I have a proper job, I know that may surprise people but I wear a suit, work in an office and like to think that what I do matters, I work for a major multinational company and travel a lot for work. This is a rather large contrast to the Scifi world I often inhabit at home and sometimes the contrast becomes starkly obvious.

This week I’m at a very large conference for work. A brief outline of the event goes something like:

Attendance – 20,000 people
Dress code – suits
Sessions to sit through to learn new information
Key ‘star’ speakers people want to hear talk, or meet
A huge exhibition area with every company in the sector here
Meetings from 7am until midnight
Long queues for overpriced (and not very good) food at the exhibition centre
Champagne and cocktails in the conference bar in the evening.
Lots of media coverage and film crews wandering around.

In two weeks time I’ll be at the New York Comic convention. I was trying to explain the concept of a comic con to some colleagues over dinner last night. It went something like this:

Attendance – 90,000 people
Dress code – jeans, comic based tshirts, fancy dress (showering appears to be optional!)
Preview screenings, talks by comic artists and celebs
Key ‘star’ people from the movie and comic industry that everyone wants to hear talk, get a sketch or signature from or meet
A huge exhibition area with every company in the sector here
Queues from 7am (and earlier) and sessions to go to until midnight
Long queues for overpriced (and not very good) food at the exhibition centre
Beer in the conference bar in the evening.
Lots of media coverage and film crews wandering around.

So comic con is bigger, more laid back and smellier but in some ways there are actually very similar. The biggest difference is the fancy dress. This conference would be so much more fun if a fancy dress rule was implemented!

I find I’m actually looking forward to four days in my jeans (I DON’T do fancy dress), drinking beer, staying in a cheap hotel, getting star struck over Princess Leia, dodging people dressed as Ewoks and random manga characters, hunting down comic artists who you have no idea what they look like. It will definitely make a change. Roll on comic con.