This was the first year for this convention. While it certainly had a few issues, it went much better than most new conventions. My first compliment goes to the choice of venue. While the hotel is pricey for a convention, it can handle a lot of people easily with plenty of room to grow.
The actual event was held in the convention center in the next building. Everything was a simple escalator ride away. In spite of some minor signage issues, the layout made it easy to find any event you were looking for. All of the programs I was at were well attended by some great fans. I do have to apologize, I was recovering from an illness and still on antibiotics over the weekend so I did not spend a lot of free time out at the convention. For those of you that I did have a chance to meet and talk with, you were all great. Everyone was really into the spirit of being at the convention.
Politics in Science Fiction:
This panel turned out to be a very interesting conversation about the core theme politics plays in the best science fiction. The audience really dove into the topic.
Monsters:
A great panel with a great crowd. This panel covered a huge amount of monstrous topics in a very fast hour.
Writer's Workshop:
It was amazing to see how many motivated potential writers were willing to get up at 8 in morning to get schooled in the craft. It was even more amazing to see how many professional writers were up at 8 on the Sunday morning of a convention to dish out the schooling.
Villains:
Another great panel with a fabulous audience that was there to get into the topic. The interaction was simply fabulous.
Publishing:
The devilish moderator sort of set me up as the publisher and played the writer's view of the business off of the publisher's view. As the last panel of the convention, it was a blast with a large and enthusiastic audience.
Panelist I got to work with:
Dwayne DeBardelaben, Christina Barber, J. F. Lewis, M. B. Weston, Shelly Li, Van Allen Plexico, William Drinkard, Stephanie Osborn, and Sherrilyn Kenyon.
Thanks again to everyone for making this such a wonderful convention and experience.