Valerie Putman:  Prose on Cons - Itinerary for 2006

I’ve spent the last month looking over a list of possible gaming conventions for this year, my academic (work) calendar, and my gaming/travel budget in an attempt to narrow down the list of gaming conventions that I want to attend this year.  There are many more available than I could ever make it to and I find it difficult to pick and choose.  I thought I’d share with you this week some of the conventions I’m considering and my thought process behind the choices I’ve made.

Criteria
1. Timing.  I love my job.  I am a University professor and classes are in session only 7 months of the year once you add up winter break, summer break, spring break, fall break, Easter break, Thanksgiving break, etc.  Please don’t misunderstand; I do a lot of reading, research, writing, and prepwork during those other 5 months, but my time is flexible and much of my work I can take with me on a trip.  But during the school year, I can’t just choose to take vacation time.  I was very lucky last fall and didn’t have any classes on Fridays.  Every once in a while I will work out my syllabus so that the students are taking an exam on a day that I need to be out of town for a conference for school, but I avoid using that option for my hobby.  My job does come first.

2. Bang for the buck.  While cost does matter, I am most interested in the relative cost compared to the experience.  For example, if the airfare to a convention is $300, but the convention is at least 4 days, or I can find a roommate to keep the hotel costs down or I stay in town a few extra days to visit family or other friends, the trip is much more cost effective than the same airfare for a weekend convention where I can’t get there until Friday night and I have to leave mid-Sunday.  Since I do have a limit to my gaming/travel budget, I try to get as much gaming, time with friends, and time with family out of that budget as possible.  I know it might sound like I must spend a lot on gaming conventions, but before you think I’m made of money, consider that I have made this my priority.  On the other hand, I drive a really old car (so no car payments), I live in an inexpensive part of town (hmmm….may be related to the brick through my window), I have given up my shoe addiction (the hardest part of all), and I don’t eat out often.  I have been able to afford my travel habit by giving up many other luxuries that aren’t as important to me.

3. Who else is going?  The main reason that I go to gaming conventions it to see my gaming friends.  For that reason, almost half of the gaming conventions I attend are back in the Southeast where I went to graduate school and had the best gaming group ever (I love you guys!!!!!).  My husband’s family is also down there, so it’s great when we can combine gaming travel and family visits.  In fact, I would say that the reason I got hooked on gaming conventions in the first place was because I was looking for excuses to go back for a visit shortly after we moved to Ohio.  But each time I attend a convention I make more friends and it seems now that almost every convention I consider has at least a half dozen friends attending that I can’t wait to see.

4. Location.  I’d like to eventually try all the conventions that are within a 3 or 4 hour drive of home.  I’ll also use any excuse to get back to the Southeast.  But I also use gaming conventions to see the rest of the world.  I’m looking forward to adding at least one or two conventions from the United States west coast to my itinerary over the next few years.  I attended Essen last year, but I am also intrigued by a number of gaming conventions held in England, Scotland, and around the world.  I love to travel and if I am stuck at home for more than a month or so, the wanderlust starts to build.

So which conventions did I consider for 2006 and which ones will likely make the cut?  I’ll break it down chronologically, since I try to attend at least one each month

January
If I couldn’t find a gaming convention in January I would still travel to visit gaming friends or family since school isn’t in session until mid month.  But last year I decided that January was the perfect month to plan my own gaming get together.  I talked about the idea with my good friend Anye Sellers (Dancing Eggplant Games) and we planned the first all girl gaming invitational and called it Nobody But Us Chicks (after a game that Anye published, Kevin Nunn’s Nobody But Us Chickens).  So that’s my event for January.  I’ll tell you more about it after it’s over.  But I also considered:
Conquest LA, January 13 – 16
Dreamation, January 19 – 22
Atlanta Game Fest, January 26 – 29 (This would have been a no brainer, but it’s right after classes start and it’s hubby’s birthday weekend and he decided he’d like to stay home for the big 30.)

February
I don’t have an obvious choice for February, and in fact I am still considering several possibilities.  At the top of the list are:
Ubercon (February 10 – 12)
Conquest NW (February 17 – 20)
Genghis Con (February 16 – 19)

March and April
I have 2 invitational events that I’ll be attending in the spring and I’m hoping for a third.  If that one doesn’t work out, I’ll likely make plans to head to Georgia to game with the old gang during my spring break—just in time for Ward Batty’s Atlanta Game day on March 11.

May
School lets out the 2nd week of May, and for the first time in 3 years, graduation doesn’t conflict with Ward’s May game fest.  So I will absolutely be at Atlanta Game Fest (May 18 – 21).  I’d also really like to try Kubla Con (May 26 – 29).  I’ll also attend the Ohio State University game convention, CapCon, if it happens again this year.

June
I’ll attend an invitational mid month and then drag as many gaming friends as I can back to my house for Origins (June 29 – July 2).

July
I have a finished game prototype that is being looked at now and a new one that I just tried out for the first time this week.  I’d really like to attend Protospiel (July 13 – 15), an event for game designers, this year.  I’ll likely also have an invitational in July.

August
Whether or not I attend WBC (August 1 – 6) depends on the timing of my last event in July.  Last year I went straight from one week long event to another and it was almost too much, even for me.  But I will definitely be at Gen Con (August 10 – 13).

September, October, November
I don’t have my teaching schedule for the fall yet and there are several events that I don’t have finalized dates for yet, so my fall is still uncertain.  I plan to be at Dragon*Con (September 1 – 4) and Buckeye Game Fest (September 28 – October 1), but would also love to make it to several different invitationals, BGG.con, and Essen.  Other possibilities include Festival of Games and Euroquest.  I’ll just have to wait and see.

December
Traditionally, December has been an empty month in my gaming calendar.  This last year I convinced a friend to schedule his gaming weekend over New Year’s Eve—and then my family Christmas ended up being that weekend so I didn’t go!  Ah well.  I can always count on plenty of gaming with my local friends over the holidays—and they are just as important to me!

Have I missed any that are on your radar that I should be considering?  How many of you will I run into at these events?  Just make sure you find me and say hi if you’re going!

I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman

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