Why so little turn out of pro comic artists?

[captphil]

The radio station itself was not banned. There was an incident which resulted in a necessary reaction from the convention. I will not post details here. If someone requires a full explanation, they should contact the Press Coordinator or the Vice-Chair of Marketing directly by e-mail.

Was it as bad as the guy in the I-Con staff shirt who asked Roger Corman if he used the casting couch during his Q&A in the gym? Was there a necessary reaction to that incident?

It's a shame there wasn't some sort of meeting with Howard and the station GM to smooth over this situation, whatever it was because it cuts off I-Con from the a consistent positive source of press from the University and it also puts the convention at odds with people who listen to and support the station. I'm not happy about the situation and I'm just a fan. A fan with a pen but still just a fan.

[rmdragon]

Hi-
Despite being a few weeks from the Con- I'm never too busy to address a concern by any member. Here's where it stands right now in regards to your concern about WSBU as mentioned in previous posts. Hopefully we can move foward from this and concern ourselves with have a good time at this year's Convention. It's obvious you're very passionate about the radio station and about I-CON- Thank you for that. Perhaps we can meet at the convention, and we can chat about times past of I-Con. (I've been going to every I-con since I-con 4.)

Right now we're all focused on making sure our new venue works well and of course we're ready to deal with growing pains and handling a convention that after 27 years is in an entirely new circumstance. We've got some great new stuff planned that we're exciting about, which we've never been able to do before. It's not that we don't want to EXCLUDE people at this point; We are looking towards taking I-CON in new and exciting directions and we'll be trying some different things in preference to the way things have been done in the past. That's what we are focused on right now.

Whatever transpired last year, was an entire year ago (not in a dismissive sense) but from a proffessional standpoint, let's move on and focus on the positive and on making this I-CON a success. We still respect the show and the radio station and, as I am oversee media relations, we will offer them the same opportunites we will offer any other radio station or media outlet. As long as everyone maintains a professional measure of courtesy. (and that goes for the I-con side of it too). In speaking to i-con's relation with an individual, as an event organization it is well within the event's right to protect itself and revoke membership or ban aparticular person for any variety of reasons, and the obvious protection of it's staff, guest and members. if I-CON feels it's warranted to ask someone to leave or be banned for a year- then hopefully they will amicably abide. This is true for those who would consider themselvesprofessionals; and even our own guests are held to this standard. As WEll as our own Staff.

Hopefully-I've been able to speak to your concerns, and I hope you'll have a good time at I-Con this year.

And so you know, The art show as it has been in recent years, intially had to be greatly scaled back as the person whom normally handles it had run into some serious medical problems to address. Serious enough that it had to affect the show. speaking for myself- if i had a choice I'd rather see the guy get better, and not see the art show. And rather attempt something half assed, and thrown together, it was decided that discression to be the better part of valor- so it was ultimately cancelled. The art show will be back in 2010 and I think better than it has been since it sort of got to take a year off and will be reinventing itself.

That said we will still offer an artist display venue that I am personally contributing to.

If you feel the need to further discuss this, please feel free to e-mail me: marketing@iconsf.org

[captphil]

Hi-
Despite being a few weeks from the Con- I'm never too busy to address a concern by any member. Here's where it stands right now in regards to your concern about WSBU as mentioned in previous posts. Hopefully we can move foward from this and concern ourselves with have a good time at this year's Convention. It's obvious you're very passionate about the radio station and about I-CON- Thank you for that. Perhaps we can meet at the convention, and we can chat about times past of I-Con. (I've been going to every I-con since I-con 4.)

I doubt very much we'll both have time to discuss anything during the convention, if you are serious about moving past the issues the con has with the radio station I suggest you set up a meeting with the Program Director at WUSB and see if you can rebuild the cons relationship with Destinies for next years convention. Right now, a month before the convention promotion would have begun and continued up to, during and after I-Con 28. There would have been performers previews, a reading of the guest list on the air, a live show from the con with the guests and of course a review after the convention. None of that will happen this year. The name I-Con has stopped being mentioned on the air even though the guest list of Destinies in recent weeks rivals the guest list of your convention.

It's not that we don't want to EXCLUDE people at this point; We are looking towards taking I-CON in new and exciting directions and we'll be trying some different things in preference to the way things have been done in the past. That's what we are focused on right now.

Whatever you decide I hope you come up with a consistent set of rules that are updated and distrubuted to the press before the convention. The story that went out on the air on April 11th 2008 showed a system that was in flux throughout the weekend and ended up excluding media from I-Con 27 through it's own ineptitude.

Whatever transpired last year, was an entire year ago (not in a dismissive sense) but from a proffessional standpoint, let's move on and focus on the positive and on making this I-CON a success. We still respect the show and the radio station and, as I am oversee media relations, we will offer them the same opportunites we will offer any other radio station or media outlet. As long as everyone maintains a professional measure of courtesy. (and that goes for the I-con side of it too). In speaking to i-con's relation with an individual, as an event organization it is well within the event's right to protect itself and revoke membership or ban aparticular person for any variety of reasons, and the obvious protection of it's staff, guest and members. if I-CON feels it's warranted to ask someone to leave or be banned for a year- then hopefully they will amicably abide. This is true for those who would consider themselvesprofessionals; and even our own guests are held to this standard. As WEll as our own Staff.

Well, I plan on attending I-Con as I have done since 1984 every year. I also plan on reviewing it on my website, as a fan, not as media SB or otherwise. I don't plan on discussing these issues with anyone during the con, honestly I don't think you'll have time. But I would hope you, your staff and the rest of the convention committee make a concerted effort after this convention to reach out and fix this situation that you've let stand for a year. I don't believe you've taken the time to the address the real problems you caused last year and you've spelled out the offense. I've been directed to email people directly off this forum but I believe we've got nothing to hide, if you want to deal honestly with this situation then post it here for everyone to see and judge for themselves.

I mean honestly, you had a troll post he was scamming the convention by volunteering and the head of the convention offers the scammer a position on the conventiuon committee! If you can justify that nonsense then you can figure out a way to mediate an agreement with Destinies to return to the con it's worked on and promoted for 26 years. It's the least you can do.

Hopefully-I've been able to speak to your concerns, and I hope you'll have a good time at I-Con this year.

Thanks, I trust you'll keep this forum up and available after the convention so we can read through the posts from last year and see what worked and what didn't.

And so you know, The art show as it has been in recent years, intially had to be greatly scaled back as the person whom normally handles it had run into some serious medical problems to address. Serious enough that it had to affect the show. speaking for myself- if i had a choice I'd rather see the guy get better, and not see the art show. And rather attempt something half assed, and thrown together, it was decided that discression to be the better part of valor- so it was ultimately cancelled. The art show will be back in 2010 and I think better than it has been since it sort of got to take a year off and will be reinventing itself.

Well this is something I brought up in a private email exchange with Goldstein who felt it important to keep this discussion in email instead of on this board. I think otherwise, I think it's good to get this stuff out in the open and I'm glad you addressed the art show, it was just in a list of items I wrote in that email from what I've read on the boards. The real response should have gone to the guy who asked about the art show in the first place and (Unless I've missed it) there should be some sort of notice on the Web site that there will be no art show this year at I-Con. That way fans can plan accordingly. I understand people get overworked on these things and take on too much resposibility but you have a communication problem. It doesn't take a lot of work to type a simple topic here....Art Show is Canceled and on the website in big letters so people will see. It could have gone on the site right after the decision was made.

That said we will still offer an artist display venue that I am personally contributing to.

If you feel the need to further discuss this, please feel free to e-mail me: marketing@iconsf.org

Thanks for taking me seriously, I am not a troll, you can follow the link back to my site, you can WHOIS me you can trace my ISP, I'm a fan who cares about the convention, WUSB and Destinies. I wouldn't be taking the time to post if I didn't care and didn't think there was a way to get beyond this. I hope at some point after the con (I think it's too late for I-Con 28) there can be some sort of mediation, discussion and agreement. All it will take is some thought, some time and a little respect. I know you guys have it in you to do the right thing.

[SciFiGuy]

Is I-Con getting any published comic book artist for this years con?
I don't see a list up.
Will there finally be an Artist Alley? Will we get a significant amount of comic artist, not 2 or 3? There is no New York City con till Oct. so there's no excuse for getting published artists. They do a con a month from most of there schedules.
So what's the deal?
For some reason, I don't understand the con not having something posted on the website calling for published professionals to come down and set up in Artist Alley. They'll bring more fans which in turn sells more tickets.
Hopefully we can see a significant amount this year. crossing fingers.