Just wanted to say "thanks" to the magnificent jeditigger who was phenomenal at getting Jim where he needed to go (and on time)!
I've been a DragonCon volunteer for 16 years & y'all should know that most of the Senior Directors are huge Jim fans (but can't ever make it to see panels so watch things on youtube later - thank you DragonConTV + fans). This was the first year that the programming committee was able to schedule multiple signings (bigger room with more room to line up) & the first year authors had a chance to do a signing longer than one panel block (90 minutes) so I was extremely grateful. Last time I tried to get into the signing but they'd cut the line off SUPER early.
It was WONDERFUL to see a full house for his solo Q&A! I believe only a few folks were turned away per the security folks outside the door, but there were literally ZERO empty seats to be seen. (There could have been random empty seats where folks didn't move all the way to the end of the row, but we did all want the panel to start on time, right?) Since I've been on staff so long I know volunteers who know hotel staff so I was thankfully able to point them to a back way to get out to avoid the massive crowd leaving/coming in at the Westin.