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CopperCon 33
Aug. 12th, 2013 11:02 amWe got back from CopperCon yesterday. It was the smallest Con, in terms of membership, that I have ever attended. The organizer did nearly zero advertising (because he was worried about exceeding the hotel's capacity - *snerk*), and he filled the programing and dealers room with comic book related things. This was supposed to be a SciFi Con, not a Comic Con. There was no Art Show (but they cut that out last year, because CopperCon is supposed to be a Literary Con *eye roll*), no Filk guest of honor, no Filk programing at all - except for a last minute scheduling of Hubby's concert of New Space songs and evening Filking in Gary's hotel room, no science track in the program - the only science panel at all was the new space talk by Henry Vanderbilt that took place after Hubby's concert, there were almost no writing related panels - remember this is supposed to be a literary con - except as related to comic books, the Con Suite was pathetic (though the people hosting were very friendly and I feel bad pointing out how bad it was) basically chips and cookies and water and sodas - on the last night they had nachos, which was a shock after the fare the rest of the weekend, no Regency Dancing*, and no masquerade (admittedly, there hasn't been a masquerade in several of the cons we've attended in the past few years, but I thought at least a masquerade might fit in with all the Cosplay stuff the guy was pushing).
One good part was the author guest of honor - L. E. Modesitt. He was approachable, interesting, and an entertaining panelist. I had read some of his stuff over 20 years ago, so I took the opportunity to buy some of his books and get them signed. I attended one of his panels, after hearing how good a panelist he was, and I'm glad I did.
Hubby and the girls and I also participated in the Scifi Jeopardy game, something Hubby had done in the past (he won me a Slytherin T-shirt one time), but I had never tried before. Except that we had to start 45 mins late because the Charity auction in their programing space ran long, thus only had time for one game, it was fun and I plan to do it again at other Cons.
CopperCon used to be a really good Con, then a few years back it started suffering and the changes the organizers made to try to help, just damaged it even more. This year, I believe, was the killing blow. I expect there will be no CopperCon next year.
I felt marginalized. Written off as so close to death that my interests and desires were not valuable, the things I loved about a Con were not worth considering, since I wouldn't be around long enough to matter. The head muckety-muck was right about one thing, I won't be around. This was the last CopperCon we will be attending for the foreseeable future.
I hope in a few years someone will pick it up, dust it off, and try to revive CoperCon. Someone who doesn't think the only people worth paying attention to are between the ages of 18 and 30. Then we might reconsider.
*When I complained to the head guy about this he told me that there was a dance that night, so he didn't understand why I was upset that there was no Regency Dancing. *blink blink* Umm...not the same thing dude. I wish I had thought of this in the moment, but the best way to explain it for those who may not be familiar with Regency Dancing, it's like if I asked for a belly dancing panel and he told me there was going to be a ball that night. It's a chance to learn a skill set, not bust a move to random music at a party. Hubby checked out the dance for me that night, to confirm my suspicions - it had a DJ and two people hanging out, and the DJ told him it had been that way all night.
One good part was the author guest of honor - L. E. Modesitt. He was approachable, interesting, and an entertaining panelist. I had read some of his stuff over 20 years ago, so I took the opportunity to buy some of his books and get them signed. I attended one of his panels, after hearing how good a panelist he was, and I'm glad I did.
Hubby and the girls and I also participated in the Scifi Jeopardy game, something Hubby had done in the past (he won me a Slytherin T-shirt one time), but I had never tried before. Except that we had to start 45 mins late because the Charity auction in their programing space ran long, thus only had time for one game, it was fun and I plan to do it again at other Cons.
CopperCon used to be a really good Con, then a few years back it started suffering and the changes the organizers made to try to help, just damaged it even more. This year, I believe, was the killing blow. I expect there will be no CopperCon next year.
I felt marginalized. Written off as so close to death that my interests and desires were not valuable, the things I loved about a Con were not worth considering, since I wouldn't be around long enough to matter. The head muckety-muck was right about one thing, I won't be around. This was the last CopperCon we will be attending for the foreseeable future.
I hope in a few years someone will pick it up, dust it off, and try to revive CoperCon. Someone who doesn't think the only people worth paying attention to are between the ages of 18 and 30. Then we might reconsider.
*When I complained to the head guy about this he told me that there was a dance that night, so he didn't understand why I was upset that there was no Regency Dancing. *blink blink* Umm...not the same thing dude. I wish I had thought of this in the moment, but the best way to explain it for those who may not be familiar with Regency Dancing, it's like if I asked for a belly dancing panel and he told me there was going to be a ball that night. It's a chance to learn a skill set, not bust a move to random music at a party. Hubby checked out the dance for me that night, to confirm my suspicions - it had a DJ and two people hanging out, and the DJ told him it had been that way all night.
