Concorde

Star Trek Convention
Name:	Concorde
Dates:	August 23-26, 1996
Frequency:
Location:	Radisson Edwardian Hotel in London
Type:	fan-run
Focus:	Star Trek
Organization:
Founder:	Tina Hewett
Founding Date:
URL:
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Concorde was a Star Trek con held in London, England. It was the 42nd British Star Trek Convention.

a flyer

Con Reports

I attended the Concorde Convention at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel near Heathrow over the August Bank Holiday and, whilst overall, I still enjoy Star Trek conventions, I must admit that my three companions and I felt that this one was different to any previously attended.

To start with, the opening ceremony was made eloquently enough but by a committee member in a Babylon 5 uniform. Not very appropriate, I thought, for a Trek convention, more suitable for a general Sci-Fi or specific Babylon 5 convention perhaps. I was with three others and we all noticed that there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm about the place. The video rooms that we attended did not appear to be full, or even near full (and some were definitely chilly). The dealers' rooms were quiet, to say the least; Forbidden Planet, who had about three tables, did not arrive until the Saturday and packed up and departed on Sunday because business was so slack. Most of the dealers sat about chatting to each other and I thought that it must have been very disappointing for them, especially those in the three rooms near the back of the hotel, and the single room half way up the main staircase! The volume of Trek merchandise has not increased to any great degree and after so many years of collecting, it is possible that a lot of people have most of the things they want, which might explain why we felt that there was a great deal of Babylon 5 and X-Files merchandise. If these two programmes continue to draw more and more attention, more merchandise will inevitably follow, and I can see less and less Trek stuff appearing on dealers' tables.

Perhaps the Radisson is too big to house Trek conventions, although I understood that the attendance figures were around the 620-650 mark, which is fairly standard. For many people (especially me) there were two high points to the weekend that made the whole event definitely worthwhile. The first was George Takei and the second was the two auctions with the "team' auctioneers of Robin Curtis and Mark Ryan... I am trying not to be 'picky" but personally I found this convention to be somewhat of a let-down. It may have something to do with the fact that this 'four-day' convention was really only a two-day event; not much happened on the Friday apart from the opening ceremony, and the Monday was just as disappointing. Although my party was there ready for a special 8am video event, it was cancelled and we just sat around until a couple of videos were put on for 9am. By 10.30 it was obvious most people were leaving (some of the guests had already departed) and it felt over, so we all left.

Whilst I admire all committees that put on such events, it might be a good idea to consider the changing face of science fiction in the '90s and for the 21st century. I cannot accept that the world of Trek is ending, but evolving certainly, as anything must when it has been around for decades. Trek conventions may have to develop a slightly different style to stay interesting enough to get the attendance figures that make them worthwhile. I would like to see a four-day event that was a four-day event. I would love to see the individual clubs having tables again, which I have not noticed at the last few conventions I have attended. From the amount of items placed in the auctions, I get the feeling that there are many people out there who have items they want to swap, sell or exchange. Although dealers would be far from happy, why not have a room or group of tables that can be used by individuals for a specific time period to sell their own duplicated or unwanted Trek / Sci-Fi belongings? I really and truly hope that we were mistaken and that Trek conventions can continue to be first and foremost for fans of Star Trek as originally intended. If more and more photographs, merchandise and uniform sales of other series appear, Star Trek conventions will evolve into something else.