( Adobe book ) I'll add this was the most socially enjoyable VividCon for me, and I've attended five VVCs. {g} I consider myself mostly an introvert, thus, it didn't bother me much that my first couple VVCs (2002 + 2006) had very minimal social experiences. I got to listen to informative panels and watch amazing vids, plus, the location of Chicago afforded many historic sites on an accessible public transit system with a reasonably working online trip planner... and everything was fairly affordable. If any of y'all live or have visited Florida, our public transit system is seriously lacking. Politely *asking* for help usually does work in Chicago. I've had complete strangers help me out of lost situations.
As a newbie in 2002, I was given the heads-up about 'cliques' from con-experienced vidders, even though that was the first VVC. Cliques exist everywhere in life, and it's not the concom or any other attendee's fault I wasn't very social. For the past 2-3 years, it was a bit of a joke that the 'next year' would be the one where I'd say more than half a dozen words to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sockkpuppett, and it's not because I'm 'intimidated' by her--she's very friendly--but it's just how things ended up. This past VVC I finally got more than half a dozen words... and it only took years later. {chuckle}
I don't know what expectations each person has going in, but ultimately, I did end up chatting with more new folk than folk I saw for years. svmadelyn was very nice to organize a small group to tour Chicago on Thursday and I felt it acted as an 'icebreaker' for some new attendees, and talitha78 generously still took a group of us for a 'Field trip', even though she wasn't feeling well.
For me, each year I've attended VVC has gotten better as I've grown accustomed to folk, and I know if a person wants to chat with me, I'm not going to give them the 'cold shoulder' but I'm just not a naturally chatty person. Got to 'jump start' me a bit and I'll talk. Porn usually works for me, especially Erica Durance. ;-D Seriously, vidding topics and/or asking about fannish interests. Or if you need help or something else, just ask. Personally, I think the VVC staff has done a very good job in managing this convention. This year was the first time I volunteered, and even when I had a complete fail moment and I was internally cussing myself out for my failure, as busy as elynross was, she took an extra moment to say 'it's okay' and basically, unlike Odyssey 5, the Earth won't explode.
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