What is the story behind the convention?
About a year ago I was online and I heard about a convention for the movie Napoleon Dynamite in Preston, Idaho and thought "here I am in the hometown of one of the most popular shows on TV." So I called up a few of my friends including some that had connections at NBC, and the rest is history.
Have you been to other conventions before?
This will be my first, but one of the other guys working on this as research went to a Star Trek convention. But I think there's a big difference since we are really trying to keep it local.
Keep it Scranton, alright. So how did you come up with ideas for events then?
Well NBC.com had a lot of events that they wanted to do including The Office Olympics [with events like H.O.R.S.E. and a Coffee Mug Race] on Saturday, which is from Season 2 episode 3.
Haha, nice.
But yeah, we want to run everything exactly as it was done in the show, and NBC is being a big help with that.
You guys are also doing casino night and a college night. What are you looking forward to most?
I really can't wait for the Writers' Block [a discussion with the writers of The Office] to hear how they come up with these crazy ideas.
What are you doing to accommodate so many people coming to Scranton? Perhaps appointing some extra volunteer sheriff's deputies?
(Laughs) Actually we are.
What do you do when you are not organizing conventions? Is it anything like working at Dunder-Mifflin?
I started my own architecture firm four years ago when I decided that I hate big cities and Scranton is the place that I want to be. While we do have a cast of characters here, I hope people don't think we are like Dunder-Mifflin.
No pranks? Nobody ever put your stapler in a mold of Jello?
(Laughs) Not yet, although I open up my drawer every day with trepidation.
If you were stuck on a deserted island with either Kelly, Andy or Michael, who would you choose and why?
I think Michael. He would be endless hours of entertainment. And you're on a desert island, so no matter what someone's like, I guess they start to look attractive after a while.
What would win in a fight: a black bear or a brown bear?
A brown bear.
I don't think Dwight would agree.
Well, we have both up here, and I've seen what the brown ones can do to my trash.
Join us for the Street road trip to the convention. No joke. Details at www.theofficeconvention.com.
