Imitation is the sincerest form of theft

04/07/2009 by AJ.

Those of you with your ear to the ground will be aware that a major genre magazine in the UK has just announced that it is planning a convention-style thingy at a holiday camp in 2010.

As usual, the marketing boys are playing hard and fast with the truth.  Apparently, it’s the first event of its kind in the UK.  Well, that honour went to WARP ONE up at Morecambe in 1993.  Then, of course, the minor irritant that the CULT TV WEEKENDERS started at a Holiday Camp (and indeed nine of the 14 Annual Festivals were at Holiday Camps).  Still, people have short memories and, as we know from a host of other subjects, most people don’t question ‘facts’ these days.

Anyhow, not really putting pinkees to keyboard to bitch about such things.  Good luck to them in making it work - the Cult TV Production Team should be flattered that someone has decided to resurrect what became our preferred way of doing things.  However, as we found out, you’ll get people moaning about a whole host of things - the cost (particularly if a person wants to go along on your own), the fact the venue is so far from where certain people live, those who only want a day ticket (unable to comprehend the concept of entertainment in the evenings going right through to the morning after), the cost of autographs (being done as an added extra in the pricing structure), not being able to buy a “ticket” that doesn’t include accommodation, the lack of access by public transport (or at least the apparent problems - hey, try getting to Glastonbury by train!!!), having to bring your own towels, electric meters in certain chalets, and so forth.

Fan conventions are supposed to be fun, and there used to be a non-commercial heart to them which meant they were being organised with best intentions rather than profit at their heart.  So many of these avid amateurs have seen the back-hander cash that can be made from joining “the professionals” and have suckled up to the Lords of Capitalism.  What was a hobby has become a delightful second income.  Charity these days never gets a look-in as it gets in the way of personal dosh!

The last decade has seen fandom change, possibly forever.  No-one is surprised any more that they have to pay for autographs, and certainly endless queues are trying to be solved one way or the other.  The thing is, some time soon there will be nostalgia for conventions as ‘they used to be’.  However, I have my doubts that people actually would want things as they were.

The final problem is that if you were to do market research, you’d find that people actually don’t know what they want.  For every type of venue, there will be supporters and detractors; for every change of format, some will cheer, some will huff.  Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

The ultimate struggle in formatting is between creating an all-in package which makes administration and on-the-day security easier, against creating a “build your own” itemised way of doing things which can turn into a nightmare before you know it (mainly caused by people not realising what they have bought, or not reading the information thoroughly enough so that they know what they have rights to do … and what they haven’t).

At the moment, it appears “pay as you go” is winning the day, which has the disadvantage that it actually makes things MORE expensive for those that want everything, as they effectively have to dig deeper to make up for those in attendance who want the bare minimum.  “Quite right, too”, some may say … but if Sky and Virgin Media were ever to “debundle” to the Nth degree, just watch the topline all-in packages jump in price to make up for this.

So, there’s the ultimate dilemma.  The Cult TV Weekender for many years became known for being “all or nothing”, which put a lot of people off.  At ‘AVII’ I saw the ultimate in catering for everyone.  You could have an all-weekend pass - in three flavours, Gold - Silver - Bronze.  Each one gave you different levels of benefits, with a badge and a lanyard.  And Gold Ticket people HAD to be staying at the venue for the 3 nights of the conference

Then there were day passes - for these you got a wrist band.  And then there were even individual lecture tickets - printed passes specifically for each speaker.

All of this worked - mainly because of the pre-planning done before the weekend.  So, “Pay As You Go” CAN be done.  It’s just a question of whether it should be encouraged …

Posted in General Media | Print | 1 Comment »