DECEMBER 29, 2023 - As 2023 draws to a close, I am truly thankful for all the amazing and exciting convention experiences it brought - reunions with friends and fellow Star Trek fans, some excellent Q&As and presentations, fun photo ops, and memorable encounters with actors and artists. And I just cannot wait to see what the new year will bring! 

If you are a fellow con attendee, you probably know that planning for the next convention circuit usually happens while the current one is still on, so I already have quite a few plans in place and am really looking forward to celebrating Star Trek at a whole series of events through the coming year. My list is by no means comprehensive. As a matter of fact, there are many more conventions out there with various degrees of Trek involvement that I wish I could attend, but, as always, mundane real-life obligations get in the way.

So, here is my list of Trek or Trek-related events I am looking forward to in 2024. I decided to arrange it in chronological order rather than size and scope for ease of reading, and I hope that you might join me in attending some of these. Click the event headings to head directly to their websites.

1. Trek Talks Telethon

A free live-streaming online event presented by Trek Geeks, Roddenberry Podcasts, and TrekMovie.com. Next year's Trek Talks is now the third event in a line of very successful virtual Trek outings co-created by John Billingsley and the Trek Geeks podcast hosts Bill Smith and Dan Davidson to benefit the Hollywood Food Coalition. Imagine a whole day full of live discussions with a whole roster of actors and creatives from across the Star Trek Universe! 

2. Virtual Trek Con (VTC)

A free multi-day virtual convention brought to you by the team behind The 7th Rule Podcast, the latter being the brainchild of Ryan T. Husk, Cirroc Lofton, and the late Aron Eisenberg. With the worldwide pandemic no longer affecting in-person events, the great proliferation of online talks, presentations, and, yes, conventions has shrunk back to near nothing. Virtual Trek Con remains the only event of its kind, a true online convention providing great Trek content (both live and pre-recorded) over a period of five days! All "panels" are presented on YouTube, which allows for some fun fan interaction in chats. VTC is also home to the annual LLAPy Awards, which honor various aspects of Star Trek series and movies, and which are voted for by fans.

3. ST-SF

Trek to San Francisco is a new Creation Entertainment Trek hotel-based convention and what feels like a new companion event to the STLV listed below. With close to 20 guests announced already, this promises to be a nice three-day weekend of panels, photo ops, and autographs, and a perfect opportunity to reunite with fellow Trek fans in the home of the future Starfleet Headquarters.

4. Trek Long Island

This is one of the newest cons on the Trek convention circuit, hosted by Stephanie Gangone from the Library for the Kind (an organization run by librarians, which promotes diversity, inclusion and kindness). The two-day hotel-based Trek LI in 2023 was a very impressive inaugural event, and I cannot wait to experience the follow-up. The outing next year is going to be three days long, will have celebrity guests from across various Trek productions, authors, artists, scientists, podcasters, and will provide multi-track programming for both adult fans and for children. As a side note: if you have never attended a fan-run or, in any case, non-commercially-run convention, do so, if you ever get a chance. Each one I have ever attended was well worth the effort - yes, they tend to be smaller and don't necessarily have the glitz of industry events, but they are also far more intimate, have very different vibe and less frenetic flow to them, and are certainly geared to more fan involvement.

5. STLV - Trek to Vegas

Undisputedly, this is my tent pole event of the year, the ultimate Trek reunion and the biggest Star Trek Universe fandom celebration in the United States. As I already mentioned, there are other Trek events out there, but STLV still remains in a class of its own. Every year, this four-day convention held by Creation Entertainment in the Rio Hotel & Casino provides access to over 100 guests and presents performances, movie screenings, and a multitude of panels spread over three stages, led both by the convention hosts and organized by fans. Like many long-run events, STLV has formed its own atmosphere, a culture, if you will, around it. This con does not stop with the con hours. Fan-organized activities and various get-togethers before, during, and after STLV are now as much of a staple of this event as the customary autograph and photo ops sessions, and vendor room browsing.

6. New York Comic Con (NYCC)

You might be surprised to see this convention on the list, after all it is truly one of the monsters of the modern mainstream pop culture conventions representing multiple franchises across the entire genre spectrum. However, with the advent of Star Trek: Discovery, this super-con has provided a rather unique annual outlet for Trek fandom - besides opportunities to meet some Trek actors, there are usually exclusive collectibles and Trek-specific vendors, an official CBS/Paramount booth and pop-ups, all capped by a large Star Trek Universe PR panel with cast members and creatives from the modern Star Trek productions and premieres of teasers and trailers.

7. Spacecon San Antonio

A brand new comic-con to check out! As I browsed the details of upcoming convention appearances for various actors, this event kept popping up and eventually attracted my closer attention. A promise of an "out of this world experience" at a largely sci-fi-themed con with a wonderful Trek guest list (among others) is hard to pass up. 

The above list is of mere seven events. Based on prior years, I suspect that a few more will join it as the 2024 convention circuit gets going. If you wish to keep abreast of various Trek-related activities on weekly basis, be sure to check Daily Star Trek News Events page regularly.

Keep Trekking!