Author Topic: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA  (Read 3120 times)

Offline hikanteki

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SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« on: February 21, 2023, 08:49:08 AM »
Well, at least it had a few good years in San Jose.

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Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2023, 06:22:30 AM »
I got all of those emails as well. Honestly, last year was lackluster for me. Outside of the Expanse panel, it felt like there was very little 'comic con' aspect and far too much 'maker' aspect. Which is fine... but it isn't my thing. We are going to wait until closer to the event, when we know which guests are attending, to decide of we want to buy badges or not. And I say that as someone who has been attending this con every year since it began, including during COVID. It's very telling that there haven't been any guest announcements yet.

As for the move to Santa Clara, it's not that different for us in terms of driving, and I don't know enough about the convention center there to say if it is better or worse than San Jose.

Okay, I just checked, and there isn't a walking distance Bonvoy hotel. That is a big negative for Santa Clara.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2023, 06:25:53 AM by Transmute Jun »

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #2 on: Today at 02:42:25 PM »

Offline hikanteki

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2023, 05:28:57 PM »
The Santa Clara convention center itself is a nice facility, but about half the size of San Jose's and in a much more suburban area. It's good for small-to-mid sized conventions which are the type I've generally had no interest in. I've been to a few anime conventions there that used it as their starting point, but those ones were on their way up. This move shows that SiliCon is on its way down...an especially disappointing move for a convention that was actually a legit top tier comic con at one point.

Seems like San Jose's convention era is coming to an end. Crunchyroll Expo also announced it will not happen next year. FanimeCon is still in San Jose, but I don't see myself ever going back to it. The programming was extremely lackluster last year, and this year FanimeCon will still require not only vaccines, but boosters too...I can't bring myself to support something that still has these kinds of invasive requirements just to attend.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2023, 05:43:15 PM by hikanteki »
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Offline Xio

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2023, 09:21:18 PM »
I can live with the Santa Clara Convention Center, but I'm not a huge fan of this year being up against New York City Comic Con. I feel like a good chunk of possible guests will be choosing that con, for obvious reasons.

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2023, 10:46:44 AM »
Unless you’re not able/willing to travel across the country. I  don’t think that there’s a lot of crossover between people who would travel to the east coast for a BIG con versus locals who are interested in a Maker Con.

Offline Xio

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2023, 01:43:18 PM »
I meant guests, not attendees. Look at how many times Adam Savage himself has been willing to travel to NYCC.

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2023, 08:31:09 PM »
That’s fair. But I suspect that guests are not the con’s primary focus any longer.

Offline accelerate

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2023, 12:31:07 AM »
SVCC had a good two years (I think year 2 and year 3), but all other years were quite lackluster for me.

Unless I hear there will be amazing guests or a solid artists' alley lineup, it'll probably be a skip for me.

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2023, 08:09:30 AM »
Still no guest announcements.

Offline Xio

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #9 on: April 11, 2023, 07:33:48 PM »
Not really a surprise. They started announcing guests in April for August last year so I assume we have a month or two before we'll know who they managed to get.

Offline Cut That Meat

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #10 on: April 12, 2023, 05:21:10 PM »
Never got around to putting my thoughts in the SiliCon 2022 thread, but I went on Saturday last year (first time ever) and was not super impressed by the bare-bones Artist Alley, floor, and overall panel selection. I'm someone who never really does the paid autograph/photo op stuff, so while the celebrity list was decent IMO, it did nothing to enhance my personal SiliCon experience.

Honestly, the best part was the San Francisco Giants unexpectedly (to me) having a booth there to promote their then-upcoming Star Wars Day and picking up a bunch of giveaways and Buster Posey-signed items at very reasonable prices. With the Con this year coming after the regular season instead of during, I can't even count on that!

And to what You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login mentioned: even if NYCC wasn't on the same weekend (I've been trying to attend NYCC for awhile and this is the year it might actually work out), I'd likely pass on SiliCon anyway. Agreed with most of the sentiment here and in the 2022 thread: it just feels less and less like an event geared towards the average FoCC user. Which is fine! Different strokes for different folks who ARE interested in a maker con. But for someone who wants to support their local con(s), it's not something I have a ton of interest in in its current format. I guess I'll have to give Fan Expo SF a shot later this year.
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Offline accelerate

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2023, 01:21:05 AM »
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Never got around to putting my thoughts in the SiliCon 2022 thread, but I went on Saturday last year (first time ever) and was not super impressed by the bare-bones Artist Alley, floor, and overall panel selection. I'm someone who never really does the paid autograph/photo op stuff, so while the celebrity list was decent IMO, it did nothing to enhance my personal SiliCon experience.

I previously mentioned that year 2 and 3 were the best, because those were the years they had a dedicated room for artist's alley. They had a good number of artists.

Also, the earlier years, they had a lot of activities on the lower floor, including vintage arcade games and CCGs. And on the far end of the convention center was a small section that reminded me a lot of the booths on the mezzanine section of SDCC, with the likes of the 501st Stormtroopers and people who make their own custom R2 units.

Annnnd... now I'm even more sad at what the convention has become.

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2023, 05:47:36 AM »
Years 2 and 3 were definitely the best, and then they cut back. As for now, I think the double whammy of the Adam Savage takeover/transition to Maker Faire plus COVID has been significant. If this year's con isn't successful, it may be a death blow. I hope not, because I enjoyed SVCC, but it seems like SiliCon is on its way out.

Offline hikanteki

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2023, 06:43:18 AM »
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Honestly, the best part was the San Francisco Giants unexpectedly (to me) having a booth there to promote their then-upcoming Star Wars Day and picking up a bunch of giveaways and Buster Posey-signed items at very reasonable prices. With the Con this year coming after the regular season instead of during, I can't even count on that!

LOL, this was actually my favorite part too and I'm not even that much of a baseball fan. But I picked up two cheap tickets to the upcoming Star Wars Day (where they gave out free metallic orange C3PO Pops), and they gave me a free grab bag with previous Giants nights including 2 Star Wars Bobbleheads, a Hello Kitty Lunchbox, and a Harry Potter bat.

I'll also echo that year's 2 and 3 were the best. Year 1 had top tier programming but was somewhat extremely chaotic. Year 4 was a complete dumpster fire. I actually enjoyed Years 5 and 6 too and found them middle of the road compared to other cons during the covid era, but I just don't see how downgrading to the Santa Clara convention center can possibly end well.
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Offline Xio

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Re: SiliCon 2023: October 14-15, Santa Clara CA
« Reply #14 on: May 05, 2023, 03:44:42 PM »
Just got the email SiliCon has been canceled. At least they're not pretending everything is ok and cancelling last second.