Having started only eight years ago, the Calgary Expo is still a relatively new convention. In that time however, it’s come to be the second largest in Canada. This year the event sold out three weeks before the doors opened, and this is the second year in a row where tickets have sold out completely. Last year’s gathering was a bit more turbulent, as people who bought weekend or VIP passes couldn’t get in. From the people I spoke to over this past weekend, there were vast improvements from the previous year, but the Calgary Expo is still experiencing a few growing pains.
Just a few of the convention’s attendees.
The home of the Calgary Expo is the BMO Centre on the stampede grounds. This year they expanded to include the Big Four building as well. Between the two buildings there were really three sections; the Big Four had registration, photo ops, and the gaming zone, while the BMO Centre had the show floor, panels, and the autograph/entertainment area. The two buildings were helpful in making the event a success this year, but there were still some problems. First, you would stop into the basement of the Big Four building to get your badge. From there they funnel you upstairs to where the gamer’s lounge and food court was. By doing this they were able to prevent people from trying to act like salmon by pushing through the crowds to get out. The only downfall with this was that the basement is also where they’re holding the photo ops which were all scheduled by times, which is all fine and dandy, but if your photo op was at a time when there was a line to get into the building, you weren’t getting in right away. The volunteers were pretty good about getting people who were in line to their photo op on time by pulling them out and bypassing the line altogether.
A major complaint about the expo in 2012, were the lines and utter disorganisation of it all. I’m pleased to say that it was fixed this year (but of course, there were still some issues). The show opened daily at 10:00, and on average there were about 6,000 people waiting outside to be the first to get in. This is common behaviour for all the cons I’ve been to, the only problem with this is that you lined up for what you wanted to see and there would be different lines for the different things to do. At the Calgary Expo they had two lines: one at each of the main entrances in the morning. There were enough entrances to have one for the panels that start at 10:00, one for the autographs, and one for the show floor. The organisers didn’t open the doors for the attendees until promptly at 10:00. I spoke with Lindsay who had arrived at 08:00 to try and get Nathan Fillion’s autograph; she was amongst the first 200 people into the autograph area and went right to the line for Nathan. When she arrived, the volunteers had shut down the line so she couldn’t get in it. The only people that were in line were the volunteers and people with press badges. These people were able to bypass the lines to get into the building and in turn get in line for autographs before the paying attendees even entered the expo. When the line cleared and the volunteers were letting people into it again, Lindsay said that she was able to get into the line, but shortly afterwards one of the volunteers told her and everyone else in line that they couldn’t line up yet. Immediately after they got output of the line the volunteers were letting people in again. Lindsay did eventually get into the line and finally received her autograph, but it took nearly an hour just to get into the lineup.
An important message from the Calgary Expo
The panels at the Calgary Expo were top notch; with over 50 guests including Stan Lee and Carrie Fisher, few expected them to be bad. A few announcements were made in Calgary, including Wil Wheaton revealing that he will be hosting another season of Second Watch. There were also a few firsts, including the first time the two ladies who have played Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton and Lena Headey) have ever met. For the most part, the panels in Calgary were just to get the fans close to the stars of their favourite shows and movies. In fact during the Q&A portion of the Game of Thrones panel one person asked for spoilers and got booed off the microphone. With the major panels aside from Game of Thrones, Supernatural, and Doctor Who, the rest were cancelled series or old movies, which isn’t a bad thing, as it allows fans to relive the experience of watching those shows and films. I would have loved to be at the Terminator panel just to see them all together again.
‘Arrow’s John Barrowman
For the readers who have never been to a convention, the Calgary Expo is definitely a good starter con. As it gets older, it grows bigger and learns from the mistakes that it made each previous year. The calibre of stars that attend continues to get better and it’s no wonder that in its eight year history it has grown to be the second largest comic expo in Canada. I look forward to seeing the Calgary Expo grow over the next five years. Due to the BMO Centre’s capacity, I don’t foresee the Calgary Expo becoming the largest in Canada, but it’s well on its way to becoming the best.