The Greatest Show on Earth

As you may have gathered, I go to a lot of genre and comic conventions. For the past four years, I’ve averaged about 15 per year across the country. There’s a fair amount of overlap, but I can say that all told, I’ve attended twenty-to-thirty different conventions in the United States.

Some were great, and some… not so much. I do have a few that I love going back to year after year, so long as they’ll have me. That includes ConnectiCon, Planet ComiCon, Miami SuperCon, Tampa Bay ComiCon, and a few others. I wouldn’t mind going back to Dallas and Houston one of these days either.

The one that stands out, however, is my favorite convention on the entire circuit, one that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. It was the first out-of-state convention I ever attended, but that’s not why I love it.

I love this convention because, out of them all, there is one convention that goes out of its way to take care of everybody. They take care of their staff. They take care of their guests. They take care of their attendees.

And like no other.

The whole town gets into the fun… from the time you arrive at their airport, to the moment you hit the hotel, go to a restaurant in town, and in the convention all… literally every person I run into makes me feel welcome… at home… and like I was as special a guest as the multitudes of superstars that they bring into their off-the-beaten-path neck of the woods each and every year.

So, what is the convention I’m raving about? In a word:

Pensacon.

In that odd little stretch of Florida land wedged underneath Alabama, Mike Ensley has assembled a fantastic team of show-runners and volunteers who, to a person, treat every single guest like we’re special.

The logistics are flawless (or at least seem to be when looking in from the outside), and what few hiccups guests might run into are minor and always smoothed over by exceedingly helpful and competent staffers from all over.

I think it’s important to mention that virtually every other convention (excepting most notably Planet ComiCon and ConnectiCon) treat authors differently than they treat movie and T.V. stars. That’s not a criticism so much as an observation. I completely understand that there are throngs of people who come to see Brent Spiner or Jason Mamoa or name your favorite genre star. There is a natural differentiation that our society places upon those sorts of personalities vs. the authors who put the words in their mouths.

That differentiation is non-existent at Pensacon.

So, let me give you an example of how things go when I attend Pensacon. As I get off the airplane, the gates at Pensacola airport have been altered: the signs actually say “Stargate” rather than gate. Leaving the terminal, I’m always greeted at the end of the terminal by someone who is there to let me know I have a ride to the hotel. They show me to a green room at the airport, where I can put my feet up and get a snack and a beverage until my ride is there. The drivers are always friendly and helpful; they make you feel like you’re part of a family who hasn’t been home in a while.

At the hotel, there’s this marvelous buzz as the guests, attendees, and staffers mingle around in preparation for the show. Every year I’ve been, there’s been little gift bags and small tokens for all the guests—doesn’t matter who you are. During the show, their shuttle service is willing to take any and all of their guests to wherever we need to go during our stay, from a cup of coffee at Starbucks down the road to a Bookstore across town when you’ve run out of a volume one of something and need more (shout out to Maria and the whole drive staff for being awesome).

When you get to the main strip in downtown Pensacola, you discover that just about every restaurant and venue within walking distance has gotten into the swing of things. They have special events like movie marathons and contests and such. The Irish pub downtown was running Dr. Who and Star Wars marathons the past few years, and the folks working at every place are always welcoming and frequently in the cosplay of your favorite superhero or movie character.

As to the show, it always runs smoothly. In my four years attending PensaCon, we’ve never run into an issue that wasn’t immediately attended to. The fact is, putting a convention together is a massive, even monumental undertaking. The number of moving parts defies identification, and yet, Mike Ensley and his staff manage to make it a fabulous experience every time. Staffers offer to get us beverages while we’re working our bookstore, and they come for us when we are scheduled to be in a panel. They make sure we’re not having any difficulties, and are always willing to lend a hand if we need assistance. If we have any issues at all, the PensaCon staff is there to help.

Then there’s the food in the green room. Some shows don’t do anything, or if they do, they reserve it for the superstars. Some shows will provide snacks, fruit, and drinks. Others will have a wide variety of food available, but most keep that limited to the big names. There are exceptions, to be sure. Planet ComiCon is great about providing a wide assortment of foods, and ConnectiCon has a green room where we are always taken care of (props to the two ladies who work that green room… we miss you).

But with Pensacon, it’s a step above, and for all of us.

The people are great.

The town is great

The hall is great.

The hotel is great.

The service is great.

It’s all memorable, and is memorable every time.

You may be thinking that my perspective is somehow biased or marginally unique. That isn’t the case. The authors that were in the booth this last time around (Pensacon 2018 with all of us in Bard’s Tower) all agreed on this one point. PensaCon treated us all like we were A-listers. What’s more, we all remarked upon how, when talking to other creators, from T.V. stars like John De Lancie and superstar authors like Jim Butcher to the comic book artists and writers to the B-listers like me, we all said the same thing. PensaCon treats us all fabulously well. And it would come up in places like that brief exchange of words in the elevator or during lunch in the green room.

Everyone says the same thing; Pensacon is the best.

Now, I’m saying all this for two reasons. The first is that I want to publicly and loudly thank Mike Ensley and the entire convention staff and volunteers for everything they did and do to make us all feel welcome. The second is that I’d like to recommend that every convention owner in the country and even abroad (be it individual or corporation) go down to Pensacola next year to spend three days paying attention to the greatest show on Earth. And yes, in that regard, I do have a bias. It has bee my participation in PensaCon four years in a row that gave me that bias.

That’s sort of how this works. If you treat everyone, high and low, with caring and respect, they will, by default, tell everyone else how awesome you are.

So, that’s it. If you can make it as an attendee, head on down to PensaCon the first chance you get. And if you ever get a chance to be a guest at PensaCon, I guarantee you’ll love the experience. It’s like no other, with a smaller-town feel and a big-show sort of catering to the guests, be they superstars or up-and-comers.

So, in a nutshell, thank you Mike and your entire crew, thank you Pensacola and your entire town, thank you all for making my favorite show in the country my favorite show in the country.

When it comes to everyone at PensaCon, it’s just as my buddy Dave Butler likes to say, “You are very great.”

 

~ Q