I survived Windycon 36

[wendyzski]

My voice didn't.

Yes I have agreed to do this next year - I've been promised minions (well, at least one minion), a larger room for the Masquerade, and a bonus of more organization and communication and fewer meetings. (The sucking-up actually started Saturday afternoon - it was rather pleasant.) I'm still trying to sell them on a Costume Guest of Honor and have someone in mind that would be perfect - watch this space for details.

We had wall to wall costumes. We had a panel that went on in two different spaces at the same time. We had a panel with not only no AV but no tables. We had more than 2/3 Novice entries in the Masquerade, and the winners of the Best Prop (a beautifully-crafted backpack time machine with a flux capacitor on it) and Best Mod (a wheelchair amazingly decked out with all the parts of a ceiling fan) categories went to first-time competitors. We had a last-minute substitution for MC because our original was home with the flu. We ran out of seating 20 minutes before Masquerade showtime - the Guests of Honor almost didn't get seats and I had to beg the head of Special Events to do crowd control for me! We had at least 35 steampunkers in a single afternoon photoshoot and stopped mall traffic in the process! (The man with the modded gatling gun certainly helped) We had 70 people attend costuming panels at 10AM on a Sunday! We ran out of handouts and chairs, and spilled at least one panel into the hallways. I didn't actually kill anyone (though I did muse longingly about punching a couple of people in the face)

I'm still sorting out what exactly happened, but here are some of the fist pics I have - of the 'Parts is Parts' panel on Saturday. American Science and Surplus let my Second go skipping through their warehouse with a big bag. Click to observe the chaos. Luckily I only melted a small hole in the carpet - no one will ever notice.


UPDATE: More pics, including shots of the Awesome Wheelchair of Awesomeness can be found here. Thank you ashtalet

ANOTHER UPDATE: Some awesome pro-level pics at http://www.the-enthusiasts.com/gallery?g2_itemId=17520

Comments

[macaodghain.livejournal.com]

It was my distinct pleasure to MC—even though I didn't get to compete, I think the effect of the costume was still experienced properly.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I think every MC should be required to have a Big Stick - it seemed very useful!