Comic-Con International is the largest annual comic and pop festival gathering in the world. Each year, more than 130,000 people make the pilgrimage to San Diego for a week of film screenings, panel sessions, interactive games and other experiential activities. Comic-Con began as a small gathering of comic book nerds in 1970 and over a few decades exploded into one of the largest and most influential events for the entertainment and gaming industries. The few times I have attended Comic-Con, I usually spend more time observing the attendees than the exhibitions. Sure, the fans come for the fun, but many of the people who attend the event, are aspiring artists themselves. They come to network, see their heroes and hopefully turn their passion into a career. In that sense, Comic-Con is a lot like any other business convention. Living in San Diego, I have had the chance to see first-hand how Comic-Con has evolved over the years. While today the big studies and television networks are driving the big crowds to the event, Comic-Con has somehow maintained its authenticity and has never strayed too far from its roots as the world’s greatest mecca of die-hard fans of comics, super heroes and science fiction. It’s endearing and a fun thing to witness.
About a year ago, I was convinced by some of my closest friends that I should do a podcast. Today it seems like everyone has a podcast, and frankly, 99% of them aren’t very good. I wasn’t sure I could do much better, but I realized I do have some ideas that some people have found interesting in the past.
The decision to invite President Barack Obama to the NAHREP Policy Conference last Spring was a decision I made with the NAHREP National Board. Anytime we have a political figure of that stature at one of our events, we know it will stimulate a lot of buzz among our members and stakeholders.
L’ATTITUDE 2022 is less than two weeks away. This year’s event includes a concert at Rady Shell; the coolest new concert venue in America according to Forbes magazine. The concert is in partnership with La Musica, and will feature music superstars, Juanes and Farukko.