Convention Quandary

I attended my first gaming convention in 1982 or 1983 and my last in about 2002. I have attempted to attend a few conventions in the years since, but circumstances have always thwarted me. There are many hurdles for someone like me to overcome to be able to attend a gaming convention, especially if I want to run any events. I am better equipped now for many of those hurdles—there is always something new to learn in life—and I would very much like to meet fellow hobbyists in person and introduce new people to the games I enjoy, but I have not yet learned how to overcome the greatest hurdle for me: wanting to run a game, but being required to provide details for the event and prepare for the convention a year in advance. Finances are an issue. My schedule is an issue. My variable capacity to socialize in public or deal with excessive sensory stimuli is a very large issue. I do not have the ability to predict the state of any of those things a year in advance.

When I was a teenager, there used to be local gaming conventions where one could sign up to play games on the spot or spontaneously set up games at open gaming tables and invite attendees to play without having to sign up or get event tickets. It was casual. It was friendly. It was stress-free. From what I've read, the experience is very different now. Gamers complain that events are filled seconds after sales go online even at the medium-sized conventions. Hotels for miles around are booked solid in an instant. To get any kind of deal as a GM, some conventions require so many hours of event-running that there is little to no time to participate as a player or shopper. Do convention organizers even permit open gaming tables these days?

As I mentioned, I haven't attended a gaming convention in over 20 years. I may not even recognize today's convention environment. What I would like to propose, though, is a new kind of convention, a sort of pop-up convention. It would be a smaller convention with an emphasis on the activity of gaming itself, with ample room for both open gaming and scheduled events. GMs would get a credit towards admission fees equal to the number of events (or hours of GMing) they contribute (instead of a minimum of x number of events or hours to qualify for any savings). Furthermore, GMs could submit events from a few months ahead of the convention date to the convention date itself. Surely I am not the only person who would have an easier time with such arrangements.

Can anyone else relate? Do conventions like this already exist somewhere? Please feel free to comment.