In an average year, I travel to around 5 or 6 cities for conventions. Almost every time I announce an appearance, the most common response is some version of “that’s great! When are you coming to [my town]?”
I’m not coming to your town, but I am coming to your computer (or your tablet or your phone or even your TV, I think) on June 7 for a virtual convention that needs a much better name than Couch Con, because at this moment in time, that creates a very specific, very unfortunate, image. (Maybe it will happen today).
Seriously, I hate every name I think of for this. What would you call a virtual convention where I am the guest of honor, the toastmaster, the featured author, and also the only guest? Wil Wheatcon is kind of cute, I think, but I feel like there’s something better. If you have one, would you comment?
The Untitled Wil Wheaton Virtual Convention came out of an unrelated meeting with my friends and partners in crime at Stands about how we wanted to turn some of my designs into stickers. One thing lead to another, and I’m just going to get to the graphic you’ve probably looked at already:
I love going to cons, and spending time with my people. I love sharing how much we love all our nerd shit. I love the safe place we create together. And I know that money is tight for everyone right now, everything costs more than it should, and just the price of a ticket can put a con out of reach for a lot of people. And that’s not even accounting for whatever we spend on merch, art, autographs, and photo-ops.
So a big, big part of my wanting to do this is the opportunity to do something convention-ish, which is way more affordable, at just fifteen bucks. Hell, get ten friends together and everyone can cover the ticket with the change in their pockets. People still have change in their pockets, right?
I have met tens of thousands of people over the years. I know that this is an unscientific, heavily-skewed metric that would fail any peer review, but I still think it matters that the single most common thing they tell me is some version of “I loved your panel discussion. I wish you’d had more time for questions.”
Well, if you’re one of those people, this is probably going to crawl your dungeon. We have as much time as we want, I can take as many questions as I want, and if enough people ask, I’ll even read you some flash fiction I wrote. And we’re offering some break out, private meet and greets, for anyone who wants that experience.
Oh, I’m also going to pull my kitty ears out and put them on for a Wil Wheatcon exclusive autographed 8×10, if that’s your thing and you wanted to add some whimsy to your life.
A few people I know have done this kind of event, and they all tell me that it’s so much fun, so uplifting, and a wonderful way to spend a couple hours together. I believe them, and I’m excited to experience that for myself. I hope you’ll join me!
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Yaaaaay, can’t wait for WilCon!
The Ready Zoom
OMG.
Wheaton Wil fab con
“You have the con” was a good one @Jeff Kemperman. Wil, since you wanted to avoid the association with the word Couch, it seems like you could just suggest people pull up…a Comfy Chair!!!! (insert Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sound effect)
“Wilfinity & Beyond” – “Wilcome to the Fungle” – “What You’ve Been Wheaton For” lol
Will you sell the officially unofficial wesley crusher fan club tshirts again? I want to get a larger size.
And I love the name “Wil Wheatcon” 😂 hysterical and witty!
Yes we will. We are also in the process of developing some more stuff for that fan club, like membership cards. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
I love the idea of a membership badge of honor, but wil (lol, deliberate) you consider a pocket chip/coin? For an extra cost, of course; you gotta pay to play. I love the idea of something tangible that I can spin, flip, and fidget with. You could be heads, and an actual dog/cat/pet bum with tail could be tails, complete with “wiggle marks”. I’d carry it with pride…
I know these probably won’t help, but there are no bad ideas in a brainstorm, right?
“The (Pod)casting Couch”
“Wil’s Big Con”
“Crusher Con”
… ok yeah, so there are some bad ideas in a brainstorm, I get it. At least I’m trying.
“Good Wil Con-ing” “Have Con, Wil Travel” “Where there’s a Wil, there’s a Con” I can do bad dad jokes ’til the cons come home 😂
What about naming your simulcast from the couch con a Relaxicon with Wil?
Office Hours with Wil Wheaton?
GUYS!!! I CHECKED WITH THE SUPPORT TEAM AT SHOPSTANDS.COM TO SEE IF THE LIVE STREAM COULD BE WATCHED FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, AND THIS IS WHAT THEY TOLD ME!!
“HELLO! THAT SHOULDN’T BE AN ISSUE AS WE DON’T BLOCK REGIONS FROM JOINING!”
SO IF YOU STILL DON’T HAVE YOUR PASS, EVEN IF THE PLATFORM DOESN’T SHIP TO YOUR COUNTRY, YOU CAN STILL WATCH WIL ANYWAY!!! BUY IT RIGHT NOW!! WE CAN’T MISS THIS!!! PLUS, THEY ACCEPT ANY INTERNATIONAL CARD FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
AND DO WHAT I DID: THINK OF YOUR QUESTIONS, PUT THEM IN A TEXT FILE, AND THEN PASTE THEM HAHAHA THAT WAY WE DON’T FORGET TO ASK HIM ANYTHING!!! (YES WIL! WE ARE GOING TO KEEP YOU TALKING FOR 15 HOURS!)
ALSO, HOW LUCKY THAT I WON’T HAVE TO CHANGE THE VPN OR USE INCOGNITO WINDOWS HAHAHAHA IT MAKES THINGS SO MUCH EASIER FOR ME!
I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE 7TH, AND DON’T FORGET TO CHECK WHAT TIME THE LIVE STREAM IS IN YOUR COUNTRIES!!!! I CAN’T STRESS THAT ENOUGH!
¡¡¡GENTE!!! AVERIGÜÉ EN SHOPSTANDS.COM EN LA SECCIÓN DE SOPORTE, Y SÍ SE PUEDE VER EN CUALQUIER PARTE DEL MUNDO. ¡¡ME DIJERON ESTO!!
“¡HOLA! ¡ESO NO DEBERÍA SER UN PROBLEMA YA QUE NO BLOQUEAMOS REGIONES PARA UNIRSE!”
ASÍ QUE SI AÚN LES FALTA SU PASE, AUNQUE LA PLATAFORMA NO HAGA ENVÍOS A SU PAÍS, ¡¡PUEDEN VER A WIL IGUAL!! ¡¡COMPRENLO YA MISMO!! ¡¡NO NOS PODEMOS PERDER ESTO!! ADEMÁS, ¡ACEPTAN CUALQUIER TARJETA INTERNACIONAL DE CUALQUIER PARTE DEL MUNDO!
Y HAGAN COMO YO: PIENSEN LAS PREGUNTAS, PÓNGANLAS EN UN ARCHIVO DE TEXTO Y LUEGO LAS PEGAN JAJAJA ¡ASÍ NO NOS OLVIDAMOS DE PREGUNTARLE NADA! (¡SÍ WIL! ¡TE VAMOS A TENER 15 HORAS HABLANDO!)
¡ADEMÁS, QUÉ SUERTE QUE NO TENDRÉ QUE CAMBIAR LA VPN NI USAR VENTANAS DE INCÓGNITO JAJAJAJA ¡ME FACILITA MUCHO LAS COSAS!
¡NO VEO LA HORA DE QUE SEA EL 7, Y NO SE OLVIDEN DE CHEQUEAR A QUÉ HORA ES EL VIVO EN ESTOS PAÍSES!!!! ¡ESO ES MUCHO MUY IMPORTANTE!