Rubber Chicken Banquet
Rubber Chicken Banquet is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek term used to refer to a repetitive and very predictable featured evening activity held at most TG Conventions and various other events.
The term comes from a range of entrees frequently served at such activities, where the main course is typically boneless breast of chicken either on a bed of {whatever}, with {shatever} sauce, or stuffed with {whatever}. Such dishes are staples of the catering departments of hotels and restaurants. These dishes are typically easy to consistently prepare for a group of 50-500, offer a liberal profit margin, and are something that most individuals will willingly eat with few complaints, and usually few raves as well.
The activity is usually promoted as a featured dress-up affair. It almost always begins with a happy hour with a cash bar with captive-audience pricing. Seating is usually provided to the masses using 72" banquet rounds with eight seats per open-seating table for plebeians and six per reserved table for organizers and featured guests. A dais is sometimes used, made up of 2-3 banquet longs for senior organizers, keynote speakers, and notable guests.
Dinner will almost always segue into some kind of a "program" featuring one or more of a keynote speaker, drag show, awards presentation, fashion show, pageant, talent show, etc.
Sometimes the evening will continue with a deejay for dancing or occasionally a live band.
Rubber Chicken Banquet becomes reality
The term came into reality during Diva Las Vegas 2002 when a prankster couple bribed a waiter into serving an actual gag-shop rubber chicken to one of the organizers who was known to use the term.
