Mention the horses, he loves his horses.
Shatner's fuzzy memory isn't that odd. Nichelle Nichols mentioned in her book that he remembered nothing from the production of the show, and I think I've also heard that from one or two of his other past actor friends, but I'd have to look it up.
As far as meeting him goes, I wish the OP luck. After all the stories I've heard about him over the decades, He's the one Star Trek actor I can honestly say I have zero interest in meeting. That, plus the stories about the way the conventions are run now, complaints from both fans AND some of the actors, I think I'll just leave my one and only convention attendance on my birthday in 1994 (actually got to meet, and spend some time with Robin Curtis, the GOOD Saavik) as a happy memory and let it go at that.
As you can see, they are sitting. We lined up and they filed us in behind them. They took the picture and shuffled us off. No interaction at all. Some of that, to be sure, is the long line.
I can confirm these statements about Shatner. My advice to the OP is to keep your expectations low. I mean REAL LOW. Chances are you will not be acknowledged
In Feb 2004, I went to a convention, where Shatner was the only Trek actor in attendance, at an upscale hotel. It was my first, only, and probably will be my last Star Trek convention I attend. It wasn't necessarily a negative experience in that nothing bad happened and I did get EXACTLY what I paid for (mostly), but was it satisfying? Well, meh.
Here is how the experience was for me.
I don't remember all the dollar amounts, but it was tiered where you could go.
1.cheapest ticket allowed you into the outer convention area, where all kinds of Trek and sci fi souvenirs and memorabilia are sold. It is all over priced and all of it can be had online for tons cheaper. You don't see anyone famous in this area. Not even on the way into or out of the convention hall..it's like they moved Shatner through secret tunnels or something.
2. I don't remember what I paid exactly, and I've since lost the ticket stub, but I want to say something like $75-$100, and I was towards the back of the room. My admission was the absolute cheapest I could pay in order to see Shatner. The ticket I had allowed you to go into the hall where Shatner was speaking. About 2 hours before Shatner showed up, people were seated in the large hall it was held in.
3. THe more you paid, the closer to the front of the room.
4. If you paid more, you were allowed to be filed into a line with a microphone, and ask a question. I remember the line being pretty long, and ultimately maybe a quarter the people even got to ask a question.
5. If you paid even more, after Shatner convention, you were filed off to go have an autograph
6. If you paid even more than that, you got to have your photo with Shatner
During the 2 hour wait in the large hall, the organizers would show a clip of a Star Trek show, followed by a clip of an interview of one of the Star Trek actors (IE show a Voyager montage followed by an interview with Kate Mulgrew) which had been filmed a few years prior to the end of Voyager (this was 2004).
Then they would pause, and have a few of the organizers come out, and auction off memorabilia. Some of it was props from various shows, but nothing cool like phasers, or communicators, but things as insignificant as a plastic bracelet worn by some extra in episode# XXX of show blah blah blah. Other items were autographed pictures. None of it was anything you couldn't find on ebay. Nothing spectacular. The auction lasted like 15 -20 minutes, then they went back to more Star Trek Montages for 15-20. Rinse,and repeat a few times. It was pretty surreal, and felt like I was at an Amway convention.
Shatner was like 15 minutes late to the convention. On stage, all he did was talk about how he liked to ride horses. Just on and on, it was horses. He mentioned he loved his new at the time wife, but nothing really specific. Nothing about Star Trek at all. Nothing about any works he had been engaged in at the time. Not even talking about his priceline commercials. I never watched Boston Legal, but I think this was before that show, because I don't remember him mentioning that.
Then they allowed the people in line for questions to ask them. No one but the people in the line were allowed to speak, and only when at the microphone and prompted by Shatner's handlers. No one was allowed to snap photos, or offer Shatner anything, either. I half expected them to say something to the effect of not making eye contact, no sudden movements, etc, too. And like I said, not all people in line got to even ask their question. It was maybe 1/4 of them.
Some of the questions were specific to Star Trek, which he was visibly annoyed by, and most answers were non answers, or he didn't remember. The ONLY Star Trek related question he was remotely engaged in was one about whether he regretted Kirk died in Generations, and he said essentially, if he could do it over again, he wouldn't have agreed to Kirk's death.
Some tried to sound sophisticated and tried to ask him horse questions, or some other stuff they thought Shatner was in to, which Shatner wasn't really impressed by. Others just sounded like babbling fools and tried to say something to compliment Shatner, of which he was polite, yet again visibly annoyed or bored by. The vast majority of the questions he was asked, Shatner either only half answered, or rambled on about something he wish he had been asked, never actually answering the question the fan had asked.
Then came the announcement by one of the handlers that time had flown, and "Mr. Shatner had a very busy schedule," so his visit had to be cut short (I think by 10 minutes...so the "hour" with Shatner was really around 35 minutes). Shatner was whisked away, almost like how the Secret Service do the President, when he is in danger. People who paid extra for the photo ops and autographs were then shuffled off to the other hall where the autographs were being held.
I can't speak to what went on with the photo op\autograph session that day, but I have spoken to other people who have done those with Shatner. One who did a photo op seems to agree with previous posters that he doesn't say anything: it's just him there, you are filed next to him, then SNAP the picture is done, and off you go. Another who had him sign an autograph, pretty much the same thing...you were lucky to get a hello, he signed the autograph, and off you went.
All and all, for me, the experience was a let down, and just unsatisfying. I guess the anticipation of the experience far outweighed the actual experience. I really wasn't expecting much. In fact, I wasn't sure what to expect. I certainly didn't expect much from Shatner himself, considering he has done a ton of these conventions with having probably "met" literally hundreds of thousands of people. And I get that they had to limit exposure, because quite frankly some fans are just nut balls and you don't know what they will do. It would have been nice if Shatner had talked about Star Trek, though, and not just horses the hole time.
But the way the convention itself handled the fans was on some levels insulting. It was like their attitude was "oh great, we have all these dumb ass trekkies in a room...let's show them a bunch of star trek montages to get them pumped up, then fleece them by auctioning off a bunch of crap, or get them to buy over priced souvenirs. I am glad I went the route I did, because if i had spent more, I would have felt ripped off. The thing is about these conventions, they are there to make money. It's that simple. So things will be cold and business like.
I mean an autograph or a photo with Shatner, where he doesn't acknowledge you or is personable to you, even if for a brief 3-5 seconds, in my mind takes the specialness out of it, and said photo or autograph just could be another object you can get off ebay. And with Photoshop, hell you can insert a picture of yourself with one of Shatner, if you wanted, hang it on your wall, and no one would be the wiser.
Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.
