Con in Review: Multiverse Con 2019 — The Newest Con in the Verse!

On the weekend of October 18-20, 2019, a brand new event was birthed! Multiverse Con, almost two years in the making, finally happened!

Multiverse was created with the idea that each of us is our own universe, bringing uniqueness to our fandom, that there is room in the multiverse for all of us. We wanted to make sure the convention felt welcoming to everyone, no matter your gender, race, body type, culture, mobility, age, or anything else that can be marginalizing. That was our biggest goal, in addition to providing a fun, interesting time to attendees.

I arrived on Thursday evening and spent some time with a couple of friends who’d also gotten there early. I helped a tiny bit with load-in. Basically, I brought my track box to my room and went through the treasures within! I really should have taken an unboxing photo. I never think of these things!

Friday

Everything was set to begin at 1pm, with opening ceremonies.

I got down to the con floor around 11ish (there was a directors’ meeting at 11:30) to check out my room. Overnight, it had been set up with microphones and speakers, but the layout was problematic, because it didn’t seem to have enough space for a wheelchair. This was important for one of our guests with mobility issues because she was scheduled to moderate the very first panel of the con,  We had her come and “roll” the room, while Tech Ops was there and so they managed to get our room fixed while I went on to my meeting. Crisis averted!

Opening ceremonies was fun and very silly! Here’s a secret for you: in all my years going to cons, I believe this is the first time I’d ever attended an opening ceremony. I’m much more likely to attend a con-in-review meeting at the end of a convention than I am to attend an opening ceremony. But it probably would have been really bad form to miss it, since I’m a track director and all. Plus, there were the introductions.

A few weeks before con, our Senior Programming Director emailed and said he had a fun idea for track director introductions. He wanted to do it in the style of a wrestling match, where we all came running up to music. We all chose our themes. Some chose show themes, some chose modern songs. It was all fun and pretty ridiculous! I came out to the Doctor Who theme (you’re surprised, right?). I’d dressed specifically for this moment: I did a mashup of “my” Doctors.

Around my neck, I wore my impossibly long Tom Baker scarf which matched the brown leather fedora on my head. I’d forgotten my jacket, but that was okay, because I wore my Jodi Whittaker t-shirt. It is a grey-ish color and has the rainbow across the chest like her Doctor’s. And it says WH♀. It’s quickly becoming my favorite shirt!

Opening ceremonies was about the message of Multiverse — that we’re all fans, we’re all welcome, we’re all included. The Guests of Honor — Seanan McGuire, Cat Rambo, and John Picacio — were introduced and then the directors talked about our programming highlights. Then, it was all starting!

The WRITE track had three panels in the afternoon: an introductory panel, a panel on plotting, and a flash fiction panel/workshop where folks actually wrote flash stories. They all went off perfectly and were a huge hit!

Friday night was my quiet night, because the track had no programming. I was originally going to include some critique sessions, but decided to wait until after the first year, since we really had no idea what sort of attendance to expect.

I had a meeting with some publishing folks for dinner. We grabbed food at the con suite, which offered actual meals every day and was off the chain good (ALL weekend! We have the BEST con suite!) After that, I basically hung out with folks and schmoozed all evening. I stopped into the Kosplay Karaoke for a bit, chatted with some writerly types, then went up to bed, because Saturday was going to be a LONG day!

Saturday

I was up early, because I needed to be in my track room by 9:30. Luckily, our lovely con suite was just down the hall from me, so I rolled in over there in my jammies to get coffee and grub. Then it was down to the room!

Our first panel was “Publishing Q&A,” which was fantastic, especially for folks who are new to the business and didn’t know much about publishing. I was really pleased with how this one went down.

The next session, I got to escape the WRITE track room for a bit to head over to the GEEK: Horror track, moderating a panel called “Girls Rule! Female Authors on Writing Female Characters.” In our programming Great Nerdy MMA, where all the track directors hashed out who would be on which panels, every time we revisited this panel because of a conflict, I offered to be on the panel, but she would graciously decline. I think she didn’t want anyone to feel put out. Finally, after three times of offering, she got the hint that I really wanted to be on it!

The panel was incredible. Five awesome women, talking about writing women. The conversation branched off into writing women characters who are marginalized in other minority groups, as well — women of color, queer women, etc. We discussed how to create characters that are realistic without being stereotypical and how not to write these sorts of characters. It was such an information-packed and lively panel, I wish we’d recorded it. The room was almost completely full and after, I heard more than once (and from the con co-chair, too) that it was the best panel they’d been to at the con so far!

Then there was lunch and then back to the WRITE track for a few more panels: social media for writers, a worldbuilding class on creating culture, and “You’ve Typed The End, Now What?” All of them were well-attended. I moderated the worldbuilding one and you know a panel is good if you’re on the panel and still taking notes!

Then it was dinner break and on to “Writers at the Bar!”

Since writers generally congregate at the bar at any convention (it’s true; test it!), I decided to be sneaky and turn it into programming. We had a huge crowd. About fifteen pro guests, mostly authors, but other industry folks too, and thirty or forty non-pros. Throughout the weekend, we’d had a box on the track table at the back of the room for people to leave questions in. During the dinner break, I put them all on a single page, then printed out a bunch of copies. I teamed two authors together at a time, making a point to pair folks who don’t usually hang out with each other. Then I sat each pair at a table and told the rest of the folks to go schmooze with the authors! I gave each table a copy of the questions, as topic starters, and let them go to town.

It seemed to be a success, with folks staying well past the allocated hour. And I know one author even sold a novella to a publisher while there! That’s a good event.

Sunday

The first panel on the WRITE track was “Breaking the Binary: Writing Trans, Non-Binary, and Gender-Fluid Characters.” I moderated this one and it was definitely a highlight of the track, I think. There were some good and interesting questions from the audience and illuminating answers from the panelists. This is one I’m definitely going to schedule for every other year, I think!

The rest of the panels were also really good. We had a general characterization class, then an advanced panel on writing anti-hero(ine)s. And finally a panel on writer’s burnout. It’s really a thing.

Then it was on to closing ceremonies, where our Artist Guest of Honor, John Picacio, commandeered a mic and told us how awesome this convention was! It was such an incredibly humbling stamp of approval; I know there were a few wet cheeks in the house.

His wasn’t the only good testimony. We also heard from a furry guest that we invited (yes, we have furries at Multiverse and they’re awesome!). They said that they’ve never felt so welcome at a convention. They’d stopped going to cons because they’d actually started feeling unwelcome and so to have Multiverse not only welcome them, but actively embrace them and the furry community was incredible. (There might have been more tears at this.)

The con co-chairs took questions and suggestions for improvement. And then it was all over! *sadface*

Social media feedback on the #MultiverseCon2019 hashtag was so positive! It feels as if we created what we set out to create and it wasn’t just welcomed. It was needed.

I can’t put into adequate words the pride and also humility I feel for having been blessed to be a part of this event. And I can’t wait til next year!