Boskone 2022
Irene > February 24th, 2022, 12:05 PM
It is a whole new world. This convention decided that they were going to be Virtual and On-site.
Registration included checking of COVID shot documentation, Masks everywhere, and always.
The only complaint that I heard was from the Registration person. He hated needing to do double work, and then was expected to be able to transfer from one version to another.
So, at any given time there were several locations where a number of rooms showing the Virtual Panels, Virtual readings, and (perhaps) a room dedicated to recording a live presentation. The only thing you couldn't do were Virtual Kaffeeklatches, unless you had a computer. The virtual attendees, didn't have access to many of the panels, but since the mikes in one room were not useful (later fixed), they wouldn't have been able to hear anyway.
So, we had Ted Chiang, Allan Steele, Esther Freisner, Adam Stemple and Christine Taylor-Butler as authors in attendance, with Tamora Pierce, Bruce Coville, Steve Miller, Larry Niven and Jane Yolen attending virtually. We had Erin Underwood (on-site) interviewing Garth Nix (in Australia).
One evening I was sitting at the end of a long table in the Bar (for dinner). They didn't have iced tea, so I left to get one from Starbucks. When I got back, the rest of the table was filled by on-site artists: Sara Felix, Donato Giancola, Bob Eggleton and Marianne Plumridge (& ?Greg Feeley?Dan Seeley?).
Many of the panels I attended were good. A few were sleepers. I discovered that Star Wars has evolved way beyond the 9 movies, and I had fallen OUT of being part of things. There was a Star Trek panel on Sarek, and even there, I was out of touch.
The Con-suite consisted of 3 coolers of liquids, and a second table with a few bins of munchies. Eating was around the corner at some tables separated by curtains. The cake served at the "gala" was good, and the usual long line wasn't. Luckily, as a volunteer, I had access to the Staff Den, and got a couple of sandwiches (fruit & drink) during the weekend.
The dealer room was pretty empty of shoppers. I bought 3 books from Sally Kobbe DBA Larry Smith Books. Bought the long awaited 3rd book in a series from the author (Christine Taylor-Butler), and cruised the Art show. There were piles of books put out as give aways by the NESFA club. [I was asked to NEVER donate my book collection to NESFA.]
The Art show had some odd mail-in art, as they seemed to have inherited the art mailed in for Arisia (Canceled Jan-22, Boston), and had light attendance. What I did see was prints being sold, and a few of the $$$ priced art. I did my usual Art-show-tally clerk volunteering, so I watched the sold pieces go by. I helped one purchaser pull his art out of the frame, as it was easier to carry on the art to his flight home, than the frame. [I agree. I once spent the night after a convention making a box.]
There were readings, music and gaming that I didn't attend. The whole thing felt like a much smaller convention. [I once attended a convention at Brandise U, where the guests plus the volunteers, out numbered the attendees.] A much smaller convention but planned and produced by an experienced crew.