Conclave 30 Report

[giza]

I had a fun time at Conclave this year. It was my first ever science fiction convention. Total attendance was a few hundred, and it made for a nice relaxed atmosphere that wasn't very crowded. I noticed a few things that were in stark contract to my experiences with Anthrocon:

- Setup began on Friday afternoon and only took a few hours.
- Teardown started on Sunday afternoon and only took a few hours
- Most people left on Sunday. Very few folks stayed until Monday.
- The dances had much less equipment used for them.

Actual stuff I did while at Conclave:

- I got to see a bunch of the DI again
- I was on 3 panels in total. Two were an introduction to the furry fandom, and the third was about actually running conventions.
- I attended a few panels. One was called "Fun with liquid nitrogen", and another was called, "Things that go boom!". I'm sure folks can guess what they were about.
- I got a few ideas for neat things to do from a convention running standpoint.
- I drank coffee after midnight.
- I bought 3 books from the Dealers' Room. My goal is to read all of them by Thanksgiving.

Ham radio repeater coverage was pretty bad, as there were only 3 repeaters in Lansing, and they were ~15 miles away from the hotel. I was told that next year's Conclave will be held much closer to Detroit Airport, so that should make for better repeater coverage. Obviously, I intend to return next year.

I'll post pictures in a bit. Right now, I've got some other web projects that I'm working on.