The 12 Thanks of U-Con
Today seems like a good day to thank everyone for a successful online U-Con 2021. I know it wasn’t the convention we were hoping for, but I think it’s the convention we needed so that next year we can come together face to face and game. I am SO LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE IN PERSON! I miss seeing all of your faces in actual meatspace.
First of all, so many Thank Yous to our GMs. Without you on a normal year we’d just be milling about aimlessly or maybe checking out games from the Games Library and asking “Now what?”. You bring exciting and fun content to the convention and we are very lucky to have as many great GMs as we do. This year especially I want to thank the GMs for working through this pandemic weariness, and we are all feeling it, and running games virtually. You all were amazing!
Second, I want to thank our gamers. We can have a million GMs with all the best games but if nobody comes to play them, how fun would U-Con be? Thank you to everyone who showed up and played. GMs put in a lot of work and there is a sad little moment when you realize nobody is coming to your game and you have to do the depressed walk to OPs and tell them your event didn’t run. Thank you everyone who popped in to play games this year, your presence really enriched everyone’s experience.
Third, I want to thank our volunteer team. 2021’s U-Con ConCom wr0cked it this year, with the last minute pivot to virtual through support during the con. Special shout out to Nick Baker and his OPs Team for manning virtual OPs through the con and fielding everything from tech problems to “Where is the GM form?” problems. Nothing caught fire or sank into the swamp because they were on! it! and refused to let that happen.
Fourth, big time thanks to SKA and his crew for taking everyone’s game submissions, editing them, and then scheduling them in a logical manner. It’s a lot of work and a lot of hours but when it’s done well it looks like a cakewalk.
Fifth, a shout out thanks to Fred Paffhausen for leading the second virtual U-Con in as many years. Your leadership helped pull off a last minute pivot to virtual without any show stopping glitches..
Sixth, I don’t know if all y’all know how much work Laura Hamel puts into the website but she is pretty much single handedly adding code to the back end to make the website the work of art that it is. Thanks for being the awesomest WebGuru!
Seventh, a pleased artistic thanks to Paul Kemezis for this year’s T-Shirt. Have you seen the design? This is the gaming team you will never see coming, but you can have them at your table if you put an order in by December 17th (details can be found here).
Eighth, I forget what eighth was for…
Ninth, a grateful thanks to the Marriott team for working with us through the last minute pivot to virtual. They are a super team to work with and hey…did you know that we have dates for U-Con 2022? We do! Mark your calendars, folks, for
- Nov 18-20, 2022 at Marriott Ann Arbor Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest
Tenth, just a thank you shout out to U-Con President Joe Saul who not only is instrumental in working with the Marriott team to make things happen (and behind the scenes this year, he was back and forth with the Marriott team a lot dealing with taking the convention virtual) but he generally keeps us on track. Thanks for that.
Eleventh, who decided to do a 12 days of Christmas thank you pastiche? This one is for all the people who I forgot to name that I’ll be kicking myself and going, “D’OAH!” just as soon as I hit the post button. Everyone did a great job – thank you all and give yourself a hardy pat on the back cuz you are awesome.
Twelfth-last but not least, thank you to the U-Con community. Even if you don’t attend the conventions, your interactions on the website and the Facebook pages keeps the U-Con spirit going all year round.
Looking forward to U-Con 2022!
-Jeannette Q.