All:
Minutes from the last ConCom meeting.
ConCom meeting minutes - Feb. 8, 2004
ConChair News Tidbits...
* ConCam webcasted our meeting!
Silliness.
* The wireless networking services at the hotel could not be tested, due to the hotel staff not being fully trained. A team led by Steve Campbell will go back to the hotel later to verify everything works for us. Wayport has had previous experience with supporting large technical groups.
Definitely something (Probably Troy) Needs to do
* Bruce Sterling, one of Confusion's Guests of Honor, devoted 2/3 of his post-Confusion weblog entry to Penguicon!
I could post in *my* weblog.
* The paper Penguicon mailer is going out this week to just under 3,000 addresses.
Urgh. Okay, IRS form is being done *TONIGHT*. Rob, where are you. I'll go bug you to go over line by line on it, then print it out and mail it tomorrow. Mainly for reduced mailing costs.
* Solicited suggestions for tech dealers for the Dealers' Room. Susan Harris will be going to the A1 computer supershow to give flyers to dealers. Some suggestions were The Frag Center, Abilty PC in Utica, an independent computer dealer in South Lyon, Digilink in Okemos. Someone will also be at the Women in Computing show and make contacts.
We need a list of these.
* After discussion with Steve Jackson, we've decided not to do Evil Stevie's Pirate Game at Penguicon. Too much expense and volunteer time needed for too few people to be involved. Steve was also worried about it taking up too much of his time. Steve will spend more time with the CHAOS Toy instead.
I'm assuming we're doing it, since he is a whopping few miles away.
* Howare Tayler of Schlock Mercenary had agreed to do the Penguicon Program Book cover, and also wants to do an interior cartoon, as well as a special back cover inset. Fred Gallagher of Megatokyo has agreed to do a con T-Shirt.
I'll see if Dev (the artist) will do these as well...on the T-Shirts, how much does it cost for colour designs, and how many colours?
It was asked if the T-Shirt people could bring shirts with a different kind of neck, for women that don't fit the "standard" T well. We have also arranged to reprint some of the first Penguicon's T-Shirts for sale at this con.
Linucon 0.1 T-Shirts! The con before the con!
* Our space restrictions aren't going to allow us to do a Blood Drive this year.
Blood drive...?
* We will do a Charity Auction, the charity will be the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (Neil Gaiman is a Board member for CBLDF).
Idea.
* We will have a Guest of Honor Banquet again this year. We will make arrangements to pre-sell tickets via the website before the con, so as not to catch people by surprise on the con weekend with fairly high priced tickets.
How much are they charging, Rob?
* The Linux Box from Ann Arbor has agreed to hold several specially designed Linux/Open Source related training course before the con on Friday during the day. People that sign up for these courses will receive a free con registration.
We will help coordinate publicizing this with The Linux Box, and they will handle the actual course signups through their website.
Mmm?
* We received another inquiry from someone that wants to be a Guest at Penguicon! Rob Balder, writer/artist of PartiallyClips.com, as well as filker and fanzine editor, knows several of our guests and wanted to know if he could be one too! We invited him as a panelist.
"Okay, dude, stop bugging us. Here, be panel fodder"
* Dealers tables going well, 38 tables sold to date. Should have a full dealers' room.
* Guest update: the list is full - Five Guests of Honor, and ten Nifty Guests.
Full? Wish we could be that way.
* Registration update - 279 preregistrations so far! Much excitement ensues! This is fantastic news, and well ahead of last year's numbers. A lengthy discussion about what to do if the hotel is overcrowded starts. We'll set our first "watch limit" at 800 people, and talk to the hotel about how many people they can support at the con.
800 for them? 1100 for us. WE GET BIGGER HOTEL! NYA NYA NYAH!
Marketing
* Susan Harris has contacted a number of publishers for donations, has received offers of some amount of promotional materials. Also, Eric Raymond wrote a very helpful letter to his publicist at Addison-Wesley, recommending that A-W have a presense at Penguicon. A-W is considering it. We also need to contact the original and current publishers of Wil Wheaton's books.
Rob, get Eric to right a letter to A-W for us as well. Heh.
Media
* Requested that Anne Murphy contact Lorraine (Neil Gaiman's assistant) and ask if she can help us obtain permission to screen Neil's BBC mini-series, "Neverwhere" at the con.
Registrations
* ConCom members need to register ASAP. Kimba has permission to beat them about the head and shoulders until they do.
Hah.
Room Parties
* Chip has advised potential parties to steer clear of the 5th and 6th hotel floors (the 6th floor is the official quiet floor). Bill plans room party tours Friday and Saturday at 9:00pm.
An idea we need to see about.
Financial
* The con has $6720 in the band as of today. Last year' ConChair was overheard to say "So you mean we won't have to kite checks to the hotel for our rooms?". More money is on the way from Dealers' tables signups.
$600, soon to be $100 for us, after paying the IRS.
Anime
* Anime will be in a larger room this year, and will be able to get a DVD player and VCR, along with a projector and screen from the con's A/V supplier.
Also need to see about this.
Signage
* Bill will post a list of all signs needed. We will have to pay attention to directing people to the stairs, and make sure they know that not all stairs go to the ground floor.
Heh.
Website
* The website now supports forums for online discussion. Matt Arnold will be posting working copies of the Program Book to a Forum so everyone can read and comment. This is how the Program Book should be evaluated, not at the ConCom meeting. Users must have an ID and be logged in to see the Forums.
Also need to do this.
Program Book
* The general deadline for Program Book material is March 1. Programming schedule should get to Matt by Feb 21. Guest of Honor bio's should go to Matt immediately.
We need a programmer!
Travel * We've started to make travel arrangements for GoHs. Everything going well.
Let's see...Cessna...
Programming Update
* Programming going well, with schedules mostly filled. We could use some more panelists to fill the proposed panels, but don't really need more panels unless they are irresistable. We have a full list of tech and fen panels, with some crossover panels, although not counting on Robotics now after Neal Probert left the Concom.
Robotics?
* Dave Campbell has agreed to be the Programming Ops head, he will be responsible for executing the Programming at the convention, as well as the preparation. (Such as scheduling room changes, or A/V equipment, or getting the list of panelists to registration.)
* There will be a 24 hour Anime schedule in the Interlochen room. Gaming will also be 24 hour, in the Charlevoix room. The large spaces (the combined ballroom sections and the Theatre) will be heavily used all weekend. Tech has at least two sessions running at almost all times. Swordfighting demos during signings to keep the crowds occupied. Built in some breaks during the tech track schedules so the geeks don't forget to eat and sleep.
Volunteers * Alice Smith-Goeke volunteered to coordinate the Charity Auction.
Registration Rates
* Doing three panels qualifies for reduced rate of $25 for con.
Eh? They're charging?
Computer Gaming
* We currently don't have a computer gaming head. MDLUG will take charge of this and make sure it happens, including having the equipment and software for The Celebrity Frag Fest.
Preconvention Guest Dinner
* Dinner will be at 7:00pm on Thursday before con. All ConCom welcome, but must pay their own way. Need to select a restaurant, the criteria is: fairly close to hotel, not horribly expensive, not a major chain that can be found anywhere, able to handle a 30-36 person group. Suggestions: Benihana's, a Family restaurant at 8 Mile & Farmington, Macaroni Grill, Fishbone's, Braun's Steakhouse at 6 & Haggerty, The Sheik on Orchard Lake.
Next meeting on Sunday, Feb. 29, at the usual place and time. Announcements will be sent. Great fun was had by all and there was SOOOO much food at the meeting!
