Heidi's report from the Leverage CON-con

I've been to a lot of conventions, both fan-run and "professional", and I'd like to say how much I love what Marc Lee and his group of volunteers have pulled off here at the first official Leverage CON-con event. As with all conventions, each person will have a different experience. For the first half day, mine has been fabulous.

Traveling to the West Coast from Texas means even though it's 7:30 am here, it feels like I've slept in for two hours. As I reached the lobby around 9 am, they were giving out tickets for the registration line, once they opened at 10 am. For the intervening hour, I roamed the hotel taking pictures. The Governor Hotel
(http://www.governorhotel.com/) is filled with amazing architectural accents which are different in every room. The extra tall ceilings make for an extra level of stairs, but once those elevators fill up this weekend, the stairway is going to be my main access route (and justification for having dessert).

Once I got through registration and signed up for the set tour Saturday morning, it was time to stand in line for the autographs and photo ops. In the sad eventuality that this is the only Leverage event I get to attend, I burned some plastic on buying photo-ops - even the tickets are pretty. I hauled my platinum ticket goodie bag back to the room and when I dumped it out on the bed, I was stunned.

Not just at the quantity of stuff, but at the quality as well.

• city map with stickers of where different Leverage eps where filmed


• beanie hat branded Leverage and TNT


• headshots of The 5 for the autograph sessions


• packet of chips


• bottle of green tea


• full color program book suitable for framing (I'm not kidding)


• Leverage, Electric Entertainment, IF Magazine stickers and tattoos

Then I spent some time in the dealer's room, burned more plastic, and got to meet Dean Devlin and Marc Lee. The informal opening ceremonies was scarcely attended because the registration line was still processing people, but Marc filled us in on the rules (you will die if you video tape anything in this room) and a preview of the weekend's events. We were also told that IF Magazine's is going to be streaming various aspects of the event, as well as exclusive interviews.

Lunch was a huge roast beef sandwich from Jake's Catering in the dealer's room, and then here I am in my room using the hotel's free wi-fi to write this report. This afternoon is fan trivia, the art of fan music videos (a personal favorite of mine), and the art of the soundtrack with the Leverage composer Joseph LoDuca. I've got reservations for dinner at Jake's Grill, then back to the ballroom for the TNT Cocktail Party Extravaganza (seriously - that's what it's called in the schedule).

Until tomorrow, or maybe later tonight,

Heidi Berthiaume

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