The upstairs line for Presenter passes was pretty short. We spent only about 15 minutes in line to get our passes, program guides, and a massive backpack type vinyl bag to put your stuff in. If you look closely, you can see a participant wearing one of the bags.
Pictured are also my pass, a program guide, and the page listing our specific panel.
The panel was 50 minutes in length. The Panel Host Jesse Lankford introduced us, then we each (including Jesse) gave a 2 or 3 minute bio on ourselves. Jesse then started the questioning with specific questions for each panel member.
Jesse then opened the floor up for questions. There were about 50 people in attendance (we were not in the main convention hall, but in a hotel next door, and likely if we were in the main hall, attendance would have been triple what it was), and initially they were shy about speaking up. After the first person asked a question and the panel members answered, Jesse rewarded the person with a Trade 1st edition of Gwendy's Final Task. Immediately 10 hands went up to ask questions!
The second person to ask a question received a trade 1st edition of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon! Every person in attendance received a promo pin for King's new book Fairy Tale.
The 50 minutes flew by, and we honestly could have answered another 15 minutes of questions, except another panel was schedule to immediately follow.
My Name tent, the panel, and the promo pin. Left to right the panel picture shows Paul Suntup, David Williamson, Kris Webster, Jesse Lankford, and Jerome Smith
Later that evening the panel and our guests all went out for drinks and dinner at The Gaslamp Fish House. No pics of that, but it was a wonderful conclusion to the day. At dinner, Jesse mentioned that one of the Presidents of the SDCC was in attendance for our panel, and that he hopes to do something similar next year!
A couple of thoughts for anyone who might attend in the future:
Be prepared to walk long distances as the Convention Center is massive and actually has three levels.
Be prepare to wait in long lines for popular events.
A person could go all four days 10 hours a day, and not see close to everything there is to see, so have a plan.
Book your hotel as far in advance as possible. The hotels within a 15 mile radius end up doubling their rates. We stayed 11 miles away and the room was still almost $400 a night!
Now it's time for the other panel members to chime in and tell their thoughts.
07-27-2022 12:01 PM
webstar1000
I have lots of thoughts. I spent the most time there of the panel. I arrived at noon Tuesday. Our watches clocked 62miles of walking. Insane over 5 days. I’ll chime in tomorrow with a real detailed share as I’m out for the evening now:)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
07-27-2022 12:05 PM
Cook
Thanks for sharing Jerome,
Overall, did you enjoy yourself?
Any outstanding questions &/or answers that stood out among the panel or audience ?
07-27-2022 01:18 PM
Randall Flagg
I had a blast, but after standing and walking too much, I was in quite a but of pain.
With my kidney condition I can't take pain killers so I suffered a bit each night.
I don't recall any particular brilliant or original question, but hopefully Kris, Paul, or David will.
I should add that there was no official taping of our panel.
I do recall one person recording us on their phone.
07-27-2022 01:50 PM
shaq
Other than the panel and your guests, we’re there any darktower members there?
And any autograph hunters after yours?
07-27-2022 02:15 PM
Randall Flagg
Quote:
Originally Posted by shaq
Other than the panel and your guests, we’re there any darktower members there?
And any autograph hunters after yours?
There was a dt.org member named Tom there.
Not sure of his user name.
Sadly no one asked for my autograph other than the waiter wanting me to sign my charge slip.
07-27-2022 02:50 PM
shaq
Wondering if dt member may have recorded it.
Bizarrely was wondering about autographs, due to the nature of your topic. Ah well. Next year
07-27-2022 03:10 PM
wizardsrainbow
I have been to the New York Comic Con, and while big, the San Diego one is the grandaddy for sure! I thought the crowds were massive but Jesse our organizer said 20,000 attendees per day was a far cry from about 30,000 a day normally (pre-COVID). Panel was Friday at 4pm - 5pm and Richard Chizmar was a last minute cancellation due to family obligations so it was Jesse as moderator, then myself, Paul from Suntup, Kris from Rare King on Facebook and Jerome from TDT.ORG. In the hour, I'd say half the time the panel spent giving backgrounds, favorite King collectible, how we got started etc. and half took questions from audience. We had about 50 attendees which Jesse said was good. The President of the whole Con was at our panel and Jesse said it went extremely well so hope they do another SK panel in 2023! Questions from audience ranged from how does one store collectible books, to ARCs (are they collectible), to how does one insure their collection etc. GOOD questions - all.
Like any place with large attendees, most everything was hurry up to stand in line. Jerome and I hoped to buy t-Shirts before our panel and the line for Merch was 2-3 HOURS! long. I went back Sat morning (EARLY) and was third in line. I was there 2 hours before it even opened. As far as the Fairy Tale pins go, Jesse got some from Simon & Schuster (I think close to 100). I got only one so NONE for sale. Other panel members asked and got a few more but these are quite limited.
Con itself was a madhouse...wall-to-wall people. LOTS of celebs attended (did not see a one) LOTS of Cosplay...some awesome, others good too. Maybe 1 in 4 attendees were Cosplay. Like I said, some things VERY popular and had longest lines, others not so much. Still fun!! Closest celeb was Jae Lee the artist...saw him at his new home at Oases Comics.
07-27-2022 03:30 PM
Randall Flagg
As far as the promo pins, I was able to obtain a handful of extras.
I wouldn't dream of selling them as I was lucky to receive for free. I gave them away to 4 dt.org long time members.
Some of them probably haven't checked their mail yet and aren't even aware.
I kept one for myself, and my wife kept one.
07-27-2022 03:41 PM
zelig
It was a good time, and was great to see Jerome, David and Kris again. The latter two after 7 years. Last time we met up was in Bradenton in 2015. The panel itself was fun, and went by so fast. I did get to meet a couple customers who came over afterwards to introduce themselves. I don't have a watch that records my steps, so I have no idea how many steps I took. I do wonder though if I did have one, if it would show a negative reading if I walked backwards. I didn't do much walking though because I headed down Friday just for the panel, and was back home late that night. But as everyone has said, there was a ton of people all around which was to be expected for this event. I had attended SDCC one other time about 20 years ago. The dinner afterwards was great. Can't go wrong sitting at a table with other like-minded book people. Lots to talk about. The whole experience was really great, and I enjoyed it.
07-27-2022 04:16 PM
ur2ndbiggestfan
Great posts guys!
Made me wish I was there!
07-27-2022 08:15 PM
Lurker
What was the demographics of your panel's attendees?
07-28-2022 05:16 AM
Randall Flagg
Primarily , but not exclusively white male adults
07-28-2022 06:48 AM
webstar1000
So I spent a full 5 days at the event. It has been a dream of mine since I was a young boy. I knew about this when I was 12 years old! When I got older I tried very hard to get tickets... to no avail. SO to be able to go? AND speaking about something I am most passionate about? Was just the most amazing experience ever. NOW.. what I was not prepared for was the line ups.. FOR EVERYTHING! I mean... nothing could be done without first waiting in a line up! BRUTAL. ANd the price of food/drink was insane. I loved the event and the costumes. I will go back next year as the panel leader has asked.... I took a buddy but will take my wife next time so she can see the insanity! IT was great to see Paul, RF and David too... love talking with you guys:)
07-28-2022 10:17 AM
Lurker
Thanks
07-29-2022 08:16 AM
mikeC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Randall Flagg
Sadly no one asked for my autograph other than the waiter wanting me to sign my charge slip.
Ha! Nice.
Sounds fun.
07-31-2022 06:34 AM
Patrick
What a great experience! I would have loved to have been there to meet up with you all. Glad you all had an enjoyable time. Thank you for sharing, guys!
08-02-2022 04:05 AM
Ari_Racing
Congrats on the event! Sounds like it was really fun!
The SDCC is an event where if you're lucky you'll achieve a 20-25% of what you wanted to do, it's very likely you don't even know about 50% of the events that take place and still...you won't believe what you experienced. I went there back in 2012 with all the info I could gather on my google calendar, I did A LOT of the things I wanted to do and the only two I missed were George R.R.Martin's signing and Breaking Bad cast signing (but I was able to score pics with a couple of them). Personally I'm not a fan of panels (I attended Breaking Bad's one located in Ballroom 20) but of course I'd have attended this one! The thing about large panels is that people invest a lot of time just doing lines. The (in)famous Hall H is just madness and to be honest I the panels that are held there are not my kind of thing. The thing I loved, LOVED to do was walking the main floor a thousand times and get a lot of really cool free stuff at certain hours. I covered the full ticket (4 days and preview night) and the plane just by selling 5-10 items I got at Warner, Disney and Sony booths.
The food is expensive but I prepared myself a couple of sandwitches in my backpack and I think the only thing I bought there was sodas and beers (outside).
The one I wanted to visit the most was in 2017, with IT Chapter 1 aproaching and Mr Mercedes on TV, for which Audience had invested a lot of money promoting it. I thought this one would promote Salem's Lot but well...a couple of days before the event it was pushed to 2023.
I've been wanting to return since that visit 10 years ago but so far I just couldn't do it. Hope one day I can return because it's an incredible event.
08-02-2022 04:48 AM
herbertwest
You'll go back to the 2024 edition when they'll have something related to "Welcome to Derry" ;)
08-02-2022 04:51 AM
Ari_Racing
One can hope :)
I can't afford this trip these days but let's see what 2023 brings (spoiler alert: another pandemic :P)
