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Sonic Event Megathread (Updated July 4th) - Sonic the Comic Con To Not Return


Tani Coyote

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Index of Upcoming Sonic Events

Index of Sonic Conventions

Index of Sonic Meetup Groups and their Pages

Tips from Helen of Sonic London on how to form, promote, and successfully manage your meetup groups!

More Meetup Tips From Ogilvie!

I reasoned this is better for Sonic Discussion than Chit Chat (where other meetup threads go) because of the Sonic rather than Sonic Stadium focus.

Alright, I decided to roll with and start a general purpose megathread for Sonic meetups and the groups that organize such meetups. I feel status updates and signatures as a means of promotion doesn’t really do the topic justice. It also avoids possible spam from separate topics, as everyone can simply come to a single topic to browse meetups or arrange ones of their own.

Feel free to simply inquire if anyone would be up for a meetup or even decide to schedule one. I’ll add you to the list in the OP so anyone who visits the thread can quickly look you up in the index. Feel free to share any websites, Facebook groups, etc. that you may have and I will also put that in the Index.

I’m hoping that working together we can put Sonic meetups in the map all over the globe!

I think that’s all I can say really; I want to keep the opening post as group-neutral as possible. Please, feel free to notify me of any groups or events you know of or are organizing, or just feel free to ask around if anyone would want to meet up with you! Communication is key, and finding fans in close geographic proximity is how such grand projects as Summer of Sonic start. smile.png

You know what they say, the more the merrier!

Edited by Ogilvie
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Either a St. Louis or Florida meet-up would be cool beans with me. As a broke Georgian, Sonic Boom before the move always seemed like a non-starter in the first place. xP

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OH I hope a Northeast one can be a thing. I'm in no financial or social standing to organize a meetup myself.

Finances fortunately aren't a problem; HelenBaby has organised Sonic London persistently for several meets without needing to pay anything. smile.png While she told Sonic Social on Facebook that she'll probably book an actual venue some day, Sonic London gets along very well with free venues.

Restaurants, arcades, parks, etc. are all good places to start from what I can gather. I'll send her a few questions and see if she can help make meetups seem less intimidating to organise. smile.png

As for the social standing aspect, that's what this thread is for, my friend! The hope is that likeminded fans will be able to agree to meet up... and then I can put them in the archive so someone can easily check it for reference. Even if every attendee only brings one friend, it doubles the numbers... you can see the snowball effect this can have! biggrin.png

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I only went to Sonic Boom because I had tickets to St. Louis by chance of another event moving dates, lol. I might go to Sonic Boom next year if it's in St. Louis, though, since I had a pretty good time.

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/SonicSTL/

At the request of St. Louis residents in Sonic Social who were unsure about being the group admin/organiser, I started the group. I'm serving as an admin in caretaker capacity (being that I live in the desert) and am willing to hand the reins over to whoever wants to run the group; all one needs to do is ask. The current description/banner/etc. are all placeholders and naturally whoever takes over as admin is free to alter them.

If you're afraid that joining and requesting this on Facebook will let me know your real name, I posted the same thing in the actual group, so I won't be able to make the connection. tongue.png

I've also sent a request to HelenBaby to interview her about forming and managing meetups (so as to help newer organisers, including myself, get advice from a veteran of the subject); in the meantime I'm going to go promote this elsewhere!

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Hey there Technomage! I know TheChaosBlue is in those parts but no other names come to mind... however, I'm sure you can find quite a few, what with tens of millions of people living in such close proximity; I'd say if there's any part of the country that could sustain meetups it'd be the northeast by far.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SonicAustralia/

Also reporting in that the land down under has organized a group and has also set up its first meetup! They plan to meet at the EB Expo in October. Currently the group is focused on Sydney but I’m sure as it gets larger it will help with meetups all over Australia.

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Ha! If I had the time and resources I would totally do A Sonic Birmingham Meetup! I know Verte is in these parts and I think Shadster?? But I could be wrong

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Pleased to announce that Sonic Wisconsin has joined our growing family of meetup groups around the world. Fans in the neighboring states are always welcome to join as well, of course!

 

Sonic St. Louis is still in need of an administrator if anyone's interested...

 

Ha! If I had the time and resources I would totally do A Sonic Birmingham Meetup!

 

The good news is, as HelenBaby has remarked, that money is a non-issue; it's ultimately all down to networking and scheduling more than anything else. If you can get a small group going, and come up with a place and time to meet... well there you go! You've got a successful meetup waiting to happen. smile.png

Edited by Boss Ogilvie
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The good news is, as HelenBaby has remarked, that money is a non-issue; it's ultimately all down to networking and scheduling more than anything else. If you can get a small group going, and come up with a place and time to meet... well there you go! You've got a successful meetup waiting to happen. smile.png

 

Oh its not the money thing at all :P

its more the time of organising it and the resources in getting people there (internet and such)

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Oh its not the money thing at all tongue.png

its more the time of organising it and the resources in getting people there (internet and such)

If nothing else, living in the UK gives you the highest statistical probability on Earth of finding Sonic fans in the area... ultimately through the various Sonic forum, I think a UK meet is very viable regardless of location...

If there are any fans wanting to organise non-London meets (Wales and Scotland need love too, after all!), don't hesitate to start a group, site, etc. so I can add you to the list. smile.png

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I've been seriously thinking about starting up a meetup in the south west of the UK, with all likelihood of it being held in Weston Super Mare around January/February. I have a venue in mind, the holiday time to book and the finances to make it a reality. The only thing I need now is a bunch of people who want to go!

 

I'm hoping to be able to set it up so that we have some game tournaments, an art corner and I'd really love to encourage some cosplay as well. I'd love to host a cosplay workshop to give people some inspiration for SoS! The venue has food and drinks available at reasonable prices too (and if we get really bored, a bouncy castle! Sadly not Sonic related though!)

 

I call it Weston Super Sonic! (Sorry for the bad name!)

 

If I could get enough people interested in the idea, I'll make it a reality. So any responses to this or send me a pm showing interest, I would greatly appreciate it.

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Damn are you kidding me!

I would have SOOO been able to go to that, a LOT easier than SOS, but having moved from Bristol to Birmingham it means I couldn't now!

P.s. Love the name

I've had a few thoughts about a Birmingham one over the past few days, although as opposed to a yearly event like SOS or Boom, I was thinking of having quarterly events, or every few months. of course a yearly one would make it a big event (well bigger than a more frequently running one)

My Reasoning behind this is that while we have SOS (which is arguably THE big event of the UK Sonic calendar) for the rest of the year there isn't really anything for the fans to do to meet up. Having regular or semi-regular meets gives some fans the chance to meet more regularly, and become closer friends (which id love because as I am aware there is no fans in my town :( ). Obviously it would be open to all fans who wanted to go, but those in close proximity would probably go the most frequent.

Also doing this enables each event to have a main focus (if its quarterly) for example one meet could be focused mainly on Art and be more art themed/Cosplay themed, another could be tournament based where the main event is a tournament ect. There would be staples aswell like a small art section and a gaming section so even if you didn't want to come for the main event you could still socialise.

Just the beginning thoughts I have had on the matter, I'll give it more thought and see if I can come up with any definate plans. For those who live in the area (or not) does this sound like something you'd like? Or would you prefer a yearly thing like SO?)

As above If you are interested or have any questions ( given nothing is even crlertain at this point) please feel free to PM me :) the same goes for any suggestions!

Edited by Jolt_TH
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There is Sonic London in the UK area for regular meets (I believe they have them every few months), but naturally not every fan is within range for that. It does show, however, that meetups are very viable across the UK, and (this is going to be a key point) inexpensive. HelenBaby, from what she's told me, doesn't put that much money into each event and they all turn out to be a blast. So regular meetups are perfectly possible, cheap, and the best part is everyone can still have lots of fun! smile.png

As for bigger, more formal events, I presume as the UK meetup base grows larger it'd be very possible to organise another large Sonic event in the UK. This is sort of what the American chapters are currently aspiring for (all the local groups kicking time, resources, and promotion towards regional conventions). With how big the UK Sonic fanbase is I'm sure it could still be held in the Summer and still be very viable due to the large number who can't attend SOS.

I call it Weston Super Sonic! (Sorry for the bad name!)

If I could get enough people interested in the idea, I'll make it a reality. So any responses to this or send me a pm showing interest, I would greatly appreciate it.

If you do make this a reality, be sure to shoot me a PM with an URL (whether a Facebook group, actual website, etc.) so that I can add it to my list and thus help promote it for you. smile.png

Edited by Boss Ogilvie
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So I'm not leaving for California as soon as expected in that usual getting on the road taking forever schtick. As such I've got a present for all you organisers who want a meetup but don't know where to begin or aren't confident in your ability to host one: an interview with HelenBaby herself, the organiser of Sonic London and host of no less than ELEVEN successful meetups!

 

1. How much does it cost to host an event?

Meet-ups, as opposed to conventions, can be (and often are) relatively informal events. As a result you can tailor your meet-up to your budget. Some friends of mine (Ben/Rio and Jenny Tablina) organised a pre-Summer of Sonic party at a sports bar in London the year before last with video games (Sonic ones) and everything. There was an entrance fee (as the venue had a per-person minimum charge) and had they not managed to attract the right numbers they would have had to make up the difference out of their own pockets. As things turned out it was a roaring success, however (Mike Pollock even showed up!).

I'm not from a rich background whatsoever, and have been in and out of employment the whole time I've been running SonicLondon. As a result I haven't had the finances to risk ventures like the above (although one day I hope to be in the position to do so). So I've played it safe thus far with venues like pubs and parks which have no fee whatsoever.

 

2. What are the best ways to set up a meet up group (in person, social media, etc.)?

The best way is probably a mix if possible. When I set up SonicLondon I already had a whole bunch of Summer of Sonic attendees and staff (aswell as other random Sonic fans) among my Facebook friends, so just created a group and invited them all. Then when they joined it would show on their wall, and their friends joined. And so on and so fourth...

Facebook's still a really good way to put something like this together (arguably the best). Forums are also a great place to draw together like-minded people. If you can afford it meetup.com is really good, but the people you'll attract may end up being more casual fans than longtime community folks.

 

3. Once a group is set up, what is the best way to spread the word about it, from your experience?

• Facebook (of course)

• Meetup.com

• EventBrite

• Handing out leaflets/business cards at conventions (whenever we've done this at Summer of Sonic we've always seen a surge in member numbers afterwards

• Word of Mouth. I always make sure to mention SonicLondon whenever I come across a Sonic fan. Its a good way of recruiting.

• Video game event directories (I actually run a UK one at my website 3DSBlessed, where I'd be happy to add any UK events. Not sure which US ones to recommend, just google it and try and get in as many as possible!)

 

4. What would you say is the best group size before considering a meetup?

Personally I would say 10. You won't have to wait forever to recruit 10 people, and if there are no-shows on the day you'll still have a happy little crowd.

 

5. Once it’s decided to have a meet up, where would you recommend the first meetup be?

Tough question. Here in the UK there's something of a pub culture, especially when it comes to geeky meet-up groups (talking as someone who's been to visit a fair few meetup.com groups). I was also aware that there were a lot of Sonic fans who, like me, were in their 20s, so holding it a pub was our natural choice of first venue. I believe in other countries things are a little different though. Also, holding a meet in a venue with age restrictions obviously rules out some of your potential attendees (although SonicLondon is actually 18+ regardless).

Parks are another option. As are arcades. I heard someone at the weekend say they were thinking of hosting a meet at a foodcourt, which I think is an awesome idea...

 

6. At each meet up, is there any particular method you use to keep the guests entertained so everyone has a good time?

Not really. I used to attend furmeets (the shame!) back in the day, and DS meets more recently, and the onus on them was for the members to mingle and entertain each other. So that’s how I initially ran SonicLondon, and certainly how I will continue to run some meets...

That said, at our 8th meet I bought a few small Sonic prizes from Forbidden Planet, and let staff member Cyburn borrow my deck of Sonic cards. He proceeded to kindly host some games of Blackjack with some of our attendees, which were very well received. At the meet gone by we expanded this so that, in addition to the return of Cyburn's Blackjack games we also had a handheld corner (with a Sonic Transformed tournament) and an art corner (again with contest). I enjoyed providing the guests with something to do and its something I'd certainly like to do again (although, like I said, perhaps not at every meet).

 

7. What are the hardest obstacles you’ve faced as an organizer, and how did you overcome them?

(Helen respectfully declined to answer for personal reasons)

 

8. Any extra thoughts you have on founding meetup groups, hosting meet ups, or anything of the sort?

My advice is ; if you're thinking about it, just go for it. Arranging these Sonic meets has been so worthwhile in so many ways. These include, but are not limited to ;

• Allowing me to see things -from the other side- (like I said before, I attended a lot of meet-up groups, but always wanted to experience things from the organisers' perspective. And now I have!

• More respect (both in the Sonic community and when attending meet-ups in general)

• Helped me hone my team leadership skills.

• Helped my job prospects (one of my previous jobs, which was a massive leg-up for me, was attained more or less because I had the event management skills I only acquired through running SonicLondon)

• Making new friendships and strengthening old ones. This is the reason I founded the group and is still something I treasure

• I can now say I've worked with Sega/Sumo Digital, Nintendo and Capcom (albeit in a small way)

• Allows me to contribute something back to the Sonic community where I've met so many awesome people.

Edited by Boss Ogilvie
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Sonic South California does not have a group just yet but I will be happy to report it when it has founded; Shayne has confirmed she will be forming one so those who enjoyed the Boom West meetup and others can have a meetup location. Speculation is about the first meet being at Johnny's Pizza in Newport; this is the restaurant that is half owned by Johnny Gioeli of Crush 40 fame.

Now, as for other news...

1235381_670985042913667_1682579985_n.jpg

This is more ambitious than a meetup but I figure for now this thread would be a good place to discuss. Inspired by Summer of Sonic and desiring to give more fans the same magic that SOS has that Boom lacks, Sonic Revolution is officially planned sometime in California in 2014. It will be a medium-sized convention, albeit not as big as Summer of Sonic by far (give it a few years). As it is a "revolution," the name is more one of a brand than for the specific event; as time goes on similar conventions are planned to be set up in other parts of the US. Think Comic Con having multiple cities, as an example, rather than there being just one Comic Con.

Right now, California looks to be the most promising location for a Sonic Revolution, but for those in other states, that's why I founded Sonic Social so you could make yourselves heard! smile.png The more voices one can get, the more plausible a Sonic Revolution could make its way to your region someday too! Let's all declare independence from lack of conventions together! (That was corny I know)

Sonic Revolution will also be developing its own website with updates, while also serving as a place meetup organisers can go to update their events (they will be admins of their own sections). Basically the site, while not working on major cons and reporting Sonic news, will fill the same role Sonic Social does on Facebook and deviantArt.

As a final note... I had suggested it be called the Sonic Spring. So thank Shayne for deciding that didn't have the same ring to it. tongue.png

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Well, I am now in Presscott, AZ for about 60% or more of the year due to college, so if someones up to a Arizona meetup, I think it should be in Presscot, and I would be willing to help, provided I am here.

My arguement is that A sonic revolution metting in Arizona should be held here is for a couple reasons,
A) its a realitively central location, if you dont mind the mountians, proably one of the better ones next to Pheonix, and one of the larger towns
B) It is less busy, and somewhat nicer climate than Pheonix, and is realitively less busy, so getting a location would be easier.
C)I am here, and currently do not have a car, so its the only way I could get to it, but seriously though, its within a couple of hours of both Pheonix and Flagstaff, and near the center of the state, so its not bad. And I would love to go to a meetup, I went to Star Wars Celebration 4 and had a blast, this is smaller, but meeting up with other fans is always fun, so hey, lets see,

and I guess this means you have me onboard for Arizona Olgive

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Well, I am now in Presscott, AZ for about 60% or more of the year due to college, so if someones up to a Arizona meetup, I think it should be in Presscot, and I would be willing to help, provided I am here.

I'd assume any Sonic Arizona meetup would probably be in the Phoenix area. But who knows, maybe you'll find some fans in your area!

My arguement is that A sonic revolution metting in Arizona should be held here is for a couple reasons,

You don't need to call it a Sonic revolution meet actually; any name you would like would be fine really since it'd be your event (presumably). The name is open to usage, though our intent is to use it primarily for the large, regional conventions that sprout up as time goes on. smile.png

I guess this means you have me onboard for Arizona Olgive

The group will be founded eventually I'm sure. I know of two other SSMB members in Arizona.

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I'd assume any Sonic Arizona meetup would probably be in the Phoenix area. But who knows, maybe you'll find some fans in your area!

You don't need to call it a Sonic revolution meet actually; any name you would like would be fine really since it'd be your event (presumably). The name is open to usage, though our intent is to use it primarily for the large, regional conventions that sprout up as time goes on. smile.png

The group will be founded eventually I'm sure. I know of two other SSMB members in Arizona.

Yeah, most would think of Pheonix, however getting anywhere, and prices are pretty high, Presscot is about as central(its an hour or two north), but has cheaper prices and less traffic. So yeah, lets pput it this way, if over half the people who want to participate are in the north, Presscot is a lot more convient, even if a few are in Pheonix its not that bad for them

So yeah just depends on where people are

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While Sonic Arizona's yet to form, I am happy to state our family has grown by two new groups yet again:

Sonic New York has been established as a home base for NY and nearby fans.

Sonic Florida has been established for the same purpose, albeit for those in proximity to Florida.

On more practical purposes, Sonic St. Louis has announced its first meetup! The meetup will be on September 28th at noon central time. The group will initially meet in front of the Pageant for nostalgia's sake before doing other things around the Delmar Loop.

I don't think I mentioned it in this thread, so just to be sure: Sonic Georgia has also announced its first meetup on September 28th! It will be held near the Anime Weekend Atlanta convention; attendees may discuss specifics on the event page.

Edited by Ogilvie Maurice
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Darn it you need to log into Facebook to see what Sonic New York entails. As much as I'm intrigued by that I don't prefer to use use FB, so would you mind relaying the general info for that meetup here?

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Darn it you need to log into Facebook to see what Sonic New York entails. As much as I'm intrigued by that I don't prefer to use use FB, so would you mind relaying the general info for that meetup here?

No meetup has been established just yet! These groups are basically just to help get members all in one place information-wise, and when the time is right, an actual meetup (in Facebook terms these would be events, not groups) is scheduled.

As meetups are planned I do intend to list them here.

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