This is not the Blog you are looking for........unless it's a interview with Shawn Smith "Indy Pop Con"

Good evening everyone and "Warm" Greetings!

This is the second addition of "This is not the Blog you are looking for" interview session and today's interview is truly exciting!

Indy PopCon is Indianapolis second major Con of the year that will not just be a comic con, but in their words "One Con to Rule them All!". A Con that will focus of Internet, Cos-Play events, gaming, comics, entertainment, and sooooo much more.

I was fortunate enough to have an interview with communications director Shawn Smith!

So, without further delay.....THE INTERVIEW!

1. Was it a sole member of the event coordination team that came up with the idea of Pop Con in Indy or was it a collaboration of minds.....like during a night of gaming where everyone was like "Pshhhh we could do that!"

It's something a few of us have been dreaming about for years.  We've all been big fans of conventions, and some of us have organized and participated in them as volunteers.  Eventually, we got tired of dreaming and did some research as to what it would take to do a convention, and we saw that there was a date open at the convention center.  That got us excited and before we knew it, we'd booked the date!

2. With Popconuary shelling out some amazing talent, do you have other announcement plans to bridge the gap between the remaining months?

Oh, yeah.  We really haven't even scratched the surface yet.  Popconuary wasn't about giving everyone all of our announcements all at once, it was actually about us catching up!  We have more guests and artists lining up every week, so expect to see news all the way up to the convention.  We haven't even begun talking about panels and workshops yet.
 

3. What should an attendee be most excited about? What most excites you about the Con?

We genuinely hope that our fans embrace the idea of discovering something new.  Most cons are very focused one one thing, whether it be comic books, video gaming, podcasting, or tabletop.  Sure, you might discover a random booth or two with something outside of the genre, but 90% of the experience will all be around the central theme.  Well our convention will have very large areas dedicated to podcasting, gaming, comic books, filmmaking, publishing, and more.  So if you've never heard a podcast, we hope you go to the alley and see what it's about, and discover some awesome new content to listen to at work.  Or if you've only ever played console games, you'll discover dozens of indie game makers like Gyrocopter Studios who are making amazing free to play games purely for the love of game making.

That's what excites us the most.  We hope no fan comes to the convention and leaves without finding something new, or learning something about the geeky industries we all know and love!

4. What makes this Con different than others in Indiana, why should someone choose Pop Con over another?

We love all cons, so if you're able to.... Attend them all!  You'll find us at most of them.  Choose PopCon if you're genuinely looking to enjoy a wide variety of cool content, or if you want to learn about creating content yourself.  That's our other big theme: content publishing.  Many of our guests and artists are podcasting, doing YouTube channels, creating art, and developing games full time, without a second job.  It is very possible to start your own geeky business, and we hope to help inspire and educate you on just how to do that.

We hope someone comes to the convention this year as a fan, then returns next year as an exhibitor!
 

5. Have any arrangements been made with other businesses (MicroBrews, local restaurants) in Indianapolis to make deals for Con guests?

Yes, we have a number of local partners we are talking to.  If you're from Indy, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much involvement we'll have from the local community.  If you're not from Indy, you'll get a great showcase of the city.

6. Can you explain in more detail about Street Team?

The street team is meant to be a way to help people get access to PopCon while helping to grow our convention.  If we could, we'd make all tickets free so everyone could come, but there are a lot of bills associated with running a convention!  But we understand money can be tight, so our proposition is simple.  Help us spread the word, and we'll get you into PopCon to say thanks.  We figure if you tell people to come when they normally wouldn't have heard of us, that's well worth covering your ticket entry, upgrade fees, and maybe even travel costs.  The more you promote, the more we're happy to do to make your PopCon experience even better.

7. How can someone become a part of Street Team?

Visit our website (www.indypopcon.com) and click the Get Involved tab, and select Street Team Registration.

8. Anything else you would like to share?

So far, fans have been directly responsible for us getting a 24-hour gaming hall, increasing our total space, and even us booking awesome guests like Joel Hodgson.  We didn't even think to make the call until dozens of fans voted MST3K as one of their favorite shows.  That opened our eyes!  We want your feedback, and we're listening.  If you have something you want to see, don't be shy about sharing it.  If we can we will.

Wow, I just can not express how excited I am about Pop Con! Not only are they going to bring in amazing talent and guests you want to see, but they are doing it right. Pop Con's promotion of the Con and interactions with Fans on social media makes this Con feel like a "Game night with friends" and not a business.

If you missed the live stream of Shawn being interviewed with Nigel and Hammer tonight, just copy and paste the link and enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oS8QYJGNtjg

Hope you all enjoyed the interview and hope to see everyone at Pop Con in May!

Kyle

@ShwoodyLove