Convention Idea: A focus on failure

The roundup of convention ideas is here.

How to use Photoshop.  How to find an editor.  How to make a portfolio.  Good events at conventions teach us how to do things.

How an author succeeded.  How an artist became famous.  We hear how the successful have achieved their goals when they speak at conventions, when they lecture, when they instruct.

Positivity is all fine and dandy, but let me suggest that, when doing pro-fan events at your convention, you also keep some events to focus on failure.

Yes.  Failure.  What are the ten things not to do to be an author?  What are the five careers that sports fans think make lots of money but don't?  What would professional artists say in a roundtable if asked "what's the dumbest thing you did in your career"?

Having pro-fan events at your con that speak on mistakes, on what to avoid, can actually have a lot of benefits:

  • Done properly – the "I did this wrong, this is why, this is how I fixed it" people can learn how to avoid or fix common mistakes.  Always make sure any panel on failure includes a  how-to-get-over it section.
  • It can defuse dangerous delusions of competence people may have about their idols and successful people.  Knowing how people make mistakes helps people face their own.
  • It makes people able to face their mistakes easier – especially if it's delivered with humor, understanding, and ideas of how to fix mistakes. 
  • It helps people develop sympathy for others who make errors – knowing others fail, acknowledging you fail, let's you accept it in others.
  • It acknowledges that your convention accepts that finding your dream job is hard, and people will view your events for pro-geeks as more realistic and balanced.
  • It gives you new material to work with as opposed to the same-old-same-old.

So go on, embrace failure as a subject at your convention.  Think of the topics you could cover, the laughs people could have, and the different viewpoints you could bring.

A few suggestions:

  • Have professionals speak on their biggest career mistakes.  Especially good in a more casual or roundtable setting.
  • Combine a discussion of the best software for a profession (writing, artist, etc.) with the worst (though you might annoy some people that make the software).  Make it a debate.
  • Have panels on the "X" most common mistakes in "Y" profession; the five worst things artists do, the six biggest mistakes people make getting into video games, etc.
  • Do a roundtable discussion where attendees themselves discuss the mistakes they made.
  • Discuss great historical mistakes relevant to your convention that relate to careers; what's the worst dub in anime (I was on several panels like that), the biggest flub in film releases, the worst-marketed video games, etc.  Make sure lessons learned are clearly called out.

Remember, you want your attendees to be successes in their geeky jobs.  Help them out by introducing them to failure.

– Steven Savage

Convention Spotlight: Templecon

The roundup of convention ideas is here.

Templecon is a gaming convention in Rhode Island, though calling it a
"gaming convention" doesn't due justice to the diversity of the
convention.  It's a convention that started as a gaming convention but
has expanded to include everything from live shows to bands to
workshops.

Of course when I see a convention like that, you know I'm going to
do a profile of it.  As you may also guess, it's a convention that has
branched into "profan" panels for people who want to use their hobbies
in their careers.  A few of these fit the convention's focus on doing
things differently:

  • Doing a seminar on legal issues in game development and publishing,
    exposing people to important issues too often ignored, in an area of
    career interest many forget.
  • A panel on game development by actual game developers – an area that gets too little attention as far as I'm concerned.
  • Assorted workshops, including those run by known authors, diversifying the convention offerings.
  • Finally, the really unusual panel – a panel on why one does not want to
    turn their hobby into a job.  Now as much as I emphasize using their
    hobbies in their careers, I applaud a little bit of contrarianism. 
    Maybe sometime I'll make it out there and have a debate . . .

Templecon's constant growth includes a lot of profan panels and
getting outside of focusing on "just gaming".  I'm looking forward to
seeing what they do in the years to come, as I expect I'll learn a lot,
I think they're a great example of keeping your focus while
experimenting and going beyond people's expectations.

– Steven Savage