Convention Recap: Dragon Con 2024 - Attending Pro

Last year I did a post I called Attending Faux, because that is what I called myself. I was not actually an attending pro, but I did six panels and bunch of other things. But this year! This year I was an actual Attending Pro! Complete with badge and such! Talk about hitting a dream goal of mine, my fat little heart is so full!

For those unaware Dragon Con has Attending Pros and Guests. Guests are the big names, like William Shatner and the Hobbits from LoTR. They limit those to between 3 and 4 hundred. Besides getting a badge, I believe they also get a room comped, and most of them do paid signings and the like. Attending Pros however make up the bulk of panelists you see. They are professionals in their area of expertise, and in return for being on panels they get their weekend badge for free. This is what I was this year.

While getting the badge for free was nice (anything to save money!), for me the real appeal of being an Attending is you get added to a large list that all the various track directors look on to pull guests from. You remember how last year I hustled my way onto six panels? This year I didn't have to do that. I got put on five panels and the Gather, and then hustled my way onto one other I really wanted to be on (see above).

Some tracks are more open to allowing panelists that are not attending than others. The Urban Fantasy track for example typically does not allow authors on who are not attending. Which I totally get! They are not only a literary track, they also cover all the UF shows and movies. So if they start letting on authors who aren't attending, then they would quickly get swamped with folks asking and would have less room for the show side of things. The Writer's Track however is all authors all the time, so they have a little more wiggle room.

So this year I got to do my first UF track panel, which was so rad! And I got put on programming on Writers without having so email Nancy and ask! All great things for me, at least in making me feel a little less imposter syndrome. Which never goes away, but at least there are small balms that can sooth it.

The real...step forward? I guess? Was that I felt more like I belonged among the Bar Con scene. The Westin Bar is the place where the authors go to hang, and last year was my first time spending time there really. I had a couple folks sort of take me under their wing and introduce me around, which helped ease me into it. But while I still felt like an intruder into that space last year, this year I felt like I belonged. Not because I was an attending, not because I think I'm hot shit (I'm not), not for any reason like that.

I think it was just because most of these people are now my friends. I've done so many cons with so many of them at this point that even if I never put out another book, deleted the ones I have, and never say I'm an author again I would still feel welcome there. I still have those moments of 'holy shit I am talking with Famous Author' and flashes of 'ohmygodwhatamidoinghere' but that will never fully go away I'm betting.

So yeah, this year I was an Attending Pro, and I felt like it. I hope I get to keep being one in the future, but even if I don't this was a great experience that I loved so much! I struggled with balance, yes (see my Struggle with Balance post), but all in all being an Attending for the first time was amazing.

Now to sell a few million copies so I can be a Guest haha!