KhaiCon

KhaiCon Event Logos

Since the early days of the USS Khai Tam, the ship has gotten together once a year to throw a big party. At first, it was to celebrate the season premier of whatever Star Trek show was on the air at the time, but it eventually degenerated into a simple excuse to party all weekend. From 1992 to 2002, KhaiCon dominated the Khai Tam calendar. Even with it's smaller numbers today, Khai Tam still holds its Emergency Holographic KhaiCon, or EHK, in honor of this tradition.

Origins

In September of 1991 the Reddick command staff started the tradition of having a season premiere party. The following year, the party was officially dubbed KhaiCon - a miniature convention complete with games and episode viewings and panels and a lot of fun to be had by all. Each year, KhaiCon evolved, encompassing more and more activities and growing to mammoth proportions...well, as mammoth as it could be and still be called a "miniature" convention.

While the club's parties were legendary, none compare to the KhaiCons held in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Whether it was one member having to pull another's head out of the water because they'd just gotten whacked by a canoe or whether it was the Captain pontificating from atop a chair after he'd had a bit too much Romulan Ale, KhaiCon was always a great deal of fun.

Facilities

When KhaiCon started in 1992, the Khai Tam was still a student organization at Florida State University. This allowed the club access to all kinds of FSU facilities including the "Reservation" - a 73-acre facility, with 10 active acres, located on beautiful Lake Bradford. The "Rez" encompassed several cabins and featured activities like canoeing, kayaking, picnicking, swimming, etc.

Though the facility was enjoyable, it was not handicapped friendly, and kitchen facilities were sparse. Add to the equation the fact that the Khai Tam was increasing its non-student membership to the point where it soon would no longer qualify as a student organization, and the writing was on the wall: a new home for KhaiCon would have to be found.

Fortunately, the ship found the Camp For All Seasons (CFAS), a campground on Lake Talquin owned by Girl Scouts of America. When not in use by scout troops, the camp could be rented to other groups for their non-scouting events. Its large, two-floor lodge had a full professional-style kitchen, showers, and all of the space needed for the event. There was also no shortage of cabins out away from the noise and commotion of the main lodge.

KhaiCon was notorious for being a party where plenty of alcoholic beverages would be consumed, but CFAS had a rule against any such substances on the premises. Knowing that attendees would surely ignore that rule, and not wanting to lose favor with the camp, the ship created it's own official policy to deal with the logistical hiccup, and many fantastic KhaiCons ensued.

Events

Of course, the whole thing started off as a season premiere party, so a group vieiwing of that episode was one of the original activities. The timing of KhaiCon was always tricky as we tried to reserve facilities early enough to be guaranteed a spot come the fall, not always knowing exactly when the season premire would be at the time. Khai Tam Captain Jon Reddick even came through a year or two by sneaking the episode off satellite before it even aired in Tallahassee (thanks to the TV station that employed him at the time). This viewing easily developed into one room at KhaiCon being dedicated all weekend long to genre shows and movies.

Somewhere around KhaiCon IV, Jon had the big idea to have a film contest. Due in no small measure to his being employed at a televsion studio, having a degree in TV & Film, and being almost the only person to ever enter the contest, he won quite a few Turd d'Oro awards over the years.

Each year, members would cook their most bizarre recipes and mix their most potent drinks for the Alien Food & Drink Contest. Everything from Cardassian Vole in Yamok Sauce to the dreaded Borg Lubrication Fluid were sampled by judges year after year.

Once KhaiCon moved to the big-room venue of the Camp for all Seasons, a lip sync competition was added. The members seized on the idea and it became a KhaiCon favorite for many years.

Members would also put on panels, game shows (Khai Tam Jeopardy anyone?), athletic (using the term lightly) events like frisbee golf and vollyball...basically anything anyone wanted to sponsor that anyone else would sign up for. The registration table would be strewn each year with contestant and judge sign-up sheets, and events typically filled up fast.

The apex of activities was hit at KhaiCon XI when Ro Reddick spearheaded the effort to obtain guest star Bill Blair. The self-billed "Alien Actor", Bill has spent much more than his fair share of time in the makeup chair, playing aliens on Start Trek, Babylon 5,and Sliders as well as having more traditional roles in dozens of films, shows and commercials. He was a phenomenal guest and a great sport who hung out with the whole crew all weekend. All in attendance agreed it was fantastic to have a real part of the Trek experience join the ship for the weekend of revelry. The precedent-setting guest star would, however unintentionally, assure that KhaiCon went out with a bang.

The End of an Era

By the time KhaiCon XI was done, there were a lot of crew members who were exhausted. Many of the events were planned and executed every year by the same people. There was a growing sense that someone else needed to step up and do their share. Unfortunately, no one did. Fall 2003 came and went. There would be no more KhaiCon.

Emergency Holographic KhaiCon

The memory of KhaiCon would not go quietly into that long night. It would instead be reborn in a more diminutive size that was more manageable for the ship's smaller crew. It was named after the doctor on Voyager as the Emergency Holographic KhaiCon or EHK.

One of the dedicated few who made KhaiCon happen year after year was Ro Reddick, and though she had announced that she couldn't manage the Herculean effort required by KhaiCon anymore, neither could she let another fall pass without an event. She and Jon decided, in the fall of 2004, to host the first EHK at their home.

As membership in the club curtailed, the "EHK" turned out to be just the ticket, and the EHK has taken place in the Captain's home ever since (2004, '05 at Jon Reddick's and since '06 at Richard Graham's).

The KhaiCon Lineage

Year	Title	Dates
1992	KhaiCon I
1993	KhaiCon II - The Wrath of Con
1994	KhaiCon III - The Search for Beer
1995	KhaiCon IV - The Journey to the Keg
1996	KhaiCon V - The Final Free Beer
1997	KhaiCon VI - The Undiscovered Beer
1998	KhaiCon VII - Inebriations	October 23-25
1999	KhaiCon VIII - Thirst Contact	October 15-17
2000	KhaiCon IX - Misdirection	October 20-22
2001	KhaiCon X - Improvise	October 12-14
2002	KhaiCon XI - Subterminal	October 25-27
2004	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon I	October 8-10
2005	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon II	April 22-24
2006	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon III	September 9-10
2007	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon IV	October 19-21
2008	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon V
2009	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon VI
2010	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon VII
2011	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon VIII	August 12-14
2012	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon IX	August 10-12
2013	Emergency Holographic KhaiCon X	July 26-28