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Johnny's SummaryWelcome to Year Seven, fellow wanderers of the wastes.
At the time of this introduction being written, over two-dozen people have already been hard at work for 6 months planning what will undoubtedly be the greatest chapter in the tale that is TempleCon. It should be clear to everyone that what started off as a small protozoa of an event has now fully evolved into that beast that we've spoken about in previous introductions. We've worked tirelessly to guide it, control it, and even at times restrain it. Our largest task each year of TempleCon has always been that of careful feeding of this veritable monster of an event, as we try our best to anticipate what to expect in it's adolescence. As we began planning for TempleCon Seven, we realized that there was only one recourse: In 2012 we are letting it loose.
When asked by our venue what kind of space we were looking at for 2012 and 2013, we replied with words we had not used before. ""All of it,"" we said. From February 3rd to February 5th, the sprawling Crowne Plaza belongs to TempleCon, and even the newly requisitioned Grand Ballroom will not be enough to contained the pure, concentrated awesome that will flow unchecked therein. This immense amount of square-footage has allowed us to muster plans for some things we've had on the table for a few years now but have not yet been able to implement, such as an entire ballroom and foyer dedicated just to shopping and exposition, as well as event space positioned in some ideal places. We think you'll be impressed with our expansion, especially since it is allowing us to bring in some events, games, and attractions we simply didn't have room for previously.
But along with growth, there must also come improvement. In 2010-2011 we grew extremely quickly, and in one year the attendance of TempleCon increased by a ridiculous 52%, which is far more than even we expected. In February of 2011 we were slammed with well over 1500 people for a mind-blowing event that we had estimated a upper attendance of 1200 for. While this is fantastic, on-site and pre-registration lines grew long on Friday and Saturday morning, and this was completely unacceptable to us. We, the Convention Directors, filled in ourselves at registration just to get things moving, and it almost literally killed the two of us and our poor volunteers. In fact, we believe some were actually thrown to the crowd and stripped of their soft, unprepared flesh in seconds. That's why in 2012 we have made it a priority to make pre-registration, event registration, and on-site registration painless, and in doing so we've taken our old registration system, flayed and decapitated it, and staked it out in the wilderness for all to see. This year pre-registration means more than just saving a few bucks; you'll have your badge mailed to you before the convention, and you'll be able to stroll right in though the doors of TempleCon with no questions asked. Add to this countless behind-the-scenes improvements in every area of both the convention and the hotel experience, and you will understand how very much we love each and every one of you.
And the theme! Oh, the theme indeed. TempleCon is very firmly rooted as a retro-futurism convention, and that means that each year we go our of our way to focus on one particular sub-genre of that theme. This year, in celebration of all of the silly folks who are absolutely certain that our quaint little ball of dirt will be consumed by apocalyptic fire in 2012, we figured it would be a perfect time to give all things post-apocalyptic its well-deserved time in the harsh wasteland sun at TempleCon. This means that while all things Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Cyberpunk, and other retro-futuristic genres are as welcome as always, we'd love to see a little wear and weather to your top hats this year. From the clean lines of the iconic vault suits of Raygun Gothic inspired Fallout, to the studded leather-and-steel chic look of Mad Max and other assorted p...
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