Ahh…February time to start thinking about GenCon. What’s that? GenCon is in August. Why start thinking about it now? Ahh, I see you have not been to GenCon before my friend, and you surely do not know me. August is when you go to GenCon. February is when you start your planning.

Now release that mouse from your ADD like urge to click and seek out more media, and let me talk to you for a few moments about GenCon…

For Gamers GenCon is a religious experience, a pilgrimage that every gamer should take at least once in their lives. It is four days of shopping for games, talking about games, listening to lectures about games, and playing games. As one of my good friends put it, it is the gaming geeks fishing trip. My first GenCon was in 1996 (I know, hardly a seasoned veteran). I did not go again until 2003, when GenCon moved to Indianapolis. But since 2003 I have attended every year.

For me GenCon is a lot of things. First, it is a chance for me to hang out with my best friends, away from work, and other obligations, and to spend four whole days enjoying my favorite hobby, that as I have gotten older, I seem to have less and less time to enjoy. Second, it is a time to meet other gamers and people that I have gotten to know online. I like to participate on a number of forums and blogs, and GenCon is one place where I can meet up with other participants and get to put faces to the posts that I have read. Third, it is a place to experience new games, be it shopping on the floor, playing in a session of a game that I have never played before, or sitting in on one of the many seminars, GenCon gives me the chance to expand my boundaries and learn something new. Lastly, GenCon is a place where I can give back to the gaming community. Every for the past four years, I have given some kind of presentation at GenCon. I enjoy talking to other gamers, and passing on my advice, techniques and experiences. It is a great feeling to be able to contribute to the gaming community in a face to face venue.

I expect this year to be no different. Plans are already being made, among my group of friends to see who is attending this year. I am talking to a few fellow bloggers about submitting an event for this year, a workshop. More details on that in the next few weeks. For me, February is the start of the GenCon season, running from now, through August.

Over the next few months, I will be posting articles on getting ready for GenCon. Here are some of the topics you can expect to see:

• Details on my workshop event
• How to survive Event Registration
• How not to go broke at GenCon
• Cool things to do at GenCon
• GenCon packing list
• GenCon Etiquette (or Please Don’t Tell Me About Your Character)

I will also be talking about some personal experiences about GenCon, including who The Greenshirts are.

I will also post some updates as I do my own preparations for GenCon.

So if you have GenCon questions, please send them to me, and I would be happy to answer them online.

So go and register! I will be this weekend.