VoyPix.zip (531726 bytes)
DL Time (32000 bps): < 5 minutes
Our party out here in West Texas was a great success!!!
Forgive me while I gripe for a second here..... As I mentioned last week, I got the unfortunate news that the Hard Drive Gaming Center, my primary STCCG retailer was closing his CCG operations. So I spent the majority of last week scouting alternate locations while nagging Hard Drive into letting me hold the event prior to closing. They agreed, only to find out that they had canceled their Voyager order through their distributor, so I had to get back to nagging about merchandise.
Whew - thanks. Feel much better now. Amazingly, everything came together - we even got our product in on time, and for the record, one preconstructed deck box and two booster boxes sold out within a day of their arrival - I had to ask the Hard Drive staff to hold back some merchandise for the event - and that sold through before the end of the first hour!! Yes, I think they got the hint ....
Anyway, on to specifics:
- Approx. attendance: We had 18-20 folks show up, which I was very happy with. There were several other folks who couldn't make it because of high school graduations or the Memorial Day Holiday, so the numbers could have been higher. We had two guys, Geoff Midler and Braxton Thomasson, who drove in from Austin for the event.
- Any news coverage: No, not a bit. While disappointed, this didn't surprise me. We don't have a UPN station here, our local FOX affiliate carries Voyager. When I contacted FOX about their event, they were not real interested. Our CBS affiliate did show some interest at first, but backed away when they discovered they would be providing their competitor (FOX) with free coverage. Same story with radio and print media. Part of our problem was that one of the area high schools - Christoval High, had their graduation ceremony, and their guest speaker was a famous alumni - Colby Donaldson from the lastest Survivor TV Series.
- Any highlights of the night? Yes, I had five people show up from the Enterprise-Tardis Connection (our local Science Fiction Club). I've been after these folks to show up for over a year now, so I was very pleased.
I provided cakes, sodas, chips and salsa - so there was more than enough food available. (BTW, you must provide salsa with chips in Texas - it's a state law I think...). I had three small cakes, one blue with a Federation symbol, one red with the Klingon trefoil, and one green with the Romulan "bird". These cakes went over surprisingly well - and there were no leftovers.
The box of boosters Decipher sent were a great hit - Thanks!!! With the booster box, the ST Fan Club material, and some ST stuff I provided (mostly old Trek Micromachine Starships), I had more than enough stuff to hand out. I gave each person that attended the choice of a "pack or a toy" - and the packs were a three-to-one preference. I borrowed an earlier idea I saw on the Ambassador list and gave out additional rares from my stock to folks who pulled a bridge crew or a USS Voyager - we had a USS Voyager, Janeway, Chakotay, The Doctor, and Tom Paris pulled.
During the Voyager viewing, I held each attendee "vote" for the first regular crew member seen after a commercial break. The person that guessed correctly one another "pack-or-toy" prize. This event was probably the most popular activity of the night, and reinforced their attention to the show.
Unfortunately, after the episode finished, most of the attendees had to go. I had 4-5 players stay around afterwards - two wanted to play a Voyager Warp Speed game, but all the decks were sold out. I offered them the decks Decipher provided me to play with - but they decided to play a full game Klingon vs Klingon as it turns out.
- Any new people show interest in the Voyager set? Not really - most of the attendees where STCCG regulars. The Enterprise-Tardis folk politely declined and left after the show. No matter, I got them to come once, maybe next time....
- Any photos to see? Yes (see attached).
- Negatives. As stated above, I am thrilled it went off as well as it did!! I would like to mention two problems - fortunately they were minor.
First, I had a real problem with the support being sent to the location instead of me. Since the store was looking to close their gaming operations, they were sending back any unsolicited packages. I was terrified they we going to return my support package, but I nagged the Hard Drive staff enough that they knew to hold on to the box for me. Hopefully, I was the only event coordinator with this problem.
And, like other Ambassadors have mentioned, I was disappointed with the small amount of ST Club material sent. (I will say, one of the Sci-Fi Club members was absolutely thrilled with the Captain Calhoun action figure - most of my STCCG guys were unimpressed).
All in all, a great event and a great night. Hope we have some sort of event for "Borg" expansion.