No, I don't mean conservatives... I mean conventions, specifically those which cater directly to the interests of the individual participants known colloquially as "Cons". Think of it this way: Cons are a vacation with a purpose. YearlyKos 2006 was one. And the blogosphere may be poised to make a whole lot more of them.
Business conventions of various stripes have been around for ages, as have scholarly conferences, religious meetings, and product expos. These have clear purposes directly related to existing institutions, and frequently somebody else was paying you to go there. Cons are their geeky sibling. Dedicated to things like SciFi, Fantasy, Anime, and Gaming these
events are swarming with nerds (frequently
in costume) who had a pretty hard time finding like-minded people in numbers large enough to hang out with in their own towns. Fan conventions like these are the primary example of Cons (indeed, some consider them the
definition of it). But if you consider a con to be any participant-oriented event, then there are Cons for all manner of other
highly specialized interests too, including
creepy ones. But they were there, on their own nickel, just to be there.
And this is where the rise of the internet and the blogosphere really starts to make a difference... because now it's not just the nerds anymore, there are MILLIONS of people out there forsaking time spent interacting in person with people nearby to spend time with others with similar interests thousands of miles away online. And when online is not enough, conventions are the next logical step. Of course this pattern of behavior has certain social consequences: some alienation with the people close to you; some inevitable disappointment with the reality of meeting online buddies in person. YK06 attendees, feel free to share your reactions. Certainly YK was not the first - The Amaz!ing Meeting and the Makers Faire also come to mind.
Perhaps I'm being a bit too particular. Blogging, as a personal endeavor, may blur the boundaries between personal choice and political activity, but YearlyKos certainly involved quite a bit of networking and political heavies. On that note YK06 is not that different from other political conventions. You could also argue that kossacks are if not nerdy then certainly wonky, and therefore YK06 is not that different from a regular Con, just with fewer Klingons (or all kossacks all cling-ons? Har har). So maybe I shouldn't rush out and buy some shares of Gaylord Entertainment.
Or should I?