My second day at ICON was a bit more packed than my first one, as I was on three panels. The first one was actually incredibly interesting, as it was about “the role of the villain” (something I have some experience talking about, as I contributed an article in Slice Magazine on the subject) and sparked some lively discussion. While there were perhaps a few too many panelists (seven!), it did create a nice balance of ideas, as there were a few authors, a few game designers, myself, and–interestingly enough–an actress, Denise Crosby. I think the fact that we had a group of people who either create or have played villains allowed us some pretty strong insights into the world of villainy.
After that, I was on a panel about how to break into print publishing, and the real takeaway from that for aspiring authors was simply: talent, patience, perseverance, research, and luck. Other than those things, there probably isn’t much more I can add that you wouldn’t learn by doing number four: research.
Finally, I had a panel on Cage Match which, sadly, wasn’t well-attended. I still had a great time talking to the people who were left over from the previous panel (thanks for not making me feel too pathetic!).
I think overall, then, my impression of ICON was that its great for fans, but perhaps a bit over-programmed. A glance at the schedule makes it almost impossible to take in everything you might want to, and while that’s true of a lot of conventions, it meant that a lot of panels were sparsely populated. Perhaps its because I was on them (I have no illusions), but I also think it’s because there was really no way easy way to figure out enough information about the different panels and talks to make decisions on the fly (in other words, if you had access to the internet, you could get more information about individual panels, but if you were just using the pocket schedule, there was simply no way to know what was what).
I’m not complaining, though–just more of a logistics thing than a problem with the convention. Even with the cold and rain, I kept running into people who seemed to be having a great time, which is always a good thing to see. Too, my only perspective was as someone invited to talk, and then not having a great many people to talk to.
In any event, it’s impressive that a sci-fi convention has been going on for as many years as I’ve been alive, and I’m glad I had a chance to go.
