HelloPerfect

Frequently Asked Questions

Q) Who is running this event?

A) Many of you knew me (Fernando Martinez) as former partner in one of Florida's most popular Sci-Fi Convention companies for almost 10 years, and as the co-creator of the Slayercon and Slayercruise events. About 7 years ago i decided to pursue other interests. Amazingly, after several years, I continued to receive emails requesting the return of the good old days of the Sci-Fi conventions like the ones we ran, and I hope to make that happen - with your help.
I have invited Javier Garcia to be my partner in this venture as he brings tons of convention experience, internet marketing, and promotion knowledge with him. I am positive that Javier and I can bring back those good old days.

 

Q) Will your events happen for sure? I have to buy expensive non-refundable airline tickets.

A) Yes, we are committed to holding these events – rain or shine, win or lose; non-refundable deposits are paid out in advance by us to secure a hotel and our guests.
Now for those of you whom have been burnt by other conventions and other promoters in the past, please rest assured that NO MATTER WHAT our events WILL HAPPEN as we risk all of our hard-earned savings in this poor economy to put these events together and win or lose these events will happen even if just 50 patrons turn out. We of course hope for more! But that will be your decision to make – I hope you will put your faith in us and in my word.  I have been in the convention business since 1982 and have NEVER failed to keep a promise or meet a deadline. And I will keep this one – my reputation depends on it.

For our first event in April/May of 2010, we brought you Christopher Lloyd, his second convention appearance in the US. For our second show in March of 2011, we brought you Casper Van Dien, his first convention appearance ever! In October of 2011 we brought you Patrick Stewart (making his first appearance in Florida in over 20 years), and David Warner making his second convention appearance in the US. We have delivered consistently on all of our promises and hope you will continue to put your trust in us. We mean business and we are here to stay.

 

Q) I would like to attend, but the prices seem kinda high?

A) This is a tough subject.  The truth is the costs of doing conventions goes up every year. Our prices reflect the amount we need to charge to cover event expenses and to be able to pay the stars to appear. I would encourage you to do an Internet search and see for yourself what other, similar events around the country charge for admission.  We surveyed other events and found that our prices—on average—are about the same or well below similar events. Now you must be fair and compare apples to apples (weekend shows hosting 6-8 stars and 500-600 patrons).  There are just a handful of events out there that match our event.
We found that events with significantly lower admission prices offered nothing but admission, everything else was extra, BUT most importantly you were not guaranteed any autographs (even if you were paying extra for an autograph) or even a seat, and often there were few if any panels or Q&A with the stars, plus very little if any interaction with the stars.
Plus they tend to be huge crowded events where you are elbow to elbow everywhere you go. Not my idea of a good time – some events I attended last year drew in access of 50,000 patrons, it was overwhelming and exhausting, and I never made it to a single panel or got an autograph as the lines were ridiculous. Sound familiar?
In reality, if you compare, there is no other event quite like the one we will put on. Our event will have 6-8 celebrity guests, panels, games, Q&A sessions with all of our stars, a special autograph room where you can meet and chat with many of our guest stars all weekend long, a dealers room, plus opportunities to get your photo taken with the stars. In addition it is not unusual to bump into your favorite stars on the elevator, at breakfast, at the bar, as most of them will stay at the same hotel you do.
Whew, that was a long reply, but you deserve to know what you are paying for – right?
Buying a ticket at any level will help support our convention and the more tickets we can sell in advance will allow us to add more guests.
Plus we will honor all refund requests for any reason up to 30 days prior to the event—a rare thing as most events do not offer refunds for any reason.

 

Q) I lost money with other companies that ran events like yours. Do you have any affiliation?

A) Excellent question! We set up shop in January of 2010 under the name Vulcan Events. Unfortunately it seems there was some confusion among the long-time Florida convention goers about who we are and what we are all about.  In order to avoid any further confusion, in January 2012 we decided to change our name to "Away Mission". We have absolutely no affiliation in any way to any other convention company either now or in the past. This is an ALL-new company put together by me, Fernando Martinez in partnership with long-time friend Javier Garcia. I have over 20 years experience running events, conventions, cruises, and for years was a partner in Seatrek, Slayercon, Slayercruise, Bill Campbell’s Fantasticon, ACC EXPO, and the original Genesis Productions.

 

General questions can be directed to our normal phone line: 401-4-VULCAN (401-488-5226).  Don’t be fooled by the 401 area code. This is a Florida-based company; we just wanted a catchy number! If you have ANY questions, doubts, reservations about attending, please give us a call. We are available to speak to you Monday-Saturday 12 Noon until about 8 PM.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Your opinions and concerns are important to us. Without you there can be no future events. We hope to see you in person at one of our events.

 

Cordially,
Fernando Martinez & Javier Garcia / Away Mission, LLC