Jennie Law talks about Dragon Con

Dragon Con Purple

I’m back at it, looking for some more good advice on how to tackle the behemoth also known as Dragon Con. I’ve already spoken with Jeff James and Clara Nguyen; this week, I’ll be speaking with long time Dragon Con attendee Jennie Law. To this point, Jennie has been going to Dragon Con for the longest, since ’98 so I know she’s got some really good information to share!

 

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UnderCurrent Atlanta: Hey Jennie, thanks for taking time out of your day to speak with me.  You’ve been going to Dragon Con for years. You have to have a great Dragon Con memory.

Jennie Law: As far as guest encounters go – one year, I asked Carrie Fisher about the Star Wars Christmas Special. She answered my question by standing on her chair and singing the Life Day song. The entire ballroom joined in. Another year, I met Mokey Fraggle (Kathryn Mullen) and Red Fraggle (Karen Prell) during con on a Saturday that happened to be my birthday. Having the Fraggles and their humans wish me a happy birthday is an absolute top life moment!

UCA: I use to watch Fraggle Rock as a kid. Loved that show!

dcsunJL: My favorite recurring Dragon Con experience is marching down Peachtree as an element in the Periodic Table parade group. This is our 7th year marching. It’s such a great way to promote science amidst all the other geekery of the weekend. Anyone can join us! You can visit www.paradeofelements.com for more info.

UCA: I’ve been asking everyone for some advice on how to make my way through Dragon Con, since it’s so massive and covers several hotels in the downtown area. What advice would you give?

JL: Establish a smallish size group to navigate the con. It’s great to run into friends and to meet/see all sorts of people. You can chose to float around and see where the day takes you. However, I’ve found that if you want to travel in a group aim for 5-7 people. Any more than that and it starts to get unwieldy. It also helps if those in your group have similar interests so you can schedule panels to go to together easily. When part of the group wants to go to one panel and the other part wants to eat or visit the dealer area, it’s important to make a plan to meet back up before parting ways. This is all pretty basic, I guess, but I’ve found that the con environment can be overwhelming so it’s good to plan ahead.

UCA: Yeah, I’m going in a group of two so that shouldn’t be a problem.

JL: Bring snacks and water. It’s easy to get caught up in all the stuff to do and see. You may have to skip a meal to jam everything in. Your snack bag will make things much, much easier and cheaper for you.

UCA: What keeps you coming back to Dragon Con every year?

JL: I love seeing SciFi and Fantasy characters from different worlds interacting or just standing beside each other. There’s something beautiful about seeing Katniss, a Stormtrooper, Tank Girl, and Batman waiting to get into a Firefly panel. The con does a great job inviting a wide array of guests from newer and older projects. Like a lot of Dragon Con goers, I’m a huge fan of comics, cartoons, dcparadegroupand older Sci-Fi & Horror movies. Dragon Con is the place to see a lot of the often obscure, actors, writers, comic artists, voice actors, and performers who I love.  Where else am I going to see Linda Blair talk about breaking her back during the filming of The Exorcist and then immediately go to a MST3K panel filled with those guys?

 

That’s some solid advice from a long time Dragon Con fan. Todays lesson: plan ahead people! There’s alot to do at Dragon Con and I don’t want anyone to get overwhelmed. With every interview, I get more and more excited about my upcoming trip to Dragon Con. I can really feel the love fans have for this convention and look forward to experiencing some of that energy.

 

See you in 31 days!

Mike