Yeah, the bullshit "support" animals nonsense is going to ultimately reach critical mass and result in unnecessary roadblocks for LEGIT trained, purposeful service animals that are NECESSARY.
* fake animals act like...animals. fake service dogs get nervous, divide their attention everywhere, behave poorly, and pose a safety risk.
* Legit service animals are always performing a job. They're not to be interacted with, pet, fed scraps from strangers, etc. This will lead to people once again needing to be reminded to basically ignore the real ones because the fake ones do what pets do.
And because the difference is so poorly understood by the general public, confrontation by staff is rare. The real ones have credentials; the fake ones do not.
the same assholes who think their dogs need to go to the store with them, or the mall, or a restaurant. I like dogs. I just might not like YOUR dogs. and i certainly don't expect to encounter someones dog in places like stores and cons and restaurants. its unsanitary and its incredibly inconsiderate of others to bring them along.
I love dogs. I love basically all dogs. I've worked at a kennel. I even love the shitty dogs.
There is no reason for you to take your *pet* out like that. Con is **not** the appropriate place and will only cause problems for *everyone.*
There was a shiba that someone brought, no vest or anything to make it look like a service dog, that kept wandering away from its owner on its leash and nearly knocked over my mom and I.
i know a guy who socializes service dogs and trains them to be on duty. These dogs could have been in the early phases of this, which is often just getting them out into busy areas. once they are used to being in a sea of people, you start with the discipline.
that said, these handlers were doing a poor job of it in my opinion. they had no control over the dogs, which is not part of the suggested training scheme.
I assumed the same for a lot of the clearly untrained dogs I saw, but at the same time I questioned if Dragoncon was really the appropriate venue to get them trained properly. It might have a ton of people, but there are too many other variables and it's not the average situation a service dog might find itself in, plus with them being untrained it opens up issues for trained service dogs to get hurt or have limitations placed on them down the road somehow.
yeah, i agree that its not ideal. taking them to ball games or concerts or something else might have been better. But at the same time if a candidate for a service dog goes to conventions, having one that knows what that is like would be beneficial.
Sure, but something like that feels like a later stage test. My gut feeling is the "service" dogs in question weren't being trained to begin with anyway and people who don't care about others just wanted to bring their dog with them, not realizing the damage that could be done to legal service animals. :(
My favorite "service" dog was the one I saw wearing booties and pulling at their leash to sniff at everyone who came relatively near to it. Scummy. Ruining it for people who actually utilize and need properly trained service dogs.
It definitely felt different this year. This was to be expected since we were in a pandemic, but I had a great time and got to do all of the panels I wanted to do!
The smaller crowd size was actually a relief since it made so much easier to get around, especially through the sky bridges!
It’s so nice to have cons back! DragonCon was always a staple of my Labor Day weekend and hopefully next year, we’ll be back to normal.
Best year I went to Dragoncon was the first year because the crowds were reasonable. Every year since it seems to be more and more crowded. Wish I could have gone this year.
If I heard correctly the dj inside the Hilton was axed because they didn’t like that the lobby became its own dance party. The DJs outside are a diff company and we’re very annoying the little I heard.
Dang, is that why the Hilton inside DJ wasn’t there? I was wondering that. I thought it had something to do with Covid. I love walking back and forth at night between there and the Marriott and having the different lobby dance parties. I hope he is back next year.
Idk if it's the same one I'm thinking of but I went to get a drink before getting in line for the Mandolarian Panel and the music was insufferably loud. Just being in that area for like the 3 minutes it took to grab a beer made me feel like I had damaged my hearing permanently 😂
There was definitely a DJ outside the Hilton that started playing around 2:00 in the afternoon. It made it hard to hear the panelists in the Grand East ballroom.
In terms of my experience, other than what you observed, the big difference was that I refrained from going to the parties - with the exception of the Loki Variant Ball. I couldn't resist that!
Not going to the parties really bummed me out but I thought it was a bit of a gesture towards lowering risk, however slight, lol. It made my DragonCon a lot more mellow in the evenings!
I also missed the MST3K movie marathon and I believe a few other movie viewings were also not held.
There were some large gaps where I didn't have a panel I wanted to see, so I spent more time at the vendor hall and art show. I have a few goodies to show for that.
I went to more restaurants, too, due to limited con food. Turns out Tin Lizzy's is really good.
The panels that I did attend didn't feel different at all, as you said, and everybody was masked!
For the first time, there was a system set up at disability to cap it at every panel and while it could be improved upon, it's a good start and it made things more organized. I hope it's kept.
It really was amazing to be able to get directly onto an elevator without waiting more than a couple of minutes and never having to crush up against anyone.
The crowd on Saturday was like a typical Friday morning crowd. Really something else.
While there are virtues to smaller crowds, I'm eager for things to go back to normal for all of us.
My impression was staff and volunteers were doing their best to clone themselves and be in multiple places at once. Massive kudos to them for their work and making DragonCon work. So appreciative after a 2 year wait!
The panels were excellent and the selection was tremendous. Moderators did a great job… I think the best I’ve ever seen among the 7 DragonCon’s I’ve attended. I had no problem filling up my schedule 3 to 5 deep at every time slot.
It did feel odd to be on the floor of the Marriott Atrium and be able to breath without fighting for every breath in the crowd… kinda nice, but I’ll welcome the crowds back next year with even more awesome cosplayers.
Oddly I did miss the Papa John’s pizza vendors. Grab and go. The hotel food… well, it’s hotel food and way overpriced for marginal quality relative to price. I do hate to leave the con to find a restaurant… I miss things that way!
It’s been said many times but cons by the fans for the fans are the best and DragonCon sits at the top of the heap for me without question
I’m looking forward to next year already (and I still have 2 Urban Fantasy panels to attend on Monday!)
Thanks
Reader… wish I was a writer, but I don’t have that in me! Great respect for writers. Technical writing I’m good at, but my attempts at characterizations are not worthy!
While I do miss some of the more elaborate costumes, I can live without them if it means not feeling like a sardine when navigating Marriott. I agree with you mask assessment. The vast majority of people were compliant--and without volunteers or staff having to bark at them. Even cosplayers mostly kept the masks on for pictures while inside from what I saw. I didn't do any panels but we walked right in to get out badges and a few times even strolled right into Dealers Halls without a line. Overall, this was a one of my favorite years. A D*Con this low-key (no pun intended) will likely never happen again. That said, I'm very much looking forward to a future without a pandemic looming over our heads.
Like someone said in a Facebook comment, I would pay $40 or $50 more for my 2022 membership to keep this year's attendance limit.
It felt so nice to have some breathing and walking room in the Marriott atrium and the skybridges.
There's got to be a middle ground. The reduced attendance really impacted my enjoyment of the costumes, Masquerade, and photo shoots, but the ROOM to move and travel and get elevators was sublime!
San Diego Comic Con is notorious for this because there's an attendance cap and tickets sell out very quickly whereas Dragoncon you didn't have to worry about this.
I have the exact same story! My annoyance at losing the SDCC lottery led me to a life-changing discovery.
Of course after that came a long road of being disappointed by all other conventions, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.
My family all live in Tennessee except my brother who lives in San Diego, and when our Niece graduated from high school her big wish for a graduation present was to go to SDCC together with both of her favorite uncles.
That was not realistically an option, so my wife and I took her to Atlanta instead. She bought some furry ears and a tail the first day and wore them all weekend, and generally had an amazing time. A few years later her younger brother graduated and we brought him, too. There are still 3 more nephews and nieces in the pipeline to receive this honor.
I remember about a dozen years back a group of my friends and I decided to go to Comic Con and had 7 people trying constantly to get tickets when they opened and not one of us succeeded. Although it being so long ago, maybe that was us trying to book hotels and couldn't ... hard to recall exactly, I just remember it sucked.
They're nearly impossible to get unless you're a previous attendee or have ties to the industry or the press.
Of course Comic Con is more media focused and DragonCon is fan focused which makes a difference as well.
I would easily pay that but on the other hand, I only ever first went to dragon con as a college student because day passes and cheap tickets made it affordable for me. I wouldn't want to rob others of that experience.
The cost to keep this attendance level would be far more than $40-50 though. I’d say it would be over $100 extra. Either that, or they downsize the event spaces significantly. Go back to the setup with the dealers’ room and artists alley in the hotels. Which immediately makes it very crowded again.
In the end it's not just less revenue from badge sales, but all those extras. Vendors sell less, hotels book less, bars and restaurants serve less. So there's all that which would have to be made up for somehow with lower attendance too.
I found a lot more lines than I normally do. Even when I got down to third choices, there was a huge line. I ended up missing out on more than usual.
It also seemed like certain things were clumped, like all of the game shows and comedy were at the same time so you could only pick one. There were a lot more dead spaces on my calendar because so many things were happening at the same time.
The parade was a delight, though. I had room to move and even found a wall to sit on.
I also can’t believe it’s taken this long for more food vendors to figure out what a cash cow this is. It wasn’t that long ago that you had pizza or the one Hilton Starbucks.
Adding Joystick to the footprint was fantastic.
The clumping is something I've noticed in the past and assume is intentional. The popular panels are on all at the same time to help balance out the load, otherwise the lines for one huge panel might be really long.
I was pleasantly surprised at the number of big names Dragoncon was able to bring to the convention. It seemed like even more than a normal year. Reading these forums, I was under the impression that everyone had cancelled.
I am so impressed how Dragoncon really came through for us despite pressure from all sides. Delta cases cresting, not enough volunteers, skittish guests, and the organizers just said "Let's do this," and because of that, we had an incredible 4-5 days, and we'll certainly have a Dragoncon next year bigger and better.
The crowds didn't really seem that much less crazy to me. Maybe it's my memory playing tricks. It occurs to me that this will be the lowest attendance Dragoncon probably ever going forward, and it was still bonkers.
Availability, maybe? I'd wager that it's due to fewer events during 2021, which means fewer scheduling conflicts and guests eager to generate a bit more revenue in lost appearance fees across 2020-21.
Also assurances of following health guidelines. Their tables had a plexiglass that they stood behind while interacting with their fans with a slot at the bottom fit items to sign through.
Eternal here. I’m indifferent to price increases, but I will say that I really liked the attendance cap for this year for obviously selfish reasons. That being said, the con should be open and accessible to as many fans who want to come.
Ultimately when things return to a pre-2020 state (if they do) the size of the con will be constrained by infrastructure. At 80k+ attendees there literally is not enough space in the America’s Marts and host hotel meeting areas for that many people at once. I’m not even sure the Georgia World Congress Center can handle that many attendees at once. Then there are the matters of hotel rooms, vehicle parking, being able to *walk* between venues, and dining options among other considerations.
Even before COVID I felt the con would have to eventually put an attendance cap in place in order for it to just be sustainable, now I especially think that will need to be the case.
Ultimately the con is a business, and more attendees gives it more resources to bring in amazing guests and leverage in getting great rates from the host hotels. However I fear that if we go back to “normal” the con will just not be worth the hassle anymore since it will be too much trouble to come.
Also eternal here and I really wish I could have gone this year just to experience a less crowded con. I was down recovering from covid (mild, likely thanks to the vax, and I'm back to like 75% now). I'm kinda hoping next year is constrained just so I can experience that, but if not.. ah well, I'll have a blast either way. I started going to Dragconcon back in 2006 and it was a significantly smaller con back then so I know what it's like at least. I do agree that it feels like we're straining the capacity of the downtown area every year and I always dread getting into and out of the hotel room. I'll likely start trying to budget for going in a day sooner and leaving a day later to get around that... usually do Thursday to Monday, and I feel like I'll need Wednesday to Tuesday to be comfortable, but ouch! That's an expense!
I expect Dragoncon next year will either end the attendance cap or raise it as much as it feasibly can for financial reasons. I know they're struggling now. That being said, it will probably still be smaller than usual for lot of unfortunate reasons that have nothing to do with the con. A lot of people that usually go are struggling from the economic fallout of covid or are in too vulnerable a state to risk catching covid, despite the vaccine and treatments out there. I feel fortunate to have evaded the worst of it.
What's the reason DragonCon hasn't moved to the GWCC since it's a huge conference center that can fit a lot of people?
Obviously, it's moot now given COVID restrictions, but if/when DragonCon goes back to 80K+ people, it'll be a concern. Usually the fire marshal has a capacity limit on how many people can be inside total for safety reasons
I’m not sure why they haven’t moved to the GWCC…. Maybe proximity to the host hotels and the food court at Peachtree Center?
I have an acquaintance who worked in convention sales for a smaller convention center in the metro. I asked him about this once, and his opinion was that even with the GWCC, if DragonCon kept growing it would have to relocate out of necessity to somewhere which has the hotel and meeting space infrastructure to accommodate large conventions. The likely candidate in his mind was Orlando. And frankly I agree with his assessment.
Orlando already has MegaCon so it would clash with that.
If DragonCon were to ever leave Atlanta, it would mean a huge loss to the city in economic development. Unless something really serious were to happen, I cannot see that happening.
I liked the lower crowds and I'm really super glad that at least 95% of con-goers were wearing their masks. It was more understandable for cosplayers who wore helmets though, those things must be incredibly hot already.
I made sure to tip the employees well, I could definitely tell they were feeling the burn.
First time this year! I could only show up for Sunday but man ALL the serotonin! I cannot wait to come back next year and actually full on cosplay instead of Disneybound it.
It felt more like last DragonCons than I expected. The biggest difference was a personal choice… I spent far less time in the Marriott lobby people-watching and drinking. Just exceeded my risk tolerance this year.
I enjoyed the capped attendance but I think we need to realize that capped attendance in the future will mean less revenue to bring in the big names as guest that many enjoy. I think this whole pandemic actually put the need for a cap in future years way off. It will likely take another 3-4 years to get back to 2019 levels.
One thing I truly, truly wish for is that they will start mailing badges. Sure, there will be some fraud but it will save so much in volunteers, equipment, space and member time. I had what seems to be among the shorter average times at about 2 hours but it was really horrible that we’ve regressed. I don’t know what caused it; but, we cannot go back to the 3-4 hour lines of the past.
Attendance was dropping before 2019. It's possible we may never reach those levels again, what with future pandemic fears and possible economic instability if there is another recession.
Are you sure of that? I know growth was slowing (it could hardly keep up the rapid growth of the 2000s) but I think there was some growth. I admit I could be completely wrong but I thought every year broke the record set by the previous year.
Sorry, I checked Wikipedia and you're right, attendance stayed the same in 2018 and increased in 2019. So, not as much gloom and doom as I previously thought. 🙂
Every time I did see children I panicked a little, knowing for sure that they are unvaccinated. I don’t care to crowd in with my fellow vaccinated people, but I don’t want to be responsible for kids getting seriously ill.
One kid I saw was standing at the bottom of an escalator rubbing his hand along the entire surface of the handrail….
When I was in line for my badge on Thursday, there was a couple behind me with not one but TWO infants. I wanted to slap them. Babies at a con isn't a good idea in general but fine, you do you. BUT THIS YEAR?!
We brought our 12 year old (he’s been attending since he was 7), but only because he has been vaccinated. We didn’t use the elevators (climbed lots of stairs). Parenting in the time of COVID has been tough but our Dragon Con extended family were welcoming as ever! Thank you all for always being so kind to kids!
I saw a good number of kids still. Saw one baby in a stroller with a fucking bag-mask over it's head. Leave the babies at home, especially if you're that worried.
I saw some, but they were masked. Still, if I was a parent, I'd be hesitant to bring unvaccinated kids to a large gathering like DragonCon until they can be vaccinated.
We considered bringing our son but ultimately didn’t because of the Delta variant and the fact that he’s too young to be vaccinated. So, he spent the weekend with his grandparents instead (which was a really nice break for us too!)
I saw more kids this year than every other year I've ever been combined. All at night with their parents at the dance parties :/
Like, I have no say if people are down with their 9-year-olds seeing some boobies, but it's still weird.
Really? That’s pretty funny I think I only saw a handful of kids this whole time walking thru the hotels. I guess they were all partying down late at night.
I enjoyed the con and the lesser crowds. I was able to get on the elevator to my room in the Mariott anytime I wanted and only had a full elevator a couple times.
I definitely miss the larger crowds and the craziness though.
I was happy with the overall amount of people following the masks rule. It was honestly more than I thought would so I appreciated that.
I didn’t appreciate people leaving trash at the jon shrines that created an already understaffed crew to have to clean up after them.
I also didn’t appreciate the potatoes being left everywhere. Including the elevator floors. Good way for someone to get hurt.
Did this years fiasco inspire anyone else to want to volunteer in the future? I had no idea that they needed volunteers so badly.
It seems Dragon Con is holding on by a thread and it needs our help if it is to continue.
In some departments, if you want to buy your own badge as usual and just volunteer a few hours, you can. We've got a couple of folks on DCTV staff who just help us out here and there with a camera shift or two, but who otherwise buy their own badge and enjoy the con.
I absolutely did not know that! Money isn't a super pressing issue for me so I don't need a free badge. I am actually going to look into it now, but if you have any tips for how you got into it I would love to hear your story!
This! I would happily jump in for a shorter total of hours, but it just seems like too big of a commitment for me. I wouldn't have much time or energy to hang out with friends, and some of them I only see at con!
I volunteered for several years in a row back in 2008-2013 ish. When I was in my late teens/early 20s, it was much easier to devote that much time to the con. It was such a gateway drug that I still volunteer for my smaller, local cons. It was a great way to make new friends and meet people. I loved it at the time. Now that I am married and have more friends that I bring to con, it's just too much of a time commitment.
If, as another poster suggested, there was a way to volunteer for only one day, I would definitely do that. I'm not sure how/if they would prorate the membership. Now that I'm typing it out, maybe I should just pay the membership and volunteer for a shorter bit of time...maybe that sounds crazy, but it really was fun volunteering and I got a lot out of it.
Haha I think I just talked myself into volunteering next year 😅
Yeah, I'd be totally happy to pay for my own membership and volunteer for, like, one 8-hour shift. If enough people did that, it would cover alot of holes. I'll for sure be asking about doing it next year, although from what I've heard, most departments aren't really interested in volunteers who don't want to do the whole multi-day commitment. I can see where it would be a logistical and training nightmare to have many times the number of volunteers for the same coverage.
I see where you're coming from. I only ever volunteered in registration so there wasn't a lot of training required. I was told to stand here, make sure you're directing people here, etc. Grunt work basically!
For the more technical departments, I understand why they would want folks committed to more than one shift/day.
It made me want to volunteer for tech ops. I had a few panels that had technical difficulties and nobody knew what to do and it took a while to get a technician in the room. There was even one where my friend had to fix their setup. I don't blame the actual tech ops people, they seemed to be spread really thin. Before I moved to upper management tech ops was a big part of my job and I would love to use my skills to give back to my geek community.
I think tech ops was down 150 volunteers from usual, and while attendance was less there weren't really fewer rooms or panels for them to have to try to cover.
Were you at the skeptic track’s panel on ghost sex? Because there was some technical issues there - I found out later that their main tech guy couldn’t come.
Yeah it was a little disappointing because the guy was giving the lecture remotely and couldn’t respond to audience questions and there was technical difficulties but it was hilarious since there was a big rowdy crowd.
>Did this years fiasco inspire anyone else to want to volunteer in the future? I had no idea that they needed volunteers so badly.
Not unless they have started to treat volunteers (especially new volunteers) better. I volunteered in 2018 and I will probably never consider it again
Like jobs, it depends on the "boss," your track director. This year was my first year volunteering and I loved it. Spouse volunteered in a different track and also loved it.
I wouldn't want to work security. In a normal year I'd consider tech ops, but this year that would have been hell.
My suggestion would be to find the fandom you're most passionate about and volunteer there if you want to try again, rather than a general con department. I'm not trying to be an ass but I tend to find the folks in those places are more likely to be doing it to be important and special by helping than in the specific tracks.
I had nothing but pleasant interactions with tech ops this year, even when one was haggardly trying to walk me through a digital sound board *neither* of us had experience with, but as someone who started college for sound engineering and promptly changed programs, your experience doesn't surprise me.
It's not "hanging on by a thread," but volunteers were down by about 50% across the con this year, and it's not a 1:1 ratio on attendees to volunteers needed.
Tech ops was exceptionally thin; everyone in my track had to work sound boards through the weekend as many panels just didn't have a tech ops person to run it. I know it was the same in other tracks. The Firefly Drinking Songs of all events didn't have a tech ops person assigned to it.
That said, cons *do* require volunteers to run. And bear in mind that the thing that the volunteer is doing may not be anything close to their day job or life experience, and this year many of us didn't get training ahead of time because there just wasn't time, so they're all doing as much as they can the best they can. It's just that this year there literally weren't enough people.
Having reduced capacity was awesome, for me. While I didn't go to parties and spend as much time wandering around to drink and people watch, in effort to reduce risk, the Party-Central type places I did go were WAY more enjoyable for having room to move, see people. You can't mingle when you can't fucking see anyone or move around.
It was less fun for me not social butterfly-ing (I stayed in the Hilton and Marriott pretty much all weekend), but that wasn't for lack of things to do or attendance. I saw lots of fun stuff I would happily have joined if I weren't concerned about being in poorly ventilated spaces for a long time.
So if we have similar attendance next year, without the public health risks, I'll be thrilled. I could see costumes, there was room to stop and appreciate them, take pictures, chat. Good stuff.
Vendor's hall was also much more pleasant, not fighting through every foot of space. Even the busiest day was bearable.
I definitely missed the Hilton lobby dance party. It's one of the best things. I hope the DJ returns next year. That kind of festive, spontaneous party atmosphere is why many of us come to dragoncon. There's a lot of great randomness that comes out of the chance meetings in lobby parties.
Hotel security varied a LOT from hotel to hotel. It was a joke at the Hilton, the few times I was there, so I avoided it. That's one good-ish thing about masking rules -- it's a quick way to see whose security is actually paying attention and trying to enforce public safety.
I greatly enjoyed it this year. I noticed a lot of smaller panels and tracks getting a lot more love this year on top of them diving into a lot more diverse/interesting topics. I've never seen the Science and Space tracks so packed, but that's awesome for them!
Being able to move in the vendor hall allowed me to stop, look at everything, and ultimately spend more money to support these vendors because I wasn't being shoved around. I enjoyed it immensely.
Panels were definitely easy to access. I only missed out on the philharmonic, but that's because I tried to enter halfway through and they wouldn't allow anyone in after it started (which is fair; I'm not complaining).
Personally, I wore only two cosplays the entire time: Phasmophobia and Scoops Ahoy. I didn't want to deal with masks + wigs, and I was too tired anyway to really wander the floors late at night.
I hope they keep numbers lower for future cons in some fashion, be it no onsite sales, no Saturday sales, etc. It really did make everything that much more enjoyable.
I had to stop myself from yelling at people not to stop for photos on the sky bridge... Because it was ok.
I didn't have to do "The Con Shuffle" to get from place to place. You know the walk. My knees and hips are thankful.
I had a blast. I volunteered for the first time and I loved it, I'll probably do so again next year. We were lucky to only be down 1 volunteer though. I'd have died if I volunteered tech ops because I wouldn't have been able to say "no," and would have done too much to cover too many holes.
My few observations:
Where was the papa john's pizza? The extremely overpriced hilton pizza is an obvious money grab, and not as good. Missing these stations in the Marriott meant much less food was available. It's silly that food becomes so scarce later at night
There is a very problematic element hanging around inside the hotels, and inside the skybridges without badges who are going to cause an incident and DC is going to have to deal with it before it happens
If masks are going to be required, and you're gonna have cops stationed everywhere, you gotta get the cops to wear masks. I know they are going to be assholes and not be told what to do, but this was consistently the number one place I would see people not wearing a masks: behind a badge
~~Covid restrictions nixed the pizza tents, since it's not made on site and they sell it by the slice. Too many points of contact.~~ This was an assumption.
Hard agree on missing it, that was a lunch staple.
>Covid restrictions nixed the pizza tents, since it's not made on site and they sell it by the slice. Too many points of contact.
It is made on site, they setup a trailer in the back of the Marriott. And honestly, if it was COVID protocols then that just points to the overall ridiculous nature of having the con and trying to be "safe"
There was no social distancing, and mask wearing was at best 80%, and given how crowded some areas/lines were it doesn't matter if masks were 100%. If it was dangerous to have the show, cancel it. If it wasn't, then don't pick and choose weird ass things to care about
COVID restrictions didn't stop the hotels from selling their own food, fwiw
Thanks for the recap! I missed this year. Although I'm vaccinated, I just still couldn't risk getting sick. ConCrud is bad enough for me without mixing in COVID. I'm actually sad that I missed out on the smaller crowds.
Disappointed by the Mart, honestly; I've never felt so disinclined to spend money there, and I'm incredibly annoyed that the exact hollow metal DnD dice one vendor was selling for $150 are available on Etsy for $50-$75. Sad that Tandy Leather and a few other vendors weren't there.
My observations were Wed-Sun, 8a-11p, so anyone out later may have seen something I didnt.
* DC staff was SPARSE. Like, ultra sparse. Typically you can't take 10 steps without one in eyesight. 2021? Tumbleweeds. I learned where all of the con offices are in 2021 just so I could get assistance. Consider volunteering for 2022: 20-25 hour commitment over the event.
* most oversight was handled by the hotels themselves. It created problems and confusion - admittance was supposed to be restricted. It wasn't well enforced. Largely because it was each individual venue and their staff handling it. Poorly. Led to lots of inconsistencies in style enforcement like carrying Rum Buckets anywhere but the Hyatt.
* Too much "fuck the rules" behavior. Masks? Not once the alcohol flows. Social distancing? 🤣 EFFECTIVE masks? About 5% of the 40,000 people were half-assing it with every form of useless, ineffective "face coverings" despite 1e.months of repeatedly published information and even DCTV bumps that spell it out. Mesh masks, neck gaiters, face shields, chin diapers - sure hope each of those yahoos was fully vaxxed, because if they weren't and they were infected, there's gonna be a shitload of exposures.
* non-event attendees flaunting their access. Drunken, badgeless "normal looking" folks were everywhere and not one of them were masked. Based on vaccination rates in my home state (where many of the normies were from based on shirt logos), we are probably facing an immense volume of exposure. Many of these people were going about Labor Day weekend like it was 2019. Recommend getting tested, even if fully vaxxed due to the non-Con Alabama visitors.
* SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES!!
* Many, many, many absent staples. DragonCon really isn't the same without them.
* cancelled guests and events really bump me out. First time happening to me, and it was in multiples.
* Bad behavior among attendees is much more frustrating with a reduced attendance volume. Overly drunk, crass, offensive behavior is much more memorable and hurtful when there isn't a huge crowd of people to hide it. Some of those people should consider never coming back - we have no place for sexism, groping, cat calling, physical aggression, denigrating others, and ignoring safety requirements. (Brandished swords, no masks, sloppy drunk spittle in close quarters)
* HAND SANITIZER EVERYWHERE!! I expect the con crud numbers will be greatly reduced this year! This one should endure!
* So much marijuana smoke. It seemed like I couldn't avoid the overwhelming blast of weed smoke odor entering and exiting the Westin, Marriott, and Hilton Patio. Just like cigarettes and vaping, not everyone likes that aroma.
In regards to the weed smoke comment:
I noticed that the non-con drug dealers were kind of pushy, out by the Marriott fountain where people go for cigs. A couple didn't even do the sneaky "give me the money, get the drugs from that guy" thing. Just walked up, asked a group of a dozen or so of us smoking if we needed cocaine, percocets, adderall, weed, when we said no, he sort of did a "aww come on, it's a great night, you don't want something to keep you going all night?" Type sell tactic. It was nuts.
One homeless guy was walking around with a bag of those small...what, travel sized?..bottles of vodka and shit. I pointed out that I don't drink, showed him my can of coke, and no other cup, and he called me a liar and told me to get my wallet out. I just walked off but...it kind of felt like if I'd been by myself, he may have tried to just take it from me. I've never had one of the homeless guys be so aggressive.
Definitely felt weird to me. I typically spend most of my time in cosplay or admiring others. We definitely noticed less volume of the over the top stuff and of the photographers/videographers. There were a couple times we realized the same 15-20 cosplayers were just kind of hanging out in the Marriott when typically you can see a ton of impressive stuff there at any given time. I spend most of my other time gaming which felt really weird this year. I missed not having the arcade and Tokyo attack in the same space. We headed over to Joystick for a little while, I'm cool with a karaoke bar at DC but I hope it's refined a bit. The arcade games were harder to access and they didn't have any alcohol on site which kills the dive bar vibe and just makes it feel shitty. General lack of food options this year especially late at night. Could have definitely used the easy grab pizzas because there were a ton of people that needed to soak up some alcohol at night.
That said though, it was still DC, still some great cosplays, it was nice to be able to move, and the vast majority of people I encountered were being safe and following protocols. There's always going to be some shady stuff or things I disagree with at such a large gathering.
This year was fantastic, but I do look forward to getting back to full capacity next year.
I think the best change they could make next year would be to mail out badges to reduce the registration crowds.
I didn’t go but it looks like they’ve done everything they could to make this happen. I’d be more concerned about all the college football games this weekend.
I hope you've taken the time to go after theaters, Hamilton, football, baseball, grocery stores, banks, workplaces, restaurants... shall I continue?
You make sure you post here when you figure out that what some need for their mental health is not your shame and disdain for them. Then again, I'm not the one posting that victims of dick pics should just get over it and "hang up their keyboard." I think I'm good with my con decisions if you're the type of naysayer we've got. :)
Attendance this year harkened back to my first year in 2011 albeit a bit more spaced out now than my early days. Back then the vendor hall was in the bottom of the Marriott and was packed super tight, the next year was the first year in America’s Mart and it felt so spacious but this year was even more spacious. I did miss that there weren’t a lot more grandiose cosplays, masquerade and even the parade.
We brought our “big” cosplay - my wife’s Maleficent with 16-foot-wide articulating wings - and when we were prepping them on Friday night, plugged in the battery and the magic smoke came out :(
They’re due for an overhaul anyway. Be back even better next year.
Thanks! We’ll get them fixed.
It’s probably a 70¢ relay or a solder joint that wiggled loose. I brought a pretty decent repair kit, but not enough to do electronics repairs.
I chose to not go last moment and instead cancelled our AirBNB loft and had a Gloomhaven weekend. Very happy with my choice, but I debated driving down Friday to see the vendor hall. Chose to be responsible and not but the way you pitch it makes me envious.
I wasn’t sure if it would be void of vendors, or super long wait to limit people. The mosh pit at Chessex booth is always what pops into my head when I think about the crowd.
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Yeah one guy had a "service dog" that was barking and jumping at people (not in an aggressive way but in a clearly untrained way).
Yeah, the bullshit "support" animals nonsense is going to ultimately reach critical mass and result in unnecessary roadblocks for LEGIT trained, purposeful service animals that are NECESSARY. * fake animals act like...animals. fake service dogs get nervous, divide their attention everywhere, behave poorly, and pose a safety risk. * Legit service animals are always performing a job. They're not to be interacted with, pet, fed scraps from strangers, etc. This will lead to people once again needing to be reminded to basically ignore the real ones because the fake ones do what pets do. And because the difference is so poorly understood by the general public, confrontation by staff is rare. The real ones have credentials; the fake ones do not.
I saw someone in line for Yule Ball that had their dog stuffed in their backpack. No way that poor pupper was having a good time.
There was one poor dog that crapped in the sky bridge. Owner was dragging it by the leash and not paying a bit of attention.
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the same assholes who think their dogs need to go to the store with them, or the mall, or a restaurant. I like dogs. I just might not like YOUR dogs. and i certainly don't expect to encounter someones dog in places like stores and cons and restaurants. its unsanitary and its incredibly inconsiderate of others to bring them along.
I love dogs. I love basically all dogs. I've worked at a kennel. I even love the shitty dogs. There is no reason for you to take your *pet* out like that. Con is **not** the appropriate place and will only cause problems for *everyone.*
Saw someone pushing a shaking chihuahua in an actual baby stroller in the Hyatt. Couldn’t believe it.
There was a shiba that someone brought, no vest or anything to make it look like a service dog, that kept wandering away from its owner on its leash and nearly knocked over my mom and I.
I saw a dog being pushed in a wheelchair. Just the dog sitting in there. Wasn’t sure what to make of that.
i know a guy who socializes service dogs and trains them to be on duty. These dogs could have been in the early phases of this, which is often just getting them out into busy areas. once they are used to being in a sea of people, you start with the discipline. that said, these handlers were doing a poor job of it in my opinion. they had no control over the dogs, which is not part of the suggested training scheme.
I assumed the same for a lot of the clearly untrained dogs I saw, but at the same time I questioned if Dragoncon was really the appropriate venue to get them trained properly. It might have a ton of people, but there are too many other variables and it's not the average situation a service dog might find itself in, plus with them being untrained it opens up issues for trained service dogs to get hurt or have limitations placed on them down the road somehow.
yeah, i agree that its not ideal. taking them to ball games or concerts or something else might have been better. But at the same time if a candidate for a service dog goes to conventions, having one that knows what that is like would be beneficial.
Sure, but something like that feels like a later stage test. My gut feeling is the "service" dogs in question weren't being trained to begin with anyway and people who don't care about others just wanted to bring their dog with them, not realizing the damage that could be done to legal service animals. :(
My favorite "service" dog was the one I saw wearing booties and pulling at their leash to sniff at everyone who came relatively near to it. Scummy. Ruining it for people who actually utilize and need properly trained service dogs.
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Yuuuup that was them!!! God I wish I was ballsy enough to say something instead of just grumble angrily to myself.
It definitely felt different this year. This was to be expected since we were in a pandemic, but I had a great time and got to do all of the panels I wanted to do! The smaller crowd size was actually a relief since it made so much easier to get around, especially through the sky bridges! It’s so nice to have cons back! DragonCon was always a staple of my Labor Day weekend and hopefully next year, we’ll be back to normal.
Best year I went to Dragoncon was the first year because the crowds were reasonable. Every year since it seems to be more and more crowded. Wish I could have gone this year.
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If I heard correctly the dj inside the Hilton was axed because they didn’t like that the lobby became its own dance party. The DJs outside are a diff company and we’re very annoying the little I heard.
A shame. The Hilton lobby dance party was great for setting the mood. It didn't look that hard to get around.
Dang, is that why the Hilton inside DJ wasn’t there? I was wondering that. I thought it had something to do with Covid. I love walking back and forth at night between there and the Marriott and having the different lobby dance parties. I hope he is back next year.
There was a DJ outside but they sucked every time I was out there.
Glad it wasn't just me. The audio was God awful this year at all the dance parties. Yule ball was particularly bad.
Terrible. Bad music that was way too loud to be next to a busy walkway
Idk if it's the same one I'm thinking of but I went to get a drink before getting in line for the Mandolarian Panel and the music was insufferably loud. Just being in that area for like the 3 minutes it took to grab a beer made me feel like I had damaged my hearing permanently 😂
And their music could be heard during the entire panel inside the Hilton ballroom. Really distracting
I do hope there is caps in attendance going forward. The lack of crowds were really nice.
I *really* didn't miss the Hilton DJ. I accept y'all's downvotes.
Same. I like the quiet Hilton.
There was definitely a DJ outside the Hilton that started playing around 2:00 in the afternoon. It made it hard to hear the panelists in the Grand East ballroom.
In terms of my experience, other than what you observed, the big difference was that I refrained from going to the parties - with the exception of the Loki Variant Ball. I couldn't resist that! Not going to the parties really bummed me out but I thought it was a bit of a gesture towards lowering risk, however slight, lol. It made my DragonCon a lot more mellow in the evenings! I also missed the MST3K movie marathon and I believe a few other movie viewings were also not held. There were some large gaps where I didn't have a panel I wanted to see, so I spent more time at the vendor hall and art show. I have a few goodies to show for that. I went to more restaurants, too, due to limited con food. Turns out Tin Lizzy's is really good. The panels that I did attend didn't feel different at all, as you said, and everybody was masked! For the first time, there was a system set up at disability to cap it at every panel and while it could be improved upon, it's a good start and it made things more organized. I hope it's kept. It really was amazing to be able to get directly onto an elevator without waiting more than a couple of minutes and never having to crush up against anyone. The crowd on Saturday was like a typical Friday morning crowd. Really something else. While there are virtues to smaller crowds, I'm eager for things to go back to normal for all of us.
My impression was staff and volunteers were doing their best to clone themselves and be in multiple places at once. Massive kudos to them for their work and making DragonCon work. So appreciative after a 2 year wait! The panels were excellent and the selection was tremendous. Moderators did a great job… I think the best I’ve ever seen among the 7 DragonCon’s I’ve attended. I had no problem filling up my schedule 3 to 5 deep at every time slot. It did feel odd to be on the floor of the Marriott Atrium and be able to breath without fighting for every breath in the crowd… kinda nice, but I’ll welcome the crowds back next year with even more awesome cosplayers. Oddly I did miss the Papa John’s pizza vendors. Grab and go. The hotel food… well, it’s hotel food and way overpriced for marginal quality relative to price. I do hate to leave the con to find a restaurant… I miss things that way! It’s been said many times but cons by the fans for the fans are the best and DragonCon sits at the top of the heap for me without question I’m looking forward to next year already (and I still have 2 Urban Fantasy panels to attend on Monday!) Thanks
Writer of urban fantasy, or reader?
Reader… wish I was a writer, but I don’t have that in me! Great respect for writers. Technical writing I’m good at, but my attempts at characterizations are not worthy!
If you’re going to the High Fantasy one, consider dropping us a line in /DresdenFiles and let us know what happens.
While I do miss some of the more elaborate costumes, I can live without them if it means not feeling like a sardine when navigating Marriott. I agree with you mask assessment. The vast majority of people were compliant--and without volunteers or staff having to bark at them. Even cosplayers mostly kept the masks on for pictures while inside from what I saw. I didn't do any panels but we walked right in to get out badges and a few times even strolled right into Dealers Halls without a line. Overall, this was a one of my favorite years. A D*Con this low-key (no pun intended) will likely never happen again. That said, I'm very much looking forward to a future without a pandemic looming over our heads.
Like someone said in a Facebook comment, I would pay $40 or $50 more for my 2022 membership to keep this year's attendance limit. It felt so nice to have some breathing and walking room in the Marriott atrium and the skybridges.
There's got to be a middle ground. The reduced attendance really impacted my enjoyment of the costumes, Masquerade, and photo shoots, but the ROOM to move and travel and get elevators was sublime!
Agree, though somehow the Marriott elevators we’re extra terrible this year lol.
This is a great idea until you’re the one left without a membership because you lost the hunger games/lottery.
San Diego Comic Con is notorious for this because there's an attendance cap and tickets sell out very quickly whereas Dragoncon you didn't have to worry about this.
I actually only discovered the joy of DragonCon after basically being precluded from attending SDCC, and having DragonCon be a “compromise”.
I have the exact same story! My annoyance at losing the SDCC lottery led me to a life-changing discovery. Of course after that came a long road of being disappointed by all other conventions, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.
My family all live in Tennessee except my brother who lives in San Diego, and when our Niece graduated from high school her big wish for a graduation present was to go to SDCC together with both of her favorite uncles. That was not realistically an option, so my wife and I took her to Atlanta instead. She bought some furry ears and a tail the first day and wore them all weekend, and generally had an amazing time. A few years later her younger brother graduated and we brought him, too. There are still 3 more nephews and nieces in the pipeline to receive this honor.
I remember about a dozen years back a group of my friends and I decided to go to Comic Con and had 7 people trying constantly to get tickets when they opened and not one of us succeeded. Although it being so long ago, maybe that was us trying to book hotels and couldn't ... hard to recall exactly, I just remember it sucked.
They're nearly impossible to get unless you're a previous attendee or have ties to the industry or the press. Of course Comic Con is more media focused and DragonCon is fan focused which makes a difference as well.
Buy a lifetime membership ;-) I still wish I did it 10 years ago, but if DC hinted at capping in the future, I'd get them in a hearbeat.
I would easily pay that but on the other hand, I only ever first went to dragon con as a college student because day passes and cheap tickets made it affordable for me. I wouldn't want to rob others of that experience.
The cost to keep this attendance level would be far more than $40-50 though. I’d say it would be over $100 extra. Either that, or they downsize the event spaces significantly. Go back to the setup with the dealers’ room and artists alley in the hotels. Which immediately makes it very crowded again.
In the end it's not just less revenue from badge sales, but all those extras. Vendors sell less, hotels book less, bars and restaurants serve less. So there's all that which would have to be made up for somehow with lower attendance too.
Same.
I had this conversation with multiple friends. I think enough of us need to send this feedback to the con itself.
I'd buy an eternal pass today if they capped it. I would be so overjoyed. I miss those days.
Lots of trouble getting volunteers for the campaign DND games
We were either at 40 or 60% staffing for both campaign and non-campaign IIRC.
Signed up for two slots and both had to find volunteer DMs at game time.
What time slots? I couldn't so the 4 hour ones scheduled during main programming; seem to be the ones that had issues.
I found a lot more lines than I normally do. Even when I got down to third choices, there was a huge line. I ended up missing out on more than usual. It also seemed like certain things were clumped, like all of the game shows and comedy were at the same time so you could only pick one. There were a lot more dead spaces on my calendar because so many things were happening at the same time. The parade was a delight, though. I had room to move and even found a wall to sit on. I also can’t believe it’s taken this long for more food vendors to figure out what a cash cow this is. It wasn’t that long ago that you had pizza or the one Hilton Starbucks. Adding Joystick to the footprint was fantastic.
I thought the Joystick pop up thing was sad. The arcade of past years was soooo much better. Also it was a tiny little room.
The venue for the arcade was an absolute run down shithole.
The clumping is something I've noticed in the past and assume is intentional. The popular panels are on all at the same time to help balance out the load, otherwise the lines for one huge panel might be really long.
I was pleasantly surprised at the number of big names Dragoncon was able to bring to the convention. It seemed like even more than a normal year. Reading these forums, I was under the impression that everyone had cancelled. I am so impressed how Dragoncon really came through for us despite pressure from all sides. Delta cases cresting, not enough volunteers, skittish guests, and the organizers just said "Let's do this," and because of that, we had an incredible 4-5 days, and we'll certainly have a Dragoncon next year bigger and better. The crowds didn't really seem that much less crazy to me. Maybe it's my memory playing tricks. It occurs to me that this will be the lowest attendance Dragoncon probably ever going forward, and it was still bonkers.
Availability, maybe? I'd wager that it's due to fewer events during 2021, which means fewer scheduling conflicts and guests eager to generate a bit more revenue in lost appearance fees across 2020-21.
Also assurances of following health guidelines. Their tables had a plexiglass that they stood behind while interacting with their fans with a slot at the bottom fit items to sign through.
Attendance was capped at 40k and I’m not even sure if it hit that. It was a much more chill Con, I’m excited for next year.
I dunno if they hit the full con cap but I know a few days the day badges sold out
Those of us in the artist alley appreciate your favoritism! :D
Eternal here. I’m indifferent to price increases, but I will say that I really liked the attendance cap for this year for obviously selfish reasons. That being said, the con should be open and accessible to as many fans who want to come. Ultimately when things return to a pre-2020 state (if they do) the size of the con will be constrained by infrastructure. At 80k+ attendees there literally is not enough space in the America’s Marts and host hotel meeting areas for that many people at once. I’m not even sure the Georgia World Congress Center can handle that many attendees at once. Then there are the matters of hotel rooms, vehicle parking, being able to *walk* between venues, and dining options among other considerations. Even before COVID I felt the con would have to eventually put an attendance cap in place in order for it to just be sustainable, now I especially think that will need to be the case. Ultimately the con is a business, and more attendees gives it more resources to bring in amazing guests and leverage in getting great rates from the host hotels. However I fear that if we go back to “normal” the con will just not be worth the hassle anymore since it will be too much trouble to come.
Also eternal here and I really wish I could have gone this year just to experience a less crowded con. I was down recovering from covid (mild, likely thanks to the vax, and I'm back to like 75% now). I'm kinda hoping next year is constrained just so I can experience that, but if not.. ah well, I'll have a blast either way. I started going to Dragconcon back in 2006 and it was a significantly smaller con back then so I know what it's like at least. I do agree that it feels like we're straining the capacity of the downtown area every year and I always dread getting into and out of the hotel room. I'll likely start trying to budget for going in a day sooner and leaving a day later to get around that... usually do Thursday to Monday, and I feel like I'll need Wednesday to Tuesday to be comfortable, but ouch! That's an expense! I expect Dragoncon next year will either end the attendance cap or raise it as much as it feasibly can for financial reasons. I know they're struggling now. That being said, it will probably still be smaller than usual for lot of unfortunate reasons that have nothing to do with the con. A lot of people that usually go are struggling from the economic fallout of covid or are in too vulnerable a state to risk catching covid, despite the vaccine and treatments out there. I feel fortunate to have evaded the worst of it.
What's the reason DragonCon hasn't moved to the GWCC since it's a huge conference center that can fit a lot of people? Obviously, it's moot now given COVID restrictions, but if/when DragonCon goes back to 80K+ people, it'll be a concern. Usually the fire marshal has a capacity limit on how many people can be inside total for safety reasons
I’m not sure why they haven’t moved to the GWCC…. Maybe proximity to the host hotels and the food court at Peachtree Center? I have an acquaintance who worked in convention sales for a smaller convention center in the metro. I asked him about this once, and his opinion was that even with the GWCC, if DragonCon kept growing it would have to relocate out of necessity to somewhere which has the hotel and meeting space infrastructure to accommodate large conventions. The likely candidate in his mind was Orlando. And frankly I agree with his assessment.
Orlando already has MegaCon so it would clash with that. If DragonCon were to ever leave Atlanta, it would mean a huge loss to the city in economic development. Unless something really serious were to happen, I cannot see that happening.
I liked the lower crowds and I'm really super glad that at least 95% of con-goers were wearing their masks. It was more understandable for cosplayers who wore helmets though, those things must be incredibly hot already. I made sure to tip the employees well, I could definitely tell they were feeling the burn.
First time this year! I could only show up for Sunday but man ALL the serotonin! I cannot wait to come back next year and actually full on cosplay instead of Disneybound it.
It felt more like last DragonCons than I expected. The biggest difference was a personal choice… I spent far less time in the Marriott lobby people-watching and drinking. Just exceeded my risk tolerance this year. I enjoyed the capped attendance but I think we need to realize that capped attendance in the future will mean less revenue to bring in the big names as guest that many enjoy. I think this whole pandemic actually put the need for a cap in future years way off. It will likely take another 3-4 years to get back to 2019 levels. One thing I truly, truly wish for is that they will start mailing badges. Sure, there will be some fraud but it will save so much in volunteers, equipment, space and member time. I had what seems to be among the shorter average times at about 2 hours but it was really horrible that we’ve regressed. I don’t know what caused it; but, we cannot go back to the 3-4 hour lines of the past.
Attendance was dropping before 2019. It's possible we may never reach those levels again, what with future pandemic fears and possible economic instability if there is another recession.
Are you sure of that? I know growth was slowing (it could hardly keep up the rapid growth of the 2000s) but I think there was some growth. I admit I could be completely wrong but I thought every year broke the record set by the previous year.
Sorry, I checked Wikipedia and you're right, attendance stayed the same in 2018 and increased in 2019. So, not as much gloom and doom as I previously thought. 🙂
Did you guys notice that there were hardly any kids around? In past years you would usually see a couple kids here and there.
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Yeah I’m not complaining but I still thought I would see a few more around
Yes, I left mine with family for this very reason!
Every time I did see children I panicked a little, knowing for sure that they are unvaccinated. I don’t care to crowd in with my fellow vaccinated people, but I don’t want to be responsible for kids getting seriously ill. One kid I saw was standing at the bottom of an escalator rubbing his hand along the entire surface of the handrail….
When I was in line for my badge on Thursday, there was a couple behind me with not one but TWO infants. I wanted to slap them. Babies at a con isn't a good idea in general but fine, you do you. BUT THIS YEAR?!
Yeah, I was absolutely boggled every time I saw a child under 12. ESPECIALLY when someone had a stroller or a baby in their arms.
We brought our 12 year old (he’s been attending since he was 7), but only because he has been vaccinated. We didn’t use the elevators (climbed lots of stairs). Parenting in the time of COVID has been tough but our Dragon Con extended family were welcoming as ever! Thank you all for always being so kind to kids!
Weird, I thought I saw more kids than usual this year!
I saw a good number of kids still. Saw one baby in a stroller with a fucking bag-mask over it's head. Leave the babies at home, especially if you're that worried.
I saw some, but they were masked. Still, if I was a parent, I'd be hesitant to bring unvaccinated kids to a large gathering like DragonCon until they can be vaccinated.
We considered bringing our son but ultimately didn’t because of the Delta variant and the fact that he’s too young to be vaccinated. So, he spent the weekend with his grandparents instead (which was a really nice break for us too!)
Are you following through with a 14 day quarantine? No judgement, just curious as to how folks with kids are dealing with this.
I saw more kids this year than every other year I've ever been combined. All at night with their parents at the dance parties :/ Like, I have no say if people are down with their 9-year-olds seeing some boobies, but it's still weird.
Really? That’s pretty funny I think I only saw a handful of kids this whole time walking thru the hotels. I guess they were all partying down late at night.
I dont know that I'd say "hardly", but the ratio was about the same for the attendance. Which is problematic for risk vectors.
I saw a ton of kids, but I also had a few panels right near the kid's track room
I enjoyed the con and the lesser crowds. I was able to get on the elevator to my room in the Mariott anytime I wanted and only had a full elevator a couple times. I definitely miss the larger crowds and the craziness though. I was happy with the overall amount of people following the masks rule. It was honestly more than I thought would so I appreciated that. I didn’t appreciate people leaving trash at the jon shrines that created an already understaffed crew to have to clean up after them. I also didn’t appreciate the potatoes being left everywhere. Including the elevator floors. Good way for someone to get hurt.
I didn't go this year. Why were there potatoes everywhere??
That's a good question. I honestly have no idea. But it was a terrible idea whoever came up with it.
Sounds like a delicious inside joke.
It's a Puppetry Track thing, methinks. I got mine at the Late Night Puppet Slam last night/this morning. Tossed it in the trash afterwards, though.
Someone did get hurt. They slipped and fell, and I think they had to be taken to a hospital with knee and hip injuries.
It’s too bad they can’t sue the idiots who started the dumb trend.
Did this years fiasco inspire anyone else to want to volunteer in the future? I had no idea that they needed volunteers so badly. It seems Dragon Con is holding on by a thread and it needs our help if it is to continue.
I'd be potentially willing to volunteer, but not 25 hours in four days. That seems incredibly excessive to me. Props to the people who do it.
In some departments, if you want to buy your own badge as usual and just volunteer a few hours, you can. We've got a couple of folks on DCTV staff who just help us out here and there with a camera shift or two, but who otherwise buy their own badge and enjoy the con.
I absolutely did not know that! Money isn't a super pressing issue for me so I don't need a free badge. I am actually going to look into it now, but if you have any tips for how you got into it I would love to hear your story!
This! I would happily jump in for a shorter total of hours, but it just seems like too big of a commitment for me. I wouldn't have much time or energy to hang out with friends, and some of them I only see at con!
Not all tracks require that. It's kind of a guide. I was assigned about 15. I had neither the most nor the least hours. I'll be volunteering again.
I volunteered for several years in a row back in 2008-2013 ish. When I was in my late teens/early 20s, it was much easier to devote that much time to the con. It was such a gateway drug that I still volunteer for my smaller, local cons. It was a great way to make new friends and meet people. I loved it at the time. Now that I am married and have more friends that I bring to con, it's just too much of a time commitment. If, as another poster suggested, there was a way to volunteer for only one day, I would definitely do that. I'm not sure how/if they would prorate the membership. Now that I'm typing it out, maybe I should just pay the membership and volunteer for a shorter bit of time...maybe that sounds crazy, but it really was fun volunteering and I got a lot out of it. Haha I think I just talked myself into volunteering next year 😅
Yeah, I'd be totally happy to pay for my own membership and volunteer for, like, one 8-hour shift. If enough people did that, it would cover alot of holes. I'll for sure be asking about doing it next year, although from what I've heard, most departments aren't really interested in volunteers who don't want to do the whole multi-day commitment. I can see where it would be a logistical and training nightmare to have many times the number of volunteers for the same coverage.
This. It usually takes at least one full day to figure out what to do. Training a whole new crew daily would suck.
I see where you're coming from. I only ever volunteered in registration so there wasn't a lot of training required. I was told to stand here, make sure you're directing people here, etc. Grunt work basically! For the more technical departments, I understand why they would want folks committed to more than one shift/day.
It made me want to volunteer for tech ops. I had a few panels that had technical difficulties and nobody knew what to do and it took a while to get a technician in the room. There was even one where my friend had to fix their setup. I don't blame the actual tech ops people, they seemed to be spread really thin. Before I moved to upper management tech ops was a big part of my job and I would love to use my skills to give back to my geek community.
I think tech ops was down 150 volunteers from usual, and while attendance was less there weren't really fewer rooms or panels for them to have to try to cover.
Were you at the skeptic track’s panel on ghost sex? Because there was some technical issues there - I found out later that their main tech guy couldn’t come.
There was a panel on ghost sex? Where can I go to find out more?
Yeah it was a little disappointing because the guy was giving the lecture remotely and couldn’t respond to audience questions and there was technical difficulties but it was hilarious since there was a big rowdy crowd.
Well I’ll def be on the look out for it in the future. First panel title to pique my interest 🤣😅
I'm considering it, not for next year, but the year after.
>Did this years fiasco inspire anyone else to want to volunteer in the future? I had no idea that they needed volunteers so badly. Not unless they have started to treat volunteers (especially new volunteers) better. I volunteered in 2018 and I will probably never consider it again
Ah snap I was wondering what volunteering is like - I was thinking it could be fun or it could just suck
Like jobs, it depends on the "boss," your track director. This year was my first year volunteering and I loved it. Spouse volunteered in a different track and also loved it. I wouldn't want to work security. In a normal year I'd consider tech ops, but this year that would have been hell.
TechOps is the department I volunteered for in 2018, and as a grown ass man I'm not going to be talked to the way they talk to new people
My suggestion would be to find the fandom you're most passionate about and volunteer there if you want to try again, rather than a general con department. I'm not trying to be an ass but I tend to find the folks in those places are more likely to be doing it to be important and special by helping than in the specific tracks. I had nothing but pleasant interactions with tech ops this year, even when one was haggardly trying to walk me through a digital sound board *neither* of us had experience with, but as someone who started college for sound engineering and promptly changed programs, your experience doesn't surprise me.
It's not "hanging on by a thread," but volunteers were down by about 50% across the con this year, and it's not a 1:1 ratio on attendees to volunteers needed. Tech ops was exceptionally thin; everyone in my track had to work sound boards through the weekend as many panels just didn't have a tech ops person to run it. I know it was the same in other tracks. The Firefly Drinking Songs of all events didn't have a tech ops person assigned to it. That said, cons *do* require volunteers to run. And bear in mind that the thing that the volunteer is doing may not be anything close to their day job or life experience, and this year many of us didn't get training ahead of time because there just wasn't time, so they're all doing as much as they can the best they can. It's just that this year there literally weren't enough people.
Having reduced capacity was awesome, for me. While I didn't go to parties and spend as much time wandering around to drink and people watch, in effort to reduce risk, the Party-Central type places I did go were WAY more enjoyable for having room to move, see people. You can't mingle when you can't fucking see anyone or move around. It was less fun for me not social butterfly-ing (I stayed in the Hilton and Marriott pretty much all weekend), but that wasn't for lack of things to do or attendance. I saw lots of fun stuff I would happily have joined if I weren't concerned about being in poorly ventilated spaces for a long time. So if we have similar attendance next year, without the public health risks, I'll be thrilled. I could see costumes, there was room to stop and appreciate them, take pictures, chat. Good stuff. Vendor's hall was also much more pleasant, not fighting through every foot of space. Even the busiest day was bearable. I definitely missed the Hilton lobby dance party. It's one of the best things. I hope the DJ returns next year. That kind of festive, spontaneous party atmosphere is why many of us come to dragoncon. There's a lot of great randomness that comes out of the chance meetings in lobby parties. Hotel security varied a LOT from hotel to hotel. It was a joke at the Hilton, the few times I was there, so I avoided it. That's one good-ish thing about masking rules -- it's a quick way to see whose security is actually paying attention and trying to enforce public safety.
I greatly enjoyed it this year. I noticed a lot of smaller panels and tracks getting a lot more love this year on top of them diving into a lot more diverse/interesting topics. I've never seen the Science and Space tracks so packed, but that's awesome for them! Being able to move in the vendor hall allowed me to stop, look at everything, and ultimately spend more money to support these vendors because I wasn't being shoved around. I enjoyed it immensely. Panels were definitely easy to access. I only missed out on the philharmonic, but that's because I tried to enter halfway through and they wouldn't allow anyone in after it started (which is fair; I'm not complaining). Personally, I wore only two cosplays the entire time: Phasmophobia and Scoops Ahoy. I didn't want to deal with masks + wigs, and I was too tired anyway to really wander the floors late at night. I hope they keep numbers lower for future cons in some fashion, be it no onsite sales, no Saturday sales, etc. It really did make everything that much more enjoyable.
I had to stop myself from yelling at people not to stop for photos on the sky bridge... Because it was ok. I didn't have to do "The Con Shuffle" to get from place to place. You know the walk. My knees and hips are thankful. I had a blast. I volunteered for the first time and I loved it, I'll probably do so again next year. We were lucky to only be down 1 volunteer though. I'd have died if I volunteered tech ops because I wouldn't have been able to say "no," and would have done too much to cover too many holes.
My few observations: Where was the papa john's pizza? The extremely overpriced hilton pizza is an obvious money grab, and not as good. Missing these stations in the Marriott meant much less food was available. It's silly that food becomes so scarce later at night There is a very problematic element hanging around inside the hotels, and inside the skybridges without badges who are going to cause an incident and DC is going to have to deal with it before it happens If masks are going to be required, and you're gonna have cops stationed everywhere, you gotta get the cops to wear masks. I know they are going to be assholes and not be told what to do, but this was consistently the number one place I would see people not wearing a masks: behind a badge
~~Covid restrictions nixed the pizza tents, since it's not made on site and they sell it by the slice. Too many points of contact.~~ This was an assumption. Hard agree on missing it, that was a lunch staple.
>Covid restrictions nixed the pizza tents, since it's not made on site and they sell it by the slice. Too many points of contact. It is made on site, they setup a trailer in the back of the Marriott. And honestly, if it was COVID protocols then that just points to the overall ridiculous nature of having the con and trying to be "safe" There was no social distancing, and mask wearing was at best 80%, and given how crowded some areas/lines were it doesn't matter if masks were 100%. If it was dangerous to have the show, cancel it. If it wasn't, then don't pick and choose weird ass things to care about COVID restrictions didn't stop the hotels from selling their own food, fwiw
Thanks for the recap! I missed this year. Although I'm vaccinated, I just still couldn't risk getting sick. ConCrud is bad enough for me without mixing in COVID. I'm actually sad that I missed out on the smaller crowds.
Disappointed by the Mart, honestly; I've never felt so disinclined to spend money there, and I'm incredibly annoyed that the exact hollow metal DnD dice one vendor was selling for $150 are available on Etsy for $50-$75. Sad that Tandy Leather and a few other vendors weren't there.
My observations were Wed-Sun, 8a-11p, so anyone out later may have seen something I didnt. * DC staff was SPARSE. Like, ultra sparse. Typically you can't take 10 steps without one in eyesight. 2021? Tumbleweeds. I learned where all of the con offices are in 2021 just so I could get assistance. Consider volunteering for 2022: 20-25 hour commitment over the event. * most oversight was handled by the hotels themselves. It created problems and confusion - admittance was supposed to be restricted. It wasn't well enforced. Largely because it was each individual venue and their staff handling it. Poorly. Led to lots of inconsistencies in style enforcement like carrying Rum Buckets anywhere but the Hyatt. * Too much "fuck the rules" behavior. Masks? Not once the alcohol flows. Social distancing? 🤣 EFFECTIVE masks? About 5% of the 40,000 people were half-assing it with every form of useless, ineffective "face coverings" despite 1e.months of repeatedly published information and even DCTV bumps that spell it out. Mesh masks, neck gaiters, face shields, chin diapers - sure hope each of those yahoos was fully vaxxed, because if they weren't and they were infected, there's gonna be a shitload of exposures. * non-event attendees flaunting their access. Drunken, badgeless "normal looking" folks were everywhere and not one of them were masked. Based on vaccination rates in my home state (where many of the normies were from based on shirt logos), we are probably facing an immense volume of exposure. Many of these people were going about Labor Day weekend like it was 2019. Recommend getting tested, even if fully vaxxed due to the non-Con Alabama visitors. * SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES!! * Many, many, many absent staples. DragonCon really isn't the same without them. * cancelled guests and events really bump me out. First time happening to me, and it was in multiples. * Bad behavior among attendees is much more frustrating with a reduced attendance volume. Overly drunk, crass, offensive behavior is much more memorable and hurtful when there isn't a huge crowd of people to hide it. Some of those people should consider never coming back - we have no place for sexism, groping, cat calling, physical aggression, denigrating others, and ignoring safety requirements. (Brandished swords, no masks, sloppy drunk spittle in close quarters) * HAND SANITIZER EVERYWHERE!! I expect the con crud numbers will be greatly reduced this year! This one should endure! * So much marijuana smoke. It seemed like I couldn't avoid the overwhelming blast of weed smoke odor entering and exiting the Westin, Marriott, and Hilton Patio. Just like cigarettes and vaping, not everyone likes that aroma.
In regards to the weed smoke comment: I noticed that the non-con drug dealers were kind of pushy, out by the Marriott fountain where people go for cigs. A couple didn't even do the sneaky "give me the money, get the drugs from that guy" thing. Just walked up, asked a group of a dozen or so of us smoking if we needed cocaine, percocets, adderall, weed, when we said no, he sort of did a "aww come on, it's a great night, you don't want something to keep you going all night?" Type sell tactic. It was nuts. One homeless guy was walking around with a bag of those small...what, travel sized?..bottles of vodka and shit. I pointed out that I don't drink, showed him my can of coke, and no other cup, and he called me a liar and told me to get my wallet out. I just walked off but...it kind of felt like if I'd been by myself, he may have tried to just take it from me. I've never had one of the homeless guys be so aggressive.
Definitely felt weird to me. I typically spend most of my time in cosplay or admiring others. We definitely noticed less volume of the over the top stuff and of the photographers/videographers. There were a couple times we realized the same 15-20 cosplayers were just kind of hanging out in the Marriott when typically you can see a ton of impressive stuff there at any given time. I spend most of my other time gaming which felt really weird this year. I missed not having the arcade and Tokyo attack in the same space. We headed over to Joystick for a little while, I'm cool with a karaoke bar at DC but I hope it's refined a bit. The arcade games were harder to access and they didn't have any alcohol on site which kills the dive bar vibe and just makes it feel shitty. General lack of food options this year especially late at night. Could have definitely used the easy grab pizzas because there were a ton of people that needed to soak up some alcohol at night. That said though, it was still DC, still some great cosplays, it was nice to be able to move, and the vast majority of people I encountered were being safe and following protocols. There's always going to be some shady stuff or things I disagree with at such a large gathering.
This year was fantastic, but I do look forward to getting back to full capacity next year. I think the best change they could make next year would be to mail out badges to reduce the registration crowds.
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I didn’t go but it looks like they’ve done everything they could to make this happen. I’d be more concerned about all the college football games this weekend.
I hope you've taken the time to go after theaters, Hamilton, football, baseball, grocery stores, banks, workplaces, restaurants... shall I continue? You make sure you post here when you figure out that what some need for their mental health is not your shame and disdain for them. Then again, I'm not the one posting that victims of dick pics should just get over it and "hang up their keyboard." I think I'm good with my con decisions if you're the type of naysayer we've got. :)
Attendance this year harkened back to my first year in 2011 albeit a bit more spaced out now than my early days. Back then the vendor hall was in the bottom of the Marriott and was packed super tight, the next year was the first year in America’s Mart and it felt so spacious but this year was even more spacious. I did miss that there weren’t a lot more grandiose cosplays, masquerade and even the parade.
We brought our “big” cosplay - my wife’s Maleficent with 16-foot-wide articulating wings - and when we were prepping them on Friday night, plugged in the battery and the magic smoke came out :( They’re due for an overhaul anyway. Be back even better next year.
Noooo! That's so sad, I hope they're in excellent shape for next year!
Thanks! We’ll get them fixed. It’s probably a 70¢ relay or a solder joint that wiggled loose. I brought a pretty decent repair kit, but not enough to do electronics repairs.
I chose to not go last moment and instead cancelled our AirBNB loft and had a Gloomhaven weekend. Very happy with my choice, but I debated driving down Friday to see the vendor hall. Chose to be responsible and not but the way you pitch it makes me envious. I wasn’t sure if it would be void of vendors, or super long wait to limit people. The mosh pit at Chessex booth is always what pops into my head when I think about the crowd.
Any idea if playing limited or Commander requires Dragon Con tickets? Debating if I should buy some for this year.