Matt’s DinoCon 2025 adventure

I just got back home after a solid four weeks on the road, an epic peregrination from SoCal to Oklahoma to England to Oklahoma to SoCal. DinoCon 2025 was embedded mid-trip, which is why I haven’t gotten anything about it posted before now.

My brain is still buzzing, from DinoCon and from the rest of the trip, but here are some of my personal highlights in no particular order:

1. Venue generally — all the conference areas on the University of Exeter campus were very walkable, and the Great Hall had tons of space and lots of doorways, which made it easy to get in and out of from multiple directions, quietly, even during talks. The vendor space was nice, and having dorms and a pub on site was excellent.

2. Speakers — great, diverse set, appreciated seeing so many women and early-career folks, and people that have had different pathways into paleontology (researchers, educators, artists, people in entertainment, students, etc.). Hillary Maclean’s talk was the absolutely perfect way to kick off the conference, and set a really wonderful tone for everything that followed (irritatingly, I got no photos). I’ll have more to say on a couple of standout talks in a future post.

3. Vendors — freakin’ amazing. Highlights for me were getting to meet Dougal Dixon, Andy Frazer (Dragons of Wales, Novosaurs, etc.), Sean Hennessey (Speed Thief), Alex Pritchard (DinosaurSkeletons.co.uk), and Katrina van Grouw (Unfeathered Bird, Unnatural Selection), in addition to catching up with old friends like Mark Witton, Georgia Witton-Maclean, Bob Nicholls, and Toni Naish. I’d corresponded with Natee Himmapaan and David Krentz but not met them in person, so it was nice to finally close those loops. And Nathan Barling — I’ve been meaning to blog about Dr. Dhrolin’s Dictionary of Dinosaurs for ages, and I got to gush at Nathan for a few minutes over how rad that book is. I got books signed by Dixon, Frazer, Hennessey, Naish, and Witton, but I was a lightweight compared to some in that department. The evening art exhibition was fantastic; Mike and I wandered around taking it all in, and it gave us a lot to think and talk about. If you were there and I didn’t meet you — and I know I missed a few folks from busyness, brain fog, general overwhelmedness, etc. — I’m sorry, and I hope we can catch up next year.

4. Brochure — all the swag was great, including the badges and lanyards, but the brochure was a real high point for me, for these specific reasons: I love the A5 size and form factor, so much more convenient than anything larger or smaller; print quality and paper quality were excellent, so it felt good in the hand and like a high-quality artifact; layout with schedule on the middle fold and maps at the back (and on the back) was super convenient, especially for one-handing when carrying an armload of books and art; and finally having room for notes. This is peak conference guidebook design; no need to rethink, just keep making them like this, and other conferences take notice.

5. Official themed art for the conference — I like that this existed, and I thought that Natalia Jagielska‘s art hit the right note for the type of event this was, so well done all around. I was particularly taken with what I can’t help seeing as her Union Jack azhdarchid; that piece adorns the laptop I’m typing this on, courtesy of the official DinoCon 2025 sticker pack. Speaking of: loved the stickers and pins and so on, I’m a helpless victim for all of that, as Mike can attest.

6. Auction and Quiz — turns out Darren Naish is really good at working a room, and keeping the tone light, even when he was (mock) exasperated by this or that. Both events were enjoyable and hilarious. My plea for the future: don’t find a more professional or even competent auctioneer, just keep making Darren do it. It’s unarguably the right move.

Needless to say, I enjoyed myself tremendously. I did have one minor problem that I’d never had the opportunity to experience before: sheer exhaustion from all the dinosaurian awesomeness. At most conferences the dinosaur bits get one day, maybe a day and a half max, and although many of the vendors will be catering to the dinosaurati, it’s not all dinosaurs all the time. DinoCon was just that, and although it was exhilarating, I collapsed into bed each night on the thinnest of fumes (and thinnest of wallets).

But heck, I’ve got in the neighborhood of 50 weeks to recover. By the time DinoCon 2026 rolls around, I’ll be more than ready to do it all again.

One of the major highlights of the trip was just getting to hang out with Mike and Darren. I hadn’t been to the UK since SVPCA 2019, so it was well overdue. I’ve known them both as pen pals for a quarter-century now, and as good friends and colleagues for over 20 years, and looking back I can see the Godzilla-sized footprints their scholarship and companionship have left in my life and my career. That’s a humbling amount of good fortune.

Also perfectly lovely: getting to stay with Mike and Fiona before and after the conference. Their place is my home away from home. Rivers of English tea flow invisibly beneath the surface of many of my papers, courtesy of the Taylors, and it’s past time I publicly acknowledged that.

I have more to say about the trip — about Mike’s talk, book signings and art acquisitions, not one but two close encounters with Aquilops, and more — but science is calling so those posts will have to wait a bit. Stay tuned.

Source: https://svpow.com/2025/08/27/matts-dinocon-2025-adventure/