Post by Doug Burbidge
You’re probably starting to spot a theme to my posts. Swancon 17, or as it was officially known, The Festival of the Imagination. At the Ascot Inn. (In Ascot. Not in the city.) Terry Dowling and the highly entertaining Nick Stathopolous. Membership $40 (hotels were much cheaper then!), which I made back in prize money at the gaming tournaments.
The badge is once again in a badge holder with clip/pin at the back. Monochrome (nicely adhering to the KISS principle), and looks a lot like it was printed on a 300 dpi laser. Name in lovely big font; preferred name in a bigger font again. (From the sample size of 1, I can’t tell if that was the same for everybody — did they print my first name big because they knew that was my preferred name, or did they just print everybody’s first name big?)
Down at the bottom they’ve got boxes for days. I was a full member, so we can see what they did for fulls. I’m guessing that for part members, they marked days not bought with a pen or hole punch or some such. (GenghisCon often does a similar thing.)
This was my first Swancon. My first SF convention actually and I turned up knowing maybe a handful of people from MARS. No room to stay in, and absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.
And I was home.
Some fans took pity on my new state and offered a trundle bed for me to sleep in. I think the first evening I stayed up faaar too late playing a game in the gaming room, which was one of the most excellent things about the Ascot Inn, the gaming room was spacious, and not in the way of the panels and so forth. I think it was at this con that I got introduced to Anime in the tiny little video room there. Part of a Miyazaki movie (Laputa I think) and Ranma 1/2.
Was my first con. The first of many now.