SyntheSonic 2015 Convention - Las Vegas, Nevada, August 7, 2015

[Tani Coyote]

http://synthesonic2015.eventbrite.com/

All ages are welcome to Las Vegas' first Sonic convention! Tickets are only $2.50 and are mostly to pay for 8.5x11" event posters.

Where: Grand Ballroom, UNLV Student Union (you don't need to be a student to attend or get on campus); Las Vegas, Nevada.

When: Friday August 7, 2015, 10 AM - 7 PM

Exactly as it says on the tin.

With no Sonic Revolution this year, and the chances of no Sonic Boom high, I figured I'd give a west coast Sonic convention a try.

Unlike Casino Nights, my first attempt, this one is actually extremely feasible - I was able to book the venue for free due to club sponsorship. All money can thus be focused entirely on the actual event itself.

Our venue of choice is huge and modern, and has room for several hundred attendees. Who doesn't want an excuse to visit Las Vegas, anyway?

Anyone wanting to serve as staff, volunteers, or talent are welcome; feel free to send me a message so we can discuss!

No guests can be confirmed at this time, but I'll be posting to confirm their attendance if applicable.

I hope to see you all there!

[Hunter Hedgehog]

Sound's cool! i'll check it out!

[Tani Coyote]

We raised $10 of the $3,500.

I am not at all discouraged from holding this sort of the event in the future, but it's apparent that it will have to be out of pocket like every other event, at least to start with.

I give my thanks to everyone who gave moral and/or financial support, and hope to get an event like this off the ground in the future.

[Blue Blood]

Maybe not totally out of pocket, but I think it's important that you get some things fully pencilled down and get folks on board before launching a Kickstarter. Perhaps a smaller event (more like a social gathering) would be the best way to go about it to begin with. Its a shame that this didn't work out, and I wish you better luck next time.

[Rurifuu]

It's a real shame that you weren't able to raise the funds, but the important thing is that you tried. The $3,500 you were looking for was a lot to raise for a first convention, but I'm disappointed there wasn't at least a little more in the way of donations.

 

My advice to anyone would be to test out the waters first. Weston Super Sonic was literally a gamble. I'm not a massive personality in the Sonic community, I only belong to these forums and most of my Sonic fan friends are based in the US. I knew I wanted to do something around my birthday. After exhibiting at a wide variety of conventions to gain experience, I decided to try and host a my own mini event. I hired out a community hall for £70, sorted out a few pieces of gear for the games tournament, got some paper and pencils, made a mountain of cupcakes and invited some of my friends along. I sent out the invite to everyone else to see if a convention could happen.

 

It was a lovely surprise that people I had never met before actually turned up for a little convention, despite the bad weather before the event. The feedback was amazing as well, which spread around the community. Next thing I know, I have an excellent co-host to throw ideas off of and we have a crazy dream to host at the Grand Pier in the near future... what we didn't expect was the support of the community we got to actually make it happen this year!

 

The advantage of starting off with a small convention, is that even if the only people who turn up are your friends, at least you could still have a fun time. The larger convention is something to aim for, but it may take some time to build up to it. My first event cost me about £200, most of that going towards the hall and the projector.

[Tani Coyote]

I guess that was my ultimate issue; I wanted to be sure the event had all the bells and whistles, which meant at least a few guests. The venue itself was 100% free thanks to my partnership with the university's club.

It sounds like one doesn't need all those to have a great event, though!

I might still be tempted to try this after all... I'll need to regroup and make my decision fast though. I still haven't gotten word from the venue whether or not the date is available.

[Tani Coyote]

Annnnd I decided to give it a go and throw up an Eventbrite.

I did want to offer general admission for free, but I wanted to be able to cover the costs of event posters. I also wanted to deter grab and dashers... Sonic Revolution sold 200 free tickets, and only 50 or so showed up.

The $2.50 price tag also covers EventBrite's fees.

I should still have a good roster of activities even without special guests. I will try to get at least one if the budget allows, though.

[Tani Coyote]

After a month plus without a single ticket sale, I decided it was best to retire this.

 

I think I would have more success if I had special guests to draw people in, though I also really need to build a more grassroots community. While SoCal's community is pretty tight knit thanks to all the SEGA events there, Las Vegas is a bit lacking.

 

I'm still determined to have some sort of event in the future (the third time hopefully being the charm), but I've reasoned I'll need to be able to go for broke on that one, ticket sales, fundraising, etc. be damned.

 

On the plus side this allows me to conserve my energy and resources to help get Sonic Revolution's next event going.

 

I appreciate all the support I've gotten from the community and give my thanks. Maybe one year I can make this a reality...