SWC19 It's official Star Wars Celebration - April 11-15 2019 Chicago

If you want to be part of Celebration, check out this story on TFN Main. They are looking for fan-based content - fan hosted panels, podcasts, fan club tables, and fan-built props and sets. See the Celebration website for further information.

 

Yes, Comicon in San Diego in 2009.

 

Just saw the Cele. site and ticket prices, I was off on the 5 day by $70,I was off the VIP by $50, I had said $150 for 5 day and $900-100- for VIP! I'm glad I was wrong, but $215+ for 5 day is steep, they better deliver on the goods!

 

Hmm...this has me slightly intrigued. I'd like to think I could muster something together and host a decent panel at Celebration. Alhough I realize I'm no different from every other fan out there who could probably just as easily do the same thing. But I'm going to look into it. I've thought about doing something like this before. And there's plenty of topics to discuss, in this case it would likely have to come from the fandom angle. I'd want to find out first what the time commitment is for doing this though, in terms of actually being at Celebration and how much time it will take up. If it's a big old to do that's going to require missing half the convention, then I'll pass. I wouldn't at all mind doing the preparation beforehand, but not if it's going to take up all my time when I'm actually there. Not to mention it isn't even a guarantee that a proposal will be accepted in the first place, so there's that risk as well.

But if anybody here might be interested in collaborating and submitting a proposal, let me know. The deadline is October 31st.

 

You should do a Celebration tips panel at Celebration.

 

Haha, that's an idea. It would likely be a fandom focused panel, so that could be a portion of the discussion.

 

That should be the one panel they do host on Thursday!

 

Especially for a five day convention, they could easily have a Celebration Tips and Survival Guide panel on the first day.

 

They could do it in the arena since they aren't using it. 10k people there for @MotivateR5D4 tips. Thow in some @ChrisLyne karaoke and we have a panel! I'm camping for that.

I'm just playing. It'd be sweet if you could come up with content for a panel.

 

Gives me time to work on those dance moves

 

@star_wars_is_good, you'll be giving advice during the portion of the panel dedicated to tips on how to score a VIP badge.

This is going to be a collaborative effort amongst the Celebration Thread contributors. Warwick will moderate.

 

This will be known as the group prayer segment.

 

Call on the force to guide us, to will us...to get VIP badges.​

 

I proposed a "Why we love the Holiday Special" panel for both Anaheim and Orlando 17 and got shot down for both. I think it would be a fun discussion but Reed and Lucasfilm seem to disagree. I even had a few panelists lined up.

 

That would be a totally legitimate discussion to have for a small panel at Celebration. And yet, they didn't accept it. When really, that particular topic is no better or worse than the thousand other different topics people can come up with to talk about Star Wars. So it just goes to show that even after drafting up a panel proposal and thinking it's going to be great, there's still a good chance it won't happen.

 

I'm sure it's due to the fact that they want to pretend that it never happened. They are very careful with the things they will associate with. If it goes on the schedule or in the advertising in any way they have to have 30 levels of approval.

I've also proposed a non-denominational worship service at CVI, Anaheim and Orlando 17. This was the response. "Traditionally Celebrations have not made religious services or personal events a part of the official programming. I recommend you contact the hotels nearby the convention center, and see if they have space for you to host your services."

I was able to do a service at all three conventions but I had to hold them at the adjacent hotels and pay for the space. I was also very restricted on marketing the events. I don't think I will be able to do it in Chicago. I made an attempt at C2E2 one year and the room alone was over $3000 for an hour service.

I understand their position but it is frustrating to see the burlesque show was freely advertised throughout the convention center and in the official program. Don't get me wrong, if that is your thing then you do you, but it seems to be a bit of a double standard in my opinion.

I got a cease and desist for a post that went up on theforce.net for my event. When TFN posted it they used the official celebration logo because it was a part of their Celebration coverage. I had to get them to remove it or the hotel I was hosting in would cancel my reservation for the event. It was fun to be able to do it while I could but it seems that it will only continue to get harder to pull it off.

 

Why not try to work with a non-denominational establishment already in Chicago and try to see if they would sponsor your event? That way you can cut down on costs and promote it better?

 

I've tried that in the past with little success. I have an option but it is still early. I will be reaching out to a couple of local churches soon though. Part of the idea has always to be as accessible to the fans at the convention center as possible. That gets harder as we move the location farther from the convention center. For CVI we were at the Rosen Plaza and that was nice but not the most ideal location. For Anaheim We were in the Hilton and couldn't have gotten any closer. For Orlando 17 we were in the Hilton and it was a haul. We will see how things go for Chicago. I haven't written it off yet. If you're interested we have all the details on past events on our website. www.heroministries.org.

 

You sure on that address? I get 'not found' when I click on it.

 

sorry it's a .org not .com
www.heroministries.org

 

That looks better. If I hadn't flagged it up someone else would have..

 

I am one with the force, the force is with me...

 

And then everyone dies trying to protect the one VIP pass...

It will look something like this...

 

@groove790:

Thanks for sharing all that. I hadn't even considered that they must keep a tight watch over everything happening outside the event as well to make sure nobody is trying to profit or benefit from it in some way.

As far as the burlesque thing goes, money talks. If something being advertised doesn't look quite right in terms of the context that it's being advertised in, it's likely the promoters paid a whole bunch of money in order for it to be that way. I don't think it has anything to do with merit or what they consider to be a legitimate event to be promoted. It can be that for some things. But for the most part money dictates everything. That, or some other type of agreement between the organizing parties that they allow for reciprical advertising.

But I fully expect a panel proposal to go through layers and layers of approval. Which is something I kind of alluded to in my other post about it in terms of the time requirement when actually at Celebration. Because I have to think that even if you get the initial approval to host a panel, it's probably only a conditional offer at that point. You still probably have to attend some kind of orientation where they review exactly what content you have and how you plan to conduct the panel and whatnot. And only then will they give you the green light and provide the details on which panel room you are assigned, what time, setting up, etc. But until you have met that requirement, which can take some time, they can revoke their offer. For that matter, I bet it's known that even during a panel they could put a stop to it if they deem it something that shouldn't continue. Not that anything would ever get that bad, just saying that they probably have such tight control over everything that they could if they wanted to. So I agree, because Disney/LucasFilm have to stand behind every little thing that goes on at Celebration, it's going to require layers upon layers of approval before it actually comes to fruition.

So while I'm definitely going to look into it, I wouldn't want to have to jump through hoops like that when I'm at Celebration just to essentially do what I already do here on the boards every day, which is discuss Star Wars and all the happenings around it. That's something I need to find out first is whether or not hosting a panel is going to take me away from enjoying a significant portion of the convention. If that's the case, then I won't do it. But if it turns out that it will only require a morning or afternoon, then I gotta do some brainstorming to find a topic or an angle on a topic that might actually get approved.

 

Haha, that's great! Buncha grown kids having fun!