Why go to a Con?
By Rallen Jervis
In this article, I try to address some of the reasons one might want to go to a con, and relate some of my experiences along the way.
(Note: As in life, a certain amount of risk is involved in all the following endeavors. These are my opinions, and I acknowledge the many other possible reasons to go to a convention. Your mileage may vary... )
1) Meeting SF/F authors and Artists: One of the few areas where the mundane and Faanish worlds overlap well, is in the area of Pros. This is something you can share with your non-fannish friends. Or meet new ones. You can walk into Waldenbooks and see someone checking out the new David Brin book and say something impressive like "Oh yeah, David Brin. He's a nice guy in person." There's a conversation and possibly a new friendship started that easily. You can see a commercial on TV for a new movie and say to your wife "I met the guy that wrote the book this movie's based on. " (perhaps not that awkwardly (smiley))
2) To Meet friends that would not otherwise be all in the same place. This was a reason early on that took me to conventions. I was in a comic fan club and all my communications with the other members had been thru letters and brief, closely budgeted phone calls. I found though, that I had a lot of similar interests other than just the fan club. Unable to cajole the lot of them to come to rural Indiana, I took the other route and went to Chicago to meet them. About eight key members that I only knew thru their writings came to the con and we met, worked on stories, told jokes, and generally covered in a few hours what would have taken weeks or more in the mails.
3) Purchase neat toys and SF related items. I'm into neat toys. I like robots, and I like do-hickeys and thinga-ma-bobs of all kinds. I like seeing a phaser on Star Trek, and being able to buy a replica at a con. I like models of old movie monsters. I like Japanese animation cels--things that aren't necessarily available at your local Kmart. You can go to cons and buy these things. You can buy tribbles if you want. You can by songs about the Dorsai, about Dragons. You can buy toy cats with batwings. You can get chainmail and swords. You can get latex face-huggers and comic books about angst ridden equine-morphs. You name it, and if it's at all related to Science Fiction or Fantasy, its been in a "Huckster's" or Dealer's room. Oh and they sell books, too.
4) Give a hand. Several of those friends that I met thru the fan club volunteered to help out with the actual convention. They watched doors, checked badges, set up chairs, and sold hot-dogs in the ConSuite. They helped people with huge costumes on and off the stage, they blew up balloons for the dance. They sat at the registration table and checked in people attending the con. And they have fun doing it. It looked like fun too, even standing at a door, and exchanging banter with the nearby dealers and the folk coming in and out the door. That was fun. I saw it was fun, and I tried it and it was goodly fun. It was work, yes...but it was fun too. When you work on a con, you get to meet some of the best people in attendance. The people you work with are the ones who really care, and it's nice to be included in that number.
5) Dance and talk my fool head off. I don't feel comfortable going to danceclubs in my area. I don't think I'm a great dancer. I don't think I know any of the new songs or dance crazes well enough to hold my own at the local dance club. None of this matters at a con. You can dance a waltz in the middle of "paradise by the dashboard light" if you want. You can start a troika line if you want. You don't need a single lesson to get out there and get your mojo working. Having a partner to dance with is a bonus, but not a requirement by any means. It took me a while to learn this. This aspect of fandom closely parallels the mundane counterpart, and some of the social customs tend to carry over. If I'm together enough to drive to Chicago and spend a weekend with 900 SF/F fans, and IF I'm with it enough to wear a StarFleet uniform around the con, even to go to the restaurant in the hotel and eat lunch while looking like an extra from "the wrath of Khan," then I'm with it enough to get out on a dance floor and dance! The other people on the dance floor have had similar days, and several will be in costumes as well. I remember dancing on a dance floor with a harpy and a minotaur. I've danced with a harem girl who came in with a ninja turtle. IF you think I got looks a lunch, try eating Chinese in a Turtle costume! Now you will still have the wallflowers, the people who are just there to listen, and some who don't want to dance with you. That's life most anyplace you go to dance.
6) To dress in some sort of SF/F costume and hang out with other people who do so. This is always cooler in groups. Picking something that has wide popularity helps. The StarFleet uniform is easily recognizable, and there are goodly odds of finding another person walking around like that. If you are the only one in costume, you have to get the mindset that you are comfortable that way. I find that if you look or feel out of sorts in your costume, then you project that to others around you. This is a learned response. And costuming like other aspects of fandom, is not for everyone. A lot of work goes into most costumes, and a lot of money. To expose yourself to open inspection by the masses is a risky thing. You should work into this, sort of test the waters at a Halloween party, or visit some of the `re-enactment' groups where virtually everyone attending are in some sort of costume. This will be valuable experience.
Be prepared to `pass muster' before people who have seen an episode of Star Trek or Babylon V, or Planet of the Apes...whatever. For myself, the toughest critics seem to be children. I have a Uniform based on the ones in Star Trek II. These are red with the white shoulder-strap. At GenCon this past August, I had a kid ask me what I was supposed to be, and when I told him I was a StarFleet officer he squinted up his face and said "NO you're not!" I blame his parents for ignoring the classic background he so sorely needed. (wink!) Later that same weekend, a kid in glasses and a Klingon costume came up to me in the dealer's room and declared that I was wearing 3 different ranks on my jacket. This, once explained was cool, crossing the generations and all that. But there was some awkwardness to start with, being put on the spot and being asked to defend yourself--Like being challenged at the border crossing. However, there is a moment, when you find yourself seated at a table with 13 other people in various costumes from Star Trek, and you have to smile. "this looks cool." For in some small way, you've been given a taste of what is otherwise reserved for actors on TV.
7) Learn about some upcoming movies , and maybe see some that I missed along the way. This harkens back a bit to the famous Author reference. In that you can get lotsa details at cons about movies coming out. About how they did movies that are out. (SFX is another of my passions) and there's a movie room that's practically 24 hours of the best (and worse ) SF/f has to offer. Its neat to see movies at cons in a room full of fans. They tend to get the same jokes you get. I recall several times getting some subtext or reference in a movie that no one else there got. And feeling well, `marooned' among all those people, not having anyone I could explain that too. Who would Get It. In a con the whole room might break up into peals of laughter at the same line. This again is that `feel' I enjoy at cons. The `sensawonder'.
8) Go out to eat with friends in new and exciting locations. This is sometimes done in costume, but mostly you go in street clothes to a nice Chinese restaurant, or to a steak house. A taste of the local cuisine. Many cons include a restaurant guide with their program guide. (A convenient thing to hang onto for when you return to the area in-between cons.) My friends and I have one faanish tradition, and that's to go to breakfast on Saturday morning either at the hotel restaurant, or a nearby bob-Evan's, wearing Hawaiian style shirts. This is called the "Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force" and started as an excuse to not dress up for breakfast, and then dress again for the con. Now in its fifth year, it is a "Thing To Do." Hawaiian shirts are accepted dress code at cons, due in part to their comfort, and the fact that you tend not to run in and out all day, and don't need to wear something heavier. That and theme parties like the "ever floating Beach party" that some of my other close friends have at cons they attend.
9) Enjoy the unique "feel" of being amongst like minded individuals. I've made reference to this feeling more than once here. Let's address it directly. There is this `feel' for want of a better word. A feel that's part "belonging" part a sense of wonder. Part wide eyed "oh wow" at finding someone who Has read the same books, seen the same movies, and done the same slightly off the wall things. Its like a homecoming. A bit of you that `clicks' with someone else, a bit that says "So I'm NOT the only One!"
10) To share this really neat place/time/thing I've discovered with people who're are new to Fandom. This is a fun thing to do. Once you've gotten your own feet wet in fandom, and have done some of the fun things you can do at cons. Go find someone you know that would be interested, and bring them into the fold. Watch their expression at all the strange and wondrous sights you show them. Smile and say "Yeah, that's how I reacted too." Share the sense of camaraderie. You'll have more to talk about after one weekend at a con, than you've had in months. This is a Good Thing. This my friends, is really what the MSFFA is all about.
11) Learn to write/sing/draw better. You can learn stuff at cons. Its true. Cons have panels on many subjects. They have writer's workshops, they have an artist's jam. where you can look over someone's shoulder and see how to apply that duo-tone paper. You can see people sculpting in glass, and learn how to make masks and armor out of fiberglass, or steel links. You can learn about the Internet, some cons even have access set up for you to try out. There are trips out into the night to watch the skies. There have been panels on massage. There are people who will loan you their guitar so you can share a funny song you once heard (and there's those that won't want to. Always ask first.) There are editors who will do panels on how to get your work published. If you are willing to learn, and to ask questions. There is plenty out there that you can learn at a con.
12) More stuff than I can shake a stick at. There's probably as many reasons to go to cons are there are conventioneers. These are just a few, and they keep me coming back. Go to a con, and find your own reason for staying.
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