Charity Auction, Blood Drive, and Thriller Record Attempt

[dire-epiphany.livejournal.com]

Hi Everyone,

I have seen several people asking about the Charity Auction, Blood Drive, and the Thriller World Record Attempt.

The Charity Auction for the Alzheimer's Association was able to raise over $25,000-this includes all auction events except the Art Auction held on Monday.

The Blood Drive numbers as of Monday, September 7 at 12:00 PM were 2,100 people signed up to donate, 1,800 units collected, including platelets and double platelets, putting Dragon*Con at 600 units more than Comic Con.

And last, but certainly not least, Dragon*Con had a record 903 people dancing to the full version of Thriller, there were officials on hand, and the paper work, videos, photos, etc. were sent to Guinness yesterday.  They have said it will take 3-4 days for a decision, but please keep in mind that they are in England, so there could be a delay in turn around time.

As a member of the staff at Dragon*Con, I want to thank everyone that turned out for our Charity, Blood Drive, and Thriller World Record attempt.  No matter what the numbers say, I think Dragon*Con is nothing but winners, who clearly care about helping those who need it.

Congratulations on an outstanding 2009 event!

~Cassy Gordon

Senior Director
Public Relations
Dragon*Con
 

Comments

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update, Cassi. You rock!

and thanks to all my awesome fellow geekfamily members who danced Thriller. That was a fun, fun experience I hope to revisit and repeat each year at Dragon*Con!

I am already planning for 2010!

[faekitty.livejournal.com]

Please tell me that the Thriller event will make it to YouTube soon!?

I hated having to miss this year:(

Congrats all around, awesome job!!!

[dire-epiphany.livejournal.com]

We certainly hope to be able to publish it soon. Unfortunately, our "official" video was required to be sent to Guinness for authentication. Until we hear back from them, we can not post the video we have. However, there were LOTS of cameras at the event, so maybe some of the news outlets will have it posted soon as well.

I have seen the official video, and the side camera videos, and it really was absolutely unreal and amazing to see!

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

AJC.com has video here (http://blogs.ajc.com/inside-access/2009/09/08/dragoncon-thriller-dancers-might-break-world-record/). It is AWESOME.

[faekitty.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!!

[xenaclone.livejournal.com]

I would gladly have donated blood, but apparently all Brits have mad cow disease :-)

[MOOOOO!!!]

[missingvolume.livejournal.com]

Along with anyone who spends a few weeks there as well. Moo!!

[dire-epiphany.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry that you couldn't donate, and I think in the end that has often been a big hinderance with our Blood Drive events as many of our attendees tend to travel frequently.

Thank you for trying however! Maybe in the future they will be able to figure out how to test to see if you are in fact a Mad Cow, and take your blood.

:D

[dungeonbaby.livejournal.com]

My daughter wanted so badly to donate too. They couldn't find a good enough vein in her arm and she was devastated. Her dad and I both donated on her behalf, which is probably the only reason she stopped crying.

So sorry you weren't able to donate. Our CDC has some seriously outdated rules regarding blood donations.

[calamitymolly.livejournal.com]

Regulations for blood product donation is done by the FDA, not the CDC.

[dungeonbaby.livejournal.com]

Well, I stand corrected.

Guess the blood drive employee was incorrect when she said that the CDC developed the regulations. Thanks for the info.

[calamitymolly.livejournal.com]

She was incorrect, yes. Not that it really matters, but that way if you (or anyone else) want to look up why some things are done the way they are, you don't have to spend time looking for information at the wrong place. :)

[dungeonbaby.livejournal.com]

*mental note... hot young chick poking you with a needle may not know as much as she thinks she does* ... :) Thanks again for the clarification.

903?

[kodiakva.livejournal.com]

Cassy, I'm one of those who registered on Sat., attend a rehearsal on Sun. and danced in the event. When I arrive for the event, there were upwards of 2,000+ individuals registered to enter. How did that turn into 903? Thx, John

Re: 903?

[dire-epiphany.livejournal.com]

Hi John,

I am not sure where the 2000+ number came from, but I do know that the 903 is from the official logs of those that were at the final attempt. This is also the number that was sent to Guinness for the record attempt verification.

Perhaps the 2000+ included those that signed up pre-con or even at the con and didn't actually show at the end. I have asked for clarification from the event organizer, but at the moment, that would be my best guess.

Thank you for participating in this truly remarkable event!

~Cassy

Re: 903?

[luna340.livejournal.com]

From what I heard the room was at capacity and that some of the people could not get in to do the dance.

[moofoot.livejournal.com]

I want to give a big shout-out to LifeSouth as well - they made the blood donation process super easy and it was very well organized, plus they did a great job with drumming up support around the site. :)

[vickyocean.livejournal.com]

I gotta agree with this! I rarely give blood, because they have tough time finding my veins and the few times I've attempted my arm has been butchered with repeated stabs. But the lady from LifeSouth was so awesome, she found the vein, marked it and got me with one poke. They were all fantastic.

[livvylove.livejournal.com]

We both wanted to donate but where too late on Monday :(

Even tried to bribe them with mentioning how my Fiance is the universal donor but they still didn't want it. We still got free tshirts though.

[rayhne.livejournal.com]

Is it possible to donate money directly to the charity at the convention? Next year our room will be pooling money for supplies and we want to donate any left over to the charity. Also is there a way to find out how much a particular item sold for at the auction? I donated something and I'm just wondering.

[craftypug.livejournal.com]

All in all, we rock!! :)

To those who see us as "weird", "freaks" or "geeks", maybe we are, but darn it, we care enough to step up and do good! Booyah!!

[alexdelarge78.livejournal.com]

Medication prevented donation. Sorry I didn't make thriller. I had intended to only the weekend was crazy and I didn't have the energy.

[ladycelest.livejournal.com]

Same about the meds. I need to see if my meds effect platelets and plasma too, cause I know they need platelets and plasma as well.

Thriller on CNN

[watcher652.livejournal.com]

While I was asking a question at a hotel registration desk (Hyatt?) I saw on the Dragon*Con Thriller dance on CNN. You go, guys!

CNN Interview about Dragon Con

[mir280.livejournal.com]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2009/09/06/dragon.con.draws.thousands.cnn?iref=videosearch

Planning for next year:

[jarissa.livejournal.com]

When I tried to donate on Friday, the technician (?) stuck the needle in the wrong spot -- and when told she'd missed, jammed it further into the muscle, which hurt but still drew no blood, and so it had to be pulled back out.

(Side note: it actually never DID bleed. I took the bandage off hours later, and it had nothing but the iodine on it. Who knew I had that much muscle or tendon on my whole body, much less on the edge of my elbow?)

Could I have asked her (or someone) to try the other arm right then? She pretty much packed me up and sent me off to get a snack, and I felt so awful about what was obviously a reasonable mistake that I didn't want to fluster her any further, but the rest of the weekend was too hectic for me to make it back on another day.

Re: Planning for next year:

[thdrgngrl.livejournal.com]

No, once they have to take the needle out you're done :( thats why I didn't say anything about the fact that my needle stick hurt the entire time I was donating, but I didn't think much of her sticking skills.

[kagetenshi.livejournal.com]

I am so proud of you guys! I would have donated, but I was barely able to eat that entire weekend due to a parking boot error, so it would not have been good for me to donate.

If I can do it next year, though, I will swallow my needle phobia and do it!

[greenskates.livejournal.com]

I told the folks there and I'll tell you folks here. I'm undergoing chemo, had to have surgery and blood transfusions saved my life and enabled me to attend and be a director at the con. You guys are all very special!

[dunegate.livejournal.com]

My wife will only donate to LifeSouth now after a she had a bad experience with Red Cross. So we make a point at donating the DragonCon since its one of the few times we are at the same place a LifeSouth donation is going on.

This was my 3rd time donating at DragonCon and each time the experience gets better than the previous year. My one other time donating with LifeSouth was when one of their blood mobiles was at my workplace for a blood drive. And Even in their converted buses donation is quick and easy.

I'm hopping to get the chance during the next year to donate 3 more times before DragonCon so I can make my donation at the con mark a gallon I've donated with LifeSouth.

[hxcpunkchick.livejournal.com]

This was my first time donating platelets (honestly, it's hard enough at some places to talk them into letting a 115 pound chick to just donate blood) and it really wasn't awful (awfully boring sitting there over an hour and tiring squeezing the ball so much, but enh). I hadn't given blood in about 6 years because the place I went to massively butchered my arm trying to stick my vein right (and I have a pretty, huge vein that sticks out normally so I didn't understand the issue). Had a great experience with it at D*Con and will definitely have to set aside time to do it again next year.

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

Just got a note that the unofficial final blood drive tally from LifeSouth was over 2,600 usable units. As I said via Twitter: Suck it, Comic-Con!! ;)

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

How do we get from 1800 to 2600??

[yukinooruoni.livejournal.com]

More people came to give blood.

"Numbers as of Monday, September 7 at 12:00 PM" means that those numbers are up to Sunday night. No numbers for Monday were included at all yet at that point.

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

The count was actually 2,100 as of Sunday night. (Maybe the 1,800 was through noon Sunday instead of Monday?)

[grizzlydan.livejournal.com]

Not only is my blood in that count, but I had the honor of escorting Kate Mulgrew into the blood donation center so she could donate. The concentration of heroes and nice people at D*C is almost overwhelming.