The Best Little Con About Con-Running in Texas!

Just Add Cooperation!

InstaCon9 will have presentations, interactive panels and roundtable discussions, as well as "Birds of a Feather" sessions where members can discuss things that come up at the convention.

Our main programming schedule is nearly complete, but if you are going to be at InstaCon9 and have an idea for a presentation or a panel idea, then please contact us.

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Friday · Saturday · Sunday · (back to top)

Friday

Choosing Guests for Your Convention: How to select a great roster of people that are a good fit for your convention and will help draw members. What other things need to be considered before you invite someone to be an honoured guest. Panelists: Dan Robb, Tim Morgan

Running a Successful Art Show: An art show is more than just showing art. It can be a real moneymaker for both the convention and artists. We will discuss the nuts and bolts of managing an art show from the forms, to recruiting artists, to the nuts and bolts of panels. Panelists: Jimmy Simpson, Scott Zurbek

Where Does the Money Come From? Alternate Revenue Streams for Your Convention: Memberships are the largest source of income for most conventions but there are other ways to bring in money to your event, such as sales to members, dealers space, artshow and many more. Lets share ideas and tricks to get the most income out of our conventions. Panelists: Amie Gantt, Russ Miller

Managing Volunteers and Communicating with Your Volunteer Staff: Finding and retaining great volunteers is a challenge. So is keeping them informed and involved throughout the convention year. Panelists: Ellen Braun, Jonathan Guthrie, Cindy Ransom, Roger Wells

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Saturday

Keeping Lines Short and People Happy: Registration is the first point of contact for your members. Our panelists share tips for how to handle the process efficiently and minimize the wait. Panelists: Meredith Hines, Cindy Ransom, Matt Zeisler

Branding Your Convention: One element of a successful convention is creation and control of your brand. From a clever catchphrase, to a logo that lasts, and more! Panelists: Kimm Antell, Jonathan Guthrie, Tim Miller

Going Big, Staying Big In The Fan Convention Business: Conventions aren't just a fandom gathering, they really are serious business. If a convention wants to grow then how can it be done? How does it step up to be a big-time fan convention? How does it handle the large crowds and the logistic issues? These questions along with so much more will be discussed by the chairman of San Japan who talks about his expertise in what he's learned over the years in putting together several of the largest fan conventions in San Antonio. Presenter: Dave Henkin

Running an Awesome Con Suite on a Limited Budget: From munchies to meals, the Con Suite provides the fuel to keep the convention running. Our panelists discuss how they stretch their dollars. Panelists: Charles A. Cowshow, Jr., Jeff Orth, Crystal Schuh, Val Villareal

Benefits of Social Media and Promoting Your Event: How do you use that FaceTwit thing, anyway? Kimm Antell, Ed Dravecky

Flyer Critique: Bring your convention flyer for a round robin critique. Hey, you might be able to steal borrow discover a few new ideas. Tim Miller

Throwing a Great Room Party: It’s not just food and drink, but an extension of your convention. Kurt Baty, Charles A. Cowshow, Val Villareal

Managing a Dealer’s Room: How do you attract - and keep - good dealers? Robyn Winans

artshowhelper.com: artshowhelper.com is a website designed to help art show directors and artists in the art shows make the paperwork for the shows easier to manage. This panel will be an exploration and discussion of the website. We'll go through the site and try the various capabilities. We'll discuss how to use the site and come up with a list of possible changes and additions to make it more useful to more conventions in the state. Presenter: Scott Zurbek

I Wanna Be A Guest At Your Convention!: One of the byproducts of a successful convention is that you will be approached by far more people than you can comfortably put on programming. Learn how to balance your own needs with those of your prospective participants, and discover some alternatives for helping authors and small presses promote at your convention. Presenter: Julie Barrett

Dealing With Guests: A Guest’s Point of View: We attend a lot of conventions and see what’s going on from a member and a con runner perspective, but how do your guests and programming participants see things? Hey, we promise they won’t bite! Panelists: Rachel Caine, Cat Conrad, Brad Foster, Rhonda Eudaly Simpson

Logistics and Operations: A typical con-goer may never darken the door of ConOps, but operations and logistics are the backbone of a well-run convention. How do you move everything in and out quickly? Keep all the gears turning smoothly? Panelists: Jonathan Guthrie, Rick Neiss, Andy Ransom

Effective Web Design: Web design isn’t just pretty art and shiny widgets. It’s about presenting information to your audience so they can find it. Are you stuck in 1996? Struggling to reach mobile users? Help is on the way! Presenter: Kimm Antell

Training Your Replacements: What happens when someone moves to Denver or gets hit be a meteorite and your con has a key position to fill and no one knows how to do the job? It is important to have backups in place and replacements ready in case something happens. I prepared concom is a happy concom. Presenters: Meredith Hines, Tim Morgan

Conventions and Bids: Representatives from conventions and active bid groups in the region, here’s your opportunity to share what’s going on with your event or bid. Timekeeper: Tim Miller

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Sunday

Web Site Critique: Bring your laptop or tablet and show off your site! Kimm Antell, Ed Dravecky

Tech Please!: How do you wrangle all those microphones, projectors, and computers? And just because you have the toys, is their use appropriate in every situation? Todd Caldwell, Jonathan Guthrie

Tracking Memberships Through the Year and Validating Them Pre-Convention: Share ideas and tips for managing all that data. Meredith Hines, Cindy Ransom

Running a Costume Contest: From recruiting contestants and judges to managing logistics and handing out prizes. Share your tips for a successful Masquerade. Mary Miller

Badges: What Are They Really For?: Panelists discuss the ins and outs of effective badge design. What information do you need on a badge? How do you make the text stand out from the art work (and not require a magnifying glass to read)? How do you handle day badges? Panelists: Meredith Hines, Tim Miller, Cindy Ransom, Matt Zeisler

Managing Several Tracks of Programming... and Keeping Your Hair!: As your convention grows, so will your programming. Our panelists discuss how to juggle multiple tracks and a large guest list. Panelists: Julie Barrett, Katy Pace, Dan Robb

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January 6-8, 2012

Crowne Plaza North Dallas/Galleria

14315 Midway Road

Addison, TX 75001

Last updated 06 January 2012