bad trader alert: Paul Aldred and United Fan Con/NEFanX

[Dominic]

There are credible reports that New England Fan Experience 2010 has been cancelled. One report cites the Courtyard Marriot as the source. I tried calling the hotel, but there was no answer. (Given how late in the day it is, the office I called was likely closed. It will be easy enough to check back tomorrow.)

It would be nice to be able to confidently wave said reports off as nothing more than rumour. It would be nice to be able to say this news is a surprise.

Hell, I would settle for having some information about the hows and whys.

But, all we are getting is a nearly 11th hour (probable) cancellation.

The good news is that nobody paid for this year's convention. It was impossible to register for the convention. I have no idea how many, if any, people registered for rooms at the Marriot or other area hotels. And, if I am remembering correctly, dealers could theoretically have registered for NEFX 2010.

And, off course, some peoplle, myself included, were going to be paid *with* this year's convention.

The deal in 2009, (and I am given to understand previous years), was that attendees would register for that year's show. If said attendees contributed a certain amount of time/effort, they would be given free registration to the following year's convention....and the chance to contribute time and effort in return for the following year's convention....

In other words, $40 in 2009 could have earned someone a free convention for life if they continuously attended and volunteered.

Of course, it is hard to attend a convention that one cannot register for. I have to wonder the fact that nobody was able to register was a warning, or a cause, of New England Fan Experience being called off.

United Fan Con, the organization that runs New England Fan Experience, is offering no meaningful information as of 5:30 on 9/16. (Have fun navigating that page!) http://www.unitedfancon.com/

There were plenty of signs that things were not right at United Fan Con beyond their apparent indifference to taking registrations. The NEFX guest list has not been updated since just after last year's convention, with the only real content being notes of thanks to their (very impressive list of) guests. The last meaningful update of any sort was news about this past April's Kaiju/Anime Experience.

In July of 2009, New England Fan Experience had a working, (though not complete), guest list. If Nimoy had not been announced, there were quiet whispers that he would be showing up as early as July. (I w8as privy to the rumours, and cannot quite recall when the in-house rumor became official.) When August of this year closed and there had been no updates to the guest list, I started to accept that there would be no New England Fan Experience.

Of course, the website advertised a time and place. (Actually, it is still advertising it now unless they have updated in the last hour or so.) Advertising a time and place for an event strongly implies that an event is occurning.

I have heard no word from Paul Aldred, the convention's alleged organizer, despite numerous attempts to contact him over the last few months. I know he is on FaceBook and will attempt to track him down at some point next week. (Of course, if the United Fan Con page is anything to go by, there is reason to assume Aldred will be more forthcoming on his own FaceBook page.)

I heard rumours of back room drama after last year's show. But, I was not, nor am I, privy to the details. Even if there was drama, I have no idea what it was about. (Zab, who co-hosted several panels with me, and I were never reprimanded for anything. And, the people we worked directly for never said anything to us beyond "good work guys".)

Objectively, even if after monetizing my time and effort, I got more than my $40 worth last year. If I go to a 3 day convention, and find myself resenting time taken out for eating and sleeping and being unable to go to every panel I want to go to because there are simply too many panels, (including panels I am obligated to run), then that is a damned good show.

In that sense, I was not ripped off.

But, NEFX promised me and a number of other folks a free convention this year. Even if they are out of business, common decency requires that they let people know through official channels, rather than word of mouth and/or calling the advertised venue.


Bottom Line: Do not deal with Paul Aldred and United Fan Con/New England Fan Experience.


Dom
-has slept 2.5 hours in the last 24 for completely unrelated reasons. .

[Dominic]

Update:

Confirmed through official sources that NEFE is not happening. And, I finally heard from Paul Aldred. Without getting into the details of the (needlessly compilcated) process, he got back to me.

Based on my conversation with Paul and others, NEFE (the correct abbreviation, ignore the "NEFX" above), was cancelled due to idiotic drama. I cannot recommend anyone get to heavily involved with them until they put their own house in order.


Dom
-and that's the way it is.

[andersonh1]

Well at least he did finally let you know officially.

[Dominic]

I know Anderson is being sarcastic, but this needs to be made completely and totally clear:


The convention was cancelled slightly less than 2 months before its scheduled date. Aldred released no information of any sort before this. And, he only released any official information after people began calling the venue and finding out the convention was cancelled.

And, all of this was because of childish drama behind the scenes.

Dom
-has worked for people like this.