I last saw Leonard Nimoy in 1985 at a Creation Con in NY. Now 16 years later for the life of me I can’t recall what he said, just that it was cool to see him. And yes he’s a cool guy. What other Trek guy (besides George Takei that is. . .:) would do the Vulcan Hand Greeting over and over throughout the talk when talking about it and then at the end hold up both hands in that gesture to the fans?! When he left the stage and did that, plenty of hands returned the greeting including mine held high! Nimoy explained the origin of this hand sign and at various points would hold his hand up like that to demostrate. At one point he held it up for a second then put his hand down and then back up. He commented that it was funny that every time he did that a flashbulb went off. So then he joked about it by only holding it up for a second and then put his hand down and the crowd roared. 

Im sure you’ve heard it before but if you haven’t the origin of the Vulcan hand sign occured in the episode, Amok Time, when Nimoy suggested to the director that Vulcans need some sort of greeting the way other races and humans have like shaking hands. He got the idea for the sign from when he was child and noticed the Rabbis in the service holding up thier hands like that to bless the congregation. He said the sign is meant to represent the hebrew letter Shin or the “sh” sound, which in this context was supposed to invoke the female power/aspect of God, the Shechina, to bless the congregation. They weren’t supposed to look because it was said that if a human glimpsed the awesome light of God they would die. But he as a child peeked anyway. 

Nimoy said that the Vulcan Nerve Pinch was born in the episode, The Enemy Within, when he had to surprise the evil Kirk and subdue him before he could shoot the good Kirk. He said this saved him for the most part having to exert himself in fights since all he had to do was give the pinch. 

He brought in a tape which showed scenes from STIV: The Voyage Home as well as some behind the scenes footage to show how they did the special effects. 
 

George Takei and Walter Koenig did the George and Walter show again. This was somewhat of an auspicious occassion because its just about exactly 21 years ago that I went to my first Trek Con in Baltimore in 1980 and the guests were George and Walter. They may have aged outwardly but inside they are still themselves. Walter is subdued although at times humorous and to the point in his stories. George is still jovial and outgoing and like to tell long stories and he’s still got The Voice. The man has this amazingly resonent deep voice that makes you want to pay attention whatever he’s talking about. “Oh My!” 

They joked around as usual and to the delight of the crowd. George told a long story about being in Guatamala during one of the Trek cruises and taking a rickity plane to Tikal to see the ruins. They couldn’t get back right away because of a problem with the plane so they had to fly some planes out there from Guatamala City to take them back. They were concerned because they originally had to be back by sunset as there were no lights on the runway. However when they landed the runway was lit by coconuts filled with buring gas and truck lights. Walter told a similer story about being on a plane where they didn’t know if the landing gear was locked or not. They had to assume the crash position and as they are all hunched over, Walter looks over to the other side of the aisle and some guy says to him: Hey Chekov, what did they do on the Enterprise when this happened?!

Walter got the part in Trek because he was already known by 3 out of 4 people who made the hiring decision, and he had already played a russian guy on one of the shows they had seen him on. 
 

(Anyway Im tired now and will write more about this when I have time and hopefully can remember what else went on. . . )