I spent the day at Springfield, Missouri’s first Star Trek Convention, Trek Con Springfield. This is the inaugural year for this convention.
I started the day by wondering the convention center. The convention floor contained a lot of geek centric booths but many were not Star Trek related. In fact, most of the booths were local businesses and organizations. We will be talking about a lot of these booths in upcoming posts.
The convention had a ton of panels going on. It was often difficult to select a panel because there were other fun panels going on at the same it. There were panels with Star Trek actors, web series and movie panels, and live theater performances. There were too many excellent choices and you have to make time to hang on the convention floor. This was a great problem to have.
There was a screening room to view different web series and independent movies. They were always busy with interesting visual arts to check out.
Of course they had a section for autographs. All of the various Star Trek actors had autograph booths were you could purchase pictures and autographs. Many of the web series booths also had some of their actors signing autographs.
What I Liked:
I loved that the convention floor had a ton of local artists/creators, projects, small businesses, and geeky organizations. Almost everyone I talked to on the floor was from the local Springfield area. Everybody was excited to tell me about why they were there and shared their projects. It was KOOL to see so much local talent and creativity.
Everyone on the convention floor was super friendly. It had the local Springfield flavor and politeness. People were not pushing but waiting their turns to talk to people. Everyone at the booths were super nice. I was able to great conversations with people I already knew and those I was just meeting for the first time.
The panels blew my mind. I have been to larger conventions that didn’t have this much choice and excitement in their panels. The panels definitely made this three day convention worth while to the consumers who bought three day passes.
The staff running the convention was fantastic. Since I was covering the event for Geeky KOOL, I was able to pick up a press pass. The process was painless and everyone was extremely nice. They had an answer for all the questions I had.
I was able to connect with a few friends easily at this convention. It was easy to find each other in big isles.
What I Didn’t Like:
This was the first Star Trek Convention in Springfield and it was not attended like I hoped it would be attended. This has nothing to do with the organization but rather a disappointment in the Springfield geeks and nerds for staying at home. It is Mother’s Day weekend and graduation weekend so this might have played a role. I know I will not be attending tomorrow because of mother’s day.
As many choices as the convention panels brought, these panels were also not well attended. I did think they could have promoted the panels better so it was clear what was going on and where to find the panel rooms. It would have been nice to have reminders of the panels on the Convention floor.
Overall
This was a fantastic first year for Trek Con Springfield. They have a few growing pains and things to figure out for next year but it was tremendous for the first one. I am looking forward to next year.
Grade: B+
