Sept 10-12 we were in Rockville MD for Intervention Con. I was extremely nervous heading out as this was my first convention as a guest.We left Thursday morning so we could spend a day looking around and locating the hotel the convention was being held in.The night before I re-read the convention chapter in How To Make Webcomics and did some last minute prep before trying to sleep.
The next day we went to the Rockville Hilton for setup.We were at table 44,the end of an aisle between Megami Jadeheart( www.emeraldixia.com) and Julia Lichty( www.ghostfire.net). Across the aisle were Tovias (Reality Amuck http://www.racomics.com/ ) and his Booth Babe/Assistant Natali ( http://lifeinmonkeyland.blogspot.com/), Priss (Phantom Blush www.phantomblush.com) and Donnie Sturges and Danny Valenti (The Draconia Chronicles www.2wconline.net)
Jennifer and I spent some time wandering around and getting to know the people around us before walking the entire dealer’s room and trying to talk to everyone. The atmosphere was friendly and open.Everywhere we went people would offer advice, tips and stories about their webcomics experience. The first day we actually spent more time away from the table than at it( a no-no if your a vendor or guest since you might miss a fan or sale opportunity). We had several people stop at the table to check out the book, and actually made one sale before the sales room shut down at 8.
After dinner Jennifer and I returned to the Hilton to check out some more of the convention before my 10 o’clock panel There Is A Line:Handling Potentially Offensive Topics in Webcomics.We spent the majority of the time before the panel in the Video Room performing YouTube Karaoke with Blue (www.hello-the-future.net), some of the con staff,and a couple of people hiding from the Zombies.(Interfection:a Humans Vs Zombies game that ran all weekend)Finally at 10 we headed to the panel room and joined T. Campbell(http:guildedage.net),Ben Kahan, Eric Kimball(Exiern and Blade Bunny http://www.bladebunny.com , and Mike Hall and Ryan Thompson of Darkstar Studios www.darkstar-studios.com
I admit I was nervous about the panel and was afraid it might devolve into into dirty jokes and everyone trying to top the last speaker.Instead we actually explored a wide range of themes, with only occasional sidetracks into off-topic things.I wish,since I was supposed to be the moderator,that I could take the credit for it,but I have to thank Eric and T.Campbell for keeping everyone on topic and moving the discussion forward when necessary.Afterwards I got to meet Frumph,who’s work on the Comicpress program made webcomics like this one possible, and hung around the lobby for a while talking with some of the other guests and attendees.We finally made it back to our hotel around 1 A.M. to crash and be back at the Hilton for Intervention day 2 in just a few hours.
