NorthAmeriCon ’17 - Friday

Today was the first full day of programming here at NorthAmericon '17! Neither my wife nor I were very interested in any of today's scheduled events.

We did check out the Art Show and the Dealer's Room. Both were very small — within five minutes, you could see the whole thing. Talking with the artists and vendors, the big problem was the cost of getting their wares to the convention. Since there is no ferry service between Florida and Puerto Rico, all of their stuff had to be shipped by air – and that is expensive. As a result, very few artists sent anything for the Art Show and only three vendors were in the Dealer's Room.

Today, using a borrowed van, we went to Wal*Mart and Sam's Club and bought supplies for the Con Suite. We are restricted to "finger food" and pre-wrapped snacks, along with soda and other soft drinks. We managed to "con" the hotel into supplying us with an ice cart that will hold 400 pounds of ice. During the day, we emptied it and had to refill in. We are also using it to refrigerate food that needs to be kept cold, such as yogurt and cheeses.

When running a convention, it is important to establish good contacts within the hotel staff. The Committee works with management of the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel and Casino through their catering office – the name varies from hotel to hotel. Those of us further down the "food chain" also need contacts to get the little things done, such as getting large quantities of ice. Below is Veronica from the Sheraton's front desk. She took it upon herself to act as our low-level liaison and went the extra mile to ensure we had almost anything we asked for.

Thank you, Veronica!!