FOGhorn 7.4 January 2017

FOGhorn 7.4, January 2017

FOGcon 7 * March 10-12, 2017 * WALNUT CREEK, CA *

Theme:  Interstitial Spaces

Honored Guests: Delia Sherman and Ayize Jama-Everett

Honored Ghost: Iain [M.] Banks

Programming signups are still open until February 4! Sign up NOW to be on a panel or do a reading. Don't miss out!

Programming sign ups here: http://db.fogcon.org/program/ranking
To request a reading slot, go here: http://db.fogcon.org/reading/

 

MEMBERSHIP RATES

Adults:

$80 from January 2, 2017 to February 28, 2017

$90 at the door

Youth (11-17):

Full weekend membership - $20

Children (10 and under): Free! (Must be attended by an adult)

 

FOGCON ON THE WEB

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=266502209488
LiveJournal: http://community.livejournal.com/fogcon/
Dreamwidth: http://fogcon.dreamwidth.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Fogconvention
FOGblog the FOGcon Blog: http://fogcon.org/fogblog/

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Message from the Chair
Student Writing Contest WINNERS!
Hotel and Saturday Lunch Banquet
Programming Signups
Children at FOGcon 7

 

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

We're getting ever closer, and there are three things I want to let everyone know:

Programming signups are still open, so *please* go and sign up; even if you don't want to be on any programming, letting us know what you're interested in helps keep FOGcon interesting for everyone!

Make sure you've booked your hotel room, if you're staying with us --don't wait until the last minute.

This is the big one: FOGcon's been going for seven years, and some of the people who were on the very first concom are still with us; yours truly among them.  But there are many people who've worked with us and taken a step back, and we value them and their contributions highly...and we need more people.  If you've been on a concom, or thought "Hey, I have great ideas on how to run a convention!", we may have a space for you, and we'd definitely like to hear from you, because FOGcon needs people to help it keep going, and keep it the wonderful and experimental place it's been for nearly seven years now.

Let us know at volunteer@fogcon.org, if you'd like to play a part in the ongoing adventure that is running FOGcon!
So looking forward to March,

Steven Schwartz

 

STUDENT WRITING CONTEST WINNERS!

The fog has lifted and two contestants stand tall in 2017. I'm please to announce the winners of this year's student writing contest -- Nicole Shimizu and Sandra Nair! Please join me in congratulating them on their short stories, "Abyss" and "Knowledge Beyond Logic" respectively. Be sure to stop by their reading panels during FOGcon 7, March 10-12, 2017.

 

VOLUNTEERS

FOGcon Needs You!  (Yes, you!)

We need help before and during the convention, managing or staffing registration, consuite, programming, logistics, and more.  If you'd be interested in helping out, please e-mail volunteers@fogcon.org and let us know when you'd be available and what sort of thing you'd like to do, and we'll get back to you asap.  We're also hoping that, at least for local volunteers, we may be able to have some sort of get-together ahead of time just to meet each other and have fun 🙂

So let us know your name, e-mail address, phone number, and whether you prefer e-mail, IM, texts, or phone calls, what you're interested in, and when you're available.

Thank you so much!
Sample Volunteer E-mail
Name: Mary Shelley
email: maryshelley@hewasthedoctordammit.org
phone: 123-456-7890
interested in: volunteer wrangling, programming
pre-con availability: by phone or e-mail, or in person with enough notice -- weekends or weekdays after 7 pm is best
at-con availability: tbd, fairly flexible. Expect to arrive late
Thursday/early Friday and be available until Sunday mid-afternoon. Not available during retrospective panel.

 

PROGRAMMING SIGNUPS

FOGcon folks have once again come through with a huge variety of high quality programming ideas -- and we thank you all!

Now it's time for programming sign-ups!  This is for everyone, whether you want to be on a panel or just watch them -- here's how it works:

  1. Go to db.fogcon.org
  2. Sign in to your account
  3. Go to "Program" in the Nav bar on the left side and choose "Sign Up for Programming"
  4. You'll see three clickable links:
    • There are XX items
    • You have YY program items unmarked
    • Don't forget to update your availability to tell us what times you'll be available to participate in programming
  5. Click on either of the first two links to go through the programming items and let us know what you're interested in!

Here's the thing that can be confusing: we want to know if you're interested in being *on* programming, and we *also* want to know if a given item is one you'd like to *see happen,* even if you don't want to be on it!

So for each item, you'll see the following options:

For being on the panel -- you can only choose one of these, and you don't have to choose any of them:

  • Please -- you very very much want to be on the panel
  • Interested -- you'd enjoy being on the panel, but if it conflicts with something you said "please" for, you'd rather be on that one
  • OK -- you're comfortable being or willing to be on the panel if that works out
  • Not Interested -- you'd prefer not to be on the panel. (This will also let us know that if we're trying to come up with panelists for this one, we should not put you on it even if we'd otherwise consider you a good fit.)

In addition to the list above, which is about being a panelist for that topic, you can also indicate either or both of the following:

  • I would like to moderate this panel

If you're willing to be a moderator for this panel, this is where you'd let us know that. Moderators are responsible for keeping the conversation moving, making sure everyone has a chance to talk, and managing audience involvement; moderators don't necessarily have to be experts in the topic themselves.

  • I would like to attend this panel

This is where you let us know which panels are most interesting to you!  We depend on this information as we decide which panels to include in the schedule and which ones have to wait -- there are always far more possible panels than we have available room-and-time-slots.  So even if you don't want to be *on* any of the panels at all -- please check this box for all the panels you're particularly interested in seeing!

Programming sign-ups will be open until the end of the day on February 3; you can edit your responses until sign-ups close, so you can start now and finish later if need be!

We're really excited about the programming items up for consideration, and we look forward to hearing from you!

 

HOTEL AND SATURDAY LUNCH BANQUET

As we said in the last FOGhorn, FOGcons 7 and 8 will return to the Walnut Creek Marriott, which has been our home since 2012. Room rates are $109.00 per night, which includes free access to the hotel wireless. Book your reservation for FOGcon 7 at this link.

Parking will once again be free for convention members, whether hotel guests or not. The hotel has agreed to cancel the bar band for both Friday and Saturday nights of the convention, which should make the hotel restaurant and bar much more pleasant for all of us.

We will be reprising last year's successful lunchtime banquet, at the same price as last year: $15 for adults and $8 for children 10 and under). We subsidize the banquet because it helps us meet our commitment to the hotel, and because we love the opportunity to eat together. The menu will include salads, hot entrees, veggies, and desserts, and will have vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free options (possibly even all at once). Detailed menus will be in future FOGhorns. You can now buy your banquet tickets on the FOGcon website.

Numbers will be limited, so buy soon if you know your plans.

If you have any questions about the hotel, or any special hotel needs, please emailfogcon@fogcon.org so we can help you out.

Debbie Notkin
Hotel Liaison

 

CONTACT US

Mailing Address

FOGcon
PO Box 3764
Hayward, CA 94540

Email

For more information, email us at fogcon@fogcon.org
To discuss access issues, email us at access@fogcon.org
To volunteer, email us at volunteers@fogcon.org or click the link in your account that says, "Would you like to volunteer?"
To inquire about being a dealer, email us at dealers@fogcon.org
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