March 17, 2002
Surrey Guildford Sheraton, Surrey
Present: Clint Budd, Lorna Appleby, Palle Hoffstein, Ray Seredin, Mike and Greg Cairns, Chilam, Mark ?, Nico Iormetti, Rhys Mansbridge, and presently Garth Spencer and Andrew Brechin.
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 p.m
Agenda: Hearing the regular report of the VCON 27 committee on the progress of the convention. The gist of the report to the V-Con Society executive is that there are now people heading all departments of the convention. A Dealers' Liaison has just been designated.
Promotion: Clint encouraged committee members to keep promoting VCON to any new shops they find: both potential dealers, and potential flyer distributors. (Palle has observed that people keep saying they never heard of VCON before.) Greg Cairns mentioned there were several fantasy-oriented shops in the Metrotown complex. Palle mentioned a store near Edmonds, and the Renaissance Books store, which did really well in the VCON 26 dealers' room.
Policies re Participants: This segued to talk about convention weapons policies, and one weapons seller in particular. (It developed that some members of the committee hadn't heard before about no-weapons policies, or the reasons for them. A brief discussion followed.) On the subject of SCA participation, Palle mentioned that potential SCA demo participants wanted (once again) free memberships, and VCON was offering them some more moderate compensations. In Nico's view, VCON cannot make exceptions in their policy towards program participants.
Operations will be handled by David Langtry and Lisa Gemino. Palle insists they have at least two more people to work with them. Ray asked for a definition of Operations. As this VCON committee defines it, Operations includes all the setting-up before a con (unloading vans and trucks, setting up tables), supplying equipment and things like water during the con (TVs, projectors, etc.), and taking down and putting away and returning stuff, after the con. While this means some preparation and equipment repairs beforehand, most of this labour occurs at the con. Garth introduced a digression on what-all Operations included in the past, as he has seen it include Volunteer and Security administration at previous VCONs. Palle clarified that Operations at recent VCONs wasn't so inclusive, and indeed was differently defined for different venues - e.g. UBC, or the Surrey Days Inn, versus the Guildford Sheraton.
The VCON 27 Program Book will be handled by Paul Carpentier, who is already asking for contributions.
Hospitality already has a staff of nine. (The progress report indicates that Hospitality will open at 3:00 on Friday, 9:00 on Saturday and Sunday, and will run until 2:00 a.m.)
Art Show will be handled by Chilam, and he is still making preparations. At this juncture Clint suggested involving high school students, at least senior students, e.g. by inviting high school students to submit works for artshow display. Palle also suggested something in the way of a scholarship. (The WARREN ODDSSON MEMORIAL ART SHOW rated separate mention in the progress report.)
The Writers' Workshop will be handled by Fran Skene, for which Clint also suggests high-school student involvement. (However, Clint has found that now is a particularly bad time to seek the attention of educators; and anyone speaking to them has to emphasize, we're not asking them to do anything. Some alternative ways to advertise VCON to students were discussed.)
The Video Room and the Website are both being handled by Lorna Appleby. She has received offers both of videos and of volunteers, although most volunteers so far have limited their availability to Sunday. (The progress report indicates that the Video Room will operate around the clock, and will feature a Babylon-5 Breakfast.) Clint and Lorna talked about taking digital photos of the concom and posting them on the website.
Programming is at present still being handled by Palle, Dawna Read, Pauline Walsh, and someone named BJ. This is being planned around the guests, particularly game design panels for gamers. (The progress report indicates there will be at least four tracks of programming, including coverage of written SF/fantasy, media/movies, and animation, as well as gaming. Michael Walsh will reprise the popular Buffy panel; the Sunday Turkey Readings will appear again; no word as yet on the Elrons.)
The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
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