ConnectiCon 2019 Mostly Fun & Friendly If Less Full
Over the last two years I received numerous comments and messages concerning my 2017 ConnectiCon article. People defending the convention, people defending the staff and people simply wanting to tell me their own experiences at the convention or to share thoughts about its direction. When 2018 rolled around a lot of people had expected another article on Nerd Caliber and were disappointed that no one wrote one.
This was a decision based on my end. I wanted to give ConnectiCon time to develop newer policies and protocols and implement them in a reasonably sustainable way. Since a convention only comes around once a year, newly implemented rules tend to grow lax after their first year passes, so waiting a year allowed for a better perspective on what rules have stuck and what changes are holding over. After attending the convention this year, I’m confident in being able to deliver another review.
In past years I often had to struggle to find parking at the convention center itself because it was just packed with people attending. I often went to the parking garage across from the convention center and had to fight for a space in that location as well. That wasn’t the case this year as I found ample parking in that garage across the street on Friday, and on Saturday I was able to find parking at the convention center itself. In years past it was an unruly fight to the death Twisted Metal style to get a parking spot close to the con. On rare occasions it was like finding a golden ticket to a parking spot at the convention itself. Since it was Friday I assumed that around 3-4 p.m. people with jobs or other weekday activities would start filtering into the convention and bulk up the size of the crowd. That was not the case as it continued to feel largely void of people or at least cosplayers. I make that distinction purely based on my observations with seeing more than enough people in plains clothes walking about engaging with the convention and its events but less so the cosplayers.
Saturday is typically the day I find is a better gauge for people coming in and out of a convention. Also considering my last article, I went about engaging with some staff members and the convention staff itself to see how things have changed from the overtly aggressive and dismissive staff (both convention and volunteers themselves) that I spoke about in my previous article. Everyone I interacted with was pleasant and the convention staffers were stationed at the entrances and exits with radios, politely willing to assist with questions I had while they monitored the entrances.
Volunteer staff members were more courteous than they were the last time I directly interacted with them and if they didn’t have an answer to where a panel had been placed then they directed me to a location where I could access that information in a polite and courteous manner. I was able to locate the panels I wanted to pop in on easily enough, which is always a plus. During the later half of the day when Nerd Caliber hosted a panel on “Building A Successful Nerdy YouTube Channel” I assisted with the setup of the panel and had to reach out to the staff to help with some audio-related questions and issues. They were quick to respond to the request and send someone down to help out (though the audio mixer next to the water cooler kinda made me uncomfortable).
Food, glorious food
Several different people who attended mentioned that the ramen store corner was again a success with its affordable ramen bowls, while a new pizza vendor up on by the second floor landing near the bridge that led to the science center was a nice alternative. Some people mentioned that they missed the ice cream station that had become a mainstay on the first floor of the convention center and that the Italian ice location was a poor replacement.
The foot traffic within the convention center was brisk but never felt packed or dense. This is possibly due to the lack of people than to more efficient management of the space. Having reached out to ConnectiCon’s Manager of Press Robert Jewell III about getting attendance numbers, I was told that the number of paid attendees was 11,000 which is considered an uptick from 2018. The most recent numbers I was able to get access to were from 2016 on Fancons.com that listed the conventions paid attendance as 12,296. As of posting this article, ConnectiCon officials did not respond to my request for the numbers for 2018. Without those 2017/2018 numbers it’s hard to comment on if the convention has had a pendulum swing in terms of attendance, though the evidence speaks to a slight decline.
In my personal opinion, I did enjoy my weekend at ConnectiCon but realistically I tend to enjoy it because I commute from my home in Massachusetts, about a 25-minute drive away, and outside of a convention ticket and food, my costs are low. Having polled a few people after the convention concerning the ticket increase (from $75 in 2019 to $85 in 2020), many of them are against the increase. Many stating that the increased cost simply does not reflect the quality of the convention and its experience.
ConnectiCon’s press manager Jewell told us that costs for the convention increased every year for the last six years and ConnectiCon has attempted to maintain an affordable ticket price for its attendees. Whether or not this increase in the ticket price is responsible for what appears to be a slight decrease in attendance since 2016 (without 2017 or 2018 numbers we can only go on what we know, which shows a decline) is unclear. And how 2019 attendees will react to any further price increases that may come along remains to be seen.
The question I’ve been asked several times is “Luis, will you be attending next year?” and virtually each time I reply that I will be because of how much I enjoy the convention on a personal level. My enjoyment, however, is based on my planning and my time with friends versus the actual convention itself. Next year however, I might just tip a frosty mug with friends to ConnectiCon 2020 while letting another journalist write a review article for that year.
