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Convention Spotlight: Mobicon

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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

Jobs are Not Careers

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Sometimes people talk about their career.  Sometimes they talk about their job.  In too many cases people mix the two up.  In other cases they talk about careers without talking jobs and jobs without talking careers.  In all cases people are missing the big picture about jobs and careers.

Jobs are not careers.  Careers are not jobs. Understanding how they're different – and how they're related – is key to your success.

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Pro-Fan/Pro-Geek Pride: The Relaxation Orientation

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If you're a geek, a fanboy, fangirl, otaku, sports nut, what have you be proud that you know how to relax.

Seriously.  You know how to relax.  You know what you like, as I've said further, and that's not just important in your career, but in your life.  You have a life – a life where you know what you enjoy doing to blow off steam.

Think for a moment how fortunate you are to know that three issues of manga will help you chill out after a month of software releases.  Be glad that you know a marathon World of Warcraft session will restore your sanity after you met your publishing deadline.  Appreciate the fact that ESPN is therapeutic after a hard day at the hospital.

Thats one of your advantages as a progeek – when you've got too much pro going on (or too much else going on), you've still got the geek to help you get back in touch with yourself and in general just have fun.  Knowing how to have fun means you can relax and refresh.  Being relaxed and refreshed means you can recover from stress – or face stress that's still out there.

So embrace your geekines, progeek.  Your geekiness gives you a way to come down from a bad day that some people don't have.  Imagine what it would be like not to have your DVD collection, or your love of retrogaming, or your stack of well-worn Warhammer 40K novels.  Take a moment to feel some sympathy for those unable to relax as you do (and perhaps vow to help them out).

You're a progeek.  It's not just about your ability to work using fannish inclinations – you also have the ability to use your fandom to relax.

– Steven Savage