Supernatural Conference, Part 1

This past weekend, fellow Supernatural Sister Tanya and I attended a Supernatural fan conference held in Nashville. We found out about this conference last Labor Day weekend while in a line for a panel at Dragon*Con, and when the Silver (second-tier) weekend passes went on sale we nabbed a couple. I was actually nervous waiting for those Silver packages to go on sale, afraid the con would sell out while only the Gold packages were available. We didn't need the Gold package because that included the hotel room, and we didn't need that expense because I only live a few miles from the hotel and planned to drive it each day.

We did get our Silver packages finally, and last Friday Tanya made the drive up for the weekend. Nothing better than a visit with a good friend while being fangirls. There wasn't much going on con-wise on Friday night, so we just went out to dinner and enjoyed catching up. I had just finished up with some crazy deadlines earlier in the week and was ready for a weekend of pure fun.

On Saturday morning, we headed to the hotel to register. We noticed right off that this conference was much different than what we were used to at Dragon*Con. Not only was the crowd much smaller (well, most every con crowd would be compared to the 40,000-50,000 people who attend Dragon*Con each year), but also there were very few costumes and not all that many Supernatural-themed T-shirts. It seemed that the majority female crowd had opted to dress nicer for their upcoming photos with Jared and Jensen. Yep, you read that right -- Jared and Jensen were in the house. We also had assigned seats, which is so much different than the crazy rush and enormously long lines at Dragon*Con. We were in row K right in the middle of the stage, so nice seats. They called those getting photos made with the stars by row, so we had a bit to wait. But we're never without something to read, so when we weren't talking or having our photo taken next to a huge poster of the Impala (because we knew MJ loves it so) Tanya was reading one of the Game of Thrones books and I was reading my friend T.R. Ragan's new thriller, Abducted.

Finally it was time to get in line for our photos with Jared and Jensen. I've had photos taken with several stars at Dragon*Con, but I'll admit to being a wee bit jittery for this one. When we finally got into the room where the photos were being taken and saw J&J, it was a bit of a surreal moment. Like many TV stars, they were "rocking the hiatus beards" (a term used on Twitter by one of the guys from Castle, not sure which one). Tanya and I, geek girls that we are, actually were wearing Supernatural T-shirts, and I was wearing one I'd gotten off CafePress that said, "Don't fear the Reaper. The Winchesters took care of it." The guys read it as I stepped up for my photo and Jensen said, "Nice." Yes, I'm a goob because that made me smile like a fool, I'm sure. And yes, Jared really is tall (6'5"). I'm used to being around tall guys (hubby is 6'3" and brother-in-law is 6'7"), but it was still notable.

After lunch, we headed back to the ballroom where all the main sessions were being held. First up was the panel with Jared and Jensen. As you might imagine, much clapping and screaming ensued when they took the stage. They answered audience questions, talked about the show and goofed around about Jared's new Twitter account, which seemed to mightily confuse Jensen. They, as well as some of the other stars, talked about how they had no idea what would happen next season as they haven't yet seen any scripts. So evidently our guesses are as good as anyone's.

Following the panel, Jared and Jensen signed autographs. This took a good long while. One of the conference organizers said that this was the biggest crowd for Jared and Jensen at any of their cons to date. But we finally got our autographs (part of our weekend package), and let me just say that I was both happy and relieved that J&J were both really nice. It's going to be a little odd next season watching the show knowing that I've met them. Sort of like when I watch Castle and realize I've met Nathan Fillion. Tanya and I were talking about how if we could go back and tell our childhood selves that we would someday meet all these stars, we wouldn't have believed it.

So much happened at the conference that Tanya and I will be devoting several posts to it. Check back on Friday to read Tanya's post on another aspect of the weekend.