CanCon: the Convention

[dewline]

Some of you may be interested to note that CanCon, a convention for SF&F people of all media, is reorganizing for another go-round this summer.

Details at this URL: http://www.can-con.org/

I hope to be there, either as fan or vendors' room occupant. Possibly both.

More as it develops.

Comments

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

That's the best title for a con ever!

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Certainly in the top ten!

[dewline.livejournal.com]

BY the by, any hope you might find your way out here for the occasion?

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I took flyers announcing it to Ad Astra a few weeks ago -- before it had resolved its venue issue.

It has since resolved them; it will be at the Travelodge Hotel on Carling Ave. near Westgate Plaza. OC-Transpo Routes 85 and 101 will both get you there, though one may have to walk a bit from the westbound stops of these routes. Routes 151 and 176 also go by the nearby Westgate Plaza.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

At least that's a bus nexus. Wishing it were more centrally located, but you can't have the full wish list in the first year, right?

[orleans.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see a new SF con in Ottawa. I'll certainly attend. I hope they have a few more details soon!

But I'm also worried it's a bit rushed ... only a few months away. It's a difficult task to build awareness for a new con. They might have been better off to wait for next year. Given that some people have already settled their summer plans/vacation time, they might be a little disappointed with their numbers. I hope not, though.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Seeing as they've got the hotel locked in now, waiting a year doesn't look like much of an option.

You're not alone in your concern about the rush-job appearance of the revival. It's come up at the April 2010 OSFS meeting, although their Facebook page has gotten the word out to some 150-200 people thus far.

[orleans.livejournal.com]

I think it's really key for them to get as much detail out as soon as possible. That way it will look like they've done their preparation and people will trust them. There is pent up desire for a con from Ottawa fans, but a con really needs out of town room nights to make things work. That's where I'm afraid they will fall down.

Just a few notes...

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

May I point you to the CAN-CON entry on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-CON_(convention)

Additionally, we have done a number of updates on the can-con.org website. Things are moving fast!

BTW. The two principals have a decade of experience in running CAN-CON and it's associated events (Quadcon, Northwords Magazine, the CAN-CON Academic conference, etc). If we didn't think we could do it on so short a schedule we wouldn't have attempted it.

But we could use some help from some other people who are willing to work on this event! We need panellists, moderators, programming ideas, and general help before and at the event. Please, if you have some time to give us, please let us know! Right now, most of the planning is being done on Facebook, where we have two areas, one for the even, and one for people who want to help with it. As our website evolves, that may change.

Thanks for listening.