Convention Etiquette: Discussion and Advice on Do's and Don'ts

[Skydiver]

think of it from the actor's pov. they end up schlepping all this stuff home. or they risk not wanting to take it home, not beign able to take it home and leave it behind....and get creamed when someone notices that they tossed the gifts into the trash.

when at was preggers she asked people not to send her baby stuff but to donate it to a charity in her name. You could do that if you wanted to. or you could write him/her an appropriate letter - by appropriate, i mean nothing untoward, like marriage proposals, propositions,etc....and yes, people do do that) and have the organizers give it to the actor in person.

you should always put your name on stuff. if the actor wishes to acknowledge you then they know who to acknowledge. but you also should check with the con staff and see what the procedures are.

some must verify every gift and check it. some do not allow the gifts to be consumable, no food or drink or aunt mable's award wining chocolate chip cookies. Would you want to eat something given to you by a stranger????

and, if you do give the actor something, don't take it personally if they leave it behind or you hear later that teh stuff was given away.

they get a lot of stuff from a lot of people.

[mazzmatazz]

I read this thread before going to SG-10 as it was my first con, and I kept it as much to mind as possible. I asked all the guests a question, but I tried to personalise it and not make it something they'd already heard a million times. In fact, that's what I was most conscious of, was asking something generic. Cliff Simon remarked that what I asked him was a very good question, so I was pleased that I had made a good impression in that respect.

Switch42's advice earlier is totally right. Just don't expect anything. I went to SG-10 pretty peeved, as MS had cancelled the morning before. Sunday night, it was 'Michael? Michael who?' Sure, the guests are great, but I found it was the other fans that made the event for me.

We totally lucked out though, because the guests we had were comfortable hanging out with us fans at the party. On the Sunday, Eric Breker came and danced with us, and actually said to me that he had hoped I'd be wearing my costume, as he'd seen it the day before at the fancy dress and loved it. That was probably one of the total highlights of the weekend. Eric is such a nice guy, and had remembered us from the night before as I was remarking that the Con Disco was like an 80s wedding reception! The guests are people too, and lovely people at that. So, yeah, treat them as such.

On the Saturday, I ended up cuffed to both Neil Denis and Cliff Simon (not at the same time though!). This is because I was getting cuffed to various other people, it wasn't like I was going and singling out the guests. It wasn't anything planned, it was just one of those crazy things that happen at cons, and it was great. I wouldn't advocate anyone trying to repeat that however! Just go with the flow and have as much fun as you can.

[Skydiver]

you're right mazz, the key to having fun at a con is to keep your expectations low. sounds mean i know, but the higher you set your expectations, the more likely you are to be disappointed.

so if you keep them low, go with a good attitude and with teh acknowledgement that you're going to have to be patient, it should help your mood and experience.

and yes, meeting fellow fans is often the highlight

[Lea]

Give many actors/actress which drink (no, not alcoholics!). And that alone is not the problem (to example Doyle and DH are very correct and funny, despite one or two drinks ). But many people (not actors only) can´t stop the drinking and your appear is a catastrophe.

But to luck, is that hardly ever our problem

[qksilver99]

DO: If you are ever having any problems at a con with anything, a guest, the entertainment, inappropriate behaviour... DO tell someone official. Tell a volunteer, tell an organizer, tell the head of the convention if you see them around.

The convention organizers WANT to know if something is going wrong, and with Creation, I can tell you that they prefer to know during the convention at the time that it's happening rather than several weeks later when they can't do anything about it. So speak up!

From personal experience, I have found Creation rather responsive. At the Joisey CreationCon back in... 2004 during the dessert party there was a handler was rather... excessive in his two minute timing of the tables.

"Two minutes... Two minutes..." he kept saying, peering at his watch, "No posing! No posing! no pictures! Come on (insert name of Actor) two minutes."

It was very uncomfortable for me to watch the actors being handled like that, as he kept saying that over and over and over again with the decreasing time being mentioned LOUDLY. The actor finally left and then the con head (not the dark haired one) asked our table what we thought about our con experience. Everyone said "Fine!"

Not me.

I told him I was horrified that i had paid far more than my car payment to watch the actors being handled like cattle. There's a way of keeping the two minutes limit to the table, and there's a reason for it, but the guy was so over the top RUDE that it was unbelievable. He found the handler and spoke to him IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARTY... and the next time the handler came to our table he was a lot calmer.

Still keeping time, but not quite as obvious.

That was also the first time I actually had the pleasure of meeting Don Davis. He ignored his handler (grin) and while he was being told repeatedly, "Don,... Next Table," he reminded us that he was there at the con for US, the fans, and if we wanted a picture, or a chance to talk to him, if we saw him, we were to come up to him and say hello.

Our table was so impressed that we gave him a round of applause.



Made some great friends with some perfect strangers at that table.

[BruTak]

I'd say it's not nearly as bad as starting two identical threads in two different places on the same forum with the sole purpose of "bugging," "bothering," and/or "badgering" a con organizer into doing something that's economically unfeasible just because 20 or so people want him/her to do it.

Or threatening said Admin - physically - and thinking it was funny.

Or running around to other forums pointing fingers and insinuating how "bad" said Admin is.

If anything that happened there had happened here on GW, I'd say odds are the thread would have been closed too. And what happened there had nothing to do with bad convention etiquette, unless you want to discuss how appropriate it is to handcuff someone, against their will, for making fun of a stuffed toy.

Hoi! Mind what you say about my Ass-gard buddy!

Seriously though, during the course of - as you say "making fun of a stuffed toy" - the young lady in question slugged me in the guts. Given the amount of blubber I carry around my midriff, I didn't feel it - but that's not the point.

Following her release from the handcuffs, I recieved a kick in the shin and a slap on the face - she then ran off crying.

Now, I'm not a lawyer, but - isn't a punch in the sotmach, a kick in the shini and a slap in the face classed as assault these days?

[Skydiver]

guys, whatever happened on that other board belongs on that other board.

any issues you have with other board admin, con organizers or other gateworld patrons has no need to be here wtih the exception of the latter and only if that gateworld patron is breaking the rules. if that's the case, you let one of the mods know and we'll deal with it.

Please take your personal disputes elsewhere
thank you

[SapphireJewelledQueen]

I've only been to the littel conventions in Sydeny where there is maybe 200 people at the most, and I noticed that when I said thanks so much for organising it they were really happy. I think its a nice idea if you see the con organisers to express your thoughts.

[BruTak]

guys, whatever happened on that other board belongs on that other board.

any issues you have with other board admin, con organizers or other gateworld patrons has no need to be here wtih the exception of the latter and only if that gateworld patron is breaking the rules. if that's the case, you let one of the mods know and we'll deal with it.

Please take your personal disputes elsewhere
thank you

Many apologies Skydiver. I shall keep my future postings to the subject at hand.

[drjacksonfan]

the issue with a gift. i once went to a con where i gave my favorite speakers a postcard of my area with a nice little thank you note. i figure it's thin and it's inexpensive,easy to pack(if they keep it) and if they throw it out it's not like something that cost a lot of money.

i have a website i'm working on for a college course on websites and i'm using some convention tips that i wrote two years ago as the main topic. right now their star trek related i'm working on some stargate ones. i've got two sets one serious one humorous.

[lexa]

I've heard from another fan that she wanted to take to a con a few stories she'd written and have actors sign them. Fanfic is a usually ignored copyright violation, but that idea just smacked of trouble to me. I would never do it myself since signing even the cover of a story seems to imply that the actor supports the tale when they obviously haven't even heard of it before. But maybe that's not really what everybody else thinks. What are people's opinions of asking for autographs on fanfic at cons?

[StarDreamer]

I would never do it myself since signing even the cover of a story seems to imply that the actor supports the tale when they obviously haven't even heard of it before.

hmm.. that's a very good point. I never even thought about it. Admittedly, I'm not really a fan-fic person although I am somewhat of a writer.
Personally, I wouldn't advise of asking an actor to autograph fanfic, for your reason above, and also b/c it's NOT official and isn't directly related to their work. it kind of is, but more as an inspirational thing.. it's not something the actor has performed.

[drjacksonfan]

i think getting fan fic signed is a bit of an iffy thing for me personally. i've heard of people who've made collages and had them signed. i can understand that but fan fic i'm not so sure. personally i wouldn't i really have a hard time sharing what i write. fan fic for me is a way to combine two things i enjoy. i would be very cautious about doing such a thing especially if you spend good money for an autograph.

[BruTak]

I'm not up on copyright law but it seems logical to me that if you're asking an actor to sign your fanfic, it should be ok as long as the cover doesn't have any copyrighted images (I.E. a photo of the cast or suchlike) on it, and you freely acknowledge the copyright holder's rights - a simple "Based upon characters created by..." - you should be ok.

The likes of MGM, Paramount, Fox and so on pretty much turn a blind eye to fan fiction anyway.

[Skydiver]

i know a friend who had her fanfic bound in a book and got it signed by a lot of the actors, cast and crew. now, the writers of the show can't READ it, but they can sign it...or have in the past.
i know of some fanfic writers who have even received feedback from actors (minor ones) who have read the fic written about the character they played on stargate

i doubt it'll be an issue...unless the person planned to sell said fanfic. course that's the same for all home made art bearing resemblance to show stuff