something of a 'con report'

If you can call it that, considering I wasn't present for 90% of the panels. =)

Official Gatecon website

Registration was running smoothly when I showed up, so I didn't have to help with that - they had it all under control. =) Turns out that was good, since I was needed to put together several silent auctions and get those up and running ASAP.

The 'Meet and Greet' was that evening as well. It's always hot and stuffy at those things, but they're still fun. Several of the guests showed up to chat and there was plenty of alcohol at the cash bar.

I couldn't tell you what happened after that, b/c I don't remember. The weekend is a big blur, so I'll only hit the high points.

Friday - Opening Ceremonies were lovely and I had at least 3 photos in the opening video (making up for the years I meant to send photos, but never did *g*), one of which even proved that Allan got sleep at the last con! =) Then the first panel took off and I had to go work on auction stuff again. I spent a lot of time in the Staff room this weekend. I also had to coordinate the first set of auctions and get those set-up and the winners announced. Then I had to wrangle the guests into the room for their small group chats - these were a big hit with the guests and the attendees. There was the added benefit of seeing Dan Payne mid-shirt change when I went to drag him out of the Green Room. *eg*

That evening was the banquet - which meant more auction coordination (attendees could bid to sit at one of the reserved guest tables) and guest wrangling* and keeping things running smoothly. Having not paid for the banquet, strolled off with some other friends who hadn't paid to attend the banquet to get some dinner at a little pub-like place down the street with very good pizza (which is saying something, since I'm not a big pizza person).

Saturday - I assume the panels ran smoothly since I was - yup, working on the auction again. I did run down to the Dealer's Room for a bit and up to the photo op rooms to get my photos done (yes, the one time I voluntarily have my photo taken). Got the auctions coordinated for that day's small group chats and had the winners announced, got everyone where they needed to be for that and sat around monitoring the rooms - more to keep people out than anything else. Plus - it was nice to sit/stand somewhere that wasn't the Staff room for a little bit.

Sidebar - do you have ANY idea how complicated it is to get actors and other professionals to STOP talking to fans eager to ask questions and hear stories? No fewer than 4 of the guests involved in these chats asked for more than the allotted 20 minutes. It would've been fine, but they all had places to be AFTER the chats. I love these guys, but damn they can try one's patience. (Again, said with love. It's awesome that they want to talk to people - less awesome that they're mucking with the schedule. *g*) Dan Payne, JR Bourne, Erick Avari and Colin Cunningham ALL asked for 'just a few more minutes' - the problem was, after the allotted 'more minutes' they wanted MORE! I had to threaten to take JR's lunch away to get him to stop one day! (Threatened by proxy b/c I had to convince Colin to wrap things up at the same time and they were in different rooms.) But, they were all great and everyone enjoyed the chats a lot!

Oh - this was also the day I was forced out of the Staff room to go to dinner - no problem. It was great. We hit this lovely Greek place and the food was fantastic!

More Saturday - the auction that night was not as outlandish and wild as usual and took a lot longer than I'd expected. But we raised a lot of money for Make-a-Wish ( *waves to Kathie and Tara* ) and there were some REALLY cool things at the auction: a piece of the Stargate from "Continuum", 6 photos from Barry Campbell taken during filming of "Continuum", several costume pieces, art by some of the guests (drawn at the 'con in the Green Room while they had some down time), and 3 15-minute phone calls with Richard Dean Anderson! One more time - a HUGE 'Thank you' to everyone who donated items, bid on items, laughed and cheered and helped with and won items in the auction - the amount of money raised is always astounding! This year, it was enough for about 1 1/3 - 1 1/2 'wishes'. I don't know the exact dollar amount, but, to give a ballpark, a 'wish' costs approximately $8,000.00. After the auction, I went the hell to bed. I was beat.

Sunday - yet more auction coordinating for the small chats again. Then down to the main room for the closing ceremonies - actually saw the last half or so of the last panel, which is all of 'Gatecon' that I saw that wasn't the auction. *g* The closing video almost made the whole room cry! Until the '?' after 'The End'... lots of hope there for another 'con! The chats ran smoothly, though we had one actor running a bit late. Heck, so smoothly, Erick took his small group outside while he had a cigarette and even came back upstairs early! I love it when they follow directions they weren't even given! (They all had to be in the autograph sessions immediately after the chat sessions.) JR tried to wrangle more time again - little bugger - but I had to drag him out of the chat and over to the autograph room b/c people were waiting... and I had to round up the winners of the auction to sit with the guests during the auto-sessions for a few minutes. That one was a little tricky given the number of people in the room most of the time, but it all worked out. =) After the autograph sessions, that was all for the 'con until the volunteer wrap party.

Wrap Party - mostly just all the volunteers hanging out, cooling off from the con and signing each other's volunteer t-shirts - kind of a tradition anymore. =) Some of the guests stopped by to hang out and say 'thank you' and 'good-bye' if they were leaving. But, mostly, it's just the volunteers having some downtime.

Monday - not a con day, but still things going on - semi-traditional breakfast thing around 0900, then had to go shopping for some longer pants (not me, one of my friends b/c we apparently missed the weather report that said 'OMG SO COLD ON MONDAY!') and I got to see a few Vancouver locations that were used during SG-1 filming. On this trip we found a shop that makes custom T-shirts, so we had to have one made for Allan to go along with a running inside-joke with the Staff. While we waited, we hit the coffee shop across the street where I had tea and a yummy granola bar. Later we went over to Granville to do some shopping and have a look at the farmer's market - OMG the food! The fresh fruits and veggies and bread and the ginormous tea place! Tea heaven! I've never seen so much tea! The meat looked amazing and the place was awesome - almost a good enough reason on its own to move to Vancouver. And finally - dinner with the Staff folks. That's kinda the sad part - you know it's almost time to say 'see you next time' (we have a rule that we don't say 'good-bye').

General points from the weekend - Erick Avari spent a good lot of it hanging out with the 'con Staff - we didn't mind. =) That man has TONS of stories! Hell, he's even been to my hometown - he had a friend who lived here when Erick was in college. That lead to one of the stories he told this weekend. John de Lancie is the most relaxed, smoothest person I've met at Gatecon so far. He was wonderful to talk to and fucking brilliant at the auction! Dylan Neal drew some amazing images of wooden furniture he had built. He was kinda quiet, but opened up a little once you got him talking. Cliff Simon - love him anyway, but didn't see him much, except when I was chatting with him while Dan Payne was checking his schedule to answer a question for me, then again a bit during the autograph session - and we decided that Ba'al needs a cooler death scene. =)

Hmmm - if anyone knows Candace - ask her about the 'key'. She'll know what you mean. *eg* Some members of the Staff had rubber band fights in the Staff room. And, can't forget the Staff 'Margarita-ville' parties. =)

This year actually had quite a bit of 'reminiscing' about previous Gatecons and telling stories of years' past. Sort of bittersweet and exciting and fun all rolled into one.

Yes - it's important to note that even though I spent most of the con running around, I enjoyed it and had fun. I always have fun. There was only one time I ever considered not attending Gatecon, but I went anyway and was very glad I did. I've never regretted going to Gatecon and after the first couple years it was more like attending a huge family reunion than just going to a 'con'. So, that's why, even when it didn't look like the most financially 'appropriate' thing to do, I went anyway. (Though, I was financially 'responsible' when I made my plans and have a plan to *pay* for the trip - the only thing I actually have to pay for 'after' the con is the hotel stay, the rest is already done.) I've been to 6 of the 10 Gatecons - the first one I didn't know about, the 2nd I found out about three or four weeks before it happened - then the World Trade Center incident happened and I'm not sure I would have felt okay making that flight, since Gatecon was the following weekend, IIRC; but I hit '02, '03, '04 and '05; missed '06 and '07 because they were in the UK and I couldn't swing the cash to travel quite that far, but made it to '08 and '10 ('08 was a no-brainer, b/c I wasn't passing up the opportunity to see RDA!) and I've enjoyed every single trip there. No doubt I would do it all again. The only thing I might change about the experience is that I would've volunteered the first year! =)


If anyone wants further details about the con itself from this year - um, check with someone who got to see the panels. If you wanna know about some of the actors - I can probably give some high-level stuff on most of them. =) (What? It's not like they share all their most intimate details with us or anything... well, 'cept maybe Erick. *g*)

I'll be working on my photos tomorrow - keep in mind that most of them are of the nifty clouds outside the airplane window on my flight home - I was in the Staff room for most of the con. =)

Okay - it's taken me 90mins to write this and it's getting really long, so I'm gonna just hit 'post' and head for bed.



*said with love - the guests were cooperative when asked to be somewhere, it's just a little hectic when trying to also coordinate other things while making sure they get where they need to be *g*

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