CyPhaCon 2013 Review by Alaska

Lake Charles, LA,USA. April 19th – April 21st, 2013.
Reporter(s): Alaska


3CyPhaCon is a small convention, only in its third year, held at the Lake Charles Civic Center. The convention is mostly sci-fi-oriented, but it also hosts many gaming- and anime-focused panels and events.

Considering that this was my first time attending CyPhaCon and being a cosplay guest, I had a great time. Even though it was a small con and I’m not as big into the sci-fi community as I could be, it was interesting to see all the people who love it. I loved seeing all the people dressed in steampunk, and I also loved seeing the all the little kids running around with their parents. There were many first-time con-goers as well, and seeing the their joy in attending was great.

Since this was a small convention, everything took place on one floor of the civic center. I did notice that there wasn’t really a line for registration during the entire convention–either people had already paid for their passes, or the few who hadn’t made it quickly through the line.

The Main Events stage was in the main room of the civic center, just to the left of the entrance. There were tables and chairs in front of the stage where people could sit, eat, and watch whatever was happening at the moment. I liked that there were concessions available so that attendees could eat food without having to go offsite to get it. MechCorps brought their game pods along, and there were a couple of other video games set up for kids to play. Along with those games, table top games and role-play games were set up, as well. The vendors, mainly steampunk, were really cool, too.1

The convention also featured a couple of panel rooms and anime-viewing rooms, separated off by dividers. I didn’t get to attend many panels other than the ones that I hosted with two of my friends, but I heard that they were really fun. There weren’t a lot of people who attended our panels, but the ones who did had a lot of questions. Hopefully, we were able to answer everyone’s questions and make sure everyone who attended our panels had a great time.

I loved that the CyPhaCon staff made sure that all of the panelists had everything they needed. They came around and asked us multiple times and made sure that we were having fun. They also made sure that we didn’t forget when our panels were scheduled, which was helpful.

One of the main things I took away from CyPhaCon is that it doesn’t matter how small a con is, because it can be just as great as a big convention–in some instances, even better, because it’s more personal. I definitely plan on attending this convention again, and I hope that in the future it becomes just as popular as some of the bigger cons in other states.


Photogallery

All Photos Courtesy CyPhaCon