Timegate 2008

Well, Timegate is now an official capital-C Con.

This was our first time as a multi-day event; previous Timegates were one-day events held at the Tucker Elks Lodge.

The great thing is, in almost all respects, the con was a raging success. I tried to talk to as many people as I could, and the feedback was universally positive. Everybody seemed to have a really, really good time.

Our two "A-list" media guests, Tony "Master Bra'Tac" Amendola and John "Sgt. Benton" Levene, were both a hit. They were both extremely happy to be there with the fans, and it definitely showed. It was absolutely wonderful to have them; they were engaging, funny, charming, and all-around great con guests. To say they made themselves available would be an understatement; they went out of their way to meet and talk to as many people as they could.

In addition, Dr. Kevin Grazier, scientific adviser for Battlestar Galactica and Eureka, was extremely popular with the congoers. Of course, he couldn't tell us anything he knew about where the shows were going, but I definitely got the impression that the next run of BSG is going to make the series up until now seem like rainbows and lollipops (granted, I largely came to this conclusion before I even met the guy, but hey).

Kevin's sense of humor is a bit on the goofy side, which certainly made him fun to hang around with. As mentioned in a previous post, a highlight of the con for me was watching the Mars landing live, while he explained who people were and what was going on.

Louie Robinson has been at the past couple of Timegates, and he is one of my personal favorite guests. Today he's a singer-songwriter here in Atlanta, but back in the 70s he worked for the BBC as a sound tech, where he worked on...Doctor Who. He and John had a great time talking about The Old Days, when Jon Pertwee was the Doctor and the Daleks could still be thwarted by a set of stairs. Louie's interests are wide and varied, and he's a huge Sherlock Holmes fan—it wasn't 100% on-topic for the con, but the Sherlock Holmes panel he did was really popular, and I'd like to do it again next year.

A particular hit, which didn't surprise me in the least, was our con suite. Theresa, the woman who volunteered to run it, is a phenomenal cook who enjoys cooking for people. We've been treated to her cooking at the past few Timegates, and it is not to be missed. A highlight of the weekend was the British-style afternoon tea on Saturday, with freshly brewed tea and all sorts of yummy English munchies.

On Saturday night we had a Cabaret, involving performances by John, Tony, and Louie. Admission was $5.00, which went to Habitat for Humanity and PAWS. I admit, I was skeptical of the idea; I have a long, long list of interests, and the word "Cabaret" does not appear near the top.

Until Saturday evening, ticket sales for the Cabaret were very low. We didn't want to embarrass ourselves (and our guests) with a pitiful turnout, so we did some aggressive selling and tried to get the word out. Once people realized that it was the guests performing, and that it wasn't a general talent show, people started getting interested, and by time it was ready to go we had a pretty long line to get into the room. People really enjoyed it, too, which makes me think it might be worth doing again next year. (I think the general lesson here is to do a better job informing people about it before or as they register.)

In addition to the Cabaret, we had a number of performances through the weekend, from ARTC, MRAP, Professor Satyre's Sci-Fried Sideshow, and Hyperdrive, all of whom received rave reviews.

The hotel is, for the most part, ideal. The space seems wonderfully suited for cons, with the ballrooms and conference rooms all facing a central atrium with lots of seating space. There were a number of complaints about slow service at the bar and in the restaurant, though, and we'll definitely be discussing that with the hotel.

The only down side to the weekend was that due to some last-minute cancellations, we didn't make our room count, and turnout was a little light (around 250 people). So we're looking at ways to raise some money to cover our losses, and unfortunately we're going to have to think long and hard about how much we spend next year.

The first con is the toughest, a proving ground for future events. I don't know how much we can conclude about why more people didn't come, but I'm sure the rising gas prices played a role. But with everyone telling us how much they enjoyed themselves, I have absolute confidence that next year attendance will be significantly higher. We geeks aren't known for keeping our opinions to ourselves, after all.

I know I'm missing some things, particularly our other wonderful guests (namely Jana Oliver, Lars and Christa Pearson, and David Harmer), but the Sleep Demon is once again approaching and demanding my immediate and total submission.

In summary, though, I think for our first year as a Con, Timegate was a massive success. I'd like to extend hearty thanks to our staff, our guests, and most of all, to the congoers. See you next year!