Wasteland II: Age of Iron
is over...

I had a lot of fun. So did my fambily.
Now for some thank yous.
My Guests: Tom, Nick and Alisa. You are the backbone of the con. You were all great!
The Hotel: Big BIG rooms and a positive attitude of "Make it work, make people happy"
People who promoted me: White Dwarf and Fantastic Planet and Sin and everyone else!
The people who turned up: Yes, you!
People who worked the front desk: Sheldon and Doug get a special shout out as do the Triffitt boys.
People who helped in other ways. Tehani for the loan of the Projector, for instance. Everyone who whisked my children away for an hour. I am sure I am forgetting someone.

I sort of broke even. What more could I ask for?

It's TOMORROW!

Our National Guest of Honour is already squirreled away in the hotel, and in less than an hour I head out to the hotel myself.

It's gonna be HUGE!

Yay!

Three Days to Go!
Why yes, I am a bit hyped. Thankfully through a modern organisational system known as "A whiteboard covered in scribble" I am happy with the current state of the con. Why yes I am. Indeedily.

I may have even had enough time to sneak off and organise a treat for the opening ceremony...

Massively Updated Programme
The Programme went through a massive cull overnight and is looking leaner and meaner (Look here for evidence)

There are still some slots for panellists, but things are looking mighty fine.

However, I am only human! If you volunteered for a panel and you have NOT been contacted in the last 24 hours, there has been a problem! Please e-mail me cheshirenoir AT gmail DOT com and I will rectify immediately.

We have less than a fortnight before we go live. Isn't this exciting?

Won't Somebody Think of the Panels???
The programme has once again been updated. It now has many holes where panels used to be and a list at the bottom of panels with no panellists. If you have ever considered volunteering for a panel, go have a look! You can even "roll your own" if you prefer. If you do decide to suggest your own panel, I would prefer panel suggestions with at least two panellists already suggested.
Any panels without owners will be taken and disposed of. Not in a pleasant way either.

Wasteland II: Age of Iron and Sin Present:
I am pleased to announce a special "Steampunk" theme night at Sin, in conjunction with Wasteland II:Age of Iron on the night of the 18th of October. Presenting your WII:AoI membership will get you 4$ entry on the night. Patrons will be encouraged to dress in suitable attire. Many thanks to Sin for allowing us to do this joint event.

(Please note: Sin is a licensed venue and is thus 18+ only. You MUST have ID to be allowed to enter)

One Month To Go
It's now a month out from the actual convention. The Programme is coming together nicely (I am updating it every few days) but, as always I am happy to have new panellists. If you have never been on a panel, Wasteland is a nice, low pressure environment to start down the addictive path of presenting to your fellow con-goers. just click on the link above or e-mail me cheshirenoir AT gmail DOT com.

More Programme Updates
As the convention gets closer, the Programme is slowly starting to populate.

Remember, you can volunteer for panels simply by clicking on the panel that looks interesting at the above location.

Open Programming meeting
This Friday we'll be running the second open programming meeting at the Old Shanghai, in Northbridge (123 James St, Northbridge WA 6003).
Up for discussion is culling a few more panels, last minute requests for new panels and finding panellists to fill the holes in the programme.
I'll be arriving at 6:30, and I'll try to bring my pith helmet so you can all find me easily. Things will wrap up at 8:00pm.
I'm not expecting it to be structured as such, so if you want to contribute, and then head off straight away that is no problem at all.
There is excellent food and beverages available at the venue, covering a wide price range. Drop in! Bring the Kids!

Panellists!
Panellists are starting to appear. We need more but you can see who is on what already. Follow the link in the previous post. I'll be attempting to update weekly.

Another Programme Update
Now you can volunteer for many of the panel items, simply by clicking on their names. I have also wrestled with the CSS to make it all look a little more consistent.

Please, volunteer away!

Updated Programme Now Available
I have uploaded a new draft of the Programme, including times for events and a guide to the streams here.

If you have any feedback, feel free to e-mail me: cheshirenoir@gmail.com

FEEDBACK
Thanks to everyone who has filled in my feedback form. The programme will go through a cull and reimage in the next few days.

A While Between Updates
Sorry for the lack of updates, but things have been steadily ticking over. I have now added the updated programming items from the open programming meeting.
The updated form is located here if you want to have a look, and help change the programme by promoting or demoting panel ideas.
You don't have to put a promote or demote against every panel item. Just the ones you really want to keep or really want to get rid of.

Open Programming Meeting Went Well!
The Open Programming Meeting went well, and I'll be organising a second one later this year.

Thanks to all that attended. I'll update the Programme in the next few days to refresh the panel items to match.

Draft Programme Available
So that we have something to work with on Friday, here's an early early draft of the programme. For you software geeks out there, this is probably "Pre Alpha" but at least gives us something to brainstorm against. Note that the interactive functionality does work, so if you really like a panel or really hate a panel you can easily promote / demote it and I'll be automagically be notified.

DRAFT PROGRAMME

Open Programming Day
I'm planning on having an open programming meeting from 5:30pm on at the Old Shanghai in Northbridge on the 16th of May. Come along and help us refine and define the the programming for the convention!

We'll be at the Swancon Picnic
We'll have receipt books if you want to buy a membership.

Details:
Fundraising BBQ
As part of our social and fundraising events this year, Swancon 2009 would like to invite you to a casual BBQ. We'll provide the food, soft drinks and fun activities; all you need is your picnic blanket! This is a family friendly event.
Date Sunday April 13th
Time 1pm
Location Kings Park - Western Power Playground
Cost $10 adults, children under 12 are free
Please register your interest with the committee ASAP including the numbers of adults and children attending; an email address or phone number to contact in case of inclement weather; and any dietary requirements (gluten, nuts, other allergies, vegetarian, vegan etc).

Committee contact would be Ju, transcendancing@yahoo.com.au, mobile number is: 0439 354 992 for that day.

See you all there!

Post Swancon Roundup
Swancon went well and I did a lot of promotional stuff.
People associated with this con swept through the awards too!

Nick won a Ditmar for Best Art (For the Rynemonn cover)
Alisa won (takes a deep breath) two Tin Ducks, one for Best Fan Writing (“Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth”) and one for Best Fan Production (ASiF!) as well as the Ditmar for Best Fan Achievement (ASiF!). She also shared in the Ditmar for Best Fanzine (“Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth”), and I think there were others as well.

It was a bit of a blur as I won a Tin Duck for Best Fan Art (Night's Edge Postcards) and our Treasurer also won one for for Best Fan Writing (“Blog Like It’s The End Of The World”).

Go to the ASiF website for more goodness.

I was also presenting the Mumfan Award to two deserving people

Tom also sneakily got married over the weekend. Congratulations to you!

I'm at Swancon
I have a receipt book and I'm not afraid to use it. See you there.

Livejournal Feed
In addition to the RSS feeds from this page, you can also subscribe to our Livejournal Syndication at: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/wasteland_ii/

Nick Stathopoulos, our National GoH is in the running for some very prestigious awards.
First up, Nick has been nominated for two Ditmars, but that's really just a warmup!
He's a finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, with a portrait of Shaun Tan
If that wasn't enough, he's also a finalist in the Archibald Prize with a portrait of David Stratton.

To top it all off, Nick is busy shooting episodes of a new TV show for TVS in Sydney. I feel tired just reading all those achievements!

Wasteland II: Age of Iron now has a pricing.
Having done the sums, we are happy to announce our pricing for the con.
That is: $65 for full price memberships, $60 for concession memberships and $35 for day passes.

Wasteland II: Age of Iron now has a venue.
We will be staying at the Good Earth Hotel, (Formerly known as the Airways). It's fully refurbished and has really nice rooms and quite decent convention facilities. It's also in the heart of the hotel district, so if you don't want to stay at our hotel you should be able to find one to suit your needs. (The Ambassador, across the road has free internet access in their rooms, for instance.)

Wasteland II: Age of Iron, (The Steampunk / Victoriana / Retrofuturism convention) is please to announce several things today.

Firstly, I'm pleased to announce that WLII:AoI (as it will be called henceforth) has a date! It will be held on the 18th and 19th of October, 2008.

Secondly I'd like to announce our Local Guest of Honour, Alisa Krasnostein. Many of you know Alisa through ASif! http://www.asif.dreamhosters.com/doku.php
Welcome aboard Alisa.

Finally I'd also like to announce our Fan Guest of Honour, Tom "tommo" Eitelhuber. Unisfan, previous Swancon committee member and all round nice guy, I welcome him aboard.

Announcing our Guest of Honour:
I am pleased to announce Nick Stathopoulos, award winning Artist and all round fun guy is the interstate Guest of Honour at Wasteland II. If you haven't caught Nick at a convention, I strongly suggest you come along for the experience. It'll be a blast!

Thanks for saying "Yes!", Nick.