Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Great Idea

10 (76.9%)

Terrible Idea

3 (23.1%)

Total Members Voted: 12

Voting closed: June 16, 2005, 03:26:52 pm

[pmcd9]

I have an idea.  I think it's time to organize an Achewood Convention.  We've talked about this before, but aside from a few of y'all spending an afternoon at the Washington zoo, there has never been a gathering of Achewood fans.  And I think it's about time for that to occur, don't you think?  The comic is pushing four years and this board is nearly two.  Despite what Onstad may believe, I'm sure that most of his fans [a solid 70 percent at least] are well adjusted normal people.  Wouldn't it be great to gather together in a room with like minded people eating Achewood themed food and listening to Achewood themed music?  Also, perhaps watching Achewood themed multimedia presentations?  I know I would.

Therefore I propose the First Annual Achewood Fans Convention to be held on September 24, 2005 in San Francisco California.  The way I see it, the way to make this thing a big success we need a big attraction and  the biggest attraction we'll ever have is to somehow manage to get Chris Onstad himself to attend.  I think we can achieve this if we use the proper inticement.  I'm talking of course about money.  If enough people participate, i'm sure a modest stipend could be arranged.  But the real money would be in the special Achewood Convention apparel and accessories he would have ample time to design and manufacture in advance of the gathering.  Hey Onstad, do you want to sell, oh I don't know, 50-100 shirts in one afternoon?  I'll bet you would, and you could if you come to the convention.

I've never organized anything like this before, but i'm sure it could be done.  Who thinks this is a good idea?

~Paul

[andalucia]

I wouldn't be able to go, likely, since that's really far away, and since I have school, I wouldn't be able to stay longer than a weekend, so it wouldn't really be worth it financially.  As much as that is a totally awesome idea in which I would like to participate.

[V-Adore]

I like the general idea but have no possible way of getting to San Francisco on that weekend, so... yeah. Maybe it would be better to open consideration of where and when. Also, three months is a way inadequate amount of time to plan a convention of any size, especially if actual hotel space is involved. Trust me on this.

[Ben-San]

Seconding V's concerns. Do not underestimate the terror of trying to run even a minicon. Actually, in some ways (getting any kind of respect from hotels, frex) minicons are more agonizing to run than big cons.

[AugustWest]

I don't know, Paul.  Couldn't you come up with a more expensive venue?  I understand Tokyo is even farther away and more costly...

Kidding, sort of.  Great idea, I'd love to participate but I don't see the finances for a trip to San Francisco coming together this year.

[V-Adore]

Okay, so I've thought about this more. (Perhaps way too much, actually.) My thoughts are that there are a lot of factors here that need to be considered carefully before we make any firm commitments. Here are the ones I've thought of:

1) Target Audience / Publicity

Simply put, who is this con for? Is it for just the Acheboard crew, or is it intended to be aimed at all Achewood fans, TOUAMB-reading or not? If the intent is to reach out broader than this board, we also have to figure out how to publicize it to a broader Achewood fan audience. This is bound to be problematic unless we can get Onstad on board.

2) Location

This is pretty obviously a big deal; you want a location that is as convenient as possible to the most number of attendees. This means that you can't just pull a location out of your hat and go with it -- you actually need to figure out who is coming from where and find a decent compromise. (This is especially important if it's a small group, since with a sufficiently small group there will usually be obviously more or less convenient locations. If most of the people attending your con live in the southeast, it might be best to shoot for Atlanta over San Francisco.) Don't assume it has to be in a huge city if the attendance will be relatively small; as long as the location has a decent hotel willing to put up with a convention and reasonable amenities (restaurants, transportation hubs, etc.), its size is unimportant.

3) Costs

This is sort of tied up in location, but it's still a big deal. How much is this going to cost people, and is this a cost that your target attendees can pay? This is particularly important with something like a webcomics gathering, when a lot of your target audience is college kids and the like with limited incomes. Think about this.

4) Timing

Obviously, choose a weekend that people are going to be able to get free. This is mostly obvious -- major holiday weekends are probably bad, as are late September dates for college students, and so on.

5) Activities

The crux of the matter: what will actually happen at the convention? Will there be a lot of scheduled events, or is the focus just socialization? Do you have enough stuff to take up the length of the convention? An Achewood con strikes me as particularly problematic in this regard, since there's less intrinsically to do in regards to Achewood than there are other, more active enjoyments. You can't really just sit around and read the strips, you know? Where do you see these "multimedia presentations" coming from, anyway?

6) Guests/Onstad

I sort of have my doubts that Onstad will be willing to come to this sort of thing, given his apparent attitude towards the fans and towards this board in particular. You're right that merchandising might sway him, but I hesitate to bank on a massive merch rush; I don't want it to become an unspoken assumption of the con that everyone will buy a T-shirt. It also strikes me as having much potential for awkwardness.

Thoughts?

[AlohaDawg]

I would much rather go someplace where 3-10 of the longstanding members of the board are going to be also and hang out socially for a day or two then attend any size convention for the comic. I love the comic but it's not as big a draw as meeting and hanging out with some of you guys.

Also the poll needs a third option reflecting the idea of a social gathering without the need to organize a 'convention'. That's a pretty good idea.

V-Adore - good effort but you're thinking way too hard!

[bdeth dot com]

Ha. This is too, too weird. Too much weird. :|

[Limmo]

Seconding V-Adore's and Alohadawg's comments.

[pmcd9]

Ok, V, thanks for that post.  You've raised a lot of issues that i've thought about, but didn't address.  Let me see if I can answer your questions from my perspective.

1. Target Audience/Publicity:  I am banking on Onstad's participation.  If he's not interested, then my plan falls apart.  If he is on board, it can be assumed he would want there to be as much participation as possible and would therefore advertise the event on his site.

2. Location:  I chose San Fransico because I think Onstad lives somewhere in that vicinity.  I want to make it most convienient for him as to encourage his participation.

3. Cost:  I don't have any idea what it would cost to put it on.  But whatever it cost the laws of finance dictate that the greater the participation the lower the cost per individual.

4. Timing:  I originally was thinking August as a date, but I moved it to September because there is something else going on in Berkely that weekend, but as you've already pointed out, even September is too early.  I hadn't considered the fact that kids are back in school at that time either.  So maybe we should shoot for next summer sometime.  I don't care really.

5. Activities:  For me, the focus will be primarily social.  I really want to meet you guys.  I wouldn't mind meeting Onstad either, i'm sure he's not as mean as he acts on the internet, but I only want him to be there so as to attract you to come.  As for activities, I have labeled this a convention, but I see it as more of a party than anything else.  The major activity will be consuming adult beverages and socializing with your fellow acheheads.  I was thinking about maybe something that involved cooking, but I don't know how that would work being that we would be in a foreign city and with no kitchen.  As for multimedia presentations.  I don't know actually.  I was thinking those people who animate the strips like the Teodor bouncing his head and what not would put together a series of things like that maybe set to music or something.  Hell I don't know, it wasn't a big part of my thinking, I was just throwing it out there.  I wasn't expecting to be the sole creative director for this thing.

6. Guest/Onstad:  I think if this thing is properly handled Onstad should be interested/excited to be a part of it.  If he's not, well then I guess we don't have to worry about meeting any merchandise quotas.

But I'll say again, my prime interest is meeting and partying with you guys.  The rest of the details are inconsequential to me.

~Paul

[AlohaDawg]

5. Activities:  For me, the focus will be primarily social.  I really want to meet you guys.  I wouldn't mind meeting Onstad either, i'm sure he's not as mean as he acts on the internet, but I only want him to be there so as to attract you to come....
 
6. Guest/Onstad:  I think if this thing is properly handled Onstad should be interested/excited to be a part of it.  If he's not, well then I guess we don't have to worry about meeting any merchandise quotas.

But I'll say again, my prime interest is meeting and partying with you guys.  The rest of the details are inconsequential to me.

~Paul

I like your enthusiasm. In reference to 5: meeting you guys attracts me to come, Onstad being there would be cool and nice but isn't a draw for me. It's not that I don't want to meet him or anything, but given the choice between meeting a group of board members in the middle of nowhere and meeting Onstad in SF, I'd be on my way to Nebraska happily.

In reference to 6: I just can't see Onstad getting excited about this unless it was lucrative (which is an excellent motivation). If anything, a largish group of "fans" within a few miles of home probably would result in him turning off all the lights in his house and hiding under his bed until the scheduled event was over.

[jough]

Yeah, I don't see this happening any time soon, but it's a good idea.

I'm still saving up for Donny Dodecahedron's trip to eat weird food in Scandinavian countries.

[V-Adore]

Yeah, I have to confess I would almost enjoy a meetup more than a "convention." I think I'd have a much better time at a meetup with a few of y'all (or, heck, a lot of y'all) and a trip to the zoo/aquarium/movies/boozefeteria than I would some sort of formal convention. I definitely agree with AD that I would have more fun were Onstad not around; honestly, given that all my interactions with him have been either hostile or merchandise-related, I think I want to hold onto any hopes I have that his attitude towards me and mine isn't "hey you, worthless fan-thing, want a shirt?"

I definitely think that organizing it for next summer would be better than attempting it in September. This is a lot of work.

[AugustWest]

Kentucky is pretty centrally located for everything east of say Kansas.  You guys are all welcome here.

[Gimpson]

Kentucky is pretty centrally located for everything east of say Kansas.  You guys are all welcome here.

*shakes fist from Kansas*