Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[tsaxlady]

Just a quick little something I threw together this morning. Under spoiler for size

Spoiler:

[Frostfox]

geek - the thing with "cons" (as you put it) is that YOU have to make it the experience YOU want and without being totally rude to the VOLUNTEERS for the con compay do what you want. "cons" for me are an oppourtunity to see a lot of my old friends that I only get to see once a year and the cast/crew of whatever show being there is just the icing on the cake. But that's just me.

Nope, not just you. I've been going to cons, as an attendee or as guest for 25 years now, I meet my friends there, we catch up (not that we don't contact each other on IM or LJ or the like) and go for dinner and whatnot. I far, far prefer fan run conventions, next weekend it the 58th Eastercon in Chester and we don't (for various reasons such as the original bid and venue falling through) have any guests. Are we bothered? Well, I'm sure there will be authors hanging about in the bar, there always are. But no, the lack of guests won't have much of an impact, guests are the icing on the cake, the fans make up the cake itself.

FF running a belly dancing workshop at the con, must get music loaded onto the iBook. Real. Soon. Now.

[minigeek]

geek - the thing with "cons" (as you put it) is that YOU have to make it the experience YOU want and without being totally rude to the VOLUNTEERS for the con compay do what you want. "cons" for me are an oppourtunity to see a lot of my old friends that I only get to see once a year and the cast/crew of whatever show being there is just the icing on the cake. But that's just me.

There you've hit the nail. At a convention "you" make the experience what you want it to be. Because you must; because they don't have a clue who you are and it doesn't matter. At GABIT, it was such a personal venue that you were literally welcomed as a friend from the get-go, and your personal experience was inextricably enmeshed with the event itself. Therein lies the difference I mean. Unless my experience was somehow vastly different from that of others who attended AT2, but I can't imagine it was. Please do correct me if I am woefully inaccurate here - I haven't attended any 'mainstream cons' before, but I really believe there is a fundamental difference between a personalized event like GABIT and say, a CREATION CON, is there not? I am not trying to place a value judgment on either venue, I am simply trying to illustrate why I felt that GABIT was not a typical "con" per se. I wouldn't call it a convention. I'd call it ... a convergence (of friends)? Regardless of how one makes one's own experience along the way, those differences in the respective event's personalities and format would still be apparent. That was my primary point.

[Skydiver]

yeah, cons are as fun as you make them. and you, as an attendee, will meet as many people as you allow yourself to meet. you can't just hang out in your room and them lament that no one wants to look you up and ring you up and talk to you.

if you want to meet folks, you gotta go out and mix with them.

and if the sole reason for going and all you obsess over is getting this auto and that auto and that pic and you get all fussed over how long this line is and that line and such, you're gonna have a bad con.

I cannot think of a single con runner that sets it up with the attitude of 'ok, yeah, i know i sold 1000 tickets, but i'm gonna do all i can to make sure that only 200 of those 1000 get opportunities for their pics or autos'

Cons, especially fan run cons, do their best to take care of everyone. Sometimes real life gets in the way, but they try. I much prefer fan cons over pro cons largely because most of them are a 'such and such charity gets the profits' instead of 'ooh, look, if we make this much money our ceo's wife gets a new fur coat'

Fan run cons are usually more affordable and run wiht a less mercenary attitude than the for profit cons.

If you go to the con to meet the people, see the actors/guests and to have fun, and consider all those pics and autos to be bonuses, you're likely gonna have more fun than those that aim for the opposite

[Skydiver]

I enjoyed gabit because, as much as the G4 respect amanda and her time and take care of her, they are very aware that if we -the attendees - weren't willing to shell out a few hundred dollars each, they wouldn't have a con. We are just as much a part of the equation as amanda, cause if it weren't for us, she'd never need to get on the plane.

they do thier best to take care of everyone there. Which is one reason they keep the con small, to avoid the 'more people that come, the larger our profit margin' attitude of a professional con...which leads to cattle call syndrome. Sure, you'll get what you pay for, but there's nothing personal about it. You are no more than a number on a ledger sheet.

With gabit y ou're a person, and are allowed to continue to be a person throughout the weekend. Which, from all my understanding is just how amanda likes it. She could vere easily do the cattle call cons, have impersonal moments with folks and pocket a likely easy 5 figures for a weekend's work.

but she chooses to do cons where she does see less peopel,but she gets to know those people as much as possible. she gets to put faces with names and gets to get beyond that little plastic tag hanging from the lanyard. It's my impression that she does cons not for the paycheck, but to get to meet fans. and gabit is very good at facilitating that, thus she likes to work with them. because they not only respect her and her time, but they respect the attendees as well

[scarimor]

I just want to say that

I fangurl ChopinGal!

As you were

[Kett1701]

I guess that I have to weigh in on this subject, since I'm the Co-Chair of a convention.

Here's what I know about Amanda - she prefers the smaller cons. She loves the intimacy that she can have with the fans at something like Gabit.
The problem is that most of the smaller cons would never be able to afford what it would cost to bring in someone of Amanda's stature. The Gabit folks are very fortunate to have the relationship that they have, so that they are able to bring Amanda to a small event like that.
I'm still somewhat giddy over the compliment that Amanda gave me after Shore Leave. She described Shore Leave as a larger convention that felt like a smaller one.
(Side note- big and small are all relative. Compared to San Diego Comic Con, Shore Leave is teeny tiny!)
Our reality is that the fans want "name" actors. Some people think that the actors come for free or that the studios pay the costs. That's not true. We're competing with pro cons with much more money and sometimes we lose. I've had to walk away from negotiations because the actor stuck to a higher price, no matter who we were.

We are one of the "fan-runs" that have been mentioned. We work all year long for no pay. We have many areas of the convention that have absolutely nothing to do with the actors - but are just as important to maintain "what we are". This includes, but is not limited to - the Art Show, fan panel discussions, astonomers giving science talks, and writers offering writing tips.
Here's my personal definition of the difference between pro cons and fan run cons. The Pro Con is a "show", not a convention. There is one main stage and a Dealers' Room. That's IT! While Creation has added additional things in recent years (all of which cost extra money to participate in), that still is pretty much what they have going on.
Shore Leave and other fan-run conventions actually borrowed our format from the literary Scifi conventions that have been taking place since the 1930s. There is a literary con that takes place at the exact same location as Shore Leave. It's called Balticon. If you were to look at our formats, we're actually much closer to Balticon than we are to Creation. As the Media convention, we just have a different focus.

Well, thinking of working all year long for no pay....gotta get out to Office Depot to pick up our fliers. We have a meeting tomorrow and we will be stuffing fliers into envelopes while we have the meeting.
We have an inside joke....when someone has done really well on something we offer to double or triple their pay! : ) Our flier guy wanted me to quadruple his, but I held out to just triple!

Kett

[ForeverSg1]

Hmmmmm... tempting. Is Amanda going to be there, or is that just wishful thinking?

I'm not sure if Amanda will be at Comic Con, but I'll be there. Hmm, guess that's not as tempting though eh? *heavy sigh* I understand. Really. I'm know I'm just not as interesting as Amanda. *sniff* I'm sure if I'm on my best behavior, Spaz and Tsax will let me hang out with them. Ack! Now that I think about it...Tsax!?!?

**Makes mental note NOT to bring computer to Comic Con as the taxlady tends to do wicked, wicked things with the computer when it's late at night.**

[Skydiver]

and i think that's why i like smaller cons rather than pro ones. I don't want a show. If i want to watch actors put on a performance, i'll go to a play or turn on the tv.

when i go to a con, it is to meet my friends, but it's also a chance to have a tiny moment and to get to know the actor behind the role.

we have the luxury of doing that at a fan con. not so much so at a pro one. thus i prefer fan cons, and i do very much respect the folks that have the thankless job of putting them together.

[pixiesio]

Count me in as a fan of fan-run cons. When I started going to cons, the only choice I had was Creation since that was all that came to my city. Once I got a taste of a fan-run one, I swore I'd never go back to pro-cons!

[NearlyCircular]

I just want to say that

I fangurl ChopinGal!

As you were

Ditto!!

NC

[tsaxlady]

I'm not sure if Amanda will be at Comic Con, but I'll be there. Hmm, guess that's not as tempting though eh? *heavy sigh* I understand. Really. I'm know I'm just not as interesting as Amanda. *sniff* I'm sure if I'm on my best behavior, Spaz and Tsax will let me hang out with them. Ack! Now that I think about it...Tsax!?!?

**Makes mental note NOT to bring computer to Comic Con as the taxlady tends to do wicked, wicked things with the computer when it's late at night.**

No worries since I'm not flying for this con I will have my laptop

But I'm relying on you and Spazz and Mini and Stix (you did say you are joining us right ) to keep me out of trouble at this con.


If you have never been to Comic Con it is just a different beast because of the size. I sat in on a talk there last year with some icons of the comic world and they talked about how Comic Con started as this small fan gathering of Comic book folks and has grown over the years to this huge Comic, SciFi, Fantasy, Anime media event. You never know who you will run into at Comic Con. I remember my first year getting in line at one of the snack bars and bumping into the man behind me at one point - I turned around to say sorry and just stammered because it was Stan Lee (one of my comic heroes).

I have been to cons both small and large. Fan run and corporate run - they all have there pluses and minuses. The bottom line for each individual is what do you want from a con. Creation cons I attended because I want to hear the panels and visit with friends. Shore Leave a new one on my annual con tour when I can afford to go - again great panels from actors, fun fan panels, good friends to hangout with. There are not many actors I would go to the expense of to see at a con just for them like the GABIT Events. A big part of the fun again of the GABIT events is visiting with friends.

[ann_sgcfan]

I just want to say that

I fangurl ChopinGal!

As you were

yeah me too... and it wouldn't even let me give her green!

[Skydiver]

a couple of sam fic reccies

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3467747/1/

for the sam/teal'c folks among us. (oh, and more than friendship going on here)

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3410722/1/

this is sam large and in charge. on a 'secret' mission on earth, that has fallout none of them expected.

bits of sam/jack if you really want to read between the lines, but by and large teaminess

[ChopinGal]

yeah me too... and it wouldn't even let me give her green!

Jeez, I could have used the green ... I just did my taxes.

Thanks all of you for the too kind words! I guess matriarchy does have its perks.