Toronto a convention of our own in toronto

bring a star wars convention to toronto. it would be big. and i have a question. is the star wras celebration always in the U.S.? lastly, i would like to know, is there any thing comming up that is close by?

 

Toronto Trek is coming up in july. dont let the name fool you its more then just trek, its all kinds of science fiction.

here

 

Hey JMD and Dan. To answer your question regarding Celebration there will only be one more and that will be in 2005 and it will
be in the US and probably in Indianapolis, IN.

 

I saw mike there last year, I think that was the last time I saw you mike, getting a day pass for the vendors room.

 

I believe that you are right Dan. I do not
get out much

 

It was a fun time and Im thinking of taking my holidays for it this year. one week anyways, maybe get a room if I can afford it.

 

Just a quick correction, Toronto Trek is in July, the 11th to 13th this year, not June as was stated.

There's always SFX (although I'm not sure they're doing much this year), and this year there is also TorCon3 (worldcon)... probably not much (if any) SW stuff, but it's all good for the more general fan.

 

David, isn't that TorCon3 convention the one where it costs about $300 for a weekend pass...

 

ouch that would hurt the pocket book.

I edited my post, sorry about that, I knew it was july, I im just eager for it to get here lol -D

 

Then, of course, there's Tragi-con. Held in the wilds of Mississauga, from time to time.

 

Yup, TorCon3 is mighty expensive... could be worthwhile to some though... and it's in Toronto, so worth mentioning.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the sporadic Tragi-con, held in the wilds of Mississauga. One of my favorites.

 

Tragic-cons have the potential to be just as good as Lloyd & Yvonne's Aparticons!

TorCon3, aka WorldCon, is definitely very expensive, but it is huge. Its an author con though not a media one. You go there to meet David Brin and Greg Bear, not Mark Hamill.

Actually the membership list for TorCon has almost as many interesting names on it as those that are the guests!

Back to the topic on hand, a Star Wars only convention in Toronto would be an interesting idea. I might suggest following the Toronto Trek model. Not what it is now, but what is was for Toronto Trek 1 (yes I was there). TT1 was a relaxicon. No guests, just social stuff basically and some panel discussions. Its relatively easy to organize as well. Just need hotel space.

Toronto Trek 2 (concom member) was more formal, but even then to save costs, instead of getting an actor as the guest, we went with authors. So if the relaxicon goes very well, and there is definite interest, maybe the next one can get say, Timothy Zahn, as the guest.

Look at T-Trek now, its large, but that is how it started. Not a bad model to follow for a Star Wars related convention.

 

Hey, I'm all for helping to start a new Toronto convention!

 

Yeah... Woofer's post really has me thinking about this... scary, scary thoughts.

 

You people are nuts! Do you have any idea what's involved in putting together a con? But if you do put together a con, something you'll probably want to consider is......
hey wait-a-minute. I'm not falling for that again. Heh heh heh - almost had me. Very tricky you people.

 

Darn... so close.

 

darn we need a bigger hook, better bait

 

Hey Rob, we have a lovely, comfy, chair!

You can think of it like a captain's chair.

Take the con Mr. Tragic! The ConChair!!

Muhahahahaha!!

Seriously, I've already told David, if you guys are serious about maybe running a relaxicon, say late fall, early next spring, I'll be interested in helping out.

 

I have a bad feeling about this...

 

ok number 2, anyone else care to imput. a relaxicon would be nice thank you mr woofer

 

my two cents.

Having it's own convention is really fun.

However, beeign in the business myself, I saw many conventions cancelled over the years.. which is sad.

Now before you go out and start yourself a new con, I would like you to take this in consideration.

There are a few conventions out here in Canada, T-Trek in mid summer, Sfx late summer, ConCept in montreal in fall and Ad-Astra in springtime.

I'm not involved in all of them, but I do support T-Trek and Concept.

and one thing I'm aware of is that before we start a new convention out there and face the competition of the other cons, maybe we should try and propose our current concoms special projects.

example:

here in Montreal, SithClan might help bring in a star wars celebrity to the con.

of course we get a special meal and all but that's like compensation.



that's it I guess.... canadian cons need more attendance, find more people for our established conventions before we see more Empirecons, or atlanticons go down

 

Ok, first off there are two questions that need to be answered here before we go any further.

1) are we seriuos, its a lot of work no matter size.

2) size, are we going big, Id say no, not right now, a three day thing with guests and all is good for GTA-JEDI-CON 17 but not for #1, we go small, no guests unless we fall over one and can drag em there inexpensively. A one day event with some panels and a few other things would fit our budget and man power needs. a few people getting together a little money pool to start out would keep it from exploding.

Now the name I just said was from my head, may not be it, we can decide what to call it later, lets talk on how to go from here first. -D

 

Well here is what I think is do-able with a ConCom of say 6 people.

A 3 day relaxicon.

Friday night
Socialize followed by the inevitable filk

Saturday
Various panels, a video room and a game room.
Followed by even more filk

Sunday
Dead Dog panel

Plus of course you'll have to have a ConSuite. Other possible "simple" things to run would be an art room.

If membership is limited to 100 people, it gives an upper limit for hotel space, size of panel rooms etc.

No its not a big convention, but its a start and give people experience in running things, and provide a basis for expansion.

 

Ok mayhaps this isn't my place since I'm not really Torontonian simply an Import form over the boarder, but if a convention is started you guys need a hooh.

Its nice to say its a "Star Wars" con but when the bantha poodu hits the fan you gotta have something which will still catch people's interest. People have said panels but what kind? discusion of the movies, comics, books, RPGs, Video Games, Toys, Memorobilia, etc. (ran out of things to list) Are the panels gonna be stuff like last years wonderful discusion at TT where two idiots were allowed to walk on the opinions of others? Or are they going to be strongly moderated. Is the Con gonna focus on Canonical ideas or is it going to embrase the greater universe. In sort "what is the hook" most will agree that the flashy name based hooks of large Cons won't work but you still need an attention grabbing concept.

Hooks can be anything, pull out the works and teach people SW RPG or have strait Airings of the Original Edition of all the Movies back to back. find someone obsessed with the Movies and have a "Beat the Geeks" brand trivia battle (not sure everyone has seen that now cancled game show). There is also the Coat tails hook, schedual the Con the same week after a larger con like TT so people can hit two birds with one stone.

I travel 1600 miles to get to TT every year, so what would make "____con" worth that trip, thats what people need to answer first, everything has to be built on that.