Last year, Rusty and I went to Dragon*Con for the first time for either of us, and we had a blast. Derek and Swoopy of Skepticality fame had worked tirelessly to put together a podcasting track, in addition to the first Parsec Awards. We participated in three panels, recorded four podcasts, and blogged about it. Here we are looking Very Serious Indeed:
This year, the podcasting track and the Parsec Awards are back, bigger than last year and with a lot of good energy that’s getting more palpable as D*C gets closer. We’re on the schedule for four panels, but unfortunately, it now looks like we might not be attending at all.
Last year we were able to acquire media passes, thanks to our friend (and D*C veteran) Thomas knowing who to contact and what info to supply. You can see the evidence here. Naturally, we figured we would be on the list for media passes again this year. However, when Thomas contacted The People In Charge to make sure, he was told:
As I explained last year, Podcasting is not considered Media. They are really tightening the belt about free badges and keeping very close tabs. I did you a personal favor last year and unfortunately I just can’t do it again this year. I’m so sorry.
You will have to get your badges thru the Podcasting Track or purchase them. However if you get badges elsewhere, I can give you Press Ribbons to allow you Media access.
A few things here.
First of all, if the badges were a personal favor last year, how is it that we didn’t know that at the time? That little bit of information was news to us.
Second, this person says “as I explained last year,” but I don’t recall any such explaining.
Third, I find it odd that this person would be able to give us press ribbons to attach to our badges as long as we get the badges somewhere else. What does that do for (here comes the C-word) credibility? Either podcasting is media or it isn’t. This makes it sound like podcasting can be media, as long as it’s someone else who dirties their hands with the issue of actual badges.
Thomas has sent a follow-up email, making the case that embracing podcasters as media is very good for Dragon*Con - much moreso than just relying on local radio stations and print publications. Radio coverage will likely be limited to 5-10 minutes of “Let’s make fun of the furries,” courtesy of the Wacky Morning Team, and print either won’t cover it at all or will run a sarcastic blurb alongside a photo of a furry in full costume.
Or, as Thomas put it in an email (emphasis mine):
With any luck, the Podcasting track will be able to get more participant recognition next year. Because the truth of the matter is that Dragon*Con stands a much better chance of being covered fairly and accurately by people in the podcasting community, right down to the individual track-by-track level.
I’m sure you’ve gotten the yearly media requests from the local television and radio stations, but if history is any indicator, I’m pretty sure I know what they’ll do. Local television will show up at 7am on Friday to catch early risers in costume, then come back over the weekend to get footage of the big parade on Peachtree. Local radio will (at best) do some kind of remote broadcast for half-a-day or (at worst) send some morning show personality to interrupt players in the gaming hall and record their reactions, like WNNX did a few years back.
I’m disappointed, but what do you do? In fairness, it seems as though the person with whom Thomas was corresponding was not the decision maker here. I don’t know who ultimately makes the call on stuff like this.
In all likelihood, we’ll still try to go to the podcasting track. We might be able to attend the panels without a badge and just not go to any other part of the con. Or maybe we could get temporary or one-day badges at a discount. So, currently our attendee status is up in the air, with a hopeful outlook.
This situation also raises an interesting issue that D*C will have to grapple with soon: if everyone is the media - and certainly, a large percentage of D*C participants produce some form of web-based media - then how do they go about doling out media passes? They’re either going to have to stop giving them out altogether, or let everyone in for free (and the latter, of course, is not realistic).
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15 Responses to "We’re not media?"
Dragon*Con is very serious about their badges and I can tell you they will stop you in the hallway without a badge on - a certainly Security will be doing sweeps through panels to make sure everybody has a badge.
Just some perspective from the Podcasting Track side of things: When I was running a fan track it was a big frustration to me that, in order to have a guest for my track, I had to literally give up one of my volunteer slots. You get like, 5 volunteers who each must work 20 hours throughout the weekend (but who frequently did a no-show after the big party night).
My kids and partner helped me a great deal during that time as unpaid labor. Luckily at the time D*C had the policy of providing badges to *them* or I wouldn’t have had the ability to do that, either. That has since changed: now everybody, as far as I can tell, except the Director and the volunteers, must pay.
Now, I suspect that the Podcasting Track has a little more resources than that - but not much more.
I volunteer, now, each year, to run 20 hours of gaming entertainment so I don’t have to beg for badges from someone or prove to someone who might not get it that I am somebody: I’m aware that I am somebody, but I don’t feel the need to do the “Do You Know Who I Am???” thing at the VIP booth. That’s crass and I won’t do it.
The fact that the gaming track makes $90 worth of admission (at $3 / player, 6 players / session, 5 sessions / con) off of my games more than pays my way in, and means I don’t have to beg anyone for anything :)
My suggestion, really, is that you two prchase two one-day passes for the day you’re most interested in. I can’t see you spending the whole wad of cash for full badges - unless I miss my guess, you’re not big sci-fi geeks anyway, are you?
AND another thing:
Of COURSE you are media. This just points out the need for some kind of universally recognized “you’ve arrived” New Media Certification. Don’t ask me how I would structure it or who would run it. But I think that’s what people are ultimately going to want - or they just need to change their mind and say, “Yeah, OK, so you’re media too.”
It’s not as if you’re some dood and chick who just have a MySpace page and take video footage primarily off your phone cam!
I don’t mean at all to give the impression that we’re puffing out our chests and expecting people to Recognize Who We Are. That would be ridiculous. I was surprised by the response to the inquiry about media passes, though, since we got them last year and the fact that that was apparently a personal favor was not communicated at the time. Their policy seems unclear to us.
Yeah, I actually remember hearing about this in detail last year. They wouldn’t let podcasters get FREE badges last year, either, and there was a big discussion about it in the podcasting track.
I think the compromise that Derek and Swoopy made with the con organizers this year was that podcasters can get media ribbons, but they will not get paid admission into the con. And apparently, they had to fight tooth and nail for that - the con organizers originally didn’t want to give podcasters the time of day.
There was a discussion about how the directors think of this At the Dragon-Pod forums. The podcasting track will also offer “PODCASTER” ribbons to attach to your badge which will help get interviews and such, but has no “official” status with the con.
The current arrangement is a step forward from what D*C was willing to give to podcasters. Hopefully next year they’ll take another couple of steps forward.
As someone that used to (read: years ago) keep up with all the big Southern cons… well… that one has always had a reputation for uptightness and basically being run by a bunch of people that aren’t any fun. Sounds like it hasn’t changed much.
A good post, as I expected it would be.
Regarding the personal favor, in retrospect, I guess that would’ve been personally given to me. I have a history with Dragon*Con, because I ran the Information Services team for about four years as a director. For a couple of those years, I was always willing to work with the Media folk to provide a place for a sci-fi radio group to do their overnight broadcast, because our Info Services booth in the Hyatt lower lobby was a perfect place for them to set-up and interact with the late night crowd.
And so, though I’ve not been director for two years (in 2005, I attended under a media pass through JIVE Magazine), Media was returning the favor in 2006 by giving GAPN access. I knew at the time that podcasters, as a rule, were not being recognized, so GAPN was certainly an exception. And the access was appreciated, as evidenced by the great material that Rusty and Amber produced.
Heading into this year, I’m not sure what I expected. I was pretty sure the rules hadn’t changed, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask simply for access on behalf of GAPN. This time, the answer was as Amber has related. No exceptions.
I know D*C’s dilemma, of course.
Anyone with a recorder can do a podcast, just as anyone with a LiveJournal account can be a blogger. If podcasters were to be granted media access, they would have to meet a certain criteria that would guarantee D*C some return on their investment of trust. Before the *Con, they would have to prove reach, traffic and influence. During the *Con, they would have to display their credentials at all times. After the *Con, they would have to produce something of quality from their experience, be it negative or positive. These and other criterion would keep people from abusing the access by simply waving a microphone on Day One, then disappearing into the parties and so on, never intending to actually record a thing.
But these criteria don’t exist. What makes this most irksome is that GAPN would be fit even the most stringent of such requirements, if they in fact did.
And the other thing that’s frustrating, is that a lot of mainstream media don’t fit those criteria when it comes to Dragon*Con. The con is hardly getting a good return on investment when they have a stupid radio DJ making fun of furries and other “freaks” for 5 minutes.
Agreed on your last comment, Amber. They’re smart to think about the media mix they’re bringing in, but it seems like they may be making some questionable choices on that and potentially shooting themselves in the foot by catering to the lookyloo-type media a little too much at the expense of those wanting to do sincere coverage. I go to a fair number of conferences throughout the year, some of them very large and some of them very small, and I haven’t come across another that’s as cagey with media passes as Dragon*con.
What would they gain by giving you a media pass?
Andy, I think you’re asking the wrong question. (And, incidentally, if you’ll read the previous comments in this thread there are already several answers to that question. I won’t sport with people’s intelligence by repeating them.)
I think the more apropos question is what would/will they lose by not giving media passes to podcasters? (And there are some answers to that above as well.)
Yes, with all things, standards must be established. Obviously everyone with a blog shouldn’t qualify for a press pass - and no one here is saying that. I think the actual issue is that event coordinators and society in general haven’t caught up with “new media” and there are no standards yet, so it’s a blanket “no.” The standards will come…though not soon enough, they will come.
I can’t help but wonder though…if you can them the name of a fake community newspaper, would they give you a pass? [sigh]
Thomas is right: there’s got to be a pretty feasible way for whatever committee of credential-granting people to look at an applicant’s volume and quality of work, internet presence, etc., and decide if they’re a safe investment — and then hold them to some kind of standard post-con to make sure they actually produce something. If they don’t, they get rejected in the future. It can’t be that hard; even though there was a former YDG’er at CNN doing press credentials for the debate, she told Brock later that she still went to my blog and poked around to make sure I was “legit.” Are they suggesting credentialing for Dragon*Con is harder than pulling off a presidential debate? Jeez. Lame.
One thing that I’ve learned from the video game trade shows I’ve attended is that more and more people attempt to BS their way in to things that are more geeky in nature. They’ll create fake websites just to make it seem like they’re media so they can get into E3 each year for free and play all the games and give zero coverage. (This is one of the reasons E3 is pretty much no more - too many people who WEREN’T supposed to be there BS’d their way in and the exhibitors finally had enough of it and threatened to pull out.) The reason this happens at both E3 and the Game Developers Conference is because there are SO MANY people that try to get in as media that whatever group is putting on the trade show can’t keep up.
I would wager to guess (but I’m not positive) that more people attempt to BS their way into geek conventions such as Comic-Con, GenCon, and Dragon*con than into a Presidential Debate. I’m not saying GAPN is BS’ing at all, don’t get me wrong. But unfortunately I’m sure D*C has gotten a lot of bogus media requests especially when anyone with a LiveJournal account thinks they can be media, which is why I believe they’ve made the blanket policy of not giving FREE (key word) con access to blogs/podcasts. While this does hurt legitimate sources like GAPN and, to a lesser extent, my organization, I can’t really blame them with the manpower they have just making a blanket ruling like this.
I did not apply for media because this year because I tried last year (as Internet Radio, not Podcasting) to no avail, and it really didn’t matter - the people I interviewed and covered at the con were all in the exhibit halls, I didn’t need to use any of the media services of D*C. Since I’ve been going since 1996, I usually pay my way in anyway. Since I’ve learned I can get a “MEDIA” ribbon tacked onto the badge I’ve already paid for, I don’t see there being too much of an issue - although I’d probably still never use any of the perks of being media.
With all due respect, I do think it’s a little silly that the Georgia Podcast Network won’t be represented at one of the largest gathering of podcasters in the country right in their own backyard just because they can’t get in free. I don’t think many of us that are speaking on panels in the podcasting track (I have a whopping one panel) are getting in free. That’s not meant as an attack, please don’t take it that way - that’s just how it looks from the outside. “We can’t get in free, so we’re not going. New Media 4ever!” is the Cliff’s Notes version of this post in my head, and I know that it’s a lot more complicated than that, but that’s just how it looks on the surface.
Hope I’m still invited to the party next weekend. ;P
With all due respect right back, you don’t know the first thing about our financial situation, Bobby. And if that’s how the post looks to you on the surface, I wonder if that might have more to do w/ you than w/ us. No one else so far seems to have gotten that impression, and it certainly was not my reason for writing the post.
I sincerely apologize.
Yeah . . getting into Dragon Con is not cheap, and panelists not even getting a day pass? Is weak. If someone or their org is important enough to be there, if your audience of paying people are interested in hearing from them, it’s in your interest to have them in on a free day pass. The point is to select people / panelists / organizations / people w/ something to say that are important and compelling. If you have a good, strong podcasting track, then guess what? More people who are into podcasting will show up and PAY FOR A PASS. The panels and so forth are supposed to be the attraction of the whole thing.
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