Prophecy Post-Mortem

[emmagrant01]

This will be long and detailed, just to warn you!

Overall Impressions:

So, I LOVE going to cons. If I could manage to go to ten cons a year, I totally would, because they're absolutely amazing. There's nothing like being surrounded by fandom people. I heard people say over and over this weekend how wonderful it was to be in a place where they could just be themselves, without worrying about being judged or called a freak. (I don't think that's entirely true, but more on that in a bit.) And it's true that the best part of the experience is being able to sit around with people who were just LJ names to you a few days ago and talk about porn and HP stuff and meta, live in person.

There are several different types of cons: there are large multifandom cons (like Comic-Con and Dragon*Con) genre-specific multi-fandom cons (slash-centric cons like Con*Strict, Escapade, and Con.Txt), and general fandom-specific cons (like the Star Wars Celebrations, various Star Trek cons, and the HP cons). I tend to prefer the single fandom-specific cons (though I admittedly haven't been to many of the other kinds) mostly because I love immersing myself in the world of a single fandom for the duration of the con. I also like seeing how other people participate in fandom and meeting people I would probably otherwise never come into contact with I love seeing all of the costumes, listening to Wizard Rock played live, and watching the movies in large groups of fans. I love the organization of con-goers into Houses, and all of the rivalries and activities therein. It's a bit corny, but I love the fact that you can sort of pretend you're really in the Wizarding World for a weekend. I know that's not what everyone is there for, but I enjoy the fact that I get to do that once a year.

So with that in mind, I had a really good time at Prophecy. It had almost all of the things I want in a con, and enough going on that I could easily ignore the stuff I'm not interested in. It felt a lot more sedate than Lumos did, though that may just be me. It may have something to do with the fact that Lumos was in Las Vegas, and ... well. Vegas is something else altogether.

It's fantastic that our fandom can support multiple cons every year. When Lumos was first announced, I remember people saying that it was too soon to have another con just a year after The Witching Hour, and the next thing you know we have three cons in one year! It's awesome, but it also seems to split the fandom a bit. The great thing about TWH and Lumos was that it was the con everyone went to, and this year everyone was split apart. But those who could go to multiple cons had a great time, I'm sure.

The Good and the Bad:

The hotel was nice and in a great location, and there were lots of little nooks and crannies where you could hang out with people. I didn't particularly like the fact that the programming was spread over two floors that were several stories apart, because it made it difficult to get from one session to another. Of course, someone told me they thought it made the hotel feel a bit more like Hogwarts, which I suppose is true.

The common room was awesome with great decorations, but it was so far out of the way that it was basically useless to me. The common room at Lumos was in the middle of everything, and you could peek in there between sessions to see what was going on. But going to the common room at Prophecy required a special trip, so I didn't spend a lot of time hanging out in there.

The vendor room was a disappointment this year. There were basically three vendors, one of which sold out of most of what you'd want to buy on the first day. They were understaffed and the lines were incredibly long. I was wondering why we didn't see more small vendors, like fans who produce their own stuff that other fans might like to buy. And then I was told that the vendor fee was $600. Okay, WTF? That puts a booth in the vendor room out of reach of anyone but an actual shop. People like mijan (who makes beautiful hand-carved wands) should be able to pay a small fee (say $50-70) to sell their crafts. I know a lot of us would love to see more of that, and I don't understand why the vendor room seems to be intentionally set up to prevent it. (Not to mention that fans buying stuff from each other informally were threatened to be kicked out of the con for doing so.) If anyone from HPEF is reading this and would like to explain, please do.

Edit: heidi8 addresses this issue in a comment below. It turns out that some American vendors decided not to come because of the difficulty of getting their wares through customs. She also notes that there are plans to have inexpensive space available for small vendors at Portus, so yay for that.

It's really nice that the so much con-specific swag is put together for the attendees, like bags, beautiful programs, special water bottles, and so on, but to be honest, I don't need any of that stuff. And I can't help but wonder how much the price of the registration would be reduced if all of that was cut out. It could still be available for sale for anyone who wanted to buy it. If there has to be swag, I'd rather get a t-shirt, actually. There weren't any con t-shirts for sale this year, which was disappointing. I know I can buy one at the Cafe Press shop, but there's something special about seeing everyone wearing their con t-shirt on the last day.

I was really happy that there was a Ball again this year. I missed it at Lumos, and it was SO much fun! The signature drinks were way too expensive, though, and it only encouraged people to get drunk in their rooms before coming down to the Ball. I heard a few complaints about the Ball itself, but I loved it. I spent most of that evening dancing with friends, which was a lot of fun. The music was good, the DJs were entertaining, and it was fun to see everyone dressed up and having a good time. There was a funny moment when snapetoy went up and asked the DJ to play "I'm Too Sexy" and ask all of the Snape look-alikes to come to the front and dance. Of course, he DJ didn't quite understand her Australian accent, and so he asked all of the "snipes" (say it out loud if you're not an Aussie) to come to the front. The crowd kind of stared at him until someone finally said, "Do you mean Snapes?" The DJs seemed to have a good time, though, and even ended the evening with "Dance Like a Hippogriff" from the GOF soundtrack, which was made even more awesome by the fact that most of the crowd sang along! You know you're an HP geek when, you know? :-D

I elected to do all of the feasts, and I thought the food was fine. I do those not for the food, but for the chance to sit down and have a meal with other con-goers. That said, in the future if given the option, I might elect not to do the feasts unless there's some programming going on (and there didn't seem to be this time; it was just a meal). For just a meal, I don't think it's worth it.

I didn't volunteer to work during the con, and I don't think I would be interested in ever doing so. I'm usually involved in several panels, and I go to meet up with people. I don't have extra time to work any of the volunteer posts, basically. I know some people love to do that, and more power to them. I had a chance to ask a few volunteers about their experiences, and the general consensus seemed to be that it was mostly a good experience, though some areas were not very well organized at all. There were two incidents I heard about that kind of pissed me off. One was that the staff decided to close the common room at midnight on the last night, even though it had been open all night during the con. It was a place for people to hang out that wasn't the lobby, and there were informal events going on all night. On Friday night, there was apparently a group that got a little too loud, and the organizers decided that "we" couldn't be trusted after that. *eyeroll* The second incident is one I'm not sure is actually true: someone stole one of the paper decorations from the registration booths, and since it happened to be the Ravenclaw decoration, Ravevclaw house was blamed. The rumor I heard was that the staff decided to take 500 points from the house because of it, with absolutely no evidence that it was stolen by anyone from Ravenclaw. Considering how close the House Cup points were, if that really happened it's incredibly unfair. And while we're on the subject of house points, why aren't points awarded for organizing and being on panels? That one seems like a no-brainer.

Edit: Someone in the know commented anonymously below to address some of this. In particular, points were NOT taken from Ravenclaw, and some more explanation of the common room incident is given.

But with all of that said, I should state FTR that I think this was the best-run HPEF con yet. The organizers improve every year, learn from past mistakes, and seem to take fan feedback seriously. I appreciate that, and I look forward to seeing how much better the cons will continue to get.

Formal Programming and Prevalence of Slash:

There was a lot of complaining after Lumos that there wasn't enough slash-oriented programming. My response to that was basically, "Then propose something next time", because I've known a couple of people on the vetting committees who've said that there just wasn't the quantity of proposals in the past to justify having more than a handful of slash panels. You might recall that I made a similar plea last spring when the submission deadline was extended, as did other folks on my flist.

And at Prophecy, there was practically a slash track to the programming. At every hour in the schedule, there was a panel specifically about slash or about fanfic and run by well-known slashers. They were all fantastic, and there was really no redundancy in those panels. I don't think there were any panels or roundtables about fanfic that weren't slash-oriented, which is very interesting. Do gen and het shippers not go to cons as much, or do they not propose panels, or what?

On top of that, slashers were a serious presence at the con. If you look through the program bios, almost all of the ones that aren't about academic presenters specifically mention slash. I gave away almost 450 slashcast buttons, and people were wearing them everywhere I turned. It's been said that slashers are the queers of fandom, and if so we're more out and proud every year. You still get funny looks from some fans, but outright hostility is really rare these days. I love that!

I was involved with three panels, one of which I organized ("The Queering of Harry Potter: Slash Fan Fiction as Social and Political Commentary"), one fiona_fawkes organized ("Shipping Harry"), and the keynote lunch on Saturday ("Fandom: Its Future and Fascination"). I think the best of the three was Fiona's -- it was a great combination of people and a really fun discussion. There were four of us on the panel, each representing one of four ships: Harry/Ginny, Harry/Hermione, Harry/Draco (me), and Harry/Snape. The focus of the discussion was how harry is depicted in fanfic differently in those four different ships, and it was really interesting.

Edit: I forgot to mention this, so I'll add this paragraph in. The Shipping Harry panel was scheduled to go from 4:00-5:20 on Saturday afternoon, but for some reason TPTB decided to cut out panel 20 minutes short so they could reschedule Steve Vander Ark's panel in the same room. (He'd run over in his allotted presentation time, apparently.) Not only did they not ask Fi if this would be okay, they DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING BOTHER TO TELL HER. So a security volunteer shows up at 5:10, interrupts our panel, and tells us that though they've very generously let us go over our time by ten minutes, we really need to wrap it up and clear the room. To which we were like, WTF, we have ten more minutes! In the end we didn't leave until our panel was done, because seriously? SO NOT COOL. Why should someone else running over their time be an excuse to cut our panel short? There were well over 100 people in our room, so it wasn't like no one was there. Argh!

I need to talk a bit about the keynote, because my feelings about it are mixed. I was extremely flattered to have been asked, because I knew that I was sitting there as the representative of fan fiction writers. The fact that the organizers picked a very out slasher to do that says a lot, I think. The other panelists were heidi8 of HPEF and FA, one of the guys from Harry and the Potters, Sue Upton from TLC/Pottercast, Steve Vander Ark from the Lexicon, and another woman whose name I can't remember and whose affiliation within fandom I'm still not quite sure of. The panel was well-moderated by Gwendolyn Grace, who's been involved in the organization of several HPEF cons in the past. We were asked questions about how we think the closure of canon will affect our respective parts of fandom, and it was interesting to hear everyone's answers. But to an extent, I felt sort of weird sitting there and being part of that discussion. Half of that panel was made up of people who are known for being fandom personalities, and I'm not a fandom personality at all. In fact, I try really hard not to be one and have zero patience for people who do. It just felt like a weird mix, for reasons I can't really put my finger on. I felt less sure of what I was going to say going into that panel than I did any other, which I think was part of it. But it was also the case that I'm not used to talking about slash in front of a large public audience. I could see people in the crowd rolling their eyes and making faces when I mentioned specific pairings, for example. It's weird, because I don't judge anyone else's way of being involved in fandom, you know? I can't imagine doing that. But I forget that a significant part of the fandom thinks slashers are pervs and freaks. Maybe talking about slash so publicly was a good thing, then. HUGE thanks to the handful of slashers who were in the crowd and who cheered loudly at my comments. You were few, but you were loud, and I appreciated it!

In case you haven't heard, someone stole a sheet of stickers for the Saturday panel (those were the "tickets", which attendees had to pay $40 for) from the registration booth and handed them out to friends who hadn't paid. And so there were an extra 50 people who showed to that panel, and there was no way to tell who had paid and who had not. The organizers decided to let them all in and the hotel managed to scrounge up an extra 50 meals, at a cost of more than $2000 to HPEF. NOT COOL, people. Stealing from your fellow fans is incredibly low.

I also want to mention something that happened at the end of that panel. A particular fandom personality came up to the mic and made a comment that was essentially a direct challenge to something I'd said, which was that fan fiction writers were excited that JKR had finally left the sandbox, because that leaves all of canon open for us to play with and write stories about -- something that has been said quite a lot in the last two weeks. This person commented that (and I'm paraphrasing) if the future of fandom rested on fan fiction writers, that was pretty sad, and went on to say that it was offensive that fanfic writers were glad JKR had left their sandbox, that it wasn't our sandbox and never would be. After the comment, there was enthusiastic applause from about 30% of the audience. This particular individual has expressed on several occasions a dislike for fanfic and disdain for fanfic writers. In fact, this person's comments in one episode of a popular fandom podcast were the reason both slashcast and snapecast were started. So you know, I didn't have a response to that. What do you say to someone who doesn't like fanfic and doesn't respect it as a way to participate in fandom? I couldn't think of anything polite to say, so I ignored the comment, and heidi8 jumped in with a very diplomatic response.

Again, I forget that fanfic writers get so much crap in fandom. Why is writing fanfic looked down upon so much? Why are we the "silly fangirls" who are wasting our time and talents? I can't imagine someone at that con having the same attitude towards costuming, crafting, wizard rock, or running a fan website. Because I spend so much of my time in this part of fandom, it's strange to be reminded that there are people in the fandom who think what I do is stupid, you know? Not that I care so much about what they think, but it's annoying to be singled out by people who are just as geeky as me. I can't help but think that they're partly jealous of the attention we get and the cohesiveness we have as a group. But still. :-P

Informal Programming:

There was so much informal programming that it was impossible to do everything I wanted to do. At any given moment, there were a lot of activities to choose from, and that was great. I always love the wizard rock concert and the films, and so those were particularly fun for me. I didn't go to any fanfic readings, not even the one I was supposed to do -- hazelhawthorne offered to do it for me, and I was so exhausted that I took her up on it.

There were lots of great things going on in the common room, but it was so far out of the way that it was impossible to just peek in and see what was going on, so I missed a lot of that. The art room seemed more sparse this year than last year, for some reason. (Maybe it wasn't -- the room might just have been bigger.) There was an awesome chocolate cake Sorting Hat that looked so real it was hard to believe it was a cake. They cut it on the last day, though, and it was delicious! There was a "porn corner" in the art room that had three artists' portfolios, which contained some porny art, much of it slash. It was funny to watch the faces of curious folks who'd never been exposed to fanart before as they flipped through those books. naked_bee had a beautiful piece of her photographic art on display, titled "Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Snape in a Tub". snapetoy won it in the auction for a startlingly large sum of money, and she was very pleased to get it. At the Ball, I got to introduce her to naked_bee and her darling model/husband (who was dressed as Snape, to the delight of many fangirls), and she went over and squeed!

As always, there were other meet-ups, two of which were organized by fiona_fawkes. She did a great job organizing them, though the word had apparently not gotten out and there were quite a few folks who showed up to the slash lunch without having made a reservation. Luckily, the restaurant was able to accommodate the extras, saving Fi from ripping her own hair out.

And Most Importantly:

The best part of being at a con is, of course, putting LJ names with faces. I can't begin to list all of the people I talked to, saw for the second or third time, or met for the first. I spent a lot of time hanging out with my roomie hazelhawthorne (who spent much of the con in costume and character as a very convincing and occasionally naughty Umbridge), kriken, coffeejunkii, mijan, fiona_fawkes, shadowpryde, reciprocity_, daddybear716, acromantular, janicechess and others. It was great to have chances to talk with furiosity, titti, bethbethbeth, amanuensis1, snapetoy, demontordelta, drusillas_rain, naked_bee, djin7, heidi8, bekkio, swtjemz, dramedy, longleggedgit, xingou, kaalee, and ... and ... ack! There were so many more, but now I can't remember!

I like coming a day early and staying a day later, because it gives me time to hang out with people. The con itself is so busy that it felt like there isn't much time to see everyone. Having an extra day at the end also lets you decompress a bit. The con ends on such a high, and it can be depressing to head home right away. It's nice to have some time to just hang out and relax with people, and to talk about what you liked and didn't like about the con. People gradually start to leave, it all winds down, and by the time my departure comes around, I'm ready for it.

Oh, but the con didn't end when hazelhawthorne dropped me off at the airport -- I walked through security and immediately heard "Emma!" I turned to see freckles42 and a friend of hers waving at me. We found a spot to sit and continue talking con stuff, which was awesome. And then at the gate, there were even more people on the way home from Prophecy who were on my flight, so it wasn't really until I got home that it felt like it was all over.

So, next year?

There are two big HP cons next year, Portus in Dallas, July 10-13, 2008, and Terminus in Chicago August 7-11, 2008. At this point, I'm definitely going to Portus, which is within driving distance of where I live. I'd love to go to Terminus too, but the odds that I'll really be able to do it are sort of low.

I'd love to go to Escapade or Con.Txt next year (links above), but the timing of both of those is bad for me. There are some tentative plans being made for a small HP slash con to be held in Boston in October of 2008, which I would LOVE to go to. I'll post details when I hear more about it. (Edit: An LJ has been started for planning this, so go friend bestbiscuit if you're interested.)

In the meantime, we'll just have to convene online, won't we? :-D

Comments

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

This was a brilliant recap, and I so wish I could have gone. And yes to the convening online until the next one!

[vichan.livejournal.com]

*perks up* Chicago, Aug. 7-11? Holy moly, I think I can actually make it to a Harry Potter convention for the first time EVER. Portus directly conflicts with a UU camp... again. *grumps* (Don't these people realize how many Unitarians LOVE Harry Potter?)

Thanks for the write-up... it's reports like these that make me even more determined to go. :-D

That was an awesome description.

[myviciousvixen.livejournal.com]

I used to go to DragonCon, and I very much enjoyed reading your take on this obviously fun and interesting con. Thanks so much for sharing!

[mom2enk.livejournal.com]

This review makes me really want to go to a Con next year. None of my friends are into HP, so I only get interaction online. I don't write or draw and I'm very shy, so I have a hard time meeting people online as well, but with an atmosphere like a con, I think it would be easier to come out of my "shell" and open up to fellow HP fanatics.

[henpecked.livejournal.com]

I had heard vague mutterings about the stealing of the keynote stickers, and I'm just as appalled now as I was then. Talk about the ultimate in rudeness! I also heard about that certain someone and.. well. I think that since writers and their readers generally tend to flock together, we sometimes forget that other people think we're ridiculous (or something along those lines).

Anyhow, it was very nice meeting you at the H/D dinner!

[utkari02.livejournal.com]

Hey Emma!

Thanks for posting your thoughts on Prophecy for all of us to see. We all go into a con with a different perspective, and it's great being able to see the thoughts of other people!

I was wondering if you minded if I linked your post here over to bekkio's journal. We're trying to look at as many peoples thoughts on the con as possible as were starting on portus_2008.

Thanks again, and it was soo great to meet you!

-Kari

[katieupsidedown.livejournal.com]

We are currently discussing Portus plans in hogwarts_elite. :D I'm definately going, and I believe most of my HP friends, both on LJ and off, will be going as well. I can't afford the $180 registration right now, though, so I'll probably get in on the $200 level and then try to pack as many folks in a hotel room as possible so we can room cheap.

I'm assuming you and Andrea would probably prefer rooms where you get to sleep in a bed, though. XD Definately understandable.

[fiona-fawkes.livejournal.com]

I just love reading the summary posts from everyone else, as it reminds me of all sorts of little things that I forgot, or summarizes things that I missed. Hee. I'm sitting here in the slasher corner of the lobby with a couple of straglers, catching up. This slow let-down helps the con drop immensely. Although, the price of the hotel room suddenly seems extraordinary now that there's no con keeping me here. Huh.

ps - I has an underscore. "fiona_fawkes" Just fyi. ;)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

How many folks are still around? It seemed like a lot of people were leaving on Monday.

Argh, underscore. I always want to not put one in your name and add one to Hazel's. :-P

[araythea.livejournal.com]

It really sounds amazing! I'd love to go to one of those cons. I'll get to go to one but it depends on if I'm back in Texas by then or still up here. The freaking awesome part is whether I'm home or still here there's an HP con just a few hours away. I currently live about 4 hours away from Chicago!

[fiona-fawkes.livejournal.com]

Oh, maybe six or seven that I know of. snapetoy, zed, loudmegaphone, and a non-lj one plus M & I. Not many.

[sulky-rhino.livejournal.com]

That was a great summary! :D I wish I could've gone, but it's too far for me. :(

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

I'm sad you won't be coming to Terminus. It'll be my first con, and I'm already getting excited, but it sounds like you had a great time at this one.

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

(1) I will bet... well, SOMETHING, anyway... that I know exactly who made the snotty comment re. fic, and if it's who I THINK it was, then if heidi8 was really able to pull of being diplomatic, then she should be canonized. Because, just. DAMN.

(2) The critical point re. con.txt is that it's in my hometown, RIGHT WHERE I LIVE, and if you decided to come up you could stay with me if you weren't feeling the conhotel vibe and yay. You're going to have a v. busy spring, though. :D

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

Wonderful summary! I wish I could have been there, but there's always next year. I'm going to do my best to be at both!

[luredbyvenus.livejournal.com]

I've never been to a con before, Portus will be my first, and I never imagined that other people in fandom would be rude to the slashers. I guess it feels so normal here in our little section of LJ that I forget it might be seen as strange by other people. I don't really have much interest in the harry/ginny shippers, but I wouldn't be rude enough to show it in public when they were invited speakers.

I am so excited by the possible HP slash con. I love Boston and that would be a perfect excuse to go back. Please do post if/when you hear more.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I hope you can go to one sometime! It really is awesome.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

It really helps when you know a few people who are going and arrange in advance to meet up with them right when you get there. Then there are familiar faces from the start, which makes it a lot less intimidating!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

The sticker thing really pisses me off. :-P

Oh, did you hear about that, then? No one asked me about it afterward, which I thought was strange. But then I found out a bunch of people I knew left before it happened.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Link away. It was hilarious to run into you at the airport!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

For reasons I'll tell you about privately, I'll most likely be getting my own room at Portus. But I'm glad you're going! And Andrea had better go... ;-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Tell them I said hello! When are y'all heading home?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to being able to drive to a con net year, so yes, I totally understand that!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I would love to go to Terminus, but travel is going to be extremely complicated for me next summer. We'll see!

[lagreyeyes.livejournal.com]

Great recap, especially for those that were unable to attend. :) Funny - slash is the norm for me, and I find it amusing that it's viewed as something of an oddity by so many others. (But I always figure that anything I like or am involved in is the norm. *smirks*)

I'm planning to attend Portus, assuming I get the time off work. The Texas humidity alarms me somewhat (My HAIR! My ability to BREATHE!), but I'm assured by those in the know that Dallas is enveloped by the Cone of Air Conditioning at all times.

Glad you had fun!