My Intro to the Con World

July 2009 - I am in Dallas, TX as I am every July and spot a tote bag in a food court that says "TwiCon 2009 Dallas". What is that? I take out my phone and snap a photo. I would check this out on line when I get home. I have been a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant for over 7 years which is why I go to Dallas. In 2009, we switched to a hotel across the street. These two hotels are attached by a cat walk and my new hotel is the one houses the food court/ shops/ indoor skating rink I go to every year.

I did go home and two months remembered that photo. I looked up TwiCon and found out it was a Fan Convention for The Twilight Movie!! A convention, what? At my old hotel...NO WAY!! How did I not know about this phenomenon?  Most everyone has at some point heard of the Star Trek "Trekkie" Convention, right. No one ever told me that other shows/ movies did this.

I kept reading and found out another was in the planning stage for 2010 and this time in two Locations. The first in June in Canada and the second in July in Las Vegas. As I read further I saw something that once again caught my eye. "VOLUNTEER" This convention needed volunteers and I had a lot of volunteer experience. I looked at the on-line application and went for it. I even checked off "Volunteer Committee Chair" in addition to "General Volunteer". At the time I had a lot of volunteer experience with local cancer events including chairing the activities committee for three years for my local Relay for Life.  Two months later (Nov. 1) I got an email telling me I was accepted as the "Volunteer Fandom Chair"! I was excited, I was shocked and I was honored. I was chosen to be 1 of maybe 15 volunteer chairs to head a portion of  a convention I love everything about. What?

Conference calls started and the excitement grew as I learned more. TwiCon 2010 was to include Twilight, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries (brand new)!My first task was to help with Author Day. This was my baby along with my second half in Canada. We were given a list of 26 authors and asked to do some research and add to this list. I brought the list up to 87 possible authors. I enjoyed scouring the Internet, reading about authors and deciding if I thought they would be a good fit. We got a late start so the interest was there, but availability not so much. Prior to March 13th I had received two head shots with bios and had 2 more on their way. It was an exciting start! I was asked to work on another task to help with some excel sheet tracking. Wow! I couldn't wait to go to Planet Hollywood and do this.


Sadly March 13th, 2010 TwiCon cancelled. I was very disappointed and still am sad when I think about TwiCon, the amount of time we all spent working together and the experience I was not able to take part in. I do thank TwiCon to this day for the opportunity they gave me. They introduced me to the Con World! They offered me the Chair Position that I loved every minute of for 4 1/2 months! They gave me a reason to go to Las Vegas and I still went anyway!

I have since volunteered two times with Creation Entertainment at their Twilight Conventions in Boston. I have volunteered twice with EyeCon at their two conventions for The Vampire Diaries in Atlanta and am going back for my third in March. I have no idea if I would have found out about the Con World other wise.

If you have ever thought about attending a Convention, consider volunteering! You'll meet some of the most AMAZING people who share the same enthusiasm and excitement as you do! This a Great experience and I know I look forward to the next Con in March!

If interested I can help point you in the right direction.

Have a Bite, Give it a try

     VV