Fedcon USA Self-destructs in Dallas

Fedcon USA imploded today. I'll provide the postmortem tomorrow. Right now I'll leave you with the post I logged on the Fedcon USA forum:

I host a News-Talk radio show on KXYL FM in Brownwood, Texas-- about 200 miles away from Dallas. I came to Fedcon USA as a member of the media (and as an enormous science fiction fan). It was my first, and probably last, sci-fi convention. I started contacting the Fedcon media liaison several months ago and was delighted to do everything I could to promote this event. I was promised a slate of guests to interview-- first by Chris McKeown, then by Steven Burkholder. None of those interviews ever materialized. My station gave away 10 pairs of tickets to eager fans wanting to attend. I promoted the event on my personal blog and talked it up on my program. Needless to say the station was highly embarrassed to have to track down those winners, many of whom had already checked into the hotel, and tell them to go home.

I knew things were in trouble when I got to the site and they had no press kit, no media credentials-- they couldn't even produce a lanyard in which to display the day pass I was given with "Press" hastily scrawled across it. I tracked down Steven Burkholder on Friday and again was promised one-on-one face time with the guests. Again on Saturday I left voice mail, and hunted Steven physically until I cornered him and he again promised interviews. (I think I saw Robert O'Reilly in the elevator," he told me.) I spent a good part of Saturday morning sequestered in the deserted press room waiting for Steven to deliver somebody--anybody to interview. Whenever I made a foray into the convention looking for Steven I was told by staff, "I'm not in charge of that," or "That's not my job," Or "I'll see what I can find out," upon which they disappeared never to be seen again.

I personally observed volunteers mis-charging for tickets because there was confusion over prices. "I'm just doing what I'm told," was the standard response. By Saturday, the events were thrown wide open to anybody who wandered downstairs, no doubt to the chagrin of Gold level ticket holders who shelled out big cash for special access. Nobody seemed to know what was going on, nor did anyone appear willing to take responsibility for a convention that was falling apart even before it got off the ground. The guests were all class, put on brave faces, and did what they could not to disappoint the fans. The guests shouldn't have had to shoulder that burden. Too bad that this fiasco has left such a bad taste in people's mouths. I doubt that Dallas will see another Sci Fi convention anytime soon. I heard there was a Hell of a party on Friday night, though. Too bad I missed it.

Comments

[Joe]

Mike,

Don't let one bad tomato spoil the bunch. There are plenty of great fan-run conventions out there! Fencon V (NO RELATION to FedCon!) is coming in October in Dallas, and ApolloCon is at the end of this month in Houston.

The big difference between FedCon and real conventions is the scale. Large conventions like Creation Conventions, the ones with high ticket prices and restricted access to guests, are the ones that are in it for the money. The fan-run conventions are smaller and are done by people who are in it for the love of the genre.

[Lauren]

It was very hard going there and not being able to reach anyone on the phone or get into contact with any of the organizers. My father, author of Escape 2 Earth was very happy to sign and meet with the fans.

We met a lot of great people, we just wished that things went on a while longer. It wasn't as if NO guests had shown.

As far as I am concerned as long as there's a guest and fans there's a convention. It may not be the guest you want to see but they're were people they're who wanted to meet their favortie guests.

http://escape2earth.com

[ravfladermus]

"I doubt that Dallas will see another Sci Fi convention anytime soon."

That is the most ridiculous thing that I have heard or read in this whole fiasco, including everything written by Tim. Of course Dallas will have another scifi convention. We have a lot of great ones throughout the year that are very well organized and reasonably priced.

In my opinion, this is not even a true "Dallas convention." It is my understanding that the organizers were not even from this area. I am really tired of people using FedConUSA to bash Dallas conventions.

~rav

[Michael Nelson]

Actually, Dallas has a good number of conventions including A-Kon, conDFW, all-con, Sci-Fi expo/Dallas Comic Con, and FenCon (with an N), the convention that I help run.

Our organization - the Dallas Future Society, which holds FenCon (www.fencon.org) - is in no way, shape or form associated with FeDConUSA.

We first heard about that organization last year, and were somewhat taken aback that they had chosen a name so close to ours, seeing as we had been in existence for over four years at that time.

We are working on a press release which we plan to send to as many SF related information sources as possible to explain that this similarity in names should not reflect on our organization or convention.

FenCon prides itself on being a successful, non-profit, fan-run convention, which is operated in a professional manner. We always strive to show the highest respect to both our guests and members.

If you feel the need and have opportunity to spread this information to other SF professionals or fans, we would greatly appreciate the effort. As you know, a convention such as ours relies heavily on word of mouth, and any negative implications can be unintentionally damaging.

Thank you for your attention.

Michael Nelson

[Christopher Fulbright]

Actually, Dallas regularly hosts several successful Sci-Fi conventions, including FenCon (which is *NOT* associated with FedCon), ConDFW, Dallas ComicCon, and the Sci-Fi Expo. There are even two horror conventions per year, Texas FearFest and the highly successful and very well attended (downright crowded!) Texas Frightmare Weekend. It's too bad that FedCon botched everything so badly. While you're right it seems unlikely they'll be able to assemble another convention after that wreck, it really just sounds like you picked the wrong one to attend. Saying that "Dallas will never see another sci-fi convention after this" is an uninformed opinion and just plain wrong. I understand why you feel like you got burned -- I sure would, too, after all the effort you put into helping them promote -- but, as they say, don't let one bad apple spoil the whole damn bunch.

Christopher Fulbright
Dallas, TX

[Tie-dyed Tehuti]

My apologies to anyone I offended with my remark about Fedcon killing the Dallas convention scene. I certainly never intended to cast aspersions on other successful conventions in the Dallas area. You are 100% right, I was ill-informed. I had no idea there were so many up-and-going conventions in the DFW area. Thanks for straightening me out.

My fear was, that as word of mouth about this disaster spread among fans, guests, sponsors and hoteliers, Dallas' reputation would be sullied and that future organizers would have trouble finding venues, vendors would be reluctant to go to the effort and expense of bringing their wares and guests would shun the costly trip.

I am very relieved to know that this was an anomaly that will simply be noted as such and quickly forgotten. I would love to attend and help promote some of these other conventions. I had no idea that SF fans were so active in the area. (And I lived in Dallas for a dozen years!) While my radio station may not be a major-market station in an urban area, we reach 100,000+ listeners in the mid-size towns, small villages and rural areas of Central Texas-- and counter to conventional wisdom sci-fi plays well down on the farm.

[Diana]

What happened? I logged on this morning, intending to drive to the convention for the day, only to see the "Show Cancelled" message on the home page. Good thing I checked before driving to the hotel.

Which guests were there and which events took place before the cancellation? I've been reading the blogs and it sounds like the convention was open only on Friday. This is quite a shock and I can sympathize with everyone who drove/flew to Dallas for the convention. I fly to Denver every April for StarFest and would be extremely upset if it were cancelled. Fortunately I have relatives in the area who also attend, but it would still be a huge, and expensive, disappointment for all of us. And I would probably never buy tickets in advance again.

I agree w/ those who've complained that the name FedCon is too similar to FenCon. Was this an official FedCon event or not? I also agree that the organizers had to be fully aware that the convention was in trouble. I did not buy tickets in advance because the website was so poorly updated. I couldn't tell from one day to the next exactly who was scheduled to appear and had a feeling something wasn't right. I hope people get their money back, but I'm doubtful. Seems to me that there is definitely fraud involved.

The DFW metroplex has LOTS of sci-fi fans; we can't let this this affect future conventions. I haven't been to the ones mentioned in other blogs, but you can be sure I'll be attending them in the future.

[Fannish Inquisition]

I have opened up my forum for people to have a single unbiased gathering place to discuss what happened and where things go from here.

Please spread the word to everyone who attended and let them know they can go there and talk to others in the same boat.

Disclaimer: I have no connection to any event, FedCon or otherwise. This website is brand new and isn’t even ready for public release yet but I thought this issue was important enough to make it available to you.

Click on the link on my name to take you directly there or find your way to the message board by going to http://www.fannishinquisition.com

I'm also inviting vendors who are out of pocket because of the mess to put up some ads on the website at no cost.

[Falconmyst]

Had a good time with our friends reguardless of what happened at FedCon, sorry it didn't go as desired.

[Marco]

I don't blame you one bit for stating that: "I doubt that Dallas will see another Sci Fi convention anytime soon." I will never go back to Dallas again. I had the worst time in Dallas. And not just the cancellation of FedconUSA, I had other plans in Dallas and they got messed up as well! And Dallas is just so expensive. Every thing just went wrong. I live in San Antonio and we have not had a convention here in years! The last one was a disaster too. No one showed up. Now a days people don't have spare money to just get up and go to a convention anymore! The only people who are going to future Dallas cons are only going to be local people. Don't expect for me to drive up there anymore.

[Alan David Laska]

I read your blog news on FedConUSA in Dallas, TX.
I had filled out forms & such to help out and volunteer
for FedCon USA.

I got an email during the week and called one of the organizers
that left his cell phone number at my email.
I told him I would be showing up there to help out on whatever
was needed at the convention. I was planning to
arrive there early Saturday afternoon.

Now earlier, in emails that I got Friday evenings from the
club I belong to the USS Joshua(www.ussjoshua.org) that the
convention was having problems running things
that Friday evening. Which lead me to believe that the
convention was now understaff for volunteers.

Well, on Saturday I boarded the local DART bus(one of major
public transportation to DFW Airport). I called the convention
staff member I talked to earlier in the day and said the bus
that I am on will be leaving and I should arrive at the Hotel
within 30 minutes.
Then I was told on the cell phone that the convention was
canceled. :(
First time that happened to any Dallas/Ft. Worth area media
convention.

Now as for your statement of:

"I doubt that Dallas will see another Sci Fi convention anytime soon....."

This statement is not true. There will
be some others many returning you may not be aware of...

AnimeFest 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel during Labor Day Weekend.
August 29 - Sept. 1, 2008

www.animefest.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnimeFest

Then there is FenCon later in October this year
on Oct 3-5, 2008 in Addison, Texas

www.fencon.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fencon

Lazy Dragon Con B
July 18-20, 2008 - McKinney, Texas(north of Dallas)
(It is it's 2nd year)

www.lazydragon.com/con/

Star Wars Fan Days
Oct. 25-26, 2008 - Plano, Texas

www.scifiexpo.com/DCC/Home/Home.html

QuakeCon 2008
July 31 - August 12, 2008 - Dallas, Texas

www.quakecon.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakecon

So please don't count out Dallas, Texas as to NOT HAVING any
more major conventions anytime soon.

--Alan D. Laska--

P/S. A-KON a major anime convention will be returning
in 2009 for it 20th anniversary.

[Alan David Laska]

I read your blog news on FedConUSA in Dallas, TX.
I had filled out forms & such to help out and volunteer
for FedCon USA.

I got an email during the week and called one of the organizers
that left his cell phone number at my email.
I told him I would be showing up there to help out on whatever
was needed at the convention. I was planning to
arrive there early Saturday afternoon.

Now earlier, in emails that I got Friday evenings from the
club I belong to the USS Joshua(www.ussjoshua.org) that the
convention was having problems running things
that Friday evening. Which lead me to believe that the
convention was now understaff for volunteers.

Well, on Saturday I boarded the local DART bus(one of major
public transportation to DFW Airport). I called the convention
staff member I talked to earlier in the day and said the bus
that I am on will be leaving and I should arrive at the Hotel
within 30 minutes.
Then I was told on the cell phone that the convention was
canceled. :(
First time that happened to any Dallas/Ft. Worth area media
convention.

Now as for your statement of:

"I doubt that Dallas will see another Sci Fi convention anytime soon....."

This statement is not true. There will
be some others many returning you may not be aware of...

AnimeFest 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel during Labor Day Weekend.
August 29 - Sept. 1, 2008

www.animefest.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnimeFest

Then there is FenCon later in October this year
on Oct 3-5, 2008 in Addison, Texas

www.fencon.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fencon

Lazy Dragon Con B
July 18-20, 2008 - McKinney, Texas(north of Dallas)
(It is it's 2nd year)

www.lazydragon.com/con/

Star Wars Fan Days
Oct. 25-26, 2008 - Plano, Texas

www.scifiexpo.com/DCC/Home/Home.html

QuakeCon 2008
July 31 - August 12, 2008 - Dallas, Texas

www.quakecon.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakecon

So please don't count out Dallas, Texas as to NOT HAVING any
more major conventions anytime soon.

--Alan D. Laska--

P/S. A-KON a major anime convention will be returning
in 2009 for it 20th anniversary.

[Lee]

If you'd like to take the bad taste of this failed con out of your mouth, please consider coming to ApolloCon in Houston at the end of this month (http://www.apollocon.org). It's not a big media-con, but we have a number of well-respected regional authors and artists, some folks from NASA, and a lot of programming dealing with various fannish interests. We're no fly-by-night; this is our fifth year, and we have a good reputation in the SF community.

[Fannish Inquisition]

FedCon USA have shut down their forums so please feel free to pass the word around that the forums at fannishinquisition.com are available for people to vent their anger, discuss getting refunds etc