I look forward to attending the 2007 convention in Dallas with my family (my daughter Marissa and son Aaron are both SYM'ers). However, I have not signed up for the 2008 convention which will be a combination of IBM/SAM for my fear is that there will be so many "adult" events that there won't be enough events for the SYM group (During the regular SAM conventions there is so many events/lectures for the kids to attend!) Is this going to be an adults only convention or will the SAM stay true to its motto of being a "family" convention?

I don't see any reason for you not to attend; I know I will be. If they do not have any "special" events for kids, it does not mean that you will not have fun at the convention; you will just be participating in all of the adult events. A convention that I go to yearly does not have a "adult" or "junior" separation for events or lecture and I believe that is the best way of doing it. If they do have special lectures and events for SYMers, I can guarantee you that I will attend only one, at the most, however that's just the way I am. Socializing with adults, in my opinion, is "where it's at", THEY are the ones that have the knowledge 99% of the time (however you do need to be careful as there is the occasional idiot or 2). However, again, this is just my opinion. Just make sure you do not treat the adults as one of your "buddies" until they actually are one of your friends- walking up to an adult that you have never met before with a deck of "Black Tigers" in hand saying "Yo dude, what's up? You wanna see something pretty cool?" and moving on to perform an ACR pretending that they have no clue what your doing is NOT the way you want to approach people. Just walk up to an adult kindly, act respectably and agreeably, and ask for advice; if they are busy they will probably say no, but if they're not then they will be more than happy to help out someone who has a sincere interest to learn. Again though, that's just the way I approach things; I have no friends in magic that I talk with on a weekly-biweekly basis under the age of 18 (with the exception to a small handful of guys who are incredibly smart and talented).

Basically what I'm saying by all of this is:

1. Attend the convention, it will be fun whether or not there are any special SYM events.
2. Respect your elders and they will respect you. Once you have gained their respect you now have someone with immense amounts of knowledge to help you.
3. If there are special SYM events, go to at least one of them just to see if you can meet a smart young magician, however don't forget about the convention in whole and make sure you attend some adult lectures as well.

I hope to see you in Louisville in 2008!
~Magically Dave