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Library Programs: LibraryCon-Part One-Planning

I've been wanting to host a huge fan convention at the Library for awhile now and I knew it could be done! Many years ago I hosted a Mini-Anime Con for the teens and it was a great event and our Cosplay prom was always huge, so I knew we had an audience ready for an event like this. When I hired Valerie as the Teen Librarian, I knew she would make an excellent LibraryCon partner in crime and so our first annual LibraryCon was born!

(Here's myself and Valerie, all smiles and ready for an epic day!)
photo credit: Valerie


The planning: Planning for this event started many, many months in advance. We are very lucky that our branch manager is a huge comic fan and fellow geek, so we had great support. The three of us met and had several brainstorming meetings of who to invite and we made a field trip over to our local comic book store to talk to the owner about local artists we should include. Valerie also made a trek to another area con that happens in the winter to scout out some possible guests for our event.

We had a date and had every possible space in the Library reserved. We came up with a schedule of events and then we started emailing and contacting people. We decided on three panels and ending the evening with something big, but we weren't sure just what yet. We put out a call to fellow staff and asked them who they knew and could connect us with. Valerie and I pooled together our geeky community connections and set up a list of people we wanted for panels or booths at our event.

We recruited people for a Cosplay Panel, Author Panel, and Illustrator Panel. Between the two of us, we were able to bring in guests for the panels (and many were friends of ours, so they offered to do the event for free-even better!) It worked out we each had two big events to host/moderate during the day of the Con.

We were able to have groups in the community have booths at the event which was a great way to showcase the geeky offerings our area has. We featured our local comic book store, a couple of local geeky podcasts, two area gaming and fan conventions, a gaming organization, a Ghostbusters group, a LARPing group, a Star Wars group, a local group called Eternal Armory who makes amazing metal and costume pieces, and some local Cosplayers. These groups were all in our main concourse right when people walked in.

(The very crowded concourse full of geekiness!)
photo credit: Valerie


We made one of the meeting rooms located in the concourse our Author and Illustrator room, which worked out really well.


(Some of our great authors and illustrators!)
photo credit: Valerie


Then word started to spread and people started to contact us which was great. We honestly didn't expect such enthusiasm for our event and we ended up with about 13 tables/booths for groups and organizations in our concourse and around 14 tables for authors and illustrators. Through a friend of mine I met Captain Logan, who had recently filmed a documentary, The Midwest in Panels, about comic book stores in the Midwest-and he was willing to let us screen in at our LibraryCon! Another great connection and win! The documentary is fantastic, by the way, and if you like comics you should check it out!

We organized a schedule and the amazing Valerie kept in contact with everyone leading up the event. Seriously, I couldn't have done it without her! I made a list of staff we would need and where and sent out a call for extra staff to help us out the day of LibraryCon.

Our Community Relations Department made us some amazing fliers and we took these to the stores that we would be at our event. We also found out at the event that dedicated fans passed out fliers around town for us and helped spread the word.

Then, we waited, stayed in contact with our guests, and excitedly promoted our event!

Find out what happened at the event here: Library Con Part Two-The Big Event and Library Con Part Three-What Worked Well and What I'd Do Differently 

And check out Valerie's post about LibraryCon!



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