lets get this party started EasterCon 2012: BwB Shenanigans (Attendance List first post)

[Pebble thats Stubby]

The Nork is the most fearsum beast.

Trust me it would be much safer to repeatedly poke Cthulhu with a shapened stick than be within 5 miles of the Nork.

Only one brave man stands between it and the rest of humanity, for some reason the nork finds him endearing. Even he knows better than to hide the Gummybears, once the Nork has the sent.

[Adz of CCAA]

I'm glad I brought the gummybears, then. ;)

We should all wear "I survived the Nork" badges at the next con. :D

[Adz of CCAA]

Dangerous stuff that! We were warned, but that didn't help a lot did it? Thirst comes first... :laugh:

Oh that's no fun :( I hope you get well soon. Take care of your voice! *hugs*

Oh yes, we were told that. :leaving:

I'm told to not speak by my doctor. I'm sober and nobody but my cats are arround , so that's no problem then. :pirate:

[kissdbyfire]

post went funny on me. will retry.

[kissdbyfire]

Guys, thank you. I had such an amazing time! You were all so welcoming and sweet. I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to meet everyone, and I hope I’ll get the chance to meet those I didn’t soon.

I also feel very lucky to have had my first ever con experience at EasterCon, because of all of you, and the con itself which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Jo, LMG, everyone involved in putting it all together: a huge thank you! You guys did an awesome job! :bowdown:

I loved all the panels I got to attend, but my absolute faves were all of GRRM’s and Jo and Paedar’s with Miltos Yerolemou and John Bradley West and the brave girls who went on stage, Alytha, Eloisa and Wonder Woman – you were all awesome!

Pebbles, congrats on winning the costume competition! It was more than deserved, you looked gorgeous and the costume was brilliant.

The BwB party was excxellent fun too, and Jo’s singing was the highlight of the evening. Loved it. I do wish I hadn’t missed the spoonfishing, tough...

And then there’s the viewing... What can I say? I still struggle to believe I was actually there. Just having the opportunity to watch something I love so much with an incredible group that love it as much as I do was simply perfect. George and Parris there with us, to make it a perfect experience. When the opening credits and title song started with everyone singing along (is it still called ‘singing’ even if there were no words? I’m sure you understand what I mean...) I had goose bumps all over and got really teary-eyed – I’m glad it was dark!

Eira, my perfect roomie! We did have great fun. I really enjoyed that big meal we had at 5AM! :drool:

And I’ll always be grateful for you soothing and encouraging me, or else I might have spent the whole five days in the room.

So many memories I will cherish forever. Can’t wait for the next one!

[john]

Who/what is the Nork? I must have been daydreaming or something...

You're not going mad. The Nork only manifested itself after you left on Monday.

Ok, here, as insisted upon, are some of the pictures I took. I must point out for my own safety that although these are on my wife's flickr account I took them. She would never take such poor quality photos. :worried:

[Filippa Eilhart]

WTF.

[Isis]

I'm sad that I missed the Nork. :(

Before this thread dies and passes away forever I'd just like to reiterate something I said at the con:

Some of the new folks who came to the con are local, i.e. they live or work in the Greater London area. I am looking at those people right now, when I say this: don't wait for others to organise a future meet, just dive in and do it yourself. :)

Some of us who have been around for a while have previously organised gatherings for the London BwB on a regular basis and advertised them here in this forum. However, the reason that has fallen by the wayside is because it gets to be a bit much to always be the person or people responsible for it. Hence the absence of a Spring Euro meet the past couple of years - these things do not just spring into being fully formed.

I heard people saying at the weekend that they would hopefully see each other again soon at future BwB meets. That's great. But when there isn't a con/similar event which acts as a ready-made focus for us to attend then we need to do some organising ourselves and it would be really nice for different people to take a turn at taking the initiative. You don't need permission from anyone to start a thread in this forum suggesting a future meet... so if you have an idea or just a desire to meet up then go for it.

[theMountainGoat]

Well said Isis :)

[Targh]

I'll organise some drinks one weekend 'soon' (© GRRM) - perhaps some time in mid-late May. I'll think about it when I'm less snowed under and offer a few date options.

[JonpoT]

OK so this post isn't quite as timely as I would have liked but I too want to say thank you to all of you for making Eastercon so much fun. It may have been my first one but definitely not my last.

Those of you who organised all those little extras are legendary... Those of you who showed us that there was an alternative to McDonald's equally so.

I'll definitely do my bit to help arrange a gathering, just let me clear some work first.

Much love.

J

[Toft]

I'm happy to start the ball rolling and volunteer to plan a London event for May. I run a monthly group of about 60 people, so already have relationships with some pubs, but I'm also more than happy to seek out a suitable venue based on our requirements.

How many attendees did previous London BwB gatherings attract? Which night of the week suits everyone best? Once I have a rough idea of what we're aiming for, I can make enquiries and we can pin down a date.

[Isis]

It's good to see people volunteering for organising. :)

The nature of BwB gatherings is that you can never tell quite how many people will show up. Needless to say, the number of people who post in the thread to say they are going is not always representative of the number who show up on the day so the headcount is a fluid thing. Depending on the event we could get 5-10 people or up to 20. I think that it wouldn't be more than 20 but obviously I will stand corrected if lots of new people are going to show their faces.

Talking about one off events rather than whole weekend meets - we have tended to get the biggest turn outs on weeknights because that way you attract people who work in central London (who would be already there during the week) as well as people who live in London. I daresay some of us who actually live in London might prefer a weeknight meet too. I do try to avoid coming into central on weekends if I can help it. But, again, it all depends on the nature of the meet - if there is something that lends itself better to a weekend daytime meet then I'm flexible.

[Toft]

That's good to hear. It is much easier to secure a room or area in a pub on a week night. The event I run is on Tuesdays and we have a whole basement, with its own bar, in Central London without any room charge or minimum bar spend.

Would a Thursday work? 10th or 24th May? I welcome all opinions!

[Isis]

Ooh, can you tell me where you host your event, for nosy personal reasons? PM me if need be.

I think a Thursday would be grand. Either date would be fine for me personally but let's branch out into another thread? Which I am not going to start. :)

[Toft]

I'd prefer to start a new thread after sorting out the date! That way, a proper list can be built without too many "maybe" entries... Will PM you!

[Chaldanya]

I'd prefer to start a new thread after sorting out the date! That way, a proper list can be built without too many "maybe" entries... Will PM you!

Just FYI. People aren't going to know that you are trying to organise a get together for London BwB in a thread that many may now see as defunct. You are better off starting a new thread to get all who are in or around London to check it out - you will get more interest and get a better response on dates.

As Isis said before you may get a list together of some sort but it will in no way be definite or set in stone. Take it from someone who has been doing this for the last 7 years or so.

N

[Isis]

I'd prefer to start a new thread after sorting out the date! That way, a proper list can be built without too many "maybe" entries... Will PM you!

Thanks.

What Chaldanya said is correct*. This thread we are posting in right now is titled 'Eastercon' so people looking at this forum will think this thread is about Eastercon, which has already occurred. It is not going to be stickied and held at the top of the forum forever. In general we try not to have threads be about two different things (on the board in general) as it gets confusing. Therefore the most sensible thing to do is to start another thread specifically for a future meet which has a title containing the words 'London BwB' and 'May' as that will get people who are interested in coming out to click the link.

All of the arrangements - the Who, When, Where, What stuff - can take place in the relevant thread. Ta da. :)

[Xray the Enforcer]

Since this event has now passed, I've unpinned it. :)

[Toft]

Fair point... My motivation for keeping it here for the moment was that there seemed to be a lot of new people at EasterCon and it would be nice if we could meet up again.

What I'll do, then, is invite anyone who was new at EasterCon to PM me if they have anything to suggest, and then set up a new thread by the end of the week.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to helping out! (I'm also well aware that numbers are unlikely to be final.)