Ring*Con? – What the heck is that?… and what's it all about???
Ring*Con is Europe´s biggest Fantasy Convention, which will be held from 15th till 17th October, 2010, for the 9th time. A Convention is a meeting of like-minded fans, where they can celebrate their hobby and fandom. All of this in combination with stars from TV and movies, party, fun and joy. The first Ring*Con was held in 2002. The reason for this first Lord of the Rings Convention was the gigantic success of the first movie “The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring”, based on the magnum opus by J.R.R. Tolkien, the probably best Fantasy writer in the twentieth century. The name Ring*Con was chosen for its being an exclusive Convention for “Lord of the Rings” for many years. Later the Ring*Con was extended to a Fantasy Convention, with the first non-LotR star guests from “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
Due to the great success of the first part of the movie trilogy, “Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring” in the year 2001, Marcel Bülles from the “Deutsche Tolkiengesellschaft” and Stefan Servos, owner of the very successful website www.herr-der-ringe.film.de , had the idea to hold a Convention about this topic to bring “Lord of the Rings” more closer to the fans.
The idea included that the participants should see actors on stage, get autographs, hear lectures by Tolkien experts and experience a fantastic weekend with like-minded people. But they needed help by professionals to realize their project. A Convention is not as easy to manage as you would think. Both realized that quickly with the first ideas and beginnings.
Some Convention managers have had mainly negative experiences, and so the organizers wisely asked a man for his advice who is well-known for having created successful Conventions for 17 years now – Dirk Bartholomä, owner of FedCon GmbH in Augsburg, Germany.
The parties soon found mutually satisfactory arrangements, the planning started and the first German “Lord of the Rings” – Fan Event was set up. The first Ring*Con took place, with nearly 1500 visitors in the Maritim Hotel Bonn from 22nd till 24th November, 2002, with the following star guests from “Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring”:
Brad Dourif (Grima Wormtongue), Craig Parker ( Haldir), Sarah McLeod (Rosie Cotton), Mark Ferguson (Gil Galad), Cameron Rhodes (Farmer Maggot), and Marc B. Lee as Master of Ceremonies (best known from FedCon – www.fedcon.de ).
The wave of enthusiasm after the first Ring*Con was so huge that they planned a sequel, even though the first Ring*Con was not much of a financial success. There were so many people at this Convention who had exclusively met on internet boards before, and only encountered each other in person on this November, 2002, for the first time to celebrate the common hobby - and they demanded a sequel to Ring*Con. They wanted to cherish their new friendships and acquaintances, celebrate a reunion and also to continue the celebration of “Lord of the Rings” with actors, workshops and other fan activities. The huge success of the second movie “The Lord of the Ring – The Two Towers” made the decision easy to do a second year of the Ring*Con. In 2003, there were approximately 2500 fans in the Maritim Hotel in Bonn to visit the second Ring*Con, organized again by Stefan Servos, Marcel Bülles and FedCon GmbH. The very impressive list of guests star contained among others John Rhys-Davies, Bruce Hopkins and Craig Parker, and caused many fans visit this Convention. 2003 was also the first Ring*Con which offered lectures and workshops, which have been held with such stunning success that the organizers offered more of them in the next years.
Stefan Servos and Marcel Bülles left the project Ring*Con, and thus FedCon GmbH with Dirk Bartholomä and his team had the exclusive responsibility for the Convention. This did not diminish the success of the Convention, in the contrary: Ring*Con extended, more star guests, more lectures, more workshops and more fan activities and essentially more visitors than 2003.
Ring*Con 2004, which was held from 29th till 31st of October, had approximately 4000 visitors, and the first voices were heard with wishes for other star guests, not exclusive from “Lord of theRings”, but also from other Fantasy movies or TV series. In spite of these voices, FedCon GmbH followed the Ring*Con tradition and held the Ring*Con as pure LotR convention a till 2006.
In 2007, the growing number of requests for other Fantasy series and movies were honoured, and Ring*Con greeted Isaac C. Singleton Jr. and Clive Ashborn as the first star guests from “Pirates of the Caribbean”. The feedback from the visitors and fans was absolutely enthusiastic, more actors from Fantasy films and series were requested, and by now Ring*Con has become a Fantasy Convention. In 2008, Ring*Con welcomed Chris Rankin, Stanislav Ianevski and James Yeates from the “Harry Potter” movies, and this year Ring*Con will be expanded further with star guests from the “Twilight” movie and the “Blood Ties” TV series. Of course the “Lord of the Rings” character of the Convention will be maintained.
Ring*Con is an absolute wonderland for both fans of “Lord of the Rings” and other Fantasy films and series, and offers among others:
Actors! Yes! You can meet your favourite stars from „Lord of the Rings“, „Harry Potter“, „Twilight“ and other Fantasy movies and TV series, and you can ask them questions in the so-called panels (Question and Answer sessions). These panels will be held in the huge main hall of the congress centre. The star guest is on stage and you can, if you want, ask your question from the audience via microphone. You can meet lots of the guest stars of Ring*Con not exclusively in their panels, but sometimes it will happen that they are walking through the Convention centre, holding a little small talk with the fans, or they will join the big Convention parties on Friday and Saturday night.
Dealer‘s room! You will find everything you need there – or everything you do not need. Action Figures, new DVD’s, lots of autographs, books, magazines, costumes and much, much more. Take your time to shop – it is worth it!
Art Show! Enjoy the works by other fans, or be a part of the exhibition and show your own creations. Everyone can exhibit self-made paintings, models, costumes and others. You can offer your art for sale if you want and in addition, the exhibited works are part of the competition in which you can win interesting prizes.
Workshops! How to draw my favourite actor? How to make jewellery or ornaments? How to learn calligraphy? How to read and write Tengwar? How to tailor a costume which is as close to the original as possible? How to write a script? Can I act? Many workshops will be offered on Ring*Con in every year, sometimes by star guests. Take a look at the workshops, and you will find something of interest to you.
Discussions! Do not only discuss Fantasy in the internet (Lord of the Rings, Twilight, Harry Potter and others), at Ring*Con it is possible to discuss live and in person. These panels and lectures about different topics will be held by fans. They offer chances to compare notes or to simply have fun. Any fan who has an interesting and suitable topic can organize such a discussion panel.
Fun and Games! Active fans are allowed to create games for Ring*Con’s visitors, quizzes, scavenger hunts or other games with interesting prizes. All you need is creativity and to be with it . Don’t worry, be active on the Convention. Why not?
Autograph sessions! Autographs are a very important reason for many fans to visit the Convention. You can get autographs from all our star guests for a charge. All autographs will be written by the star guests live and in person – with very rare exceptions. That means you stand opposite your favourite star live and in person, and maybe you will have the opportunity to say “hi”.
Photo sessions! There are unique opportunities for personal pictures with the star guests of Ring*Con. For a charge, the star guests will have their photo taken with you! The photo sessions, which are a special highlight at Ring*Con, will take place on Friday and Saturday. You can collect your pictures on the following day at the Convention. Owners of day tickets will receive their pictures via mail. You can also collect your own picture JPEGs at the Convention if you bring a USB stick or via E-Mail after the Con, as a special and free service.
 
Parties and concerts! What would Ring*Con be without the famous convention parties with live music by well-known bands like Schelmish. The parties will go on the whole night, and some of the star guests will also join the party. Lots of the actors like coming to Ring*Con again and again – most of all due to the parties. They enjoy it very much.
Meet friends! Make new acquaintances and friends! There is no place to meet so many like-minded people as Ring*Con. Leave the daily routine behind for a weekend, meet your friends, talk about Lord of the Rings, Twilight, Harry Potter and other works of Fantasy, or simply be a fan for a weekend.
This may all sound too good to be true, but it is real! Everyone who has visited Ring*Con once will do it again. Lots of fans say the Convention is addictive. You do not want to miss such a weekend - and you will come again and again every year.
In addition, there will be lots of dealers with their stalls, special offers and campaigns and … and … and … and if you don’t go to Ring*Con – it is your own fault. ;-)
WELCOME TO RING*CON
A SPECIAL EVENT FOR VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE
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