Conclusion of Balticon
Now to sum up my reports on Balticon. One of the things that I went on a quest to learn was how they got a fan-film festival, live skits, and a computer gaming room. The answer is, that they have pre-existing organizations in that area focusing on those activities. Baltimore Gamers Alliance, for example, provided all the equipment for Balticon's multiplayer gaming. They're an organization that pools their money to buy hardware and software they own mutually, which is all dedicated to network with a minimum of problems. The convention just relies on them. Mystery solved.
It's a little-known fact that you can show up on a wing and a prayer and ingratiate yourself into some conventions illicitly, if you spend the whole day Friday doing volunteer work. Sadly, I never had the pleasure of meeting Lillian Cauldwell, under whose membership I was supposed to be attending. Despite our best efforts the two of us kept getting the wires crossed. So, after I had been registering people and checking badges in the dealer's room despite not having a badge myself, and having been left alone working Ops at a convention I had only first heard of two weeks ago and no one there had ever heard of me, they figured they may as well make me a member. Yahoo! I ended up working 11 hours, although one hour of that time I was asleep in the wee A.M. in the anime room. Volunteering for that job was a mistake, given that I woke up at 3:00 A.M. Friday to make the nine-hour drive. The staff even let me sleep on the floor and the couch in the bi-level suite on the top two floors of the hotel. The lesson here is that conventions love volunteers.
Much of the actual con experience was no different from the conventions I've attended which were half of the size. But there were a few exceptions. What they refer to as the convention program book is a glossy 8.5x11" souvenir book with a full-color cardstock cover, and mostly doubles as their amateur press association; while what they refer to as a "pocket program" is the same size and binding of the full-fledged program books I'm used to (only with fewer pages) and this is published much closer to the con to offer flexibility for the actual schedule which it contains. They used the excess cardstock that would otherwise have been trimmed off the souvenir book's cover and wasted: this material was cut into the full-color name badges. They can afford their own soda fountain in the consuite, and the audio-visual equipment made much better opening ceremonies and other presentations in the main auditorium. But having twice as many people did not actually mean they had, for one example, twice as many parties. In fact they had fewer, which were standing-room only and overflowed into the hallways and elevator waiting area. The dealer's room and art show were no bigger than usual -- although they don't have to be -- and I liked them both.
I also learned, yes, a person can live off of consuite food for four days.
Balticon's director of signage and publications, Filthy Pierre, is a congenial fellow who entertained the line of people waiting to get a seat in the film festival, by playing a keyboard that he blows into through a tube to create an organ-like sound. For a dollar he sold me a detailed set of instructions, resource contacts and blueprints to build a nice collapsible literature rack in my own job as Penguicon's Minister of Propaganda.
On Sunday I worked in consuite with Kate, who chairs NonCon, a convention at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, hosted by the Nonhuman Students Organization. Kate speaks with an accent she describes as "New York by way of England."
The only real downside to Balticon was certainly no fault of theirs. Through stupid negligence, I mislaid my suitcase full of games. After searching the game room and the lost-and-found at Ops, I had to go home without it. Happily, I received word today that it had been turned in at registration to someone who didn't know the found-property process. When I phoned Balticon's volunteer director Jonette, we made arrangements to bring it back to me. She knew that although I had put on a "bravely philosophical" view, the case contained some hand-made original game equipment of my own design and some rare purchases. I really appreciate the staff there.
And that brings me to the final point about my insane last-minute adventure in Baltimore. As I drove home, I didn't feel sad about losing my bag and having to pay so much money for parking and toll roads. These are just things. Even the rare and handmade games were replaceable. The sense of loss I felt came as I thought back to each memory of the weekend, and thought, "I'm probably never going to see that person again." I'd like to thank Dale Arnold, Seth Rosenberg, Jonette Butler, Kate Secor, Earl Newton, Molly, Julliette, Ann-Marie and Patty for making this expedition fun, educational and memorable.
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