Return of the Con
For any who don’t follow Authors & Dragons, you might not be aware that we’ve officially announced a plan to move forward with this year’s A&D Con in Nashville from Aug 6th – 8th. As some folks still write in to ask about conventions, I thought it would be prudent to let everyone know that I’m hoping to attend my first in-person one since 2019.
Now obviously, this is a year not quite like any other, nor do I expect things to feel “normal” for some while. I know the concerns that will be on the minds of attendees, because they are very much bouncing around my brain as well. This seemed like a good time to discuss some of the challenges and caveats of putting together our first post-pandemic convention.
Attempting to Plan
Conventions are a lot like locomotives, in that they depend on momentum. People need time to book flights, get time off, and so forth. On the organizer side, things are exponentially more complicated, and require even more lead time for everything to be properly scheduled. It’s also why canceling a con last minute can be so taxing on the people throwing them, both from a fiscal and emotional level. All of which means that if we wanted to throw a convention in August, then we had to start planning in the fall.
Ultimately, we decided to move forward based on the government projections that anticipated all eligible adults being able to get vaccinated by May. While that is, obviously, not a guarantee, we can only work off the information that is available, and so far things are looking good on that front. If there’s a sudden new development or the national vaccine rollout hits trouble, then we’ll of course revisit the issue, though I imagine the fate of our con will be small potatoes at that point.
Safety Precautions
It should really go without saying that we’re going to follow all CDC, local, federal, and hotel guidelines within the convention space, but considering this past year I’m going to err on the side of saying it anyway. Masks, social distancing, whatever the disease experts say is safest, that’s what we’ll be doing.
This one is hard to speak on at any length in specifics, because like with the vaccine rollout we can only work with the information on hand now. Bottom line, we love our listeners as well as ourselves, so the goal is to keep everyone in attendance as safe as possible.
Scheduled Activities
One of the upsides to this being a smaller, podcast centric convention is that so long as the main cast is there, we can create the content folks traveled for. Given the challenges in travel and very understandable fear many folks have of being around others right now, that made it an easy choice to tilt most of the programming onto ourselves. That’s not to say there won’t be any guests or surprises, we are working behind to scenes to setup as much as we can, however A&D Con won’t be a tremendously guest-focused one.
We’re still working on the schedule, a fact that I imagine will remain true until we’re much closer to the big day itself, however some staples can most likely be expected: a big live game event, the cast bringing back a few favorites, and smaller games sprinkled throughout. Taking into account the responses from our last con, we’re also shifting less toward panels and more toward active segments like the games. Folks enjoyed those a lot more, and another small con advantage is the ease of getting and incorporating the attendees’ feedback.
External Activities
One of the most common positive notes we got about A&D Con 2019 was about how much folks enjoyed the accessibility of cast and guests. Outside of just the planned events, we hung out in the book room to chat, sign stuff, and generally be social. That’s without even counting the post-con bar hours spent drinking and shooting the breeze. This is as aspect we definitely want to preserve, while also keeping things safe.
Some of this will be manifested in simple shifts to seating arrangements, making sure folks can still hang out without too close of a proximity. Other changes might be us patronizing an outdoor bar in the evenings if possible, or finding a similarly suitable spot for socializing. But overall, it’s our intent to keep the accessible aspect from the first con wherever possible, even if we have to tweak details to make sure it can be done safely.
New Additions
Much as we love to hit the classics at live gatherings, you can’t have new classics unless you’re testing fresh stuff, so there will certainly be an unexpected event or two. Beyond that, we’re also working to incorporate some of the lessons learned from our 2020 DigiCon. Since A&D Con 2020 had to be postponed, we held a digital version, streaming our content for a weekend to the A&D Youtube. It was great getting to interact with so many of our listeners on a large scale.
This is an aspect we definitely want to incorporate into conventions moving forward, A&D Con 2021 being no exception. Unfortunately, much as it would rule to announce the whole thing will be live-streamed, we won’t know if that’s truly viable until we arrive and see the available hotel internet. If its not up to the task, the plan is to record as much as we’re able, eventually adding it to the channel as well. Travel can be challenging, especially these days, so we want to make the con’s content availble to as many people as possible, even if we don’t have to bandwith to stream directly.
There will of course be more information to come as we draw closer, hopefully with no unwanted surprises, but that is far out of my hands. If you’re interested in attending A&D Con 2021, check out our page on the A&D site, you can grab tickets or book the hotel under our discounted room code. Scary a prospect as the return to public gatherings can be, we’re doing all we can to give everyone a safe, fun, and most-likely loud, time. Hope to see you there!