The Head of Dragon*Con

By: Dennis Rayburn
10/05/2009

Imagine your favorite science fiction, fantasy, or gaming convention, complete with all the guests, activities, parties, costumes, fun, fellowship, and total zaniness that goes with it. Then take that and multiply it by a factor of four and you get near to the controlled chaos that is Atlanta's Labor Day tradition, known as Dragon*Con. Originally started in one hotel, it has grown to where it totally fills up four hotels in the heart of Atlanta, and several overflow hotels around the city. The only thing harder to get in the immediate area of the convention than a room is a parking place as many local folks commute daily to the events.

Heading up the army of volunteers to keep this mass of humanity, partying, and organized chaos under control is Pat Henry, the Chairman of Dragon*Con. Originally the owner of a chain of comic book shops, Henry became part of Dragon*Con from it's inception, starting out running the dealer room. After a year or so, the treasurer quit and he took over those responsibilities, finally becoming Chairman in 2001 and retaining it to this day. In the early years, it was in one hotel, and when counting the attendance, they would, “..count anybody. We would count anybody who could have possibly been counted as an attendee, whether it was a pass, press, guest, guest of guest, box of missing badges, whatever we could. We were looking to get numbers. Now that is not the case.”

The hotels that have hosted the convention has changed with the years and the needs of the group, starting with the Piedmont, then the Omni, then a few years later moving to the Hilton. Now, the convention is held not only in the Hilton, but also in the Sheraton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotels. In 2009, convention goers could go from the Marriott to the Hilton by an enclosed bridge over the busy road between them and according to Henry, the Hyatt plans to build one connecting it to the Marriott as well.

Henry heads up a staff with 9 senior directors, and under them about 80 directors, which head up the total staff which, in 2009, numbered over 1,800 people. From personal experience, I can tell you that Henry's army of volunteers are top notch. During the attempt to set the world record for the Thriller dance this year, Jill's backpack and camera went missing. She notified the staff and the items were recovered extremely rapidly, much to our relief.

Henry believes that part of the convention's success is first, the southern hospitality, and the fact that they don't worry about what this convention or that convention does, or who attracts and who doesn't. They work to bring in what their attendees want and the people they want to see. Another key to their success is that they feature many different genres, and do not lock into one specific one.

Henry is not the type who sits back and enjoys the fruit of a successful convention. At the time of our interview, he had already been working, booking guests for the 2011 convention, and starting the process of making arrangements for them. In fact there are facets of the convention that is already contracted through 2014.

One question I had to ask was about the price of the convention. In this day where some conventions charge hundreds of dollars for their top of the line ticket, Dragon*Con charged $100 for the entire weekend. According to Henry, it is the sheer volume of their business and the massive number of attendees that makes them able to offer the weekend at such comparatively low prices. In fact Mr. Henry told me during our interview that many times the increases in price of the tickets is not to make more money, or cover expenses, but is in fact an attempt to control the size of the crowd. “Dragon*Con's number one, two, or three reasons for existence is not money, which may be part of our secret.”

Mr. Henry is a very modest man, and continually credited others for the successes in recent years, but I have found from attending conventions in the past, and having worked one myself, that a lot of the credit goes to the man at the top who keeps the wheels oiled and running smoothly. Sure, there are issues with lines, and the like, and they are issues that, according to Henry, they are studying and seeking solutions to. However, the fact that the convention continues to grow each year is a solid testimonial to the Dragon*Con's team and their vision for providing a weekend once a year where fans and guests can get together and enjoy that incredible universe known as fandom.

See you tomorrow!

Photos:  Wikipedia.org, TrekWeb.com

Author: Dennis Rayburn

Dennis Rayburn is a columnist for Roddenberry.com. His column, "Two Strips of Latinum" appears every Sunday through Thursday.
Contact: drayburn@roddenberry.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/drayburn

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