SMOFcon 28

Pre-Con Distillery Tour Planned

Kevin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:12:58 +0000

SMOFcon 28 is pleased to announce that we have arranged for a tour with the artisan distillery St. George Spirits on the afternoon of Thursday, December 2nd, 2010, the day before SMOFCon 28. For those of you who sampled the fine absinthe vert we brought to Austin, it came from St. George. They are also famous for their Hanger One Vodka and many curious flavored alcohols, eau de vie, grappa and liqueurs.

We are still arranging for the bus transport to the distillery, which is located in Alameda, about 40 miles north of San Jose. We will post additional information including pricing once we have made arrangements, but we wanted to let people know about our plans now so that people making their travel plans for SMOFCon could take this into account.

SMOFCon Scholarship Offered

Kevin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:42:33 +0000

The Texas-based convention-running group ALAMO has announced that they are offering a $300 scholarship to be used toward the cost of attending SMOFCon 28. See ALAMO’s SMOFCon Scholarship Application for further details.

Note that SFSFC, which is running this year’s SMOFCon in San José, recently announced that they will not be issuing a SMOFCon scholarship this year.

Planning for “Boot Camp”

Kevin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:28:43 +0000

SMOFCon 28 Programming Manager Tom Whitmore mentioned in the Program discussions that “…we’re considering doing a “boot camp” similar to the one that was done last year on budgeting.” A “SMOFCon Boot Camp” is an intensive seminar-like event (as opposed to a relatively short discussion panel) that would be held on the Friday afternoon of SMOFCon, with limited attendance and advance sign-up. Last year’s SMOFCon in Austin held a four-hour Budget Boot Camp that was well-received and praised by the participants. As Tom said, in the spirit of Open Space programming, we are soliciting ideas for what you might want to see in such a focused function and how you’d like to see us “help folks boot up.” Post any suggestions or thoughts here or on the Program Page.

Program Information Posted

Kevin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:36:24 +0000

One of the key parts of any SMOFCon is the convention programming. This year, SMOFCon is going to take an innovative member-driven approach to developing the convention programming using the ideas of Open Space Technology. The convention’s program for Saturday and Sunday will be developed by the members themselves during the Friday Night Social. For a more detailed description of how this will work, see our newly-updated Program Page.

Hotel Booking Open

Kevin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:53:25 +0000

You can now book your hotel room reservation for SMOFCon 28 at the Sainte Claire Hotel. Room rates are $89/night plus taxes and local fees. For more information, see our Hotel Information Page.

The Way to San Jose

Kevin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:02:21 +0000

Here’s SFSFC’s presentation before the members of SMOFCon 27 in Austin TX earlier this month prior to our selection by acclamation to host SMOFCon 28:

This presentation was slightly edited to fit within YouTube’s ten-minute restriction. Left out of this was one question about the hotel (there is no pool), and some discussion of taxi fares between San Jose Airport and downtown, plus the plethora of transportation and travel options for people who want to come to the Bay Area. We’ll cover these here on the web site over the coming months, but for a preview, check out the 2009 World Fantasy Convention Travel Page, which gave directions to the hotel a half-block away from our site.

SMOFcon Email List

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:02:25 +0000

There is an email discussion list for SMOFcon (the general event, not a specific year). To join it go here and fill in the form. Our staff will be monitoring the list and can answer questions there.

Taking Requests

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:39:20 +0000

This afternoon at 2:00pm (Texas time) there will be a panel at SMOFcon 27 where our committee will field suggestions from the audience on the subject of “What do you want to see at future SMOFcons?” We would also be happy to see suggestions from those of you who can’t be in Austin. Obviously we can’t guarantee to implement them all, but we’ll try to respond to them. You can comment here, or on our Facebook event page, or we are SMOFcon28 on Twitter.

We Are Now Officially Live

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:53:37 +0000

This web site has been in preparation for a few days, but we are now officially live having been confirmed as the 2010 SMOFcon by the general meeting at SMOFcon 27 in Austin this evening. Registration is live and you can buy your memberships here.

Welcome

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:17:38 +0000

Welcome to the web site of SMOFcon 28.