There are many things in my life that keep my Ever-Ticking Brain, well, ticking. This website is certainly one, as is its companion site, Convention Awareness Project - Texas. The of course there is the United States of Geekdom, my other podcasting home. But once a year, for eight year prior, there has been a special annual event that has been a major part of my life. That would be All-Con.
By way of a brief history of the show and my association with it I will share a few thoughts of what has come before to better illustrate what lies ahead with this incredible convention.
Way back in 2005 a friend arrived at the weekend shop that Mrs. JediCole and I ran to tell us that he and his wife were part of a group starting up a new convention. We were asked if we would be interested in selling in their Dealer's Room, which naturally we were. To make a long story short, every dealer other than us (A Piece of the Action Collectibles at the time) backed out and left us the only dealer for the weekend. As a result we brought nearly everything in the store out including some portable fixtures!
The next year we returned as dealers but decided to do more. We offered to produce a game show, Geek Match Game, once daily for all three days of the convention. All-Con graciously gave us access to their celebrity guests and the shows were a huge hit. Sadly the next year another convention which we had been selling at as dealers for a decade was scheduled the same weekend as All-Con and my sole participation that weekend was two hours as part of the cast of VaderCast and their Fear Factor show. The rest of that weekend I was at the other show.
After that we determined that we were going to make All-Con our just for fun show and not have to worry about running tables and selling. Game shows and even the odd talk show became the order of the day and remain so to this day. While some game shows have come and gone, others have proved ideal for the convention format and will be back for 2013. In addition to all of that I have had the good fortune to be a judge in the Ms. Star Wars pageant during its first two years, a judge for the All-Con Costume Contest all but that one absentee year, and a co-host for charity auctions and the opening and closing ceremonies.
With over 200 events (panels, game shows, screenings, stage shows) all weekend, being able to say I am in close to ten percent of these still has me wondering how I manage to squeeze all of that into three days. Frankly I don't know how All-Con squeezes so much into three days! But that is what makes it my favorite convention stop every year! From the universally approachable aspects like "how to" panels, to live readings by authors, to screenings of fan films and even "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog" to the more adults only aspects like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" shadowcast and the annual burlesque performance, All-Con truly is all-encompassing.
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| All-Con 2013's Theme: Fractured Time |
In the coming days and weeks I will be writing extensively on the All-Con experience past (here and at the USG) and future (at Convention Awareness Project - Texas). There is so much ground to cover and little time to do so before the show weekend itself. I hope that these features will convince anyone who might be able to attend but has not in years past to give this incredible convention a try. A glimpse at the 2013 schedule will reveal that there is literally so much going on at the same time in almost any given hour that you have to pick and choose what you want to do when. And that is what a convention should be like in my opinion.
And should you make it to All-Con 2013 and happen to spot me at some of my events or just racing through the hotel, please say hello, I really do love meeting folks who have enjoyed my writing and podcasting over the years.
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