The "will George Lucas be at C3?" wagering thread! (Lucas Confirmed To Attend)

LFL really needs to be careful with this. I mean, they have to anticipate that this is going to be the biggest event during the convention. They cannot afford to underestimate the interest of this event nor can they afford to underestimate the fact that if people are left out there could potentially be some serious issues. And whether or not GenCon will have enough trained and qualified individuals to deal with an escalation of tempers, that remains to be seen. I wouldn't put it past fans to go ballistic after either waiting an entire day to see him and getting told the capacity is full, or even go to the trouble of buying a 4-day pass now that he's coming just so they can see him only to find out that a lottery gets cast and they aren't one of the people able to go.

GenCon has made no efforts as of yet to say...hey...you might not get to see him. We have no guarantees. That could lead to some serious trouble.

My suggestions are:

1) Rent the dome and/or charge us additionally to do so for the allotted time needed.
2) Have satellite video stations around the entire complex, so if you can't be in the same room at least you can still see him in other places around the Convention center at the time of his panel.
3) Have multiple panels so that more people have a chance. He'd still have to do like 10+ panels to accomodate everyone. So #1 and #2 seem the most likely to me. That way he doesn't tie up his schedule and you give everyone an opportunity to see him live in some capacity.
4) the most ridicuous idea..but..hehe..You know,
they might take a cue from the Pope. Just sit his butt in a chair and let everyone walk by him and gaulk.

The scene:

"Hi Mr. Lucas".
Lucas: "Hi there."
"Hey Lucas! YOu rock man!"
Lucas: "Why, thank you. Move along. Move along."
"I love you George"
Lucas: "Thanks, and be sure to leave your check at the door. Next?"
Someone cries
Lucas: "Aww...NEXT!"

Keith

 

Open up the football field, that would be the way to go. Make a giant film presentation there.

 

I know opening the football field would be the best way to do this, but I hope no one here is actually expecting them to do it. The people who own and operate the convention center DO NOT have any control over the dome. The stadium is owned and operated by a completly different group. If the convention center had any control over the dome they would have used it for C2.

 

The expense of simply turning on the lights and providing staff for the stadium would out weigh ANY guest apperance at CIII.. added to the fact the Colts just bought new turf for the stadium, I highly doubt they want that stepped on or have a stage setup on the turf.

 

The only real problem will be that some people will end up not being able to see a GL presentation due to time and/or available space. This will cause normally sane & rational people to start ranting that their C3 experiance was ruined because they didn't get to see GL.

 

I'll bet anything this has been in the works for a few months. GenCon has a plan to make sure anyone thats wants to see his Panel will get a decent oppurtunity. This isnt coming out of the blue just today and genCon is saying ..O'****, what do we do know and how do we deal with this. I bet he might have 2-3 panels between Friday and Sat.

 

if it coast more to use the field. then charge us 20 dollars to see him

 

What about if they use the Sagamore room still, but cut down the panel time to just 30minutes a pop and do 6 of them? 15 minutes for his little speal and 15 for a Q/A. I think most people just want to get a chance to say they saw him in person. Around 21,000 could then do that. 30 minute panel, 30 minutes in between and for the new crowd to get seated.

 

As I said above I really doubt cost has anything at all with being able to use the RCA Dome. The dome is owned by a completely different group then who owns the con center. The owners of the con center have NO control over the dome, and more importantly they are not insured for it. I think we should all face it; GL WILL NOT be speaking from inside the dome. And if I happen to be wrong about this; whci I really doubt I am; then I will be the first to admit it.

 

What they should do is have a closed circuit TV system set up. That way people who can't get into the main presentaion hall (or whever Lucas is) can still see the presentation.

 

I definitely want my Wife and I to attend whatever it is that George Lucas is involved in.

The RCA Dome would be a great way for everyone to get the opportunity.

If nothing else, it would be great to at least see George Lucas walking down one of the hallways, or walking in somewhere. Something, anything.

I definitely want my Wife and I to attend whatever it is that George Lucas is involved in regardless of the cost and regardless of the wait. I definitely want this to happen.

 

As I recall there were monitors throughout the convention center (wasn't there?) For sure in the fan club lounge anyway.

 

They maight have had monitors in the lounge, but I don't think they had them anywhere else.

 

That guy is gonna get mobbed if he walks through the main area.

 

He'll need a Storm Trooper escort :-d

 

The dome is owned by a completely different group then who owns the con center.

The ownership of the dome is not the issue. It can be leased or rented from the management company. Nothing is currently listed on their calendar. I thought they just used it for the NCAA women's bb tournament. It isn't out of reach and would be the best option.

There is also Hall B. It holds more than Sagamore though still not enough. Hopefully someone is thinking this through. Although I'd love to get in this panel I'm not likely to make it since I'm volunteering. There just won't be time to line up. At least I'll be in the same building. On another note...I still believe in miracles! Maybe I'll luck up.

 

Maybe they should just have a ticket voucher online next week. Wont cost anything, but you print out a ticket on the celebration site and that is your ticket to get into how ever many panels he is doing. That way your assured you will atleast get in.

 

The best thing for them to do is this. LFL needs to tell Gen Con how many panels GL is going to do. They can then start selling tickets for each panel on their web site. They could set it up so that each person can only buy 1 ticket, and can only buy their ticket for 1 panel. That way we will not have any kind of nasty line fights over who can and can not get in to see him, and everyone will know ahead of time if they will even be able to see him or not.

 

^^ I agree. Ticket master does this for events. You can just print your ticket online.

 

Man, it's a good thing I was sitting down when I saw the headline at TF.N this morning, because I would have SO fainted!!!!!

 

It makes the most sense for George to be in the RCA Dome. I would imagine a line waiting to get in wouldn't interfere as much with the other stuff going on through that time, and GenCon can accomodate the most people possible per session.


If it gets opened up for questions, what do you guys think some good questions for George would be? And no I don't mean stuff like "Hi George! Jar Jar Binks....why?"

Here's one I came up with:

"George: After Return of the Jedi, you felt like you had reached the limits of technology in ways you could tell your story. Does the vision you had for how movies could be made back then line up with how you've done the prequel trilogy?"

Something like that

 

"there will be geek on geek violence to get into the ballroom" - lol, Salty

But yeah, that's exactly one reason why I will not try to go to it in the first place. Maybe that'll be a good time to the Autograph Area. I'd rather Lucas get to walk around and enjoy the Convention and maybe visit us at the Fan Force tables.

If this will go down on Saturday, I hope (for the sake of the fans who have just recently bought passes) that they would have Lucas do more than one presentation.

 

I tend to agree with those who've said that GenCon has this planned out already. This is an unprecedented event for any kind of fandom event and the way the Lucas machine ticks nearly guarantees that any events going down within his empire (no pun intended) are scheduled and taken care of down to the very smallest detail. Lucasfilm and GenCon probably had this planned out a year ago before even they knew if it would happen or not.

That said, I also agree that not everyone will have the opportunity to see George. Pure logic will tell you that because this event will be the likes of trying to fit a football stadium crowd into a high school gym. It. Won't. Happen.

I like the idea of finding out before C3 who is and who is not going to get into the panel(s) because it will not only aleviate potential riots (yes, I see it going that far) but allow those people who can't see him to have time to accept it and go on and enjoy the rest of the convention. I fully expect GenCon to do something like this within the next week or two, or at least something that clarifies when Lucas will be there...how long...where...and the possibilities of getting to see him. Giants like Lucasfilm and GenCon are not going to leave its fans and customers like legless rats in a dark maze. There will be organization to this, rest assured.

As far as giving Fan Club members guaranteed access to see George, I'm for it (to a point...explanation to follow) but only if they have:
1) setup numerous panels over the weekend
2) ensured that Lucas will be there over a minimum of two days
3) only reserved a section (someone mentioned one-third) for each panel
and 4) they limit the number of fan club members by randomizing the selection...a lottery basically. Any fan club members not making it in during the draw will have a chance to get in with everyone else but with no advantage. This utilizes the "benefits" program and simultaneously makes it a little fair for those not in the fan club because they'll know that not even all of the fan club members can get in. It might not comfort them, but ya know...you can only do so much to appease 50,000 people.

There are different ways a Fan Club Benefit could work for this and though most would be logical I guess the question of whether it is sound or not is really unclear. With something this large in scale there is no real fair way to do things so when the authorities start laying down the law and limitations then we all are going to have to understand that they have no other choice.

The only thing we can do right now is voice our concern but moreover just wait for the next announcement. Only then can any of us make plans toward this...I for one know that I have a lot riding on this because I'm only attending on Saturday. If they don't reduce/eliminate the lining up factor for George then I'll end up spending my day at C3 in line. Granted, it will be for George Lucas and I'll come away happy...but not everyone attending for just one day will feel the same.

And just for the sake of taking a different perspective completely for a second...if this DID turn out to be poorly organized then I will go ahead and predict that GenCon will probably get hit very hard with bad media (relatively speaking, the Woodstock '99 of conventions) as we'll be hearing about breakouts of mass frustration and violence in Indianapolis on the local and national news come Monday, April 25.