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I would like to preface this with the simple remark that my first reaction tends to be "what would have made this perfect" after a week of reflection, and getting back into the groove of daily life, I tend to look back on things with a more relaxed view and a sense of appreciation for the experience.  When I get to that point I will post a follow-up to this article trying to highlight those aspects of Dragon*Con that I appreciate the most -- as there was a great deal to appreciate at this remarkable convention!

First Time -- First Impression

Before attending our first Dragon*Con PopArtsPlace.com shared with our readers what Dragon*Con says they are.  Well now we’ve been, we’ve seen Dragon*Con for ourselves and it’s time to share with our readers our perspective of what Dragon*Con is.

Comparing Dragon*Con and San Diego Comic Con would be like comparing apples and oranges.   However, San Diego is the only other BIG convention I have ever attended, which makes it tempting to compare the two.  I have attended a few smaller scale conventions like Star Trek cons and the Plano Sci-Fi expo, but not events that aim to pull in tens of thousands of people.

Dragon*Con is a collection of smaller conventions – several tracks of panels even offer their own smaller “programs”.  Where Dragon*Con as an over all convention distributes a larger program with maps of the venues and lists of the panels that will be taking place and who is where in the dealer rooms and exhibit hall the tracks have much smaller 8.5 x 5.5 leaflets that offer descriptions of the panels, in the case of trek trak brief bios of the panelists, but the over all consistent factor is they limit the information they offer to material that relates directly to their panels.

For a first time attendee I found it a tad confusing trying to figure out which track to look in for panels.  Stargate, which now airs on Sci Fi Fridays on Sci Fi channel has its panels in the American Sci Fi TV track, and Jason Carter and Richard Biggs famous Whose Line Is It? panel was in the Brit TV track since Whose Line is it originated as a British show, though all the other Babylon 5 related panels were in American Sci Fi TV so I initially looked for it there when I heard about it from another attendee.

Thankfully the overall program has in it a listing of the celebrities/guests in attendance and what panels they can be found on.  (Time and track is listed)  However it does not list when they will be sitting at their table on the Walk of Fame.  The latter seeming like a trivial and unimportant idea until I went looking for some people on Monday and found they were leaving for flights as early as 11:30 a.m.  It is unfortunate if anyone went to their table between their 11:30 a.m. departure and the 5 p.m. closing time of the dealers room.  It would have been nice if either the program had listed when they would be closing their walk of time table – or if they had had signs on the tables saying “Make sure and stop by before I leave at xx time on xx day.”  Some actors weren’t there at all Monday.

I saw some people who came for Monday only and were a tad disappointed to find that the people they had heard were going to be there had come and gone. These people were under the impression the actors would be at Dragon*Con from start to finish.

The very important flip side of that coin is that many (not all but many) of these actors are working.  Working at the convention… and working on a film or TV show somewhere else.  So they come spend their weekend working instead of having their usual time off from work.  And in many cases need to rush back to work.  At least one actor worked the day before he flew to Atlanta, and was going to be working the day after he got home from Atlanta.

So on their time off from their day job, they come “moonlight” for lack of a better term at the convention.  They put on a one man show in panels (or a two or three or four person show depending how many folks gather together on the panel) and entertain a crowd for an hour, and then rush back to the walk of fame to sign autographs for the people who came to their “Free” show as well as those who pass by.  In many ways the autographs they sell are a way of collecting a ticket price for the show they have put on.

In addition to working like crazy on their usual time off, and feeling as though they are under a microscope with thousands of fans watching their every movement (and in many cases reporting all about it on the web) at Dragon*Con they are trying to find their way through a two hotel maze from panel to walk of fame to other events etc.  

From that perspective Dragon*Con must be a thoroughly exhausting event for the guests who come.  In some, but not all cases, they pay their own way to get there (as do the attendees) and spend their time with the fans. 

I try to understand the perspective of the guests who want to be paid for their time as those who participate on panels entertain the fans, and give them remarkable stories to share with other fans… but the attendees are paying the same amount to get there – as well as $60 that goes to cover the cost of the venue.  The guests do not pay that $60 to cover the expense of the venue, and their table on the walk of fame is provided free of charge.

A little math game might be in order. 

Travel:

To get to Dragon*Con all non-locals pay to get there (anywhere from $20 for gas if you live within 200 miles to $500 for a plane ticket if you live on the west coast or in the midwest) so we’ll average out $250 travel expenses.

Then there is the hotel room.  Including tax etc hotel rooms are $165 a night.  If a person arrives Friday and stays Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night and flies home after things wrap up Monday that is 3 nights in the hotel, or $495 total.

That means a fan spends $750 to get to the convention and be there for it – and another $60 for their badge.

$810 is the cost you pay just for being at the convention – however that is the starve to death plan!  (And does not take into account that you have taken a day off from work.  Which at minimum wage is $60 for an 8 hour work day.)

Food:

Breakfast:  The Marriott hotel’s Atrium Express serves reasonably priced breakfast foods that can be made to order.  (I am allergic to all Dairy products so eggs made with butter on the grill is a very bad thing… but they were able to make eggs fresh, with no butter, just for us.)  The eggs were $2.95 each morning, and a drink brought it to about $5 for breakfast.  So 4 days of breakfast is $20.  (A meal I normally make at home for far less.)

Lunch:  Peachtree center is part of an enclosed walkway that connects the two hotels brilliantly.  At Peachtree center there is a food court (most of the area that connects the two hotels) which offers food during lunch time every day of the convention.  For those of us allergic to the protein Gluten as well as Casein there was only one food item I could get in the food court – steamed while rice at the Oriental restaurant.  That and a soda totaled up to just over $3.  A friend got a meal at the Oriental restaurant also, and the two “meals” and two sodas totaled up to nearly $10 so we’ll say that for $5 you could eat a meal in the food court.  So, for days of lunch is another $20 – if you go for the cheapest option.  (A meal I usually do not buy, my work schedule is such I either make something to take with me, or eat at home at an early or late hour to accommodate not buying that meal at a restaurant.)

Dinner: the food court appeared to be open at dinner time on Friday, Saturday and Monday – but I am unsure it was open for dinner Sunday.  Because of my food allergies, and inability to eat much in the food court nice restaurants (of which there are many in and around Peachtree Center) are the only real option.  A meal in a nice restaurant tends to run $15 -- $20 per person.  (including a tip and drink if you get the least expensive item on the menu.)   Since I’ve been noting if this is out of the ordinary or not for me (who I am using as a close to average example) I should mention that I eat dinner at home 4 nights a week, one night a week I go out for a nice meal, usually Friday, with a friend, the other two nights I either cook at home, or eat at one of two affordable places I’ve found.  One is a fast food restaurant I can eat at for under $3.50 (Jack in the box, 6 tacos on the 2 for $.99 deal) and the other is a Mongolian BarBQ  where I can eat a nice dinner with seafood for $10.  

Point?  4 dinners in Atlanta is between $60 and $80  At home It would be $35 so dinners at Dragon*Con is $25 to $55 more than at home

Meals total up to $100 if you eat a cheap option at every meal.  But it could easily be more like $160.  So that is $125 I don’t normally spend at restaurants.  And I spend $50 or so a week on groceries, including snacks which I haven’t listed in here, and random sodas during the day which I haven’t listed here.  So for 4 days we’ll say groceries would be $25.  So meals alone are $75 - $135 that I would not have spent if I weren’t at Dragon*Con. 

So we’ll guess food incurs $100 of expense that you are paying because you are at a convention.

Including the travel again that is $910 that an attendee has paid to walk in the door, and live through the weekend.  The better part of $1000 that they otherwise would not have spent.  ($970 your wallet will never again see if you count the $60 you aren’t being paid for being at work – paid vacation days are too hard to truly take into account.)

I was told by at least one Dragon*Con staff member that it is believed that most Dragon*Con attendees save up all year for this event.  This is what they do for their annual vacation.  They don’t travel to Europe or take some grand vacation… they save up all year so that they can come to a hotel in Atlanta and share their enthusiasm for science fiction and fantasy with others who have the same enthusiasm and common interest, and so they can thank the people who bring that quality material into their lives.

If this logic holds water… then before a person enters the dealer room (which also holds the walk of fame) or the exhibitor hall, they have only $90 left, unless they are willing to skip meals.  (I would like to note that I did not meet a single person willing to say they fit this mold and  budget over $1000 for Dragon*Con, and few that would admit they try and save up that much.  I met some locals who stretched the budget all year to buy a few things once they got into Dragon*Con but who also remarked that a tough economy must hit events like this very hard.)

The question then becomes, where does/can that $90 go.  If you are into gaming and movies then exhibit hall and dealer room offer lots of options.  You can buy DVDs, frequently offering hard to get movies – or work you never realized the various actors down on the Walk of Fame did, you can buy amazing war hammer army pieces etc.  And Light Speed Fine Arts traveling gallery is a guaranteed stop for me at any convention.  I can see that amazing art and decide what I want to save up for during the year.

At the San Diego Comic Con last year I spent my entire $90 (and then some) at Light Speed Fine Art to get 2 items.  The Stargate Litho and the Stargate Fan Club kit.  That is how quickly and easily money can go at a con if you aren’t watching what you spend your money on.

At San Diego (and I promise I’ll avoid comparisons throughout my coverage of Dragon*Con as it is apples to oranges) the first autograph on an item you bring is free.

In the past when I’ve tried to inquire why actors charge for subsequent autographs (and at Dragon*Con that should be phrased all autographs!) they have said it is because their autographs end up on Ebay for sale and they feel they should get some of the money.  And I’m inclined to agree with them – up until the point that I noticed that both actors who told me that were the only people selling autographed photos of them on Ebay when I went and looked in an effort to write an article defending their point of view. 

What really got me after Dragon*Con is I got to thinking that a particular actress was entirely right that if she pays to get herself to Dragon*Con (which I have heard as an invited guest she may not have) that she has costs to recoup as she is there to work and not to enjoy herself (despite all the time she spends laughing with the fans) – but when I went to Ebay this morning to write an article standing up for her and saw that she was selling autographs on Ebay for LESS than she was asking at Dragon*Con my heart sank.  Not a little less -- $12 and $15 instead of $20!  As I’ve tried to lay out above that $8 and $5 (the same picture is being sold for the two different prices) is enough to buy a meal!  In my case TWO lunches!  That suddenly sounds like a lot of money!

I have been racking my brains trying to find a way for these actors to come entertain the fans – and be paid for entertaining the fans, for them to be able to call this a business trip and work and profit from it, and for the fans to not feel that they are having to choose between a meal and a picture that will sit in a notebook and do little for them.

At least if they were selling DVDs of a movie they were in that $20 would entertain you for 2 hours a showing as many times as you chose to rewatch it – and that might be the only way they got any version of royalties for their appearance in it.

Robert Picardo sang during his panel, and was selling CDs for $20 – and the lyrics were great.  (In reference to Enterprise he asks “will you still love me, tomorrow.”)  He entertained the crowd, and offered to sell them more entertainment to take home with them, and he sold out of the $25 version of the CD which came with 3 extra tracks on Sunday!  Somehow that seems to verify my feeling that people will pay more to be entertained time and again than for a still photo that they want mostly as proof to their friends that they got to stand next to an actor they respect for a few minutes and say “thank you for entertaining me.”

I came out of my time on the walk of fame with two conclusions.  First, paying $10 for an autograph means skipping a meal where paying $5 for an autograph means having a cheap meal instead of a nice meal.  For those on a budget that is a huge difference and could mean the difference between getting 8 autographs, and not being able to rationalize any.

Second I (and I believe the collection of fans I talked to at Dragon*Con) are thousand times more likely to pay for something good that will entertain me time and again vs. a glossy photo that will go into a notebook or somewhere out of sight and only get pulled out on the occasions when a friend comes and I want to make them believe I really did see said star in person and there for can honestly say they are “nice, cool, and totally awesome” people.

If Robert Picardo had not sold out of his CDs at $25 a pop, I would have skipped two Friday’s of dinner out on the town to fit it into the budget, but $10 a piece just to autograph an item I brought with me, or $20 for an autographed color photo per actor felt impossible to justify.   So I settled for doing the work I had gone to do… and watching fan after fan walk away, and talking with many as they rounded the corner out of the “Walk of Fame” and they remarked how they wish they could have “bought the autographed photos… but everything just keeps adding up.  And most of the actors have websites.”  It made it painfully clear to me that conventions should be approached from the perspective of PR not sales for most actors. 

If they get out there and sell themselves, and promote themselves, and make the best impression possible, and promote their websites then when folks like me get home we will go to their website, price their merchandise, save up for it, and spread the expense out of the year and get the autograph that goes along with that personal appearance.

If the signature on something we brought were just $5 then we could have the best of all worlds.  Leave with a personalized signature – and a photo of us getting it so our friends and the doubters of the world will know it to be true, and will know that we truly did have the face to face encounter.  It would allow the fans budget to survive the encounter and for the actors to make money throughout the year.   As the system currently operates actors receive money in brief spurts at conventions, and may well receive less money than they would if they were promoting themselves and their websites and encourage their fans to buy as much as they can afford once they’ve saved up for it instead of buying what little they can fit in the budget today, without warning of the prices.

I would like to note an exception to my “$10 is a lot” tirade that I did do simply because I did not understand at the time.  Chris Demetral was offering photos with him for $10, if you used his camera.  He happily agreed to one on my camera, so long as I promise to e-mail him a copy, which I shall, and did not charge me.  Later he explained that for the $10 the photo is taken on his digital camera, printed on the spot on a little HP printer that does beautiful 4x6 prints, allowed to dry, and then he autographs it to the fan!  What a WONDERFUL idea!  With 20-20 hindsight I can honestly say I would not have regretted spending that $10 in the least, I just did not understand the sign when I first saw it as some actors were charging as much as $20 for a photo of you with them on your camera.

Of course this is all one woman’s opinion – influenced by conversations with thousands of fans who want to support the work of their favorite actors without feeling they are doing it all by themselves, and going to the poor house in the process.

One actress announced at a panel that she was very appreciative of the fans coming to conventions and buying her photos etc as it meant that she could pay her mortgage and bills without having to take jobs she didn’t like.  That thanks to her fans she could pick and choose projects and only take those she felt worthy of her.  It was amazing how many fans came out of that panel remarking that it would be nice if the same were true for them!  But they don’t get to pick and choose jobs or not work for weeks on end, as they have mortgages to pay as well.   They just never realized they were paying her mortgage directly in addition to paying their own.  It was nice to think that through buying products advertised during shows she was on that they were paying her mortgage… but directly handing her the money she then hands to her mortgage company had never occurred to these fans before.

I did hear that actress remark later that she sold fewer pictures than she usually sells at conventions and found myself wondering if there was a connection between the two remarks.


Another Decade of San Diego Comic-Con Coverage: