Match Game at SiliCon: Good Show

[kevin_standlee]

As is often the case, there was some technical worries over this morning's setup for Match Game SF. It turns out to have been very useful for Lisa to have brought her new speakers and the full scale tech kit. Kudos to her for being able to get things running when the primary tech had problems getting their equipment back online from last night. It was also very lucky that the panel scheduled for the ballroom at 10 AM was canceled, because we needed that extra hour of set-up time to get everything in place for our Noon start time.

Everything came together in the end, and we had a great show this afternoon.

From left to right: Host Kevin Standlee and panelists Glenn Glazer, Kevin Roche, Andy Trembley, Sara Bruce, Chris Garcia, and Leigh Ann Hildebrand.

The stage here is only just barely big enough to hold one contestant table and two panelist tables, and doing riser-on-riser is always a problem, so the six panelists sat side-by-side rather than stacked front-and-back.

Watch on YouTube

Our regular panelists were joined by Glenn Glazer of Westercon 64 and Sara Bruce.

Watch on YouTube

Chris Garcia gives the camera the hairy eyeball while Leigh Ann Hildebrand lives up to her slogan: "Why Am I here? To match!"

Thank you so much to everyone who worked so hard to make the show happen. We may have had about thirty people in the audience, but given the relatively anemic attendance here at SiliCon, that's not too bad. And for a change, we gave away quite a few of our bonus-round prizes, with three of our six finalists hitting the Super Match for prizes including a membership to Westercon 64 and a copy of The Turtle Moves donated by the North American Discworld Convention. I hope David W. Clark didn't die of shock when someone actually came to him to redeem one of the $20 Cargo Cult gift certificates that have been sitting in the prize bin for several years now without having been won.

We did a full six games (three games, a break, then three more games). I think that's only the second or third time we've ever done six, and I'd forgotten how exhausting it can be to do that many. I don't notice it while I'm doing the show, but after we're packed out of the room, the reaction starts to set in. I can see why the star might need a dressing room in which to decompress after the show. In my case, being the executive producer as well, I don't have quite that much flexibility -- besides, we had to go get lunch! While I'd had a full breakfast, Lisa had only had a croissant to eat all day.

After eating, we came back to the hotel and brought my computer down to sit across from the Westercon 64 table while I helped travelswithkuma with his photos and uploaded photos from the Westercon 64 party last night.

Now we have a little break for a couple of hours before the 1000th of meeting of BASFA, which will be this evening in the Doubletree Hotel's "Quiet Bar," that being where BASFA started nearly twenty years ago. Then we'll need to pack up most of our stuff and I'll need to repack for tomorrow, as I must get out of here in the morning and fly to Chicago for the week for a business meeting.

Comments

[ex-frankwu.livejournal.com]

I am bummed I couldn't be there.

What were some of the questions?

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but you had to be there. I expect to re-use nearly all of the package at Norwescon next year because the audience is unlikely to overlap, so I'd rather not give away questions. :(

[ex-frankwu.livejournal.com]

Ah, that makes sense. Norwescon... dang, I wish I could go...

[lindadee.livejournal.com]

What was the attendance for Silicon, and was it up from past years, or down? Enquiring minds want to know.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Reportedly around 600 people, but it felt much smaller. The Doubletree SJ is simply the wrong size for the event at its current size. It would be like a 500-person Norwescon -- a handful of peas tossed into a 50-gallon drum.

It was about the same size as last year, which felt similarly sparse.