[Deptheads] The Saga Of The Three Con Names

Tue Apr 30 21:34:52 PDT 2013

Too many threads. I, too, would love to see a convention history written. I
think it would be a nice little article to provide the community as an
e-book.

I agree with those who have said that theming the conventions is unlikely
to bring any value while it definitely runs the risk of ostracizing some
gamers who will think it isn't for them.

I love the individual convention names and hardly think it is difficult to
keep them apart...but I'm clearly in the minority here. I can tell you that
when I talk about Strategicon outside of SoCal, it makes no sense to people
and just confuses things. Every one of our out-of-state guests has reacted
that way, the publishers do, and the attendees from a distance feel the
same way. So, it is pretty clear they aren't doing us any good. Keep them
in name only. Advertising should talk about Strategicon Winter and when you
get there, no one will care that the shirt references Orccon, Gamex, or
Gateway (mostly just to keep the history alive). Banners should just be
Strategicon - everything when you get there, Strategicon. It's just the
marketing that will refer to the seasons (or months, although I really
prefer the seasons, which sound grander and avoid the unfortunate fact that
Gateway sometimes starts in August, not September).

When you are marketing stuff, simple is best. That's my two quatloos...

On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 6:57 PM, Victor B <fhoenix88 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Good stuff.
> I also have conbooks for krryssie as Alan E. was one of the people to
> found GAMA (and was their first VP) and his bio states he founded Orccon in
> 1977 (Orange county convention).
> HMGS was not founded until 1986 (although the proposition to start a
> national historical miniature gaming society was proposed in 1981 according
> to Courier magazine.).
> I don't hear much about the founding and start of Gamex and Gateway. I
> know who some of the original owners were and people who worked those cons
> as staff but the genesis is a mystery.
> I would love to know the complete history too. Back in 1977 we only heard
> about local cons as well as gencon thru Dragon Magazine. Social media was
> your local and school newspaper. Our archiving sucked.
>
> V
>
>    *From:* Michael Russell <mikeinva8 at mac.com>
> *To:* deptheads at strategicon.net
> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 30, 2013 6:02 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [Deptheads] The Saga Of The Three Con Names
>
> When I get home next week I will send you all that I have, I am away in
> Slovenia right now.  I agree it would be a interesting factoid.
>
> Mike
> On May 1, 2013, at 2:59 AM, Kryssie <phantom.hopscotch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Would someone supply me with the history of the convention please?  It's
> interesting factoids usable in the tours.
>
> Kryssie M.
> Marketing Monkey
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On 2013-04-30, at 5:56 PM, Michael Russell <mikeinva8 at mac.com> wrote:
>
>  Actually son of Orccon was a one time convention they tried in November,
> but it never took off. Orccon has always had the same name and time of
> year.  I have the complete early history of the cons as written my Alan E.
> one of he founders of the cons on my home computer, it was in one of the
> Con books years and years ago.
>
> Mike
> On May 1, 2013, at 2:52 AM, Tim <Tim at stugiii.com> wrote:
>
>      Actually Orccon was founded by HMGS.  I believe it was "Orccon", then
> "Son of Orccon".  It reverted back to "Orccon" after that.  Orccon = Orange
> County Convention which is where it was originally held.
>
> Someone besides John has to give history lessons on occasion...
>
> Tim
>
>
> On 4/30/2013 4:18 PM, Victor B wrote:
>
>
>  Thanks for all the input everyone.
> Orccon was first and was established in 1977. The other 2 followed. The
> original founder from 77 plus some of the other previous owners are
> vendors at our con, and/or support our con. I even met 2 previous owners at
> GAMA--one from the 80s and one from the 90s. They both talked fondly of the
> con and started sentences off with "back in 1995 when I ran the con....".
> Neither has lived in cali for many years. We have a rich 36 year history.
> There are less than a handful of people, like Ryan, that have been with
> this con over 25 years and been a part of 70+ of it's conventions. This con
> will still be going when most all of us have moved on.
>
> I mentioned Orccon, Gamex and Gateway versus strategicon 3X a year (feb,
> may, sept) because I wanted everyone here to put in their 2-cents before we
> made a decision.
> I wanted everyone to hear what Ryan, Norm, Mike Russell, Mike Fryer, Eric
> N., Eric B., and Kryssie had to say as well as supervisors and others on
> this list. Your input is valuable.
> Thanks
>
> V
>
>
>   *From:* Michael Russell mailto:mikeinva8 at mac.com <mikeinva8 at mac.com>
>
> *To:* deptheads at strategicon.net
> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 30, 2013 1:52 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Deptheads] The Saga Of The Three Con Names
>
>  Ok just wanted to get my two cents in on this before the final word
> comes down.  I think that we need to have either Strategicon or the name of
> the conventions on the banners for few reason.  One, not only are people at
> the hotel for the convention, but a lot of guest of the hotel walk through
> wondering what is going on.  With out Strategicon or the con names  on the
> banners there is NOTHING advertising who we are. When working the reg desk
> many many times people have noted the name Strategicon or the con name when
> asking what was going on.  Second if someone is new to the cons, this
> reaffirms they are in the right place, and with a move coming soon, I think
> we need this more than ever.
>
>  As for the names of the Cons (Orccon, Gamex, Gateway) they have been
> those name for over 25-30 years(Yes me and Eric A. have been going to these
> con for that long), and have worked well (by the way for those of you that
> don't know this, Orccon stood for Orange county Convention) not the ugly
> beast :)   When ever I think of changing the names I think of companies
> that did that and it was a disaster - Think Radio Shack trying to change to
> "The Shack" how well did that work for them?   And all three names are
> something easy to remember, so when they get home and google it, right of
> the bat, strategicon come up, and that is what we want.
>
>  As for each Convention having a "Theme" not bad but like someone else
> said have it very low key, like the program cover art of one con be board
> games, another war games and another RPG.  We do not want people saying "Oh
> I don't go to Gamex because that is there RPG con", we might loose people
> to something like that.
>
>  So that is my two cents worth.
> Mike Russell
>
>
>
>
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