I'd actually been in San Diego attending Comicon since Friday, but since R2 didn't go to the con until today, I didn't have any R2 activities to blog about.
Thomas always does an outstanding job of arranging the transportation, and this year was no exception. The U-Haul pulled up to our hotel at 7:45am, right on time. Our panel was scheduled from 10:00am-11:00am, so we allowed ourselves plenty of time to load the truck and commute to the convention center.
Mike Senna came up with an effective way to bolt our droids onto our wooden carts, and then tightly secure the carts to the truck wall with ratchet straps. Still, it's always a little nerve-racking when you shut the truck door behind you.
Thomas also arranged for a van to drive us to the convention center. It's about a 15 minute trip.
We unloaded at the loading dock, and wheeled the droids in through the back corridors, until we reached our Room 11 destination. Since we're the first panel of the day, we don't have to wait for a prior panel to let out before setting up.
Since we were still a bit early, I went downstairs to check out the convention floor for a few minutes. Open for 5 minutes, and it's already pretty packed.
After that, I headed back up to Room 11, and the line that was waiting outside was allowed in.
At 10:00am, it was showtime!
As the moderator, I had our panelists introduce themselves one-by-one, and then we transitioned to the various topics of our panel, such as club membership, build tools and techniques, electronics, and frequently asked questions (e.g. build time, droid weight, etc.), among others.
The panel was reasonably well attended.
Toward the end, we showed off our gadgets. Using an Apple TV as our connection to the projector, Amy Senna was able to take control of the display with her iPhone, and do close-ups for the people in the audience that would otherwise have trouble seeing the demonstrations from a distance.
We ended with questions from the audience, followed by pictures (and more questions) in the adjacent hallway, and then it was a wrap!
We reversed the process and took the droids back into the loading dock and onto the U-Haul.
On the 80 mile drive back home, I think a car in front of me was calling me out.
I really enjoyed our panel and the whole convention experience this year, hopefully we'll get to do it again next year.
Tina Bosse streamed the panel on Facebook, so if you're interested, hopefully this link will work: https://www.facebook.com/tina.bosse.86/videos/10217058022141529/
No comments:
Post a Comment