Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
You're currently viewing the Jolene Blalock - We Want Brunette Jolene SciFi Fan Forum as a guest.

This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. We do not release ANY email information at the Brunette Jolene Board!!

As a new memeber your access will be limited until you have 10 posts. Once you reach that level other sections of the Forum will open up.

Due to spam we have blocked certain IP and email addresses. If you are having difficulty with registration, please email the board admin using the link and request to be added manually.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
JumpCon
Topic Started: 24 May 2008, 15:24 (299 Views)
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

For those interested, apparently there's a whole series of conventions being put on by this company all over America in the coming months. Connor's at three of the cons--Stamford, Conn. (July 11-13); Boston (July 18-20); and Detroit (Aug. 22-24).

But they also have Vaughn Armstrong (and his Enterprise Blues Band), whom I think is at all of the cons (along with the band), as well as other actors from the various Treks...

Plus various cons have people from stuff like the classic Doctor Who (they've got Jamie McCrimmon, among others, including several of the Doctors), Red Dwarf (I saw both Hollys listed several times in different places), nuBSG, and a bunch of other shows that I'm blanking on at the moment.

My best friend is thinking about going to the one in Covington in September, though if we could afford it, I would be willing to go to Detroit with her in August. Though Covington's good too--Jamie McCrimmon's going to be there. :)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ms Atoz
Member Avatar
Andorian Lieutenant
I wouldn't mind going to the Jumpcon in northern Kentucky for a day. Last I saw, Casey Biggs & Vaughn Armstrong were on the schedule for that one. I'd love to meet them both.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

^
Otherwise known as the "Enterprise Blues Band" :)

Unfortunately, there's an announcement on this forum dated 11 June that the location of the JumpCon event for 5 Sep has been changed from Covington, Kentucky, to Atlanta, Georgia. :(
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ms Atoz
Member Avatar
Andorian Lieutenant
:-/ Well, I guess there's always Louisville. Not quite as convenient, but far enough out that I could conceivably have money enough for a day there. Maybe I'm just not meant to go to another convention for awhile.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

Looking at their redesigned site (which also has a new addy, it's at jumpcon.net now), apparently they moved the Covington con from the beginning of September to October 10-12 instead. But they're still adding info to the site and don't list who's supposed to be there now or any other details at the moment.

So you'd have an extra month to save up money for it... and if your boyfriend won't go, you could probably talk me into going, LOL.

After all, the last time I looked before they made all the changes to the site, I remember they listed Frazier Hines as being there and I've always had a soft spot in my heart for dear old Jamie McCrimmon from Doctor Who... among other DW actors whom I wouldn't mind seeing.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

Hmmm... looks like Jumpcon has cancelled six of their conventions altogether, including the Covington one (again). This is what the message says when you click on the link for it:

Quote:
 
Due to conflicts with other conventions and a lack of interest in this venue, Covington is being rationalized to conserve resources for other venues. We regret the inconvenience to fans who were planning to attend. Refunds are being issued, or credit issued for another venue if desired.


Rather odd phrasing, that it is being "rationalized"... why the heck don't they just say 'cancelled' in that statement, it's what they have on the 2008 convention dates page. It would certainly be much clearer what they heck they mean. It just sounds bizarre the way it's written... and I'm pretty sure that what they intend that word to mean doesn't mean that as a verb...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

I think I'm going to pass on these conventions, mostly because I see that Robert Picardo (on his myspace page) has stated that he is not going to their Boston convention nor any other dates they have him listed for, because the JumpCon personnel have not met their contractual obligations to him. And he adds, that as far as he knows, they have not met them for any of the other actors listed either...

And they cancelled the convention that was closest to me (Covington), and the next closest, Louisville, has exactly one person now that I would actually want to see, but that one person is not someone that you could get me to drive for 3.5 hours just to see...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rigil Kent
Member Avatar
Moderately Evil (but Depressed) Mastermind

What's up with these cons going under all of a sudden? I don't think I've heard of this sort of craziness before ...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

:shrug:

Don't know. I know FedCon USA overreached themselves by trying to trade in on the name of the German convention also called FecCon (which is established, and was originally part of the organizers, though they apparently pulled out in January and no one--neither those in FedCon or FedCon USA's organizations bothered to tell anyone that until much, much later, 'round about May, actually. They also tried to have about 25 stars in what was a first time convention. The organizer (among others) apparently did not take into account the upfront costs of having so many guests, and was counting on walk-in traffic to offset some of the costs. However, his actions (in particular regarding the nuBSG actors, though there were others he also screwed over) in the week or so prior to the convention virtually killed any chance of that happening, which is why Fedcon USA failed.

I think part of the problem with JumpCon is that they set up this huge schedule, covering from like the end of June until sometime in December or January of next year, with conventions practically every weekend, with a ton of stars... Again, this is their first time, and they really should have tried a bit less ambitious schedule for their first year.

They had an idea of having the sets or whatever packed up in a truck and moving it from city to city each weekend or something (I only glanced at some of the comments over at their forum, so I'm not positive how exactly they were planning to get the sets disassembled, loaded onto the truck, driven to the next city on the list in some cases which is a straight-through drive of 15-18 hours in spots on the original schedule, and then reassemble them at the next convention site and be ready to go...

And again, there is a lot of upfront costs--if they don't get the ticket sales to cover the cost for that city, they're screwed. And having the same actors at conventions in relatively close proximity of each other within a few weeks' time is not going to help. Really, they should have at least had different groups of actors at, say, Detroit and Cleveland, or at Cleveland and Pittsburgh, or whatever. (I'm not saying they're all the same, only that there is an overlap--or at least was when I was looking through the listing a few weeks ago--between certain cities. I just used Detroit/Cleveland and Cleveland/Pittsburgh as examples of conventions in close proximity.)

Some people have complained that they scheduled conventions on the same weekend as this or that convention. I don't, honestly, think that is as much of a drain as they do, however. This is a smaller con, and those tend to draw a different crowd than the ones who go to things like DragonCon in Atlanta. I personally hate the larger cons, precisely because they are so impersonal, and after tasting one of Creation's cons and Shore Leave, I have no particular desire to go to either again (though Shore Leave was at least reasonably priced, even if they had the rather annoying habit of scheduling everyone I wanted to see against each other and then I'd have several hours with no one I wanted to see, then more people opposite each other...)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

Hmmm... this other site has a bunch of people talking about the stuff that's been going on over at JumpCon the past few weeks--be sure and read all of it:

Con-news

Doesn't sound like the people who are running JumpCon learned too much from FedCon USA to me, because a lot of it sounds like the same stuff that went on over at FedCon USA's forum in the couple of weeks prior to that disaster...

Really, I do hope the convention does go off without a hitch, for the sake of those who did buy tickets for it...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

And another Trek actor bites the dust from JumpCon's Boston event--from their forum, posted by "Emperor":

Quote:
 
We were sorry to learn that John Billingsley has decided not to join up in Boston. We hope to be able to book him in a event in the future. Thank you John very much.


ETA: Offhand, I think if John's not going, then Bonita is probably gone as well, since she is his wife... though the convention organizers didn't say that she was not going to be there.

But it sounds (to me, at least) as though John does not want to be in the same situation as he was last month at Fedcon...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ms Atoz
Member Avatar
Andorian Lieutenant
Wow! This is too bad about JumpCon, but not surprising, I guess. Glad I didn't have my heart set on going.

And I'm still waiting for my Fedcon USA refund. I hate to be cynical, but I think I'll be waiting a long time for it.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

^
Me too. I hear that the wife of the guy (Tim) who was supposed to be in charge of the convention, posted over at the TrekUnited forum that Tim was a victim too, and we should all feel sorry for him (or words to that effect, I haven't read the posts in question myself, so I don't know if it's true or not).

Uh, yeah, right... :rolleyesrequest:

It'd be nice if the refund did show up around November, though. I could certainly use it when it comes to the slew of birthday and Christmas presents I'm going to have to buy then... but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

Well, looks like the convention this week won't be going forward, either. Don't know if any of the future dates have been cancelled as well... This was at the JumpCon site this afternoon:

Quote:
 
Announcement to fans coming to JumpCon Boston:

I regret to announce the cancellation of our Boston event. Many factors that needed to come together to make it happen simply did not. We tried everything humanly possible and were unable to overcome the insurmountable obstacles. This is not to say that I don't take the blame myself, I do. I wanted to see this succeed so badly that I was blinded to some warning signs that should have been obvious. If I have learned anything through this process it's that running a convention business is far more intricate and fraught with peril than it seemed at the outset. I fully apologize to all the fans who've been inconvenienced by this late announcement and assure them that we're in the process of getting you all refunds. I know there are airfare and other considerations for which you will be liable and for that I am truly sorry. I wanted to let you know today rather than keep trying to pull this off and end up like FedCon USA where the fans were already in attendance. Please accept my humble apology, but I'll understand if you can't.

To all the consultants and industry experts that were brought in to help; I
thank them and hold them blameless as they advised me and tried to do what they could to help. They should not be held accountable for my actions, they should be lauded for what they did try to accomplish based on what they had to work with.

To all of the media guests that were to appear at our events; I want to say
- I am sorry that this has happened and has put some of you into your own
troubles by declining work, saying no to other conventions, and other
issues. My intentions were honorable and I expected to be able to salvage
things but at this point it seems I cannot.

Sincerely,
Shane XXXXXX


(Note--I x'd out his last name when I copied it.)

ETA: Apparently, according to someone over at TrekBBS, JumpCon has gone out of business entirely. So no future cons as well...
Edited by Jedikatie, 15 Jul 2008, 13:09.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Reanok
Member Avatar
Vice Admiral
:rolleyesrequest: I feel sorry for all the fans who wnated to go to Jumpcon it sounds like they planed too many actors to come to these Conventions. Sorry for the actors and their fans both. A real shame. :crazy: :fight: :frying pan: :greedy: :skull: Crazy how all this stuff has happened with these conventions lately.
Edited by Reanok, 16 Jul 2008, 11:11.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jedikatie
Member Avatar
Moderate you, I will...

Apparently, according to one of the posters at that blog (Con news) I listed above, the organizers of the convention didn't even notify the Boston Sheraton that they were canceling it. The hotel found out the same way the people who bought tickets to it did, by reading the announcement on the web...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Kevin Thomas Riley
Member Avatar
High Acolyte in the Church of T'Pol Worship
Gah, why am I not surprised!? :rolleyesrequest:

This has not been a good year for cons... too many cons in the con business! (Yeah, bad pun, I know...)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Reanok
Member Avatar
Vice Admiral
Some of the angry fans have decided to file complaints against Jumpcon hoping to get their money back. I hope they won't be ripped off like the folks at Dedcon were. :rolleyesrequest: :pokestick:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Conventions · Next Topic »
Add Reply