Epic Programming Planning Party!!!

This Saturday we will be setting a preliminary schedule of events for AggieCon 41. Our Programming Army has been doing lots of brainstorming and I think we will be bringing y'all some really creative and original ideas! But, we need to finally narrow it down and make a programming grid. So this weekend we're going to be working really hard and KNOCK IT OUT! Anyone and everyone who wants to have an input is welcome to come help. We'll be on the second floor of the SCC(Student Computing Center) from 10am until we finish. (I'm figuring about 3pm.) If we get done earlier, great. If not I'll be cracking the whip! Oh and we'll leave for a quick lunch break sometime in the middle there. Come out and help us plan AggieCon! This is your opportunity to tell us your opinions BEFORE the actual event and have a real impact on the convention. If you can't make it to College Station then email me at aggieconprogramming@gmail.com! Otherwise, I'll see you Saturday at the SCC!!! (I might bring donuts.....)

The Contracts are Coming!

Well, the Texas con circuit is officially over for the AggieCon year! AggieCon will not be officially visiting any other conventions before February, although you may still find Cepheids at OniCon this coming October. We've attended ApolloCon, ArmadilloCon, and FenCon, and thanks to the efforts of Lola and Ephrain, our guest invitee list is overflowing with names!

Now we're on to the next step--contracts. Everybody loves contracts! Yay!

But really, we're working hard on it. We have 60+ prospective guests, and while I'm not sure every one of them will be coming, in the name of preparedness, we're sending a contract for every one of them through the Koldus bureaucracy. Like your old decoder rings and lame character spoons, in 4-6 weeks, we're going to be sending those suckers out and get our official guest list online. Get excited!

On another note, we're hoping to get hotel registration online this week, as well as program book prices and formats. Another post will go up when that's available.

Still alive and kicking,
Lee Thompson

Programming Army Battle Summit

The first Battle Summit for Lola's Programming Army will be tomorrow night at 8m at the Alpha Delta Pi house (this was a quick fix, because I live there and couldn't get a room on campus, future meeting will be on campus). If you have not had the opportunity to sign up for the Programming Army of Minions please email me at aggieconprogramming@gmail.com. I'm also inviting all the other AggieCon occifers to come to the meeting if they would like to see what we're planning for your con (if you didn't get an email I couldn't find it so just call me/email me that you're coming). If you don't show up to put in your two cents, you don't get to complain later.

I said this at the meeting up I'd like to reiterate, the same way that you probably only know a lot about a few aspects of what happens at a convention, Lola only knows about writing, reading, analyzing, movies, tv, and some general pop culture type stuff. That leaves out a lot of things that normally happens at a convention. I have done my best over the summer to attend multiple conventions (SoonerCon, ApolloCon, ArmadilloCon, ConDome) and meet with other programming directors/con directors (ApolloCon, ArmadilloCon, FenCon, ConDFW, DragonCon, MidwestCon) in order to learn more about creating diverse programming for our convention. Some people have expressed concerns about us turning this into a lit con.

AggieCon has always been and will always be a general science fiction/fantasy convention which tries to provide a little bit of everything for everyone!
I feel like we're the gateway con, once you've come to AggieCon and tried out a few things, you'll then get sucked into the Texas Con Circuit and never go back to boring weekends at home. It was the very first convention I attended (and helped with, I got thrown in the deep end), so I have a special place in my heart for it.

So I'm doing my best to learn about the other aspects I don't know anything about (we've established that's a lot) but if there's something particular that you want to see, you have to let me know about it. Either by joining the ranks of the Programming Army or if you're not local then by emailing me. I am on the Elder listserv (cephvar) and have been communicating with them. But ANY AND ALL PEOPLE (you do not have to be a student, a cepheid, or an aggie) can email me ideas and/or advice.

Btw. The programming areas of the website are now updated for your convenience! As more things are set in wood (I don't use stone because everything is subject to change, but we'll try not to change things dramatically) they will go up on the website. Or this blog.

So stay tuned! Things are really heating up now with the hotel contract signed and guest confirmations coming in by the day. You won't want to miss AggieCon 41!

Important Stuff

1) We have a hotel

2) Dealers Room table sales are open

3) Art Auction sales are open

4) Pre-Reg is open

5) Hotel registration is *not* open

7) Yet

aggiecon.tamu.edu

Warning: Sarcasm Ahead

Okay, so I get this call from a lady in Koldus today. The Hilton contract got to the person in charge of liability insurance issues for student organizations (our contract requires both us and them to have it) and, in the process of looking over it, she came to the realization that it was merely a room reservation contract, not a services contract, and therefore didn't need to be reviewed by the University.

That's right, it didn't need to be reviewed. At all. Just add signature.

What the f***, Koldus? It took six weeks to figure that out? "Oh, this isn't actually important enough to be reviewed, we just wanted to screw with your student org for a month and a half while you floundered to actually make progress on planning your event."

Maybe I should have just kidnapped the contract review team, duct taped them to a wall, and beat them with a stick until the proper information was forthcoming. If nothing else, it wouldn't have taken as long.

Honestly, though, I'm not as mad as I should be. Sarcasm aside, I'm really more relieved than anything else that I can finally just sign the contract. I should be angry though. That contract was in the hands of the Koldus team for no less than 20 business days, and only one person, the insurance person of all people, actually looked at the contract hard enough to realize it didn't need review.

Incompetence can only explain so much of this, especially given the volume of contracts this office handles. I've always been a little skeptical of claims the University doesn't like our organization, but this is almost hard evidence. It wouldn't stand up in court, but I'm convinced.

In any case, we can sign the contract and truly lock in our reservation, so by tomorrow or Thursday (unless Koldus is *really* f***ing with me), we will officially have a place for AggieCon. Pre-reg will be up within a week, artist space sales will begin, and guest contracts will start being made.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The Con is On!
-Lee

ArmadilloCon

So I, Lola, Efrain and Gaby all went down to ArmadilloCon this past weekend to throw a room party for AggieCon, and it was great fun. After a harrowing adventure to Wal-Mart (it really shouldn't be hard for three people to navigate in a straight line, but there you are) to obtain a fruit tray, we kicked off the party 20 minutes late. While not a smash like the ApolloCon room party was, we still got to see a lot of new and familiar faces, and let everyone know that hey! AggieCon's still alive and kicking (and you all should come!).

We actually had a bunch of people with us at one point, when a lady who apparently didn't get her Art Show money a few years back decided to crash it and run all (and I do mean *all*) the other people out with her declarations of money-owage. Embarrassing for all parties. D:

Also saw the FenCon people again, as their room party was directly across the hall from ours (oh, and we had dinner with them, too--Fuddruckers is expensive!), borrowed a couple of their beers, and talked Con shop. Kim and Mark and the ApolloCon team were there, too, but they were at the opposite end of the hotel, so we didn't get much time with them until after we closed our party.

Lola and Efrain went to a ton of panels and got a lot of people interested in being AggieCon guests this year, and I managed to not scare any of said guests off, so things are looking good for AC 41.

Our next party will be at FenCon on September 19, so look for us there!

AggieCon v Hilton: The Koldus Chronicles

Well, it would appear that Koldus has eaten our contract. The due date for signing was today, and no word back about Student Affairs approval. Luckily, the Hilton has granted us an extension, but it puts us in a rough spot since we can't let anyone book anything officially/legally until it is signed. The moment it does get signed, though, I'm going to post booking information here and on the website, so stay tuned.

Pricing information will be available on the website within the next week. (aggiecon.tamu.edu)