DDO Cocktail Hour Episode 21, Gen Con Indy 2010
Warning: This is NOT our regular program! This episode provides advice and useful information dealing with Gen Con Indy 2010. Tune in next week for drunken banter that focuses on the Dungeons and Dragons Online – Eberron Unlimited. The game we all play and love and sometimes hate!
This abbreviated episode is all about the upcoming Gen Con 2010 happening in Indianapolis, Indiana!
The team (who WILL be at Gen Con!) talks about what to expect & bring if you have never been to the Con before. Thanks so much for listening!
Click Below To Listen:
Gen Con Indy, what’s that & why should I even go?
What is at Gen Con? GAMES! Any and all you can think of!!! board games, card games, celebrity appearances, electronic gaming, anime, film festivals, miniature games, live action and standard role playing games, seminars, workshops etc etc
Some Gen-Con essentials that I downloaded from the Gen Con Indy Website:
/files/0/8/7/4/3/244299-234780/DTHotelMap_c031510.pdf”>Hotel Map (Call them! Some other Gen-Con goers may have cancelled their trip!)
A Down Town /files/0/8/7/4/3/244299-234780/Exhibit_Hall_Plan_GCI_10_June_16.pdf”>Exhibit Hall (including a APP for the iPhone !!!
Event Catalog:
(Do not sweat this! Even Catalogs are FREE and everywhere!) If it is your first time, you can keep your schedule very open and still have loads of activities to keep you busy that are impromptu and free!
Here are some FREE events that you might consider checking out:
(There are many more than this as well!)
1.) “I’m Wil Wheaton, and I’m a Gamer ” (Friday the 6th of August at 11am in the Westin Grand Ballroom)
2.) Hamlet vs. MacBeth: The Shakespearean SmackDown ! (This is a Film!) Thursday the 5th of August at 7 PM in the Indiana Ballroom.
3.) D&D Screenplay reading: screenwriter Artee Porchia in a reading of the hopefully soon to be produced Forgotten Realms movie. This event consists of a reading by you and the writer. In the hope of polishing this screenplay before it is to be pitched. Included will be swag from the company to further promote the movie. Thursday 5th of August, 9PM, Westin, Cucaus
4.) Did I mention that ALL Seminars are free! The Art Show is free! You can spend an entire day in the Exhibit Hall playing demos of board games and previewing the latest and greatest in video games for free as well!
5.) Have younger kids? Most KID-listed events in the family fun pavilion are FREE! All kinds of crafting activities and… there are quite a few KID-Oriented RPGs listed that still have tickets available!
Speaking of kids! (Special Guests Zoe & Remy talk about Gen Con from a lower perspective!)
I have a spouse who HATES gaming! How do I sell them on this vacation!?!
Four Words: Ball & Chain Events!
GENCON SURVIVAL Food for thought!
Have Games Will Travel podcaster Paul Tevis says: “every day you must…”
Episode 22 of the DDO Cast Hosted by Merlask, over an hour of straight-talk about GenCon Indy!
Things DDo Players need to take note of:
Gen-Con Indy DDO Cast taping will be on Friday, 8PM at Jillians, Party at 9PM!
Last Minute Tweets:
What game are you looking to play?
What to expect as a Gen Con noob & how much is too much spending $$
Follow us on Twitter
@Lessah
@SamiusGurobo
Email Us!
Lessah@ddococktailhour.com
Samius@ddococktailhour.com
Indeed, early booking is good when it comes to hotels. Getting a hotel downtown is great but quite pricey, if you feel like driving in the morning there’s some great cheap deals outside of downtown. But nothing beats staying next to the convention.
YES! Set aside one full day (or at least most of a morning and all afternoon) to just wander around the exhibit hall.
My personal pick for best listing of events comes from Highprogrammer.com: http://gencon.highprogrammer.com/gencon-indy-2010.cgi Frankly, I think it’s a ton better than the “official” event schedule.
It was awesome to hear Lessah’s kid on the show, she seems to have as much personality as her mother! Fearless speaker, she should consider a career in radio.
The big unknown on whether we’ll be streaming at Jillians depends on whether they have Wi-Fi or not, but we’ll be live streaming from SOMEWHERE for sure.
T-Shirt slogan: “I lost my pants at the DDO Cocktail Hour!” featuring a graphic of the Big Deal…
I would like at some point and time to hit Gencon, but it won’t be this year. However the signs are looking good to hit PAX this year, so I am hoping for the time off and the wife’s sign off!
Hopefully I’ll get to go to genCon next year, I don’t think I’ll be able to get to PAX Wesr this year either 🙁 it is really saddening.
BTW Lessah, I love Zoe’s voice. Anyway thanks for the show!
Oh yes and I agree with Mr. DDOCast himself about the T-Shirt…
You guys suck. I’m going to Celebration V for Star Wars and listening to the pod cast I so think I made a mistake and should go to Gencon. Damn Indy being sooooooooo far from Florida. I hate you all and hope you kids get head shoots in the Zombie hunter game thing. 🙂
I’m not sure how to put this in a way doesn’t make me sound like an elitist prick, but you guys need to level up your con-going skills. I do 4-8 anime and sci-fi cons a year, one of which being almost exactly the same size as Gen Con. If you keep on with the way ya’ll do these cons, you’re going to end up being dragged off by medical ops.
There were so many newbie “mistakes” that you guys are recommending that I tried early in my career and got in serious trouble.
Like I said, I’m sure I’m sounding douchey, but believe me, I have over 60 cons under my belt and 8 that are the size of Gen-Con Indy. You need better protocols and methods.
Please share. I would think with 60
some cons you would have a helpful list of tips. What is the top 10
tips that you would give?
Another point of view is welcome.
I agree with Samius. What are your tips exactly?
When I get home from work, I’ll dig out my old notes from my Convention Survival and Con-Going 101 panels I used to do and get back to ya’ll.
(I also used to do a Cheap Conventions panel where my friends and I used to proclaim that you can go to a major con like Gen-Con or Otakon for a total of $50. I’ll throw some of that in there, too)
The three most important things in any survival situation is food, water, and shelter, so I’ll break it down that way first.
Food
You need to eat at least 2 REAL meals per day. This meal should be balanced and include proteins, carbs, fats, etc. I reccomend that a meal contain at least one starch, one veggie/fruit, and one meat.
If you want to eat on the go and subsist on portable food, granola bars are not going to cut it. They are all fiber and carbs, wrapped in a difficult to digest package. They can get you through the day, but your average candy bar is better at giving you what you really need: Calories. I carry meal replacement bars at conventions, available at your local GNC or other nutritional product store. I also highly recommend that you grab a carton of slimfast shakes. They’re loaded with calories and protein and taste pretty good, too.
Finally, bring your food with you. Go shopping before the con and grab some food. Ask the hotel if they provide refrigerators and microwaves, but even if they don’t you still have a lot of options. Grab apples clementines, apple sauce, peaches, bread, peanut butter, jelly (which doesn’t actually require refrigeration over a weekend), and other easy foods to make and eat.
Water
I used to hang out with convention medical, because they’re awesome people. 99% of their calls, I’ve learned, are from someone passing out due to dehydration. I cannot stress this enough, DRINK WATER. Especially at a summer convention where you might have to walk up to a mile to get to the con center, you can and will dehydrate very quickly. An average adult should consume a gallon of water per day. Your average con-goer gets about half that. (common audience poll question at my panels) Grab a bag, put two full bottles of cold or iced water in there, and drink often. If the con-center provides water stations, make it a habit to drink at every station you see. Thirst is a sign of dehydration, you don’t want to get even that far.
Shelter (aka misc)
Shower. Once per day, twice if you can manage it in the summer. You will feel 100% better after a shower if you’re getting weak and tired. Also, time at a convention is much harder work than you think. You’re up and walking, being animated, in stressful gaming situations… You’re going to perspire a lot more than you think, even if you never FEEL like you’re sweating.
Don’t feel like you have to spend all of your time at the convention. It’s a weekend off of work and should be a vacation. Don’t be afraid to sleep in a little, or invite your friends to hang out in your room. If you’re bringing food with you, bring enough to share with your buddies if they do come back to your room.
That’s all of the structured info I have, but I’ll make a second reply with general tips and ideas~
As for general tips, dos, and don’ts:
Talk to people. Everyone there shares a hobbie with you, so don’t be afraid to talk to the people next to you in line.
Carry a pad of paper and something to write with. Gencon is a gaming convention, so I should hope that everyone would already have these with them. In my daily life, I carry pencils and a legal pad everywhere, just in case.
Review the schedule and look for events you want to do, but resist the urge to make an itinerary. If you miss one event, you can go to another, or another, or another. There is always something to do. If ytou miss an event, and nothing else appeals to you, sounds like a great time to grab some food and relax until the next event.
If you’re a cosplayer or just a hot girl-geek, brush up on your stalker mitigation techniques ^.~
You should have the smallest bag you can comfortably carry to reduce fatige and the general annoyance of having a large bag. You should think about carrying these items, though: Pad of paper, writing utensils, a snack that won’t melt or spoil, at least two full bottle of water, any medication you may need (for a medical condition or just allergies, anything you expect you might need, I carry aspirin), self-identifying info in case you do pass put from dehydration or heat exhaustion, convention program book and schedule.
HAVE FUN!!!