What Is The Future of Odyssey Con?

Will there be a 2018 Odyssey Con? That’s the decision now under discussion by the parent organization.

Last year Odyssey Con suffered the loss of its three original GoHs as Christopher Mihm and Tad Williams followed Monica Valentinelli out the door when she quit because some of the committee leadership continued to support of one of their members after she made an issue of his history as a harasser.

The experience has taken a toll, as the latest status report from Odyssey Con shows:

As many have probably noticed by now, nothing has been posted about Odyssey Con 18. After Odyssey Con 17, OCSI (the parent organization of Odyssey Con) and the concom have taken its time moving forward and trying to determine the best course of action after last year’s convention.

Several of our key members have either decided to take some time away, move to the back seat, or otherwise break away from the convention for the time being. This has left some vacancies we weren’t certain we’d be able to fill. Some of them we have been able to, while other positions still remain open. We are still looking for volunteers for those positions.

…Having lost a fair amount of time in doing all this, the future of Odyssey Con still remains with some doubts and we are in talks about how to proceed. Our current options are:

  • End the run of Odyssey Con as a convention. Seventeen years is a fair run for a small convention, and many of the long-term committee members are feeling a bit burnt out.
  • Push forward with 2018 and see what happens. With only seven months left to plan, this may be a very daunting task.
  • Run a small convention in 2018 with no guests and very limited programming, gaming, etc, focusing on 2019. It would keep the convention going for those who want to attend, though would still be a drain on resources.
  • Skip a year and run Odyssey Con 18 in 2019. Many conventions that skip a year don’t come back, but a few do. It would give the concom more planning time for retooling and on the convention itself.

While the committee discusses the options internally, they also plan to canvass public opinion about them, either on their website or Facebook.