This weekend was the 3rd annual Blackhawks Convention at the Chicago Hilton and “The Buzz” was in attendance. After 3 years, we can honestly say it gets gradually worst every year. With expectations high after clinching the cup and 2 years to learn from, the event never fails to fall short. Yet, the desire to be connected with our Chicago Blackhawks, old and new, keep us coming back for more.
Before getting into the details, let me preface this by saying the convention is an incredible weekend. The idea of giving the fans an opportunity to get close to the players and organization is unique. With that being said, the execution just seems to get worse every year.
The convention has a lot to offer in autographs, Q&A session with the players and staff, a photo stage, interactive games, auctions, trophy viewing and dozens of merchandise vendors. With more than 10,000 fans expected to attend this mega-event, there are obvious challenges. But, there are several years of experience behind this event as it is a spinoff of McDonough’s Cubs Convention, that has been going for 25 years in the same venue. Event organizers have had a year to plan and two years of feedback from Blackhawks fans to work with.
Depending on where your interests lie, your experience could be very enjoyable or completely frustrating. If you just want to see the players, listen to some stories and maybe ask a question or two – the events may be for you. If you are interested in coming face to face with your favorite player for a brief word and an autograph, don’t get your hopes up. Again, the vision of this event is spectacular, but the executions fails in many ways.
With the opening ceremony scheduled to start at 5pm on Friday, the ballroom was closed an hour before the event. Fans were able to watch the ceremony in a “simulcast room” just as fans not at the convention were able to watch it on ComcastSports from the comfort of their own home. 
The events are entertaining and shed a light on what some of the players are like. Most of the players have a good sense of humor and seem pretty easy going. Only a couple events closed, reaching capacity.
The vendor area hosted many good quality memorabilia booths and some unique items as well. It is was Blackhawks related and you couldn’t find it over the weekend, good luck.
The interactive area had games for adults and kids. Clock your slap shot or test your reflexes and strap on a pair of goalie pads just for laughs. Check out the trophies on display as well as the Blackhawks Blues Brothers Car. There was a photo op with a mock up the players lockers. You could also pick up merchandise or your favorite lettered jersey from the “Blackhawks Store”. There was limited selection of foods, but where else could you eat to the musical stylings of Frank Pellico. A great area to just waste a few hours.
That was the “good” for the convention. Most fans go to the convention looking forward to meeting their favorite player, get a couple autographs on that special memorabilia they have been holding onto for this occasion. Well, again, best of luck.
Since the first Blackhawks convention, the organization of the autograph sessions have been down right atrocious. I little history on this. . .
- The first year, ridiculous lines would form for these players. The wait could be a couple hours. The ushers had no control of these lines. Fans would sneak into lines with ease. After waiting for a couple hours in line, the ushers would just tell you it’s over, the player is done signing. Fans would get irate, and for good reason. Typically, from all appearances, the players wanted to stay and sign, but the handlers and security would move them along. Twice, Toews argued with the staff and stayed to sign for more fans. In that example, ushers told fans who waited in line that he was done signing. After waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours, they got out of line. Toews took the rest of the line and those fans that listened to the usher and got out of line walked away empty handed and pissed off after being misinformed andlosing 2 1/2 hours of convention time. Frustration was high and the staff heard about it.
- Last year’s convention, the ushers had no better control over the lines and crowd, but at least they made an attempt. When the line reached a certain number, the staff was closing the lines, for the most part. Of course, many fans found a way around this and the control was less than consistent. Again, staffers had heard about this from the fans.
- So, we get to year three, and what has changed?
Event organizers introduced wristbands. The times the wristbands were to be distributed were published in the schedule given out at registration. A sound idea, but the execution was again, a cluster. There were arbitrary lines started for the wristbands. Ridiculous wristband lines replaced ridiculous autograph lines. The only difference was the wrist band lines were in the hallways as opposed to the somewhat controlled bank mazes. Wristbands were a step in the right direction, but execution of the plan was 2 steps back.
The scheduling of the autograph sessions was disappointing. If you had any hopes of meeting your favorite player and they play on the top 2 lines or are in the HOF, again, best of luck. Those players were only accessible to Sponsors, Hotel Guests or winners of the “scratch and win” card. All of the fore mentioned opportunities were random with the player assigned to that session posted 20 minutes prior to the scheduled signing. So if your “One Goal” over the weekend was to have Bobby Hull sign that something special for you, you had a 1 in 4 chance IF you were a guest at the hotel. If you wanted “Captain Serious” to sign somethng, you had a 1 in 8 shot of that happening IF your scratch and win card was a winner. And, for instance, if you bought your tickets to the convention on ebay and the seller went through registration and kept the scratch cards for himself and lied about getting them, you would have a 0% chance of getting a Toews, Kane, Keith, Bolland, Esposito or Glenn Hall autograph.
Even though the event planners had a full year to plan this event and all its details, staff and ushers had no clue. Ask one staff member and you get one answer. Ask a staff member 20 feet away and you would get a completely different answer. A simple question about when doors open in the morning, and I was told 8am. Once we get there at 7am, we are told the doors open at 9am. The communication between the staff appeared to be non-existent.
The first fail with wrist bands started before things got underway, firing up many angry fans just minutes into the weekend. At 5pm, the wrist bands for Soupy’s 7pm autograph session were to be distributed. In the weekend itinerary, it specifically states “Wristband distribution for Friday’s autograph sessions will begin at 5:00pm in the Southeast Hall”. So, fans that had foregone the opening ceremony to wait in line for Campbell wrist bands prepared to take part in what can only be compared to as a cattle stampede. As the rush of fans crowded the wrist band usher, there were what had to be about 50-75 wrist bands distributed before the line was closed as all 315 wrist bands were gone. Unfortunately, about 3pm, someone started handing out the Campbell wrist bands, over 2 hours before the set time. Staff heard from fans voicing their frustration over the mishandling of things only minutes into the convention. Staff had no answers, just awful excuses. The most creative excuse I heard was “Look, I have over 2,000 people here. Earlier they had to let people into the room for fire code reasons”. There was never anything to address why they “had” to release 250 wristbands well before their designated time. As I said, it was all in the execution.
The other thing that fell short was the Stanley Cup. There were many guidelines for the “Stanley Cup Viewing”. This was most definitely a viewing, a very impersonal viewing. The following rules applied: Fans were not permitted to touch the Stanley Cup. Fans were not permitted to take pictures WITH the Stanley Cup, just pictures OF the Stanley Cup. Lastly, the Cup was only on display from 10am-7pm on Saturday. Unfortunately, they closed the exhibit before 6pm with no explanation, just a “It’s closed, you can’t stand here.”
If anyone in the Blackhawks organization hits this site or reads this post, here’s a little friendly advice:
- If you could get the autograph frustrations worked out, the fans would get much more enjoyment out of the weekend. We do understand that there are a lot of fans at this event and it is difficult to accommodate everyone.
- Instead of having one player at a table for a 2 hour wait, can you have a series of tables with 4 to 6 players in 1 autograph session.
- The ushers seem to have little or inconsistent information.
- Is it possible the event has gotten too large for the current venue?
- Are there any plans to post all of the events on Blackhawk TV? Sometimes with the event scheduling it is not possible to make all the event you would want to see. In addition, when those events fill up, fans miss the chance to see an event they wanted to be in attendance for. Another scenario is people that can’t make the convention miss out on the opportunity to experience the players/staff in a setting like this.
For all 3 years, the execution of this event always seems to disappoint, yet something keeps us coming back for more. Frustration aside, I’m looking forward to next year.
One more note, a quick “Get Well” to Stan Mikita. One notable absentee was Stosh, a late scratch from the lineup because of illness.
Another quick note, last year I stayed for the Blackhawks Bash. Though I did enjoy Soupy’s karaoke, the players didn’t stay for more than 20 minutes and when they were there, they were all in a VIP area and were inaccessible. For anyone that attended the Bash, how was it? Did any of the players stay for it? Was it worth staying for? Please let us know.
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