I received the newsletter from Salt Lake Comic Con today in my email. I was expecting something about FanX 2015 sometime soon because they recently posted something about FanX coming soon in 2015 on their Facebook page. In my newsletter, it had a link to go and vote for one of two dates for the event for the first part of next year. I went to check it out, and I voted. There were two options. One was for the end of January, 2015, and the other was for Easter/General Conference Weekend in April 2015. The other option is to not have FanX at all, and just have one massive event in September. I thought I would share what my vote was and why. Maybe some people will find it interesting, maybe some people might be swayed, or maybe people won’t care at all. In any case, I am sharing, because I care, and sharing is caring.
I voted for January 29-31, 2015. Here are my top 5 reasons why:
5. It is not in April.
One of the most common reasons I heard about why some celebrities were not able to come to the last FanX was because they were filming or had some other obligation. April already has Wondercon in Anaheim, which FanX competed with head on last year. And if we had FanX again in April, we would be competing head on again. We beat them on attendance, but we would also be competing for some headline guests. Wondercon has the backing of SDCC, so I would imagine that we would lose some of those headline guests. These are all downsides to April, in my opinion.
4. January happens to be close to my Birthday and Christmas
This gives me the perfect excuse to buy my tickets. The tickets can be for my birthday and my Christmas, which means maybe I can talk my wife into letting me get VIP tickets. Honestly, it might raise the likelihood, but not by much. Have you been wondering what to get that special geek in your life for Christmas? If FanX happens in January, wonder no more. Best. Christmas. EVER!
3. The Salt Palace Will NOT be Hot for Once
If you went to FanX or Salt Lake Comic Con, you know the AC was working overtime to keep it a little cooler in the building with all those hot bodies. The AC was working overtime, and it wasn’t enough. IT was still warm and I was sweating like a sweaty person in there by the end. The colder January temperatures will hopefully lend themselves to a cooler temperature inside, which will be pleasant for everyone.
2. Sundance
This is probably really the number one reason, but I have more material for my number one reason, so this gets moved to number two. This is a genius time for FanX. There are so many celebrities who come to this area for Sundance anyway. It would be easy, hopefully, to get them to just stop by FanX as well. Plus, it’s not just the celebrities. There will be tons of studios and execs who will be in the area, and you know they have heard about SLCC and they would love the opportunity to even just stop by and see why SLCC puts on the best cons. A positive impression there could go a long way to building a solid foundation of future guests and studio involvement at future SLCC events. It could potentially be huge. We already have a major even at that time that draws a lot of influential people in the entertainment industry to Salt Lake and Park City. They will be here already, and then we can put on a show for them.
1. It’s January, What Else Do You Have Going On?
I mean really. What else do you have happening during the last weekend in January? I’ll tell you, a big fat nothin’. Not only is it in January, but it is the end of January, which leads right into February, which, according to my friend Kevin, is the worst month ever. He hates February. No love whatsoever for February. This is the time when there are no good movies in the theaters, Nothing to do outside (except skiing, which is actually a draw for some people, so a plus for some guests of FanX), Christmas is over, and we are smack dab in the middle of the coldest, most miserable stretch of time during the whole year. We need something like this to help us survive the long, cold, dark, stupid winter. This event alone could help us make it through February and into spring. It could buoy us up in the hour of our greatest needs. Plus, little known fact, January is a whole 3 months earlier than April (3 months sooner for our next con). Just sayin’.
I really feel like tying this event to Sundance, at least by having it at the same time, would be huge. There really are so many people who will already just be here for Sundance, that something like this could make a lot of sense. There are also some negatives about January, like the weather could cramp some styles when it comes to cosplay. I was going to go as the Hulk, but if it’s in January, no way. Plus, this really only gives the organizers a couple of months to get everything put together. If they decide to go for January, pray for them, because they will need all the help they can get to bring it all together. Especially getting all the volunteers. I see that as the biggest challenge, but they must have some plan, or else they would not have thrown it out there as an option.
If you would like to put in your 2 cents about when they should have FanX, you can go to this site, and participate in the poll. Also feel free to add any of your thoughts in the form of a comment. I don’t think anyone important reads my blog, but it always feels good to vent.
2 responses to “FanX-When and Where?”
The largest Star Trek club in the Inter-mountain West, Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet, holds the Admiral’s Banquet on the last weekend in January (it’s our anniversary). April is bad because it conflicts with several events that are out-of-town (including the Star Wars clubs attending the next Star Wars Celebration). IMHO having one BIG event and letting the smaller conventions in Utah fill in the gaps (Salt Con, Steam City, CONduit, Anime Banzai, etc.) I am very grateful to what Salt Lake Comic Con has done for our area by putting us on a geek map. But we don’t want to be overloaded (time, energy and money) before fans and fan clubs can get a chance to re-group before the next 100,000+ convention. At the 2014 SLCC I was talking with a lot of club leaders who were very exhausted.
Great points, thank you for sharing. I was not aware that the Seventh Fleet has their banquet planned for the end of January. The Seventh Fleet has had a great presence at the conventions so far, so it would be a shame if you had to miss the next one.