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Stagg Field, Mobility and Chicon
Sep. 7th, 2012 03:22 pmSo, at the most recent Worldcon That Was, there was a whole programming track at a room called Stagg Field. The problem is that there is no "Stagg Field" room in the Hyatt, and the panels scheduled there were fake, with participants like Deke Slayton (dead since 1993) and Stefani Germanotta, the real name of Lady Gaga. In short, they should have been obvious gags.
Except they weren't obvious. If you don't know (like I didn't) that Slayton's been dead for a while, it might be hard to spot the gag. This problem was aggravated by the truly lousy layout of the Hyatt. As discussed at length here, moving around for handicapped people was a real pain. Hell, moving for able-bodied people was a problem!
The concom defended the fake panels as "this is a Chicago tradition." Well, sorta. It's a Capricon tradition, which is just one of four area cons. It also works much better when, as in Capricon, the room is listed as "Lake Wobegone" and said room does not appear on any con maps. Stagg Field did appear on some maps, and with 15 to 20 programming slots to pick per hour, finding the not-so-obvious gag is a problem.
I enjoyed Chicon, and I'm really grateful they put me on programming. I also understand that we've had three Chicons in this hotel. Having said all of that, for Chicon 8, whenever that may be, pick a different hotel and please don't have a gag programming track.
Except they weren't obvious. If you don't know (like I didn't) that Slayton's been dead for a while, it might be hard to spot the gag. This problem was aggravated by the truly lousy layout of the Hyatt. As discussed at length here, moving around for handicapped people was a real pain. Hell, moving for able-bodied people was a problem!
The concom defended the fake panels as "this is a Chicago tradition." Well, sorta. It's a Capricon tradition, which is just one of four area cons. It also works much better when, as in Capricon, the room is listed as "Lake Wobegone" and said room does not appear on any con maps. Stagg Field did appear on some maps, and with 15 to 20 programming slots to pick per hour, finding the not-so-obvious gag is a problem.
I enjoyed Chicon, and I'm really grateful they put me on programming. I also understand that we've had three Chicons in this hotel. Having said all of that, for Chicon 8, whenever that may be, pick a different hotel and please don't have a gag programming track.
