[Writing Blog][Conventions] ConDFW XV Roundup
It’s a busy day. But it’s still Wednesday…and wow. Where do I begin with ConDFW? After a few years of relatively light programming, this year was Full Steam Ahead (especially Saturday). I LOVE being busy – make it worth the investment to attend, and books were sold. So yay!
All pictures from John Husisian.
The actual convention part of the weekend was great. After seeing some decline in numbers, the attendance seemed steady or even a bit higher than past years, and I saw new faces in the panel rooms. THAT was happy making. All but one of my panels had significantly more audience members than panelists (and there were 5-6 panelists per panel). There were interesting discussions, even if there were differences of opinions, everyone was respectful and polite.
I talked a lot of shop. You’ll be seeing the fruits of some of those discussions in future posts. Some will be about the writing side, and some will be on the fandom side. On the writing side, there were amazing conversations triggering all kinds of plot bunnies – which is one of the BEST parts of doing conventions like this. Did a little business – which I’ll talk more about when it’s all firmed up.
The weird thing? No art show. Art Shows have been challenging for ConDFW over the years. At least two hotels had to have the art show tucked away with visibility and accessibility issues. I get the thinking behind it, and there might’ve been staffing issues as well, but still not a great plan. If you have art panels, you need an ability to show and sell art. It’s like having writers come and not letting them sell books. It’s revenue generating for the convention, but it’s also part of the art world. I heard more than one person asking where the art show was.
Fortunately, this is the last year in the Lincoln Center Hilton. The hotel, while lovely, has some logistic issues that didn’t make it very conducive to this kind of event. Though I think the convention staff did the best they could with the hotel, they are moving forward with finding a new venue (YAY!). But for others who are thinking of running or are in the process of running – these are things to think about when searching out hotels.
1. The PRO – all the panel rooms were along one hall, but on two floors. CON – the escalator was super narrow. I THINK the main hotel elevators went to the bottom floor, but they were quite a ways from the rooms. I really don’t know how they were accessed. Accessibility is a HUGE issue right now.
2. CON – The Dealers’ Room and Gallery were rooms tucked around elevators and the bar. They had ramps, but that meant the Dealer’s Room had TWO doors (the ramp was on the far side of the room) and the Gallery you had to suss it out around the bar. With such odd bits and tucks, it makes it difficult for people to SEE and FEEL – which meant they were less likely to part with money.
3. CON – Zero tolerance anti-party hotel policy. This is a holdover from last year when, the hotel shut down every party by 9:30 – 10pm. This hurts the convention. Many local fans get hotel rooms when they anticipate an active night life. If there are no parties, there’s no reason for them or other groups to spend the money on rooms, supplies, etc. Don’t take verbal agreements on this, get it in writing!
4. PRO – The central seating area in the lobby. The furniture was comfortable and plentiful. It was easy to find people and converse. CON – that area flowed into the open bar area. And heaven help you if you took food over the line from one to the other. I watched the bar chase out several groups for having “outside” food.
5. CON – Which leads to FOOD. There was no good options here. There was an overpriced hotel Starbucks, the bar, and an EXTREMELY OVERPRICED hotel restaurant. PERIOD. I went to the consuite TWICE to find…nothing. Whatever food there might’ve been was Piranhaed within five minutes. And when you’re booked solid one whole day, that’s an issue.
6. CON – PARKING. I know in urban areas paying for parking is a given. The hotel offered some parking privileges last year – but not this year. Free parking was SPARSE – and the fees were not pleasant especially if you had to send someone out during the day to get food – or found someone with a hotel room key to go for you.
Overall, ConDFW was a success for me. Yay. Looking forward to seeing how things shake out. Hopefully changes in venue can keep the convention going. This is still a vital and important convention to the professionals and fandom.
2 Comments
Ditto on much of that, especially the lack of room parties. We were seriously bummed by this.
And yes, it sucked that there was no reasonable food within walking distance, which is doubly worse when you’re paying for each in/out of the parking lot.
(And also a confession: I scraped the last half-bowl of chili out of the pot, just before you walked into the con-suite. Someday I’ll show up at one of your afternoon panels with the pizza of your choice to make up for it.)
And the art show was sorely missed. Without ApolloCon this year, we’re down by two art shows.
I like sausage and mushrooms on my pizza. 😎
But yeah, paid parking is a bug turn off for me.
Really bummed about ApolloCon!