![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Home From Windycon
Nov. 14th, 2021 09:51 pmAnd we are home from Windycon and ready to pack and go to bed.
For a convention in the middle of a pandemic, it went really well.
There are lots and lots of thanks due, but let me list just a few that particularly affected things for a lot of people. Right at the top of the list is our Logistics crew, who not only handled the usual parts of their job with aplomb, but who went absolutely insane and spent hours late at night during the convention taking the Illinois Basset certification test so that they could keep the beer and cider flowing in the Con Suite. The Con Suite crew made sure that there were other things to eat and drink, and if they were occasionally a bit orthogonal to what was done in previous years, it was always trying to make sure that they were keeping things as safe as possible during the pandemic.
Registration was hard at work all weekend to keep that vital function running. Dave Ifversen and his tech crew made sure that we could hear what the heck was going on, which is a magic that some folks might think "just happens", but I assure you that it doesn't. The Art Show and Dealers' Room appeared to run smoothly from my point of view, limited as it was, and our gang of auctioneers and runners was back and entertaining as always.
There was programming! Certainly fewer tracks than usual, as we made fewer larger rooms to allow for better spacing and air flow, but lots of talks and discussions and chances to learn things. And our hotel folks managed to fight their way through a whole new set of room setups and keep things working -- it was almost like being in a whole new hotel without actually having moved.
And music! So much music by so many talented musicians, up to and including Seanan's GoH concert on Saturday night. It makes me happy that music has found such a happy home at both of our big Chicago fan-run conventions.
And thanks so much to Amy McNally for joining me in my concert in Tom Smith's slot on Saturday, when he couldn't make it. As I said there, one does not simply walk into Mordor, and one does not simply "replace" Tom Smith, but having the chance to play with Amy again was simply a lot of fun.
There are so many people who deserve credit for making things work and I cannot name them all here, but I am thankful that they came together to make this happen -- including everyone who (whatever their personal preferences might be) wore their masks and complied with the rules not just of the convention, but of the state. My wife, Gretchen, accuses me of being Lawful Good. Maybe so, maybe not. But it was good to see so many of us decide to agree so that we could see each other again.
Let's get together again next year and try this again. :)
For a convention in the middle of a pandemic, it went really well.
There are lots and lots of thanks due, but let me list just a few that particularly affected things for a lot of people. Right at the top of the list is our Logistics crew, who not only handled the usual parts of their job with aplomb, but who went absolutely insane and spent hours late at night during the convention taking the Illinois Basset certification test so that they could keep the beer and cider flowing in the Con Suite. The Con Suite crew made sure that there were other things to eat and drink, and if they were occasionally a bit orthogonal to what was done in previous years, it was always trying to make sure that they were keeping things as safe as possible during the pandemic.
Registration was hard at work all weekend to keep that vital function running. Dave Ifversen and his tech crew made sure that we could hear what the heck was going on, which is a magic that some folks might think "just happens", but I assure you that it doesn't. The Art Show and Dealers' Room appeared to run smoothly from my point of view, limited as it was, and our gang of auctioneers and runners was back and entertaining as always.
There was programming! Certainly fewer tracks than usual, as we made fewer larger rooms to allow for better spacing and air flow, but lots of talks and discussions and chances to learn things. And our hotel folks managed to fight their way through a whole new set of room setups and keep things working -- it was almost like being in a whole new hotel without actually having moved.
And music! So much music by so many talented musicians, up to and including Seanan's GoH concert on Saturday night. It makes me happy that music has found such a happy home at both of our big Chicago fan-run conventions.
And thanks so much to Amy McNally for joining me in my concert in Tom Smith's slot on Saturday, when he couldn't make it. As I said there, one does not simply walk into Mordor, and one does not simply "replace" Tom Smith, but having the chance to play with Amy again was simply a lot of fun.
There are so many people who deserve credit for making things work and I cannot name them all here, but I am thankful that they came together to make this happen -- including everyone who (whatever their personal preferences might be) wore their masks and complied with the rules not just of the convention, but of the state. My wife, Gretchen, accuses me of being Lawful Good. Maybe so, maybe not. But it was good to see so many of us decide to agree so that we could see each other again.
Let's get together again next year and try this again. :)