Convention Insider (Conventions.net)

Does your convention have a security plan?  If not you might want to think about what occurred today in San Diego at ComicCon.  I have written about ComicCon before and it is one of the conferences I would most want to attend.  It is unfortunate that today it had an issue with attendee violence.

It has been reported that in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center where ComicCon was taking place that an attendee of a session was attacked by another attendee and allegedly stabbed in the eye with a pen over a dispute involving a seat.  The attendees of ComicCon are very loyal fans and apparently issues caused the escalation of the incident.  I read about the incident on Twitter and Facebook, which seems to be the breaking news rooms of today.  I am not sure what all the facts are at this time but it made me think about convention security.

I will ask the question again.  Does your convention have a security plan?  I am sure in this particular instance the San Diego Convention Center had all the bases covered and it seems that the incident did not get further out of hand.  As I understand it they had police there quickly and had the matter under control.  I will discuss more about security in conventions or trade shows, but for now let’s see how the story of this unfolds.

I have been wanting to get to Comic-Con out in San Diego for a number of years now and I was thinking that this would be my year, but alas it appears that the show has once again sold out.  A month away from the ever popular event in San Diego, and I was thinking I could perhaps get in as press to cover the event and that is almost tougher to accomplish than to buy a regular ticket. The event is now closed to any press requests as well.

This from their press room:

The 41st Annual Comic-Con International event will be held at the San Diego Convention Center from July 22 – 25 with a preview night on July 21. The event is SOLD OUT. Comic-Con International 2010 Press Registration is NOW CLOSED. There will be NO on-site press registration.

While I would love to go to the event it would probably prove impossible to find a place to stay or a place to hang my hat for the event.  As I have written in the past about Comic-Con and San Diego, it is the toughest ticket in town to get as far as the San Diego Conventions Center is concerned!  I wonder if my friends and clients over at Graphic.ly could get me in?  They would probably just make me work!  Maybe if I found my costume and showed up as my superhero self…