First off, as I posted earlier the Bite Con is a fan run Teen Wolf convention (More information can be found here: ( the bite convention ).
I was lucky enough to interview the social media coordinator, Lauren, and the Guest of Honor Liason, Vanessa.
1. How did you all get involved with this? How was the idea of the Bitecon, well, born?
Lauren: Let’s see, I met Lizz (our con chair) on tumblr actually. We both would go to see Darren Criss back in the day and I ended up talking to her online after the shows and our friendship blossomed from there. Through her, I met Adriana (who’s assisting with programming and will be taking care of vendors) and Cassandra (our volunteer coordinator). Lizz and Adriana met Vanessa at a Supernatural convention and we’ve all been friends ever since. And yeah, as for the rest of the team, it was pretty much the same way I met Lizz… tumblr
BiteCon was born out of our love for not only Teen Wolf but our love of conventions. When we started planning this, it was after Wolfsbane had such an amazing convention and anything anyone ever had to say about it was positive, so we figured, what the heck? Let’s do this HERE on our own turf… and then at wondercon, Adriana was in line to ask Jeff Davis a question and ended up asking if he’d attend a convention for the show in LA and when he said yes, of course, we knew we had to do it. A few months later and here we are!
Vanessa: We’ve all been friends for a couple years now when wanting to start a Teen Wolf Con came up. We talked about it and at WonderCon, Adriana managed to ask Jeff if we put on a convention would he come, and he said yes! So that was a pretty big jumpstart to getting going.
2. How hard has this been to put together? I know we all have day jobs, after all!
L: The whole experience, in my opinion, has been a lot harder than any of us (I think) imagined it would be. We knew it would be hard but we didn’t anticipate exactly everything that goes into planning a convention. Some of us work full time and some of us are full time students, so it’s been extremely difficult trying to juggle both! That said, despite the fact that it’s been a crazy ride so far, it’s been pretty amazing with all the support from the fans. Teen Wolf really does have the best fans and they’ve been fantastic towards us.
V: It’s incredibly difficult sometimes. One day my boss actually noticed me being “focused elsewhere” so I can’t exactly do Con stuff while at my job, which, while understandable, is frustrating. I have a lot of respect for people that can juggle two or more jobs. However there are moments that are super satisfying, so the struggle is worth it.
3. I know that you have the fan-panel that you are currently taking submissions for, but what other sort of panels are you planning on having at the convention?
L: We’re definitely still taking submissions for the fan-led panel. Fandom is so important when it comes to anything really… whether it’s music, movies, tv shows, etc. so we want to give someone from the Teen Wolf fandom a chance to have their voice heard in a fun way. Marisah, our programming director, has an incredibly creative mind and has come up with a ton of great ideas regarding panels. Mostly, for the panels that involve cast members, they’ll be pretty standard. They’ll be answering questions, telling funny anecdotes, ya know? The usual. But as far as the fan panels, they’ll be mostly discussion based, I believe, a place for fans to really connect with other fans. We know the internet is great for meeting people with the same interests as you, but think how great it’ll be to get to actually meet the people you’ve connected with online and get to actually talk in person about this show and these people that you love!
V: Hopefully a wolf v. werewolf panel.
Note: Information about submitting a panel can be found here!
4. I saw that Tyler Posey and Jeff Davis will be there, along with Keahu Kahuanui, Seth Gillian, Eaddy Mays, and Brian Patrick Wade will be there–which is totally awesome! I know you probably can’t announce anything to our readers, but can we expect any more surprises?
L: Vanessa, our guest of honor liaison is working incredibly hard to get as many cast members to sign on as possible. Just because your favorite cast member hasn’t signed on yet, doesn’t mean he or she won’t be announced later on! Remember, we love the show just as much as you, so we’re going to try 100% to get as many of the cast to come as possible!
V: You most certainly can! Hopefully in the next few weeks.
Current guests can be found here
5. Rumor is, the ‘prom’ party that you guys are throwing might have some black-lights involved. Might that rumor be true?
L: Oh my gosh, didn’t they look like they were having such a good time at the party in the episode? I would personally love to make that happen. I mean how fun would it be to go buy an ugly prom dress from like Savers or any other thrift shop and decorate it with black light paint? AMAZING, right? I’m all for it so I know Marisah and I are seriously looking into making it happen!
6. What are your estimates on attendance?
L: I believe our ballroom holds about 650 so we’d love to have it filled!!
V: We’re hoping for a couple hundred.
7. Do you plan on making this convention annual occurrence?
L: We would really love to. It all pretty much depends on how well this one does. We’ve had so many supportive people asking us to bring the convention to other cities and we would LOVE to make that happen. It all just depends. So, we’ll see!
V: We are certainly planning on it. Fingers crossed!
8. If people want to get involved and/or help, is there any way they can do so?
L: The main way to get involved or help is to definitely volunteer! We have the positions we need filled listed on the website (http://thebiteconventions.com/volunteering/) and the link to the application is towards the end. If there’s any photographers looking to help out, we have our press pass applications up also (http://thebiteconventions.com/press-passes/) with the link to the application at the end!
V: Of course! We have applications for volunteers that wish to work during the con on our tumblr. The best way that people can help is spreading the word! Invite friends/family and make a weekend of it! The convention is a great way to meet people!
–
Definitely sounds like a good time, guys! If anyone is interested in the different sorts of events planned, they can be found here with more to come!
If you guys are interested in Teen Wolf at all, I strongly suggest you check this convention out. It’s definitely going to be a good time, with awesome people involved!
Thanks again to Lauren and Vanessa for taking time out to speak with us!
