A Survival Guide for Strekcons

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Title:	A Survival Guide for Strekcons
Creator:	M.J. Fisher
Date(s):	February 1977
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Topic:
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A Survival Guide for Strekcons is a 1977 Star Trek: TOS essay by M.J. Fisher.

It was printed in Spectrum #30.

Some Topics Discussed

• how to find out about cons
• what kind of con do you want to go to
• it is better to attend a small convention as your first con
• investigate the transportation available, and the hotel facilities
• "Once you're at the con, one of the areas where you must watch yourself is the dealer's room. You may go to a convention and find yourself buying things that you later realize you never wanted."
• some hints about conflict resolution
• hitchhiking to a con as an option
• how to sneak in booze

From the Essay

There are few STrekfen who will not admit that conventions are now an integral part of Star Trek fandom, and that since 1972 when the first convention was held, fandom has grown tremendously in the degree of closeness and unity that conventions have helped to foster. Conventions not only provide us with an interesting diversion from the normal fan activities, but cons allow us the unique experience of being able to get together with other fans person to person. Conventions allow us to sample a wide variety of fan publications and crafts as wlel as thousands of different professional products l!i convention dealer's rooms. Conventions also allow lovers of art to be able to see and purchase works of art that for one reason or another, may never been reproduced in a fanzine; making conventions the only way to be able to exhibit such works.

Before you ever consider going to a convention you should be able to weigh in your mind the chances of your being able to afford attending, being able to change your schedule and commitments around to make room for the con and being able to plan adequately in advance. Going to a convention, is in almost all senses of the word, a vacation, just as much as taking off to the Bahamas for a summer weekend or going down to Disney World for a few days off. You should be able to plan as much for a convention as you plan for any other vacation. In choosing your desired convention you may wish to analyze a few things about it which may tell you in advance whether it will turn into a memorable experience or a bomb. If you are going to a con to meet other fans, sing filk songs, collaborate on an upcoming zine or just match names to faces you'll be spending a lot of time in hotel rooms, restaurants, and other meeting places. If that's what you're going to a con for, great, you won't have to worry much about what's going on at a hotel or convention faci1ity.

A big con is not something to be tried by beginners. It's better to avoid a large con being held by a first-time committee. With experienced concerns however, conventions with memberships of 5-10,000 can be handled quite well. Beyond that limit however you face the problem of running out of hotels big enough to house them. Memberships of 10,000+ require crowd handling techniques much like those used at rock concerts, prize fights, county fairs and the like. In order to handle the crowds,the events become mass presentations and the dealers, strident hawkers. You cannot expect the really large giganticons to even resemble the tradition[al] form.

Is the con you are interested in run by professionals or by fans? It may make a difference in the types of programs that you'll find there. If you are more interested in spectacular exhibits, a lot of films, a lot of guest stars, and a lot of dealers, then you'll find more of that at the procons. If you prefer more fannish events, panel discussions, writer or editor workshops, and dealer's rooms with more fanzines than anything else- then you'll want a con run by fans. The term "procon" has been misused by many fans to indicate a con run by fans which have more of an emphasis upon making money than bringing fans together. Actually, most ST cons to date have been run by fans. Procons, as run by professionals, are still pretty scarce. Most of them are started by people who are not heavily into fandom or con- going (they can even be nonfans) and hire on people to their staff who do know how to run a con (or claim to...I tend to doubt there will ever be a 100% perfect con). The procons will all be geared to make a profit, that is, if you are in the business of making cons professionally, or for your livelihood, then you must make a profit or you don't stay in business very long. Fancons, on the other hand, usually try to break even, occasionally try to make a profit, and almost always lose it in the end. The big difference between the two cons is the organization and money involved, especially the latter. Recently Paramount jacked up the price for rental of the Star Trek episodes and has been cracking down on those people showing them without permission. It now costs several hundred to several thousand dollars to rent a single episode. Actors have also raised their rates for appearances. Many require payment in advance and a percentage of the total cash take of the convention.

Let's rule out the more exotic forms of travel, such as hot air balloons, rafts, snowmobiles, chariots, et. al. and start with what is probably the cheapest way to get to a convention: hitchhiking. Don't scoff folks. There ore people who go to conventions by putting their thumbs;to work. The disadvantages (aside from the horror stories your parents may have told you about the fates of hitchhikers and the public service announcements on the media)include:baggage. If you hitch a ride you won t be able to carry more than a backpack easily. Hitchhiking is not terribly convenient and in some states it is quite illegal...and in others it is harder to get aside from one city to another.You take a lot of chances doing it that way but It s damn cheap. If you are determined to make it to a con but have no way there... It's one road open.

The next step up is the automobile. You can make it to a con by automobile by driving yourself, organizing a car pool or going by bus. Of the three, car pools are probably best. People forming car pools usually end up sharing room expenses as well once at the con, which further cuts your costs. If problems occur, you are with friends and have the financial resources and help of many...not just yourself. Cons are more fun with friends anyway and the con will last from the time you leave until the time you get back with a car pool. Next comes buses...which are relatively in expensive, but terribly boring. They offer you something you can't do driving yourself, and that is continuous driving, which will save you time. Last choice in auto motive travel is driving by yourself. ...Trains are the next option for travel. In most cases train travel is much like bus travel with the added advantage of slightly more room and a club car or restaurant car...which may not be an advantage if you've ever tasted train food.... It seems that the favorite way to travel to a convention is by air. You may not end up going by air, but chances are you would rather go that way if only to save time. Of course, air fare is more expensive.

Ah, the magic word, money! And the magic question- how do you finance going to a con? For most people planning ahead is essential to make sure that you'll have enough cash in the bank when it comes to convention time. Believe it or not, there are some people who go to conventions and actually come home with more money then they left with, mostly dealers, but it's possible for artists to make a profit at a con, and I won't even speculate on your chances of profit at a con if you're a pickpocket by trade.

If you, personally, don't have a credit card, then it is possible to use the credit card of your parents or relatives. In a real emergency you can call long distance to whomever you know who has a card and ask if you can charge the expenses to their card. If they agree the account number for the credit card can be read over the phone and after getting an okay from the credit card company, you can have your expenses put on the other person's charge account. This is important to remember if you are totally without cash, credit cards, or a street corner and tin cup. It is debatable if the businessman you're dealing with will accept a charge that has been called in, If you have enough identification of your own and if you can convince the person that you're really in a fix, then there's a good chance he'll let you charge your expenses that way.

The last thing many fans want to think about at a con is food. When there are so many other things to occupy time with, stuffing your face usually rates as a waste of time at a con. Eating can also get quite expensive if you're in a posh hotel that charges for ice, so fans also have an incentive to save money on eating while being a con.... bring along your own food is recommended. One of the oldest diets of convention penny-pinchers is the peanut butter sandwich. If you take along a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter you'll be surprised how long it can last you....

A handy little device that many fans carry with them to cons is the mini-coffeepot. Some of them are just small hot pots, others have attachments for brewing coffee or tea. You can use them for making anything hot that doesn't require extensive cooking. Suggestions would include: instant soups, freeze-dried scrambled eggs or almost any canned food. If you take along canned "food, be sure you have a can opener, and maybe a dish or two so you can eat the stuff once you heat it up. If you fly to a con and have canned food along you'll be happy to know that steel cans do fun things to airport metal detectors.

Just a word about a related subject - booze. If you intend to bring along a little bit of the grape or grain, then that's your business, but be discreet about it. Most hotels have rules against drinking in the rooms, but they will turn the other way many times if you don't make yourself too obvious. If you bring a wheelbarrow full of assorted whiskey, gin and rum into the hotel lobby you will no doubt raise some suspicion and you'll probably be asked what you're doing.

If you play it cool however, and make sure your suitcases don't clink, or that your breath touches off the sprinkler system, then you'll probably get along fine with the hotel.