without being the least bit pushy of self-centered.

Gavin Schmitt for creating grudges left and right, as well as one hell of a game title.

Nobilis because Dragon Age RPG, Fuck yay! A perfect con game with you in charge, sir.

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