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Reflections from FedCon 6/25/2008 6:40:04 AM
Part One By now you have probably heard about the abrupt ending to FedCon in Dallas. As you would expect the fans were pissed and I cannot blame them but in the wake of this disaster, I have decided to leave the finger pointing to others. I take my hat off to my new friends John Billingsley and his wife Bonita Friedericy for keeping the convention on life support from Friday afternoon until its untimely demise around 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning. They were warm, friendly, entertaining, and simply awesome. When it became clear that the show would not go on John stepped in as an advocate to the disappointed fans in an effort to get them more information.
Speaking of fans I have to say that the ones that stopped by the Escape 2 Earth table in the autograph room were great. I cannot use this forum to thank you all but I would like to mention a few like Butch, Becky, Naomi, Pat, Nancy, Robert, Ken, Allen and Terri who came all the way from Canada and JP who came with his son and his father. Thank you all.
The volunteers' (I call them the red shirts) did a fantastic job before and after the bad news hit. Kim, Elizabeth, and Sam managed to stay upbeat and available to pass on what little information that they were given, thanks guys I am sure that our paths will cross again. The lovely Menina Fortunato ( Maras from Star Trek Enterprise) was kind enough to make the rounds and shake hands with all of the signers. If you left early, you missed the brief but hilarious verbal exchange between John Billingsley, Garrett Wang, and a couple of rowdy Klingons.
After the word came down that we needed to be out of the autograph room by 3:00p.m. I though that everyone would pack up to leave but it was the exact opposite. The room began filling up with fans and we all stayed until our time was up. Later that evening, John, Bonita, Lauren, Renea, and about a half dozen fans hung out at the club in the hotel downstairs for a few hours. On my plane ride home, I kept wondering what it would have been like if things were handled differently. Well there were no winners this time around but I am trying my best to see the glass as half full. I am looking forward to the next convention, maybe Jump Con or Dragon Con. I will keep you posted.
