Has Your Convention Become Virtual?

[angelmage99]

The next con I was planning on going to did end up going virtual for a one day event (about the same time that it would have happened).

If anyone is interested in it I put the link Here.  

[angelmage99]

OnsenMark

This year's Otakon was virtual. It wasn't the same as the IRL experience, but for what it was, it was pretty good.

Well to be fair Online Cons are a fairly newly explored idea. It would take time to prefect the concept.  

[angelmage99]

I do want to point something out that with cons not happening in person that may people have no real reason to take work off.  

[angelmage99]

khryseis eae

smithers456

I know with the money I'm saving, that I'm going a couple of things:

1. Reworking next years cosplays.
With Shaman King getting a remake for Spring 2021, my sister and I are planning on doing cosplays from that show. We're going to be do Horohoro (My sister) and his spirit companion Kokoro (Me). I haven't decided if I'm going to force my husband to dress up with us. The only character we could think of would be the Villain(ish) Hao. Thought I've also thought letting my sister solo Horohoro and my husband and I will do Faust and his wife Eliza, but I know it'll be hard to get my husband to do it.

2. Extra Cons next year.
I normally go to two or three cons a year, but with cons being cancelled we still have tickets for two cons, plus two events in which both my husband and I work as booth minions and both events are local. There's an additional Con that's a local gaming con and a maker convention, and free event that's local for me and a rumored day con that is only a hour drive away. We've been talking of taking an extra weekend for a fourth con since we're not doing any vacation this year.

Right now we're looking at Radcon (Prez day weekend), Sakura Con (Easter weekend), SageFenCon (Beginning of May), rumored one day Con (May or June), Kuroneko Con (Beginning of August), Ye Merrie Greenwood Faire (End of September), ConfuseCon (Second weekend of October), Mid-Columbia Pirate Fest (End of October), and Kumori Con (Beginning of November).

Wow that's a lot of cons. I need to go and adjust my 2021 cosplay plans.  

[angelmage99]

smithers456

It's nice that your husband likes Anime and is willing to cosplay with you. Hopefully their will be cons to go to next year. Believe or not I think that my main con, Youmacon is still on. Unfortunately I have a feeling that my Michigan Governor will cancel it at the last moment due to safety. Hopefully they will have some virtual activities setup in case. Oh I'm curious, what is a maker convention? Also do you know if your con tickets will still be good next year?

Here is something to think about. Perhaps their will be conventions in the future that will be part live and part virtual.

The last con that I planned for this year was cancelled even though it's not until November. They decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. I know of other cons that are planned for early next year that are waiting a bit to get an idea of what's going to happen and will decide in time for the deposit to be returned.

Also on a side note. Some cons that got cancelled after the close down or ended shortly before the close down are also having struggles. Committees haven't been able to meet. I know our local Sci-Fi/Fantasy con has had that struggle. I saw the committee member in charge of volunteers at the store (We both got excited). She told me that they haven't been able to meet anywhere, but on zoom which causes some trouble. They haven't been able to talk about guest at all.

A maker con is kind of what it sounds like. It's a con for people who make stuff. Both a location to sale wares, show off their work, and to go to panels to learn more about making things.

Most cons are giving options to either forward the tickets to the next year, donate the money for the ticket, or obtaining refunds. That's why I have tickets for two cons next year even when they aren't doing pre-reg yet.

As far as a change in conventions. I kind of agree. Conventions have already kind of been going that way like with large cons that have announcements such as Blizzcon, San Deigo Comic Con, Emerald City Comic Con, Penny Arcade Expo, and Anime Expo. Film crews live stream big announcements and even walk the floor and interview cosplayers and professionals. This could be more of a push for more medium size cons to do the same.  

[angelmage99]

smithers456

Something that I had not considered is that people that run a convention might not be able to get together in person for safety sake. Also next year will be a big challenge because some people might not want to go to a large con in person. The same could be for vendors, guests, etc. It really is a new World now. Even when a vaccine becomes available we won't be able to go back to the way things used to be.

That does give a big opportunity to change things for the better and go in new interesting directions. The sky's the limit.

You're right there may be a few things that could change for the better.

While I think it could be a bit before cons go back to the amount of memberships as before, in the mean time we may see an increase of smaller cons pop up. Which means an population base could have more events going on.