I feel your pain.

Out here in CA, all the local cons are highly targeted - which actually kind of sucks. I feel silly going to an anime con just to see friends and party when I am not an anime fan, ditto wargaming or TVShowOfChoice. Worse, we tend to have them all at once. There are, no kidding, three (maybe four) cons over Memorial Day weekend, and there is a guy who runs a shuttle service between them. Is that silly or what?

So I keep thinking that what Out Here needs is a more general, less targeted, SF con that everyone could enjoy.

And then ther is the problem of Doom. I can't seem to go to a convention - any convention - without at least one rant about how this thing over there needs to be fixed and when I was running a department we would never have put up with that kind of crap, and do I have to do everything myself?!? I am usually distracted into telling somebody about the time I threatened BaltiCon staffers at Nerf gun point until they did my damn bidding and acted like rational human beings.

Point three: there is actually a local association which runs a mini-con on How to Throw a Convention. I suspect that this is, in fact, a clever ploy by the local WorldCon bid team to get volunteers; still, it's there, taunting me. Add that to what I learned at the feet of the SMOF Masters of FanTek, and...

WOrse, I am not alone in my occasional attacks of wanting to throw a convention. My friends have these moments too - and not happy dreamy moments, but "oh God I'm going to have to throw my own damn con if I ever want the Masquerade to not be eight hours late, aren't I? Please stop me!"

And it's not like I have a job!

Of course, I don't have a job because I am too darn sick to work even part-time, which means running a convention could leave me bedridden for a month. Which makes this a triply Bad Idea. Even if I had minions to do all the running around for me.

Did I mention the nearby hotels which recently changed management and are just lying there in skimpy contracts practically begging for a convention to move in?

...maybe I'll pretend it's just a very large party. No, wait, that's what happened to Bruce. Stop me. Please.

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"Focus"
Why do you need to have a narrow focus? Why not have a general sci-fi relaxacon... Have a con suite, movie room, game area, masquerade and general pannels by people you find interesting or who can carry off a pannel.

I think one of the things that made Fantek cons so beloved was the fact that everyone, no matter their interests in any aspect of sci-fi, had a little something. B & C's cons were inclusive rather than targeted.

You also have resources at your disposal. For instance B & C could tell you alot about the business aspects of cons. You've got several people you know that have experience in several departments of conventions that you know are reliable. And you have people who are willing to volunteer.

And if you don't know any medics, I do have an in to the local paramedics here in Leesburg that I could talk to about giving time to the con who would probably enjoy it quite abit...

Since the Fantek cons ended there has been a void... A con run by you could fill that void quite nicely if you are actually willing to do it.

Just my thoughts... Feel free to ignore as you wish. :)

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So...given that I have some experience with Fast Track @ Arisia and children's programming in general at other cons, I can try to set something up that will keep the yoots occupied. LOSTCAUSE needs its "LOST Kids." [Is that a clock I hear ticking?] I mean, parents will love this--when they send their children off to youth programming, they can tell them to "Get lost!"

This being a "Relaxacon," I am not talking about anything as elaborate as what Arisia puts on. Not even the same ballpark. My idea would be that for at least a few hours scattered throughout the con there would be something geared towards younger fen to make it fun for them and give their parents some time to enjoy the con without kids-in-tow. The caveat reads: "If you're expecting full-on 'Fast Track' quality kids programming, you will be disappointed. If you're expecting anything even remotely good, you may be disappointed."

If this isn't even something you remotely want, that's okay. Give me another job or tell me to go pound sand and start my own damned convention. I'm good either way. :)

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I want to preord it now.

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or have Nancy start making buttons for it. or bumperstickers.

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You could die without ever having done it. As a mental exercise, a convention could be perfect forever. Reality is a little more resistant to change. But from how you're discussing this thing, given your breadth of connections and resources and personal wetware, your primary hurdle is fear. When the need to have an event happen overcomes the terrifying potential consequences, it will happen, almost without conscious consent.

Years later, you'll sit up in the smoke and settling rubble and think, whether or not it worked out the way you planned, that was something real.

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