Fiona wrote:

yes, there are lots ofother reasons to go to cons, it's true, than just to see actors. But it does have to be said, that the no-guest cons I've been to ("relaxicons" I've heard them called) are generally much more poorly attended than ones with guests (and even one I went to where they had a couple of well-know writers along was much more poorly attended than the rather small-scale DW con I went to which could only boast Nicola Bryant as a guest), and it seems to be a truism that the "bigger" the con, the "bigger" the name of the actors they get as guests (probably a positive-feedback thingy). I wouldn't consider myself starstruck by any means-- but the information that David Collings was going to be at Panopticon was a big incentive for me to attend. So actors aren't the only reason to go to cons, it's definitely true-- but for a lot of people, they seem to be a big part of

it,

for whatever reason.

Well, yet again, perhaps I'm unusual. I went to my first-ever con, Redemption, purely for the workshoppy-type things as well as the opportunity to meet and re-meet fans encountered in cyberspace. I didn't actually attend a single one of the guest-oriented events. And, for what it's worth, I thoroughly enjoyed myself... I got the impression that a lot of people at Redemption were operating under the same motivation set (but then, of course, I only met the ones who attended the smaller workshops or hung out in the bar...observer bias or what)

I briefly considered going to Cult TV last year (which had PD among its guests) and ended up *not* going partly because it seemed too focused on guests.

To my mind, fans are much more interesting than guests, at least where the series is sufficiently old that the guest actors have forgotten what the series was about (GT's 'What is this StarOne thingy of which you speak' being a case in point). I might well have had a different view 15 or so years ago. (I do recall a doomed attempt to persuade my parents to let me go to a play starring PD...)

Tavia