Tony Gowell of The Walking Dead

Per Matt
Tony Gowell has a working knowledge of multiple genres. For 13 years, this native Georgian has first volunteered at DragonCon, and now is a full-time employee of the Southern convention that continues to grow, year by year. During his downtime, he acts on big-budget productions such as Zombieland and The Walking Dead, which were both filmed in Georgia. At the Alabama Phoenix Festival, Tony discusses past cons, he looks ahead to the 2013 DragonCon convention and he even discloses what he’s looking forward to seeing the most this year.

How long have you been working at DragonCon?
– “As a paid employee, five years. As a volunteer, 13. So, it took me about eight years to work my way into working in the office, seasonally. I would work in the summer, leading up to the show. I just wouldn’t come back to the office after the show was over. Last July, I started full-time. And that’s my be-all, end-all career.”

Which departments did you work?
– “I originally started in the Guest Hospitality Room, which was kind of a Green Room for our Celebrity Guests who come to the show — all 400 of them — which is bigger and better than any other show in this country. We would do chocolate fountains, open bar, crudités and deviled eggs and show that great Southern hospitality to all of the celebrities who would come visit us, year after year. That was the department I started in.”

“Then, the director who I worked for, Regina Kirby, got promoted to a Senior-level position over Main Programming. I joined her team, where we would sit down and hash out where we would put all of the programming events that were larger than 200 people. So, all of the major ballrooms in all of our five major hotels in downtown Atlanta, we would force out onto a spreadsheet, in a grid. We would decide, as celebrities were hired, what type of panels their contract asked them to do, where we would place them in relation to where they would stay. We always try to look at the comfort of all our guests. Main Programming is a difficult job because one Battlestar Galactica guest will only fill a room with so-many fans. But with six Battlestar Galactica guests, I need to look for a ballroom to seat 2,000 people or more. That was the balance we worked for years.”

“Now, I’m the Personal Assistant of one of the Owner’s daughters of the show. So, that’s my role for the show, but during the year, I work in the office processing memberships, taking care of store merchandise orders, when people buy things online, I box it and ship it and day-to-day activities, like ordering office supplies. For a show as bestial as ours, I have to order 60,000 badge clips. Somebody has to do that job and that’s just one of the roles that I fill with DragonCon.”

DragonCon Logo

How has DragonCon changed in the 13 years you’ve affiliated with it?
– “The show was much smaller. The show continues to grow exponentially year after year. There’s always your doomsayers, who say your show will reach your glass ceiling, but we have a beautiful relationship with the city of Atlanta and all of the real estate that is in downtown Atlanta. As the show grows, we grow with it. We are expanding into our sixth building this year, so we’re moving all of our vendors and exhibitors to the Apparel Mart — AmericasMart #1. So, we still have lots of room to grow in the city of Atlanta, to meet our fan needs.”

What was the attendance for DragonCon 2012?
– “Last year, our numbers were around 52,000 – 53,000. That number will be bigger this year.”

I’m very excited to attend the parade, again, this year.
– “A little secret: This will be my 13th year and this will be the first year that I will see the parade. My position is always behind the scenes while our Board of Directors and our Senior Directors were out on the parade route, making sure our relationship with the city of Atlanta and all the fans runs smoothly. I’ll be selling official DragonCon merchandise, t-shirts and tchotchkes… things like that.”

What are you looking forward to seeing at the parade?
– “I would really love to see that connection with the fans who aren’t necessarily there to enjoy DragonCon. Where, you have your families that bring their kids out of bed, early on a Saturday morning, to make their journey to downtown Atlanta just to see an awesome parade. Just to see that connection that we are a part of the Atlanta community and we love to integrate all of the entertainment for people who are citizens of Atlanta — who don’t necessarily come to the show — to let them know we’re there for them, as well.”

Other than DragonCon, will you be attending any other conventions soon?
– “As it gets closer to DragonCon, this is kind of my last show. I have to stay on top of things as they develop in the DragonCon office, because it gets busier and busier. After DragonCon, in September, Parafest is in the New Jersey-Pennsylvania area at the Sands Bethlehem Casino. And then next spring, in California, Twisted Terror Con is in Sacramento.”

For More Information:
DragonCon
Tony’s Twitter
Tony’s Facebook