Tell me about your first ever convention

[Mikey]

The other thread had me longing to read about conventions of the past and people's experiences.

Thought "your first ever convention" should make a good subject

Mine was in Allentown PA ... not sure the year but Peter Davison was the new Doctor Who, which would be around 1982-ish.

It was a generic sci fi convention but it was really heavy with comic books and Dungeons and Dragons.

There were no special guests or events.

It was basically a flea market.

I remember it was the first time i'd ever seen (or heard of) a Tom Baker Dr Who Mego ... I was floored that it was made and wanted it very badly ... The $150.00 (loose) price kept me from buying it... To this day I don't think I've ever wanted any collectible more than THAT figure at that time.

I did pick up a set of Topps Star Trek 1976 gum cards for $20.00
I quadrupled my investment a few years later on them.

[LonnieFisher]

I went to a Star Trek convention in Portland in '76. It was awesome. They showed the Star Trek blooper footage that wasn't available to watch anywhere else.

[Hector]

I don't remember my first one...seriously...it was some local little gathering, very generic as well.

I can tell you my all time favorite though...Los Angeles (LAX), Hilton Hotel, 1988. Both the entire crews of the original and Next Generation Star Trek actors were there...EVERYONE...from Shatner to Stewart. Nimoy to Spiner...all of them. Among the highlights...meeting Marina Sirtis up and close and personal, getting a hug from her...and bidding in a live auction of a framed poster signed by the original crew (lost)...bought tons of stuff, it was a three day event. My buddy and I had booked a room just over the convention area, that was awesome. Ordered lobster and steak room service. After that was done...we even had time to visit Disneyland for a few hours.

Definitely my best convention ever...

Oh, back to the topic at hand...oh, yeah, I hardly remember my first convention...

[daz71]

indecent exposure.oh convention sorry

[Boy_Wonder_1978]

My first convention was at a local leisure centre (so you can imagine how small it was) quite a few years back now. Attending was Michael Carter, John Coppinger, Peter Mayhew, Mike Edmonds and someone from TPM. After having a chat with each of them and walking around the tables to have a look, 2 hours and I was done.
Peter Mayhew was a bit grumpy (which now I've met him numerous times since have come to realise it's pretty usual for him), but he did pose for a photograph with me. The rest of the chaps were very down to earth and were very chatty. That's about as much as I can remember really.

[cjefferys]

Mine was a big comic book convention in Chicago back in 1983. We were on a family trip to visit friends in a town nearby and when I found out there was a comic convention in Chicago at the same time (great timing!) I convinced my dad to take me. It was huge, I was overwhelmed by the whole thing. John Byrne was the main guest (this was during his run on the FF, he was huge at this time), he did a panel and later signed autographs (for free but only one per person). I bought my first golden age comics at this show (in crappy condition but this was my first exposure to actual GA books in person so I was excited)

[toys2cool]

my first toy show I think I was like 9, but an actual convention was in 2004 I think in Orlando.. Met Robert Englund and George Romero

[HardyGirl]

It was a Star Trek con back in January '93 (I think). At the Masonic Center in SF. DeForrest Kelley was the guest. I was blown away by all the things for sale in the dealer's room and the folks dressed in costume. I was wearing a TNG cast shirt. I had a wonderful time taking pics, buying stuff, watching "music videos" , as well as the guests. It was a Trektastic day!

*We need a Spock smiley!*

[Gorn Captain]

When I was twelve, my town had its first SciFi convention. It was just a panel of local writers (mostly fans themselves), with a couple of interviews. Mainly people getting together and chatting about books and movies they liked. There was a cosplay contest (though that word didn't exist yet, I think), and the convention organisor himself won first prize (what a rip-off): he was "dressed up" with a cardboard box over his head with the words The Thing printed on it (another rip-off).

In 1992 I organised my own convention F.A.C.T.S. (Fantasy-Animation-Comics-Toys-Space) which now has 50,000 visitors. It was just a room above a pub, where we had made a display of vintage toys, and we had one dealer. We ended up having 40 visitors, one of which was a poodle. The poodle didn't have to pay admission.
Oddly enough, whenever visitors talk about the convention, they ALL attended that first edition. I guess we must have missed about 49,960 admissions.

I left the convention in 2004, when it had become a real juggernaut, all about the money...

[Hedji]

1987, Creation Star Trek Convention. Marina Sirtis was telling First Season TNG stories... very entertaining. I was really into all things Star Trek at the time, and with very little disposable income, I came home with a Sirtis autograph, a fan made TNG communicator pin, and a 12 inch Mego Captain Kirk from Star Trek TMP. I still have both, although Kirk is now a zombie. Good times.

[SKotK]

I went to a Star Trek convention in Portland in '76. It was awesome. They showed the Star Trek blooper footage that wasn't available to watch anywhere else.

I remember hearing those early Portland Star Trek conventions being advertised on the radio! I wanted to see the blooper reels so badly (I think Jimmy Doohan was going to be showing them?), but my parents couldn't be bothered to take me. I also remember hearing the commercials for an early post-SW one (1978 I assume) where the announcer said they would be showing the Star Trek bloopers and "the funny, funny, Hardware Wars!" I think my buddy or myself recorded that commercial on tape at the time, because I remember listening to it over and over.

My first convention was actually not until the early 90s, and it was one of the Creation Star Trek conventions between 1991-1993. I think Michael Dorn may have been the host at the first one I went to. It was fantastic, and the dealer's room was overwhelming. I liked it so much that I went to several in the years following, seeing mostly Deep Space 9 actors after that, and eventually one with William Shatner in the late 90s. I wanted to see if he was as much a pompous *** in person as I'd heard he was, and boy did he not disappoint in that regard!

One of the best conventions I ever went to in terms of interaction with the guests was also a gigantic catastrophe for all involved. It was Millennium Expo at the Tacoma Dome in March 2000. The event had failed to be properly promoted, so almost nobody knew about it. When I arrived, the promoter had skipped town the day before due to ridiculously low ticket sales, leaving all of the convention guests in the lurch with unpaid hotel bookings and no one to meet them when they arrived. Some just turned around and went home in disgust, but a few stayed on and attempted to recover their losses with a few autograph sales. What this meant was that I was at a con with no more than maybe 20 other fans, and a room full of bored actors with little to do. Because of this, I had a lot of time to interact with them and had some really great conversations - particularly with Garrick Hagon (who played Biggs in Star Wars) and Jeremy Bulloch (who played Boba Fett in ESB and ROTJ). The rest were all very cordial except for Herb Jefferson (played Boomer on the original Battlestar Galactica), who was rather obviously sour and surly about the whole affair...but I couldn't really blame him. The rest were happy to chat with the few fans in attendance: despite the fact that they had flown out there and found themselves screwed over, they decided to give the few fans in attendance their money's worth at least. And then some. Kudos to those guys for being class acts. So despite this being one of the most infamously botched cons ever, it really turned out to be one of my best fan experiences.

I suppose now conventions have become a very regular thing to me since my first one. I've attended every Star Wars Celebration in the US since 1999, even getting married in costume at Celebration V. Now we've got two major sci-fi/comics/media conventions right here in Portland every year, which are always worth attending.

Conventions are awesome.

--SKot

[palitoy]

Who Party! In Kitchener, around 1985. Got to sit and watch TV with Jon Pertwee for a couple of hours. Amazing how small that dealer's room is but to me it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen.

I'm even in this video somewhere:

[Mikey]

^ You were in the same atmosphere and breathed the same air as Jon Pertwee ?

I am soooo jelly right now.

[palitoy]

^ You were in the same atmosphere and breathed the same air as Jon Pertwee ?

I am soooo jelly right now.

Yeah, not trying to brag but when you're 14 and sitting on the couch next to Doctor Who for an hour or so asking him questions and such. You get a really positive outlook about conventions.

We watched "Curse of Peladon" together. I think he'd seen it before

[drquest]

My first was Panopticon West in St. Louis. It was a Dr. Who convention and Tom Baker was present.

http://fanlore.org/wiki/Panopticon_West

I was 14 and it was awesome as I remember. I begged my grandma for months to knit me a Baker scarf, but alas it didn't happen. I still have some of the stuff I picked up there, buttons and papers and such. Unfortunately the t-shirt I got there doesn't fit me anymore.