Better late than never...
Sorry it's taken me so long to get my thoughts together, but here's my Penguicon 6.0 report. Hope everyone enjoys it...
Penguicon was a last-minute thing for me. My wife stumbled across the website after work on the week of the con while my boss and I were standing in her office, she mentioned it being something I'd probably be interested in, and my boss asked if I wanted to go. That was probably Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, travel arrangements were made, a hotel room was booked (at the overflow hotel), and I had Friday off. The drive up to Troy, Michigan, was pretty uneventful other than I-75 being closed in Detroit. The Penguicon website maybe should have mentioned that ;)
I arrived at the con a little early and asked about registration. I was pointed to one table and told 3:30. 3:30 came and went with no one at the table, but a line was forming at a table on the opposite side that I had been pointed to. So I jumped in line and waited. And waited. And eventually it was confirmed that I was in the correct line, but there was some confusion at the registration desk. Jokes were made about registration computers running Vista, but it turns out that the paper registration forms just weren't there yet. Lovely. So, closing in on 5 or so, I was finally registered. Unfortunately, it was a little to late to make it to one of the talks that I had hoped to attend. Instead, I just sort of hung out until opening ceremonies, which were a bit uneventful for such an event-packed con.
At 8 PM on Friday, I saw "I Stopped Sleeping (How to Succeed in Webcomics)" followed by "A Murder of Crows" at 9. Both were interesting discussions, and I met Randall Munroe (of xkcd just before the webcomic panel. I tried not to go all fan-boy on him. I simply introduced myself, shook his hand, told him how much I loved the comic, at which point he beat me within an inch of my life. Apparently, he likes to do that to people who approach him about how much they love his comic. If only I had overheard his comment a moment earlier...(OK. Only he and the three people who heard him joking around will probably get that joke, but it's funny, dammit. Trust me.) From there, I sorta hung out until deciding to call it a night and walk back to my hotel.
I started Saturday with Jason Scott's talk on Interactive Fiction. At this point, the lack of organization was already apparent (from registration the night before), but the bed on the stage pretty much sealed it. It was a good talk, though, even though Jason was surprised be the lack of video in the room for his presentation.
Even with the lack of organization, Penguicon was very enjoyable as an attendee. I won't bore anyone with further details, other than to mention a couple more highlights of the event. The panel discussion "Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse" on Friday night was an absolute riot. And if you ever get the chance, you have *got* to see the giant telsa coils in concert.
All in all, I had an excellent time. Next year, I'm dragging the wife along :)
Penguicon was a last-minute thing for me. My wife stumbled across the website after work on the week of the con while my boss and I were standing in her office, she mentioned it being something I'd probably be interested in, and my boss asked if I wanted to go. That was probably Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, travel arrangements were made, a hotel room was booked (at the overflow hotel), and I had Friday off. The drive up to Troy, Michigan, was pretty uneventful other than I-75 being closed in Detroit. The Penguicon website maybe should have mentioned that ;)
I arrived at the con a little early and asked about registration. I was pointed to one table and told 3:30. 3:30 came and went with no one at the table, but a line was forming at a table on the opposite side that I had been pointed to. So I jumped in line and waited. And waited. And eventually it was confirmed that I was in the correct line, but there was some confusion at the registration desk. Jokes were made about registration computers running Vista, but it turns out that the paper registration forms just weren't there yet. Lovely. So, closing in on 5 or so, I was finally registered. Unfortunately, it was a little to late to make it to one of the talks that I had hoped to attend. Instead, I just sort of hung out until opening ceremonies, which were a bit uneventful for such an event-packed con.
At 8 PM on Friday, I saw "I Stopped Sleeping (How to Succeed in Webcomics)" followed by "A Murder of Crows" at 9. Both were interesting discussions, and I met Randall Munroe (of xkcd just before the webcomic panel. I tried not to go all fan-boy on him. I simply introduced myself, shook his hand, told him how much I loved the comic, at which point he beat me within an inch of my life. Apparently, he likes to do that to people who approach him about how much they love his comic. If only I had overheard his comment a moment earlier...(OK. Only he and the three people who heard him joking around will probably get that joke, but it's funny, dammit. Trust me.) From there, I sorta hung out until deciding to call it a night and walk back to my hotel.
I started Saturday with Jason Scott's talk on Interactive Fiction. At this point, the lack of organization was already apparent (from registration the night before), but the bed on the stage pretty much sealed it. It was a good talk, though, even though Jason was surprised be the lack of video in the room for his presentation.
Even with the lack of organization, Penguicon was very enjoyable as an attendee. I won't bore anyone with further details, other than to mention a couple more highlights of the event. The panel discussion "Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse" on Friday night was an absolute riot. And if you ever get the chance, you have *got* to see the giant telsa coils in concert.
All in all, I had an excellent time. Next year, I'm dragging the wife along :)
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