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Natural20's Random Thought Table - Last Chance to Confess! |
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Written by Brian Nisbet
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Aug 28, 2009 at 09:46 AM |
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Page 1 of 2 Brian tells us all about the history of ConFESS, and why you should go!
Seven or so years ago, the Flat Earth
Games Society, a group of people in Sligo, decided to run a con. There were quite a few other cons
in Ireland at the time, but none in the north-west and none between
the summer and Gaelcon. They'd run a couple of games days previous to
this, they had big ideas and lots of enthusiasm, so what could possibly
go wrong? The answer, a few weeks before their final con in Sligo on
the weekend of the 18th of September is, very little!
I wanted to write a piece about Confess and the Flat Earthers, partially
to try and encourage more people to head up to Sligo for their last
hurrah and partially to celebrate what they've done over the last few
years. Their successes, and their failures, also provide useful pointers
to anyone thinking about running their own event and looking back it's
pretty clear why Confess worked so well. First off, and most importantly,
the whole Flat Earth bunch were great and friendly people. Now, I've
never been privy to committee meetings or internal conversations, but
I'm willing to bet there was the odd falling out now and again, however
to the outside world here were a bunch of friendly, enthusiastic gamers
who wanted to run an event and do something for the hobby. The other
key word in there, after friendly, is enthusiastic. You couldn't miss
the Flat Earth Soc at a con. They had very obvious white t-shirts, they
ran and played games, they were active socially and you could see they
were doing what they did because they loved it. It's difficult not to
get excited by such enthusiasm and it gave them an excellent starting
point to try and convince people to come to Sligo for their con.
Of course they weren't relying on enthusiasm alone. As I mentioned,
they had really obvious t-shirts with individualised slogans on the
back and they were white, which is unusual enough at a con. And they
advertised, oh how they advertised. They talked to people, telling them
about the con, they had a website and flyers all over the place. They
talked to writers and got them interested and every opportunity they
got they told the community how wonderful the event was going to be.
They also posted to mailing lists and forums and made sure nobody forgot
what was going to be happening that weekend. It was difficult to miss
what was going on that weekend, so a reasonably bunch of us all decided
to go.
And when we got to the con proper we weren't disappointed. No, Confess
wasn't Warpcon or Gaelcon. It wasn't intended to be and I don't think
it was ever going to be, but it was a well run, fresh, enthusiastic
con. There were games, there were people and there was fun, all in sufficient
quantities. They reached the critical mass that pushes event over "a
bunch of people in a hall playing games" to "con" in
my head and the level of enjoyment was such that you could tell it was
going to happen again. Those of us who traveled really felt welcome
and there was a great sense of community, something that was to persist
over the years.
And the years passed by. The con moved a couple of times, most famously
to the Clarion Hotel in Sligo, a hotel built around an old mental hospital
with some truly strange architecture. The freshness was kept, as was
the sense of community and the quality level of the games remained similarly
high. There were a few glitches, of course. Sometimes games didn't run,
sometimes there were organisational screw-ups, but nothing major and
nothing that hasn't happened at every other event. The only time I can
remember the Flat Earthers making a decision I really didn't agree with
was with the pub quiz in the Clarion. Every ticket was numbered and
each table had four random numbers at it. The aim was to mix up all
the players to even out skill and get people to meet other people. Sadly
many of the gamers there, me included, hated the idea with a passion.
We felt that pub quizzes were as much about drinking with your friends
as they were answering questions, so we decided to game the system.
A quick hunt around found the eight numbers of the two tables who wanted
to sit together and things were rapidly swapped around. This was, I
should point out, after making our objections known to the con organisers.
This didn't go down terribly well with some of the other people there
but I certainly stand by my opinion now and I suspect I would do it
again. I've never been particularly fond of forced mixing. The organisers
acknowledged it was a risk, but it was a risk they were willing to take,
something I didn't mind as long as they didn't get upset about our reaction.
But enough about a minor blip amongst many successes. Confess pub quizzes
also featured the opportunity to vote for the next round (about three
pub quizzes were written, only a third or so of the rounds used) and
they were consistently fun (even if we did have to trek upstairs to
go to the bar!).
I have many other memories of the con, almost all happy. Whether it
be watching the committee making fools of themselves in their traditional
play every year, coming second in the Subbuteo final, playing many different
games or having quite a few pints and great conversations I can't think
of anything negative to ever associate with the event. And now, sensibly,
they are winding it all up. The organisers have moved on, most of them
out of Sligo. Their ability to run the con has diminished and seemingly
they'd prefer not to let the con wither, rather they want to go out
with a bang. I commend this. They started well and should finish well,
and I think that there's a lot cons can learn from the way they've done
things. If you've never been to a Confess, this is your last chance
to see, and if you have been before, why not head back one last time.
I'll be making my way up to Sligo to raise a glass to the Flat Earth
Games Society and to the memories they've given me over the years, they
deserve nothing less and a whole lot more.
Confess is running in the Sligo Southern Hotel from Friday 18th - Sunday
20th September. More details can be found at http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5694742977
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Comment by GUEST on 2009-08-28 11:23:08
Aww shucks. that just makes me feel all warm n' fuzzy!
Dave. |
Comment by GUEST on 2009-09-07 20:30:21
thanks brian. kind words. |
Comment by GUEST on 2009-09-10 16:26:17
Everyone!! Go to ConFess!! Sadly due to non countryness and work I won't make it but all the rest of you, go!! especially if you missed it til now, its your last chance.
Charles. |
Comment by GUEST on 2015-11-22 08:57:29
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Comment by GUEST on 2015-11-25 17:19:08
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Last Updated ( Aug 28, 2009 at 09:47 AM )
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