The roundup of Convention Ideas is here.
Mobicon is a convention in Mobile, Alabama with a long history – it's in its 13th year and shows no sign of slowing down. Mobilcon also takes its diversity very seriously, so its probably one of the few cons that you'll find that includes psychic readings, the Anime Tractor Pull game, and geek speed dating.
Of course, I had to ask them just what kind of fan-to-pro events they had. It may not surprise you they thought of that too. What's their secret?
- They leverage experienced con staff to make sure they get events both expected and innovative.
- A heavy focus on leveraging the guests' expertise in subject matter, and to make sure they cover other areas beyond the basics. For example, their next convention will have guests speaking on indie film.
- Continuing the heavy guest focus by making sure the website contains detailed profiles, information, and even accessibility information. Mobicon's big on guest involvement and makes sure guests aren't listed as just names and credits.
- Getting people from the dealer's room, the convention, other conventions, etc. to speak on their own career experiences.
- Making sure pros judge contests, which also encourages entrant-judge networking deliberately.
Mobicon's focus on making sure everyone involved helps build fan-to-pro content is one worth emulating. I'm sure they'll keep surprising us more in the future – and I'll be watching.
(And no, I'm not sure what an Anime Tractor Pull is. I'm afraid to ask.)
– Steven Savage