It'll make it so much easier for next year

This may well be my favorite BCon related exchange ever, as taken from the blog of Michael Simon, author of DIRTY SALLY and BODY SCISSORS:

On arrival back home [from Bouchercon], I got an email from a buddy:

"Sorry we only got to see each other for a second at Bouchercon -- I looked for you afterward, but couldn't seem to find you. Were you avoiding the bar?"

I wrote back:

"There was a bar?"

Yes. Yes there was:

Apparently the panels were only a small part of the camaraderie and exchange of information. I imagined a crime fiction bar, filled with tough dames and hard-punching mugs, the grumbled chatter broken only occasionally by the crack of a pool cue over someone's head.

Another prominent player in the field explained it to me this way:

"I've been to thirty of these conferences. The panels aren't going to tell me anything I don't know. I show up at the bar at eleven AM and stay till closing.

"How else am I supposed to see everybody?"

Indeed. Because, as we all know from before, the three rules of BCon are:

Hang out in the bar.
Hang out in the bar.
Hang out in the bar.

The rest are details.

Comments

[David Terrenoire]

Like I need more encouragement.

[Jim Winter]

We were discussing on Lee Goldberg's backblog how to pace one's self in the bar.

Diet Coke seems to be the best hedge against severe liver damage.

[JDRhoades]

Terrenoire stole my line.

[Andi]

Except that a) lots of our friends DON'T drink and aren't comfortable in bars and b) in SOME cities/states (we won't mention Chicago, oh, right) apparently not only is smoking okay in bars but cigar smoking is okay which is not okay with lots of us and c) some of us actually like to HEAR conversations and bars really aren't conducive to that, at least not unless you like YELLING. a LOT.
While bar-hanging-out IS a sacred convention tradition, it's nice too to have, oh, a good lobby or gee, ya think a hospitality room for those who aren't big on the whole BAR thing.
My whine? I would have set up camp in one of the hotel bars if they'd gotten ESPN2, the network that was showing the WNBA games I missed. Smoke and all.
I dunno but I've always found, having been to like 70 sf and mystery conventions, where there's not a central gathering place like hospitality or a fan lounge (sf does that really well) that if you REALLY wanna see everyone, you need to set up in the dealer's room. Find a friend with an empty chair,, or hang out near an interesting table or near the water station. It's like Rick's. Everyone comes to the dealer's room.

[David J. Montgomery]

Problem with the dealer room is they don't have liquor... unless, of course, Konrath is down there serving shots.

[Andi]

liquor -well after going to conventions for 30 years and having a total BLAST at most....sober...i guess it's different styles. But then I never was a bar person.

[Ayo Onatade]

Even though it was my first B'Con, even I knew that the best place to hang out was the bar. As to hospitality suite. What hospitality suite?

[Ayo Onatade]

Even though it was my first B'Con, even I knew that the best place to hang out was the bar. As to hospitality suite. What hospitality suite?