Poll #1185778 Balticon 42 Attendance
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Are you attending Balticon 42 this Memorial Day weekend?

If you ARE attending, what factors influenced your decision? (Feel free to expand on your answer in the comments)

If you ARE NOT attending, what factors influenced your decision? (Feel free to expand on your answer in the comments)

How many times have you attended Balticon in the past?

When was the last time you attended Balticon?

If you ARE attending, are you staying at the hotel, commuting, what?

If you are not staying at the convention hotel (Marriott Hunt Valley), what influenced your decision?

What days will you be attending the convention?

If you purchased or will be purchasing a membership, did/are you:

What program tracks hold the most interest for you?

What kind of events / activities hold the most interest for you?

I started a post on the topic of video gaming and Balticon 42, and where things stand with the Baltimore Gamers Alliance, but my LJ client decided to exercise "editorial oversight" by tanking on me before I could post or save the draft. Therefore this post will be shorter by far than the original, but will cover the same ground in bullet form. To whit:

1. There will be no official video game room at Balticon 42.
2. The reasoning for this is as follows:
• With the departure of the BGA, there was no "heir apparent" to take over the video game room.
• Certain tracks within programming had gotten short shrift at Balticon 41, and therefore we wanted to ensure that adequate space and time were provided to those tracks for Balticon 42.
• Of all the activities supported by Balticon in the past, video gaming is the most tangentially related to the core focus of Balticon, which is the written expression of the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.
• If we were going to experiment with not having video gaming at Balticon, this seemed like the best time to do so.
3. The decision was ultimately mine as Chair to not have a video game room at Balticon 42.
4. The departure of the BGA was largely driven by the BGA, for the following reasons:
• The BGA was getting burnt out by the demands of staffing the room, providing the equipment and dealing with situations such as parents using the video game room as a substitute for babysitting.
• In spite of this, the BGA had a desire to offer additional related program content outside of the video game room, in addition to the effort they were putting forth in the video game room.
• Although this desire had been communicated by the BGA, the program coordinator at the time (that would be yours truly) dropped the ball in terms of following up with the BGA.
• During the same time period we "split" what had been "General Programming" into Literary, Fannish and New Media tracks, which consumed most of the available time and space in the schedule.
• With the reality of the fact that the video game room would quite likely remain not much more than an "amenity" for Balticon, the BGA informed me during Balticon 41 that they would not be returning to run the video game room.
5. The BGA were not asked to "leave" Balticon - they decided that it was in the best interest of the member of BGA to not continue to staff the video game room.
6. I, for one, am extremely grateful to George and the crew from BGA for all of the work they put into the video game room in recent years. They introduced a number of new features, ran tournaments and made the best of the situation when the space for the video gaming room shrunk with the move to the Marriott Hunt Valley.
7. Contrary to some rumors, the door was not "slammed" on the relationship between Balticon and BGA - they did a heck of alot for Balticon, and we only wish the BGA the best with its future projects. If you see George or one of the other folks from BGA, and you've reaped the benefits of their efforts in the Balticon video game room, please be sure to thank them - they deserve that at the very least.

Best regards,
Greg Wright, Balticon 42 Chair

Many people have been asking that very same question, and now they can get an answer through the Balticon 42 web site! The all-powerful ninja coders of KCS (Kamikaze Computing Services) have provided an "Am I Registered?" feature for verifying both online and mail-in pre-registrations online.

Please keep in mind that pre-registration processing is done in "batches", so allow five (5) business days from the time you register online until you check your registration status online. Mail-in pre-registrations will also show up online, but will take at least ten (10) working days from the date of mailing, due to variances in postal delivery speeds.

The "Am I Registered" feature can be access by going to the Balticon 42 web site, and clicking on the "Am I Registered?" link under the Registration section. As always, thank you for your continued interest in and support for Balticon!

Greg Wright, Balticon 42 Chair

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at Balticon? Have you ever wondered if there was some way to contribute to the success of Balticon? Have you ever wondered where people got those really cool Berserker / Berzerker t-shirts? Well wonder no more - sign up to work as a volunteer at Balticon 42 and join in the fun! There are many benefits of being a volunteer depending upon how many hours you work during the convention, including a t-shirt, priority seating at the Masquerade and or even a free membership to Balticon 43.

If you're interested in volunteering, or even just interested in more information before you make up your mind about volunteering, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator at volunteers@balticon.org. We can always use extra hands at all times during the convention, and volunteering is not only an excellent way to to find out more about how a convention is run, but it is also a great opportunity to meet other people who share your interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy. It's a great group of people, and we have numerous people who have returned to volunteer year after year. So send e-mail to volunteers@balticon.org today for more information or to sign up to volunteer at Balticon 42!

Thank you - Greg Wright, Balticon 42 Chair

The web site for Balticon 42 has been updated with a number of useful bits of information, including:

• Confirmed Literary and Fannish Program participants
• Confirmed Science Program participants
• Balticon 42 LARP description and registration instructions
• Balticon 42 Art Show rules and registration forms
• The Balticon 42 four-page mailer and the latest Balticon 42 one page flyer

If you have not made your reservations at the hotel, please make a point of doing so sooner rather than later, as the hotel will fill up fast. If you have not pre-registered for Balticon 42, online registration is open and will be $46 for the whole weekend through February 29, after which time the price will go up to $51. Full details on pre-registration are available on the web site.

Tee Morris, long time Balticon program participant, author, podcaster and man about town has graciously OK'ed the sharing of his photos from the podcasting panels at Balticon 41*. Lots of smiling faces, and lots of good times.

*NOTE: This is a link to a page that is not under the control of Balticon or the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc., and therefore neither entity is responsible for the content of this page and other associated pages.

As of this evening, we have confirmed the Art Guest of Honor for Balticon 42, and therefore the Guest of Honor slate is complete:

• Guest of Honor:  Connie Willis (http://www.conniewillis.net), Hugo and Nebula Award winning author of novels including Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, as well as numerous short stories.


• Art Guest of Honor:  John Jude Palencar (http://www.johnjudepalencar.com), Chesley Award winning illustrator and painter of many fine works, including the cover to Connie Willis' latest short story collection The Winds of Marble Arch.


• Filk Guests of Honor:  Urban Tapestry (http://www.urbantapestry.org/), the Pegasus and Aurora Award winning trio of Allison Durno, Jodi Krangle and Debbi Ridpath Ohi from Toronto.

Ok, here is a link to the photo gallery of the hall contest. Enjoy!
http://www.pbase.com/storm1969/hall_contest

I like to think it was a pretty good con in a lot of ways. Nonetheless we'd like to get some feedback. While I can't promise any official feedback on this forum, let us know what you thought and we'll try to use what we hear to make Balticon even better next year!
Thanks!

Balticon is coming up fast. Please keep checking www.balticon.org for the latest information.
Thanks and we look forward to seeing you there.

101 Days til Balticon 41, and it looks like its going to be a good one. Your friendly convention elves have been working hard and we’ve got lots planned. The convention will be held May 25-28, 2007 at the same hotel we had last year, Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn, right outside Baltimore, MD. We’ll try to keep this community up to date but your best source of information will be Balticon web site for complete details.

We are looking forward to welcoming this years Guests of honor who include:

Guests of Honor: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Art Guest of Honor: Joe Bergeron

Filk Guests of Honor: Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff

Special Guests of Honor: Michael R. Mennenga and Evo Terra

2006 Compton Crook Award Winner: Maria Snyder

It is also a pleasure to announce that author Peter S. Beagle will be
making a return appearance at Balticon this year! And, just released
yesterday, the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Last Unicorn on DVD.
When you purchase this DVD from
Conlan Press , Peter will receive royalties, which will not be the
case for DVDs purchased from other vendors. So please support Peter by
buying your copy of The Last Unicorn from Conlan Press.

MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS!

You still have time to take advantage of our earlybird registration special just go to www.balticon.org for instructions and links and we'll get you set right up. There are also links on the Balticon site to hotel registration, so act now to get the Balticon room rate.

HELP! VOLUNTEER :-)

Balticon happens each year because of the dedication of its volunteers. The more volunteers we have, the lighter the load becomes. Volunteering is a great way to get to meet the large number of awesome and interesting people who staff, volunteer and attend this convention. Help us out by offering a few hours of your time during the convention. We offer good perks :-) . If you are interested, please email "volunteer@balticon.org". Thank you!

More updates are coming as we start counting down the last 100-ish days
til Balticon!

Well, the dust seems to be settling from that whirlwind that was Balticon 40. Some people are still under the weather, from what i hear, and i'm still trying to recover from sleep deprivation, heh. i heard a lot of good things about the con, and photos are appearing online:

Our own Brad Ackerman has started posting photos, beginning with Thursday and Friday.

Podcasting guru/New Media Ninja Warrior Paul Fischer has photos on the Balticon Podcast web site.

Artist GOH Lisa Snellings-Clark has posted photos and anecdotes on her blog.

Music GOH Lorraine a' Malena have posted photos on the photo page of their site.

Count Gore De Vol has posted his interview with Neil Gaiman.

And even more photos, courtesy of Dan Guy, Vandaluna and Robert.

If you have posted photos, or stories, of Balticon 40, by all means post them here! Spread the Balticon love!

AND..... i want to send a huge THANK YOU to everyone, our GOHs, participants, attendees, and all our hard working volunteers and staff, for making this Balticon the most memorable in many years. Let's do it again :-)


Edit: Mike Walsh just sent me these two links.

PROGRAM

Yes it is here. Believe it. Our Programming Dept. has wielded the mighty +10 Quantum Shoehorn and packed literally hundreds of hours of programming into just four days. You can see for yourself by downloading the PDF version of our Pocket Program from the Balticon web site

PODCASTING

This year we are expanding our Podcasting Programming track so don't miss that. More information about podcasting and our podcasts are is our very own balticonpodcast.org web site Balticon is the first science fiction convention to do its own podcasting, though no longer the only one :-). Check us out, on the web and at the con, we will be doing lots of cool podcasting things.

Neil Gaiman Signing Sessions

We are having two 90-minute signing sessions for Neil Gaiman at Balticon, on Saturday and Sunday. We are posting the rules here so you can better prepare.

* Tickets will be distributed at the Information Desk one hour before the signing on a first come, first served basis.

* A ticket is required to stand in the signing line. We will begin lining tickets up in order 15 minutes before the signing.

* Three-item limit. We will provide index cards for you to write down what you want signed on your books, please have that prepared before your turn.

* No posed photos (if you have a friend with you, that person can take a photo of you near Neil while he is signing but he will not pose).

* Honor System: If you get something signed on Saturday, please let others have a chance on Sunday.


Meet the Participants on Friday Night!

Following the Opening Ceremonies on Friday night will be a meet-n-greet with not only our Guests of Honor, but our other Program Participants, in the low key atmosphere of our Con Suite. Stop by and say hi to the always glamorous Lorraine a' Malena and their musical muscle men Adam Stemple and Paul Score, the sweet-and-spooky Lisa Snellings-Clark, and our very talented Compton Crook Award winners. *i* will be monopolizing Gene Wolfe :-D . Better luck next time, heh. You just might catch a glimps of Peter S. Beagle, soooooooo don't miss this!

See you in...... FOUR DAYS!!!

Actually, LESS than one week to go, hard to believe, we're almost there.

Updates continue on the Balticon web site, most recently:

Dances, dances and more dances!

5:30 pm Saturday afternoon - Medieval Dance, have fun learning how!

7:00 pm Sunday night - Regency Dance, a perennial favorite!

10:00 pm Sunday night - Late Sunday Night Dance, this year featuring DJ Bat of CyberDen

Got Music???? How about:

10:00 pm Friday night - Ego Likeness returns!

4:00 pm Sunday afternoon - Peter S. Beagle, an accomplished filker as well as a popular author!

8:00 pm Sunday night - Our lovely Musical Guests of Honor, Lorraine a' Malena, a treat NOT to be missed!

And of course, our popular Filk program throughout the weekend.


Okay, you want more.... The Pocket Program will be available for download on the site Monday. So little time, so much to see and do....

Call for Volunteers

Without the dedication of our volunteers, Balticon couldn't happen. There are always ways to help out. Perks include one or two meals a day, a t-shirt, priority seating at the Masquerade, and a complimentary membership for next year's Balticon, for up to 20 hours worked. Some shifts carry double credit for hours worked. For more information, email volunteer@balticon.org

Okay, more coming tomorrow :-)

One month from today, May 26, we will kick off our 40th anniversary Balticon. Whew! The preliminary Main Tent schedule is up on the Balticon web site, but i'm going to post it here too, for convenience:

Preliminary Main Tent Schedule
FRIDAY	Main Tent	Other Activities
8:00 pm	Opening Ceremonies
9:00 pm	Ego Likeness concert	Meet the Participants
11:00 pm	Burlesque
SATURDAY	Main Tent	Other Activities
11:00 am	GoH Collaboration Panel
12:30 pm	Artist GoH: Lisa Snellings-Clark
2:00 pm	Neil Gaiman/Peter S. Beagle Panel
3:30 pm	Special GoH: Gene Wolfe
5:00 pm		Neil Gaiman/Peter S. Beagle Signing
9:00 pm	Masquerade
SUNDAY	Main Tent	Other Activities
11:00 am	Neil Gaiman/Gene Wolfe Panel
12:30 pm	Live Theater
2:00 pm	Music GoH: Lorraine a' Malena
3:00 pm	GoH: Neil Gaiman
4:30 pm		Neil Gaiman Signing
8:00 pm	Neil Gaiman Reading
9:00 pm	Sunday Film Festival
MONDAY	Main Tent	Other Activities
10:00 am	Previews
11:00 am	Mirrormask (introduced by Neil Gaiman)

This is just a preliminary schedule, it might change before the convention. So please take that into account when you plan your schedule at Balticon.

More updates coming soon... tick ... tick ... tick ...

The Balticon Podcast has just released its latest podcast: Interview with Admiral Burad of The Imperial Klingon Battle Fleet. Have a listen and find out what really goes on during a Klingon Feast.

A reminder, the Klingon Feast requires pre-registration, so please visit the Klingon Feast web site and sign up. Already popular at ShoreLeave and Farpoint, the Klingon Feast comes to Balticon for the first time this year. Don't miss it!

Another reminder..... Pre-reg membership rates go up next week, so if you haven't registered for Balticon yet, get over to www.balticon.org and sign up!

The LARP info is now online on the Balticon web site

There is a questionnaire for next year's LARP, that you can answer in email. Details on the site.

.... 35 days ....

The preliminary Participant list has been updated on the Balticon web site. More updates will be coming in as we go along....

A little preview for B40: Our interview with Artist Guest of Honor Lisa Snellings-Clark is now live on our Balticon Podcast web site. Go have a listen!

We are very pleased to welcome back Ego Likeness on Friday night! Check out their site, then come to their concert after the Opening Ceremonies.

And soon, we will be posting to the web site, the preliminary schedule for the Main Tent. So those of you who have been wondering "Where's Neil"..... soon we will be able to tell you :-)

36 days and counting.....

The Balticon web site server is down this morning, along with the email server. i'll post here as soon as it's back online.

Hotel Room-sharing folks, please check out this earlier posting to request and arrange room sharing.

More updates coming soon!


EDIT: The Balticon site is now back up!

Updated to the Balticon web site today:

Marriott's Hunt Valley Hotel is (still) sold out; there is a waiting list in case of cancellation. In the mean time find another local hotel room that you can cancel without penalty yourself or book the overflow hotel.

The overflow hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott across the street, is also sold out. You can try and scoop a cancellation with them also.

Other Hotels Known to have rooms as of 4-12-06:

Ramada Inn, 1 mile from con, 410-667-4900.

Days Inn Timonium, 2 miles from con, 410-560-1000.

Chase Suite Hotel, 2 miles from con, 410-584-7370.