I’m Back. SDCC was Awesome
Posted July 28th, 2008 by Howard TaylerComic-Con International, aka San Diego Comic-Con, was wonderful. It would have been better had I not lost my voice on Saturday, but on Sunday I decided to draw up a few signs allowing me to distribute flyers.
I would hold up a sign that said PLEASE TAKE A SAMPLE, and catch the attention of a passer-by.
He/she would usually look at me wondering why I was using a sign, at which point I would gesture at a sign propped up to my right that said I LOST MY VOICE.
They’d smile, express sympathy, and take a flyer. I would then spin my “take a sample” sign to the other side, which said “THANK YOU.”
Then they’d really grin, and sometimes laugh. At that point I’d often reach for a sign that said “THE PITY CARD. I AM PLAYING IT” and there’d be more laughter.
It’s one of the more effective gimmicks I’ve dreamed up. It’s a shame it’ll only work when I’m sick.
Speaking of which, I’m still sick. I drove home with the help of four or five of those little two-ounce energy drinks and some pseudoephedrine. I timed it just right, too. I didn’t collapse from the shakes until I walked into my house twelve hours after departure.
I’ll blog more later. For now I need to convalesce (pun intended…)
Explore posts in the same categories: Conventions
July 28th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Oh, con-crud. How I hate thee.
If you can stomach it, chew a clove of garlic before bed. It kills *anything* throat-related, and you just have bad breath the next day.
July 28th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
And he made a great sales person with the signs! After reading Schlock for so long it was great to finally meet Howard in person, and the signs just made it even more special!
July 28th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Pfft. I’ll take garlic breath over a lot of people’s regular breath. Especially if they’ve been drinking coffee. Or cigarette-flavored decaf.
Garlic is a natural antibiotic, and delicious. You should be eating a ton of it, anyway!
July 28th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Well, you don’t HAVE to be sick…
It’s just a lie if you aren’t. :)
July 28th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Welcome home, Howard.
You can, of course, play the pity card, and have it work, any time you choose, but it’s cool to see that you’re honorable enough to only do it when necessary.
D.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Your card-trick sounds neat :)
But I missed two cards:
- “Preorder a Schlock” and
- “Want to hire a Mercenary?”
Best with nice drawings illustrating why that would be a very good idea :)
:)
July 29th, 2008 at 3:16 am
I get this mental image of a sign saying “YES, YOU ARE SO PREDICTABLE I CAN WRITE MY SIDE OF THE CONVERSATION IN ADVANCE.”
July 29th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Howard, great marketing tric. Well played. Now take care (or let Sandra pamper you).
And Sam: hahahaaa, that would have been the best :’-)
July 29th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Welcome back and get well.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Brilliant Howard! I haven’t gotten con-crud yet, but if it ever gets that bad that I can’t talk, that’s a nice idea….hmm, I’d have to plan ahead to have something to write on and some magic markers to write with…..
July 29th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
You know, Sam, I actually did something similar to that during a Day of Silence.
Conversely, it could be argued that /I/ am the predictable one, given that all of my responses were pre-recorded.
I think this comments section should include great tales of ‘alternate communication’ when your voice couldn’t cut it. e.g;
On a day in which I was to undertake a vow of silence, (beginning at 8am,) I had to give a speech for a Literature course. To avoid breaking the vow, I pre-recorded the entire speech… on my low-quality laptop microphone, which was broken. Thus, I had to partially disassemble my laptop to press down on a particular part of the circuit board to make the mic work. I generally could only do this for thirty seconds before the pliers I was using would slip. So a ten-minute speech recorded in thirty-second increments.
Then I printed out the script/written transcript of the speech, with a short explanation for the professor to read aloud.
Of course, I wouldn’t just sit there while the speech was going off. So I lip-synched to myself.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Ah, but did you lip-sync to pre-recorded answers for the Q&A afterwards?
July 29th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Ohh man, that’s something Comicon was sorely missing - Howard on a panel. That would have been totally awesome!
Hey, I know! You and the guys at Writing Excuses could try to put together a panel for next year! How cool would THAT be??
Or maybe get in on Halfpixel’s ‘Making Webcomicsl Panel. OOO! OR you could try convincing the rest of Blanklabel to create a rival panel! Then people can go to theirs, hear what they have to say, then go to yours’ and listen to the rebuttal. :D
July 30th, 2008 at 1:47 am
I have found a great source of humour in something similar. As a teacher, laryngitis is a recurring health hazard. When I am suffering from said ailment, I frequently use similar signs on the whiteboard. It’s amazing how often they can be useful.
And count your blessings, by the way. That wonderful miracle known as pseudephedrine is very carefully regulated in Australia. Apparently they think that depriving crime lords of cold and flu remedies[1] will bring them to their knees! :)
[1] To those with more chemical knowledge: Yes, I am very well aware of the fact that said pharmaceutical is a precursor for all kinds of illegal nasties. But my version sounds funnier. :)
July 31st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
My first thought was “and you had one that said MEEP MEEP too, right?”
ps. warning signs arrived! yay! They really do look much nicer than the picture on the store :-)