Latest / The Wes Carroll Morning Show / Let's Talk about Dragon Con 2023

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Let's Talk about Dragon Con 2023 · The Wes Carroll Morning Show

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The news, opinions, commentary, and interviews you need to start your day.
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You're listening to the West Carol Morning Show. Friday morning, fourth day
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of August. I'm Wes, thanks for joining me. The month of August
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means a few things. Back to school, It means winding down the summer,
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you know, the official, unofficial summer, not the of course one
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as the stars dictate, but the summer that we think of when we think
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school's out, and you know, summertime. And it also means that we're
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getting close to one of my favorite weekends of the whole year, and that
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is dragon Con weekend, which happens Labor Day weekend. I understand its Labor
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Day weekend and dragon Con happens then, but I tend to think of it
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as it's dragon Con weekend. Labor Day coming up quickly. We're just a
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few weeks away. And this morning joining me my good friend. He's the
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director of media engagement for dragon Con. We do share a last name.
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We know of not one single common relative that we have, but I would
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claim him any day. Dan Carroll joins me this morning. West Thanks for
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having me today. All right, So dragon Con back in full force.
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One hundred percent back to normal, as normal as dragon Con can be.
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It's a unique convention. It's different than other conventions. We'll talk more about
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ways it's different than other conventions coming up, but we always like to start
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things by asking you, in your words, as the director of media engagement,
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what is dragon Con. Dragon Con is the internationally known pop culture festival
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that takes place every Labor Day weekend in Atlanta. We cover comics, music,
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games, film, television, literature so much more. It's it would
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take me all day just to be able to list everything we have at dragon
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Coon in any one day. So the thing I want everybody know is Dragon
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Coon is just a lot of fun for everybody. It is a convention geared
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at the fans, run by fans, focused on fans. It's fan centric,
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I guess is the word to use for it, and that makes it
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a little bit different than other conventions. Well, that is absolutely true.
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Dragon Con is different from other conventions because we focus on the fan experience,
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with the guests, with the other fans, with the convention and fandom community
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overall. There's other conventions that don't go twenty four hours a day. Dragon
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Con goes twenty four hours a day, five days, beginning in the Thursday
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before Labor Day and wrapping up on Labor Day morning. We have the largest
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parade in Atlanta. We have the most costuming of any event in North America
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as far as I've ever been able to see. We have thirty five hundred
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hours of programming discussing some of the favorite fantasy and science fiction properties out there.
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We discuss literature, we discuss how to make things and west. I
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think you're well aware that we also have an amazing program of wrestling going on
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during Dragon Con. I am very aware of that and a little sad to
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know that my good friend the Iron Chic will not be there this year,
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who we lost just very recently. Always great to stumble into him as you
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walk through the Walk of Fame, and it was always great to catch up
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with him, even out just walking around out on the floor. So Dragon
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Con back at one hundred percent this year. Obviously, the trajectory for dragon
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Con going into twenty nine team changed when twenty twenty came along and the convention
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went virtual. So now that there have been a few years that have passed,
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we kind of get back to normal. But you guys have changed things,
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just a little bit on the way the memberships work and dragon Con different
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than other conventions, and it's not tickets. People start talking about tickets,
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dragon Con speaks in terms of memberships. So how will memberships be different for
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twenty twenty three. Well, the four day memberships are on sale right now
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and they are available at www. DragCon dot org. We also have available
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now one day memberships while they last. One day memberships are in very limited
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availability. So if you're thinking about coming to dragon Con for one day,
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you might be driving in from out of town, go ahead and make that
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decision. Go ahead and get those one day memberships now. And the other
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thing is that for multi day memberships, sometimes people like to get a Saturday
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and a Sunday pass or Friday and a Saturday pass. Those passes will be
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available the day of the show. So if you want to buy a Friday
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and Saturday pass, you have to buy on Friday. If you want to
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get a Saturday Sunday, you'd have to buy it on Saturday. But those
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west those will only be available if there are if dragon Conds not sold out
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for that day. If drag Coon sells out for Saturday, we won't be
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able to sell multi day passes that involve Saturday, and part of that is
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about making sure that everyone involved enjoys their experience at the convention. That's correct,
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Wes. After dragon Con twenty twenty one came back after the pandemic.
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We came back strong with a great show, just a great lineup and and
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everybody was excited to be back together as a family. But we also found
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that having a smaller attendance made it more enjoyable for so many people. So
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this year we are capping attendance. We and just to pay. Sixty five
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thousand people come to drag Con this year, and we have There are people
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who do better accounting than I do, who have determined how many people for
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each day would be appropriate, healthy and still give that sense of community.
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So if you're willing to come to drag make your decision earily. Go ahead
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and make that investment. Get your passes at www dragon coon dot org.
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People often talk about hotels. Anybody who has any experience with dragon Con knows
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that the five core hotels sell out very quickly. There are occasionally rooms that
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open up, blocks of rooms that open up. There are some folks who
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will cancel so we'll run through the hotels quickly so that anybody that wants to
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check on those, and the availability changes really almost daily as we get closer
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and closer to the convention. But there are a lot of satellite hotels as
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well. But people offer and ask about the five court hotels. One of
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them has a new name this year, that's correct. We'll start with the
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ones that I've already memorized. The Highatt Regency in Atlanta, which you may
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know west was the first atrim hotel in the world and one of the largest
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hotels in metro Atlanta. Second is the Marriott Marquis. Third is the Hilton
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Atlanta. Fourth is the Atlanta Weston Peach Tree, the big Peach Tree hotel
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with the circular tower. And the other hotel which we love so dearly,
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the Sheraton, which was what it was called, is now called the Courtland
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Grand. That's Courtland Grand. So that will be one of the changes for
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this year, as far as something just a little bit different. As people
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start talking about people will probably still refer to it as the Sheraton. There's
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still people who really badly miss the old carpet from the Marriott, but that's
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one of those sort of inside things. If you haven't done Dragon Con,
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you may not know about the infamous carpet. All right, let's talk about
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the parade. Because you mentioned the single day memberships. Often people will come
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and you think, well, I'm just gonna get up there on Saturday because
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that's parade day. That is a very popular day for the single day memberships.
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So you probably want to get those early if Saturday is going to be
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your single day that you want to come up. But let's talk about the
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parade, and it's I'm sure going to be bigger and better than ever.
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Well, the parade, it the Dragon com Parade is the biggest parade in
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Atlanta. It goes one mile down Peachtree Street in front of our hotels and
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then loops around and I've got to tell you that there's nothing more exciting than
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the scene in those thirty two hundred volunteers marching down the street wearing costumes from
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everything from Marvel Comics to Hobbits to Star Trek, Star Wars. And they're
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in groups, so you'll be able to find it easily, and you'll see
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monsters, you'll see one of my favorite areas, especially when it comes to
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craftsmanship, are the gaming the gaming costumers dressed up as people from Halo and
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other video games out there. I think one of the great things about the
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parade is just seeing the faces of kids as they get to watch some of
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their favorite characters walk down the street. And when we start talking about dragon
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Con and cosplay, we're talking about elite level cosplay and the costuming for the
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whole convention, especially for the parade. That's one of the best days to
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see the cosplay in the costuming, because that's the one people really want to
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show off. So as you're there for the parade and you get to see
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the various characters from all different genres walk down the street, even some you
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know, classic movie monsters or monsters from video games, the kids just love
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to interact with them, see them come down the street. It may be
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Captain America on an old forties motorcycle, it may be you know, the
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Ecto one from Ghostbusters going down the street. All those sorts of things that
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you're able to kind of see come to life. And then as soon as
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it's over, that's when people make their way in and participate in the rest
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of everything that is Dragon Con. Well West, the parade is obviously a
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whole lot of fun, but a lot of people don't realize that most parade
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attendees are not dragon Con attendees. And that makes sense because the parade is
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dragon CON's gift to the city of Atlanta. It's our way of giving back
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to the community, and it's our way to share just how much fun Dragon
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Con is. There's no doubt that many people see the parade and then want
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to see the convention. Unfortunately, unless we are not sold out for that
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Saturday, it might be difficult to get a pass if you're thinking of coming
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to the parade, and it's definitely worth the drive no matter how long you're
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coming, but make that decision early to go ahead and secure a pass so
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that you can enjoy the rest of the convention after the parade. So you
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talk about giving back, We're gonna talk a little bit more about giving back
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in just a minute, because there's a couple of things that dragon Con does
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every year that helps to give back. But before we do that, I
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want to address something that is certainly having an impact on conventions really all around
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the country. Dragon Con is no different. It's having a huge impact in
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a lot of different ways, and that is the strike, the sag after
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strike, and we can talk a little bit about that because you may have
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noticed when the announcements are coming in now for some of the guests who will
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be attending that will be part of the Walk of Fame, and this relates
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to people obviously that sag after effects. You're not necessarily seeing the name of
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the projects that they've worked on, and there's a specific reason for that because
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that's part of what the strike is all about. Now there's other guests who
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will be there. We can talk a little bit about them and their works
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because they're not affected by this. But if you see guests, you see
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their pictures and you see their faces and you recognize them and think, oh
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my gosh, I'm really excited about Freddie Prince Junior is going to be there.
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You probably know why you know Freddie Prince Junior. There may be a
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few actors that you think, oh my gosh, I need to actually look
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this person up and see exactly how I know them, and that may be
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the case as well. But the guests will be there as always. We
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will not as we're talking about any guests will be there now going to be
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talking necessarily about the projects that they're in because of this particular strike that's going
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on. To put it in context, WES SAG requires that members not discuss
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past or current work they're doing that is part of a struck production. And
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even if somebody worked in the thirty years ago, but the company that made
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that is still in existence, that counts as a struct company. So we
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will not be mentioning that, or the guests will not be able to mention
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that during their time at dragon Con. We're going to do everything we can
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to protect them and make sure that they do what they need to do and
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their responsibilities to the union are respected. So we will not be mentioning in
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our advertising properties that people were part of, TV shows or movies that people
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were part of that are part of that struct world. Not everybody who's coming
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though, is a member of SAG. We talked in previous years about how
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dragon Con has a four hundred guest limit. We have four hundred guests each
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year. Of those, only about one hundred are those Walk of Fame as
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you mentioned earlier, Walk of Fame autograph signing celebrities that you know from mass
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media. The rest of them are the writers, the artists, the creators.
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In other ways, we have a lot more social media guests than we've
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had in the past, and we also have that amazing comic and pop art
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alley that is just so huge, filled with comic book, cartoon and pop
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art creators. They're going to be able to talk about anything, any part
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of their life, as long as it doesn't involve property that has been turned
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into a film or a TV or that aspect of it. So we're going
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to respect that. We're going to make as much available for the fans as
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possible, but we are coming up with creative, creative ways to be able
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to present panels that are interesting and insightful and entertaining and just playing fun while
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still protecting the integrity of our guests. You're still going to be well to
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get autographs if you if you come to drag Con and you want them to
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sign a DPD of a TV show that's Counts is one of those stuck properties,
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They're going to be able to sign whatever you bring. But overall,
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if you're used to getting and it's so much fun to do getting a couple
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of minutes with the celebrity and getting that autograph and making the investment. They're
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still going to be able to sign headshots, so don't expect them to be
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in costume in the photographs they signed for you this year. That's just out
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of respect for the process. That answers two questions that I was about to
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ask, and one more thing on the subject of panels, because obviously people
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are very used to attending a panel. It might be a collection of actors
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all from the same TV show or same movie or same project. Those kinds
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of things are all still being sorted out exactly the way that's going to work.
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Obviously, it won't be promoted as something with the name of the project
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being part of it. And I know that there's some questions and each panel
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may be a little bit different when it comes to this. But if you
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do get an opportunity, though, as people are used to to ask a
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question during a panel, if that is something that is offered to you,
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start thinking of ways to ask questions that don't involve the title of the project
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that they're in, because that is something that's not going to be happening during
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those panels. Right. I would expect less stronger moderation than we've had in
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the past. We want to make sure that the actors are enjoying themselves at
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dragon Con too. We want to make sure that they're not stressed out.
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So we will be screening questions and if a question is asked that the actor
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cannot answer, the actor will not answer it. And that's plain and simple.
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So if you get an opportunity to ask Adrian Pilecki something, for instance,
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you're not going to be able to ask scare about any of the struct
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properties, So make sure you use your time wisely. Ask her about the
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comic book she helped me write with her brother. That's something that you can
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do. Sorry, I've already I've already researched questions for her. All right.
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Now, let's talk about giving back, because you mentioned the parade being
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a gift to the state of Georgia into the city of Atlanta. Giving back
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is a big part of what Dragon CON's overall mission is. The annual blood
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drive is part of that, and then the annual charity, which this year
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is Cure Childhood Cancer. That is correct, Cure Childhood Cancer is something that
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is obviously working to make a difference. We first heard about this charity from
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somebody whose family was a beneficiary and I'm going to say that if you have
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given money in the past to organizations and found that the money was going to
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administration or going so firmly to research that it wasn't helping any individuals, pure
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childhood cancer is not that organization. They do an incredible job of balancing between
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donating to research that makes a difference. But they are hands on organization that
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makes sure that families who are going through the pain, the aggravation, and
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the helplessness that one feels when a child is struck with cancer and struggling with
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it. They take care of the families too. They take care of the
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families in very material ways, and they get involved in the families, and
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they get involved with support for the families. And this was all something that
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struck the dragon Con leadership as as something we could wholeheartedly get behind. The
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other thing about dragon Con that I don't think it's enough credit is how many
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of our volunteers and just how many of our community is involved with the dragon
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Cons superhero program. Every year, we take three outings throughout the year and
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we work with charities that had been maybe our dragon Con charity of the year
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of the year before or other charities and we make sure that children going back
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to school have books and papers and pens and everything's bagged up for them.
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And then we worked with some charity. One year we just sent out Valentine's
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Day cards to people who may not have the mobility or the social contacts.
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That was a great one. And one of our past organizations that we love
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so much is Open Hand Atlanta, and one year before the pandemic, we
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all went down there and took care of things and helped get food out to
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people who needed food. Other years we've cleaned park. So I just want
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to give a shout out to those people, maybe not necessarily as a drag
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Con spokesman, but as a human being, just how much good work all
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of those dragon Con superheroes do well. And also giving a shout out as
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a human being and someone who very regularly gives blood and actually gives platelets and
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plasma through the Red Cross. The blood drive that happens at dragon Con every
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year is a huge source of fulfilling a need that is always there. And
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if you could talk just a little bit about the blood drive, the robert
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A. Hineland Blood Drive run by Blood South has just been year after year
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after year, growing and successful and setting records. We are every year that
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I have asked, we were the previous year's largest convention blood drive for any
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type of convention that involves non nerd conventions, we are growing more and more.
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Our numbers just go out the door. The enthusiasm of the people given
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blood it goes up. And this year Pat Henry, the president of Dragon
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Coon, will be receiving a special award from the American Association of Blood Banks
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for the overall contribution for the years and years that the blood Drive has continued
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to provide blood for people in need year after year. All Right, dragon
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Con weekend, Labor Day weekend. It's for me it's dragon Con weekend,
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but it's Labor Day weekend for everyone else. That means there'll be other things
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going on in Atlanta. It's not just the convention going on, So there
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will be a lot going on, as there always is. So for folks
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maybe coming for the first time, or maybe they haven't been in a little
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while and Atlanta is a little busier that weekend than they're used to, how
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do you recommend they navigate their way into dragon Con. Well, the first
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thing I always tell people if you're coming to dragon Connie, have a plan,
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and some of the things that you're going to include in your plan is
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where do I park? How do I actually get to the hotels. We
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have a partnership with spot hero to take care of parking, and you can
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purchase your parking as early as today for the dragon Con time frame, and
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that will give you the best spots in all of the midtown and downtown area
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of dragon Con. So you can go ahead or ranch your parking, pay
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for your parking ahead of time, and just pull up. It's all taken
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care of. That's easy peasy. Also, if you're closer to Atlanta,
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or if you're just willing to try something different, we always recommend taking Marta.
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If you're coming from the south side, you can park at the airport,
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get on the Marta at the airport, come on up. If you're
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coming from the north side, Sandy Springs or similar station and just come on
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down. The Martyr trains drop you off at Peachtree Center, which is part
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of dragon Con. Really, we surround the peach Tree Center Marta station and
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you depending on what time you're on the Marta, it's very likely if you're
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going to be in a cosplayer costume. There might be others also on there,
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so you won't be the only one, not at all. In fact,
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I know a lot of people who do not come to drag Coon.
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Who when I mentioned drag Coon, the first thing they say was I was
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taking Marta to work and the train was filled with the Avengers. Dan looking
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forward to seeing you dragon Con weekend as always, and again for anyone who
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needs any more information about the convention they want to look through the guest list
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of who will be there, There's a great who to ce tab at the
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top of the dragon Con website, and that website one more time is www
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dot DragonCon dot org. Today's show brought to you by Columbus State University's Coca
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DC Columbus dot Com More West Carol Morning Show right after the break. All
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right, thanks again to Dan Carroll for joining me this morning. And a
27:38
reminder coming up at the end of the month, we will have the annual
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Dragon Con pregame show, which will be airing on radio stations around the state
27:48
of Georgia, parts of Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, North
27:53
Carolina. And working on this year's guest list. I have one guest officially
28:00
lined up, but I want to actually get the interview in the can before
28:06
I tell you who it is. And a couple more that are very close
28:08
to happening now, if you'd like to listen to past episodes of the dragon
28:12
Con Pregame Show in my interviews with different guests. Some of them will be
28:18
back again this year, but some are just fun to listen to. Interviews
28:22
with various guests and talking about folks like William Shatner. I'm talking about Zachary
28:27
Levi, I'm talking about Evangeline Lily, I'm talking about Jennifer Morrison. I'm
28:33
talking about Ernest Borgnine, who's no longer with us. I'm talking about Elvira
28:40
and Lonnie Anderson, Stephen Young who is tearing his way through award nominations for
28:48
various projects that he's worked on. I'm talking Ron Glass, who's also no
28:52
longer with us, Alan Tutik, Jason Marsden, so many more, Tom
28:59
Kenney who is fantastic voice actor. Rob Paulson also a fantastic voice actor.
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All those interviews are waiting for you on the dragon Con Pregame Show podcast.
29:11
Wherever you're listening to this show, you can hear those shows on there as
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well. And dragon Con coverage is always powered by Columbus State University's Coca Cola
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Space Science Center. Thanks to our sponsors, thanks to our patrons. Thank
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you for listening. I'll catch you back here Monday morning. This is the
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of Stars the best podcast series at the annual Gabby Awards. Every Thursday,
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Doctor Sean Cruising from Columbus State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center and I talk
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about the week space news, including what's going on at NASA, as well
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as companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Axiom Space and Boeing Plus. We
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fill you in on what's happening beyond our atmosphere, throughout our Solar System,
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and into the deepest known regions of space. Check out best podcast series Gabby
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