United Kingdom Steampunk Convention?

[Captain_Sadeian]

No problem Allegra. I should have been more exacting in my post, alas tiredness overtook me.

As for variety acts first one confirmed yesterday!

Though we do need more! So if any performers out there wish to be on the bill. please contact me at sadeianlaboratories@hotmail.co.uk

I am a believer in variety so all acts will be considered.

My co-ograniser and I will be meeting next week to consider acts. So please do get in touch post haste!


So many exciting things are planned I really would like to tell you all but it must wait for an official announcement coming soon.

[Sebastian Gaunt]

I would love to see something like a miniature Burning Man style event for steampunks in the UK, the self reliance and alternative technologies and so on would be really very suitable. Setting up a brief but working 'community' of steampunk huts and tents etc in the wilds and making it interesting would be great. It would also make it very different from your usual Con. I have no idea how one would go about it though. Or where.

[Lord Ivor Rubidium]

Sirs.

    May I interest you in a little place called Wales? It is cheap, it is cheerful, we have a very nice range of cattle, lots of open fields for bands and music with no complaints, plenty of public land in which you do not need a license for a public event, and best of all....Its close to Lord Ivor Rubidium himself.

LIR.

[James Harrison]

I'd certainly be interested in attending a UK meet-up.  Living in the midlands I can quite easily make my way to pretty much anywhere on a train. 

[ShatteredRoses]

I would love to see something like a miniature Burning Man style event for steampunks in the UK, the self reliance and alternative technologies and so on would be really very suitable. Setting up a brief but working 'community' of steampunk huts and tents etc in the wilds and making it interesting would be great. It would also make it very different from your usual Con. I have no idea how one would go about it though. Or where.

That sounds like an absolutely cracking idea.

[Sebastian Gaunt]

It is something that I see as a lot more 'steampunk' in essence than your usual Con, turn up at modern building in a modern town, walk round stalls while wearing costume, get drunk at the bar and then go home. This way we could actually put a lot of our steampunk skills into a collective effort and produce something rather wonderful that we can all experience, rather than be an audience to someone elses work or just a customer. It just strikes me as essentially 'being Steampunk', not just looking steampunk.

[ShatteredRoses]

I agree wholeheartedly.

I get the impression that it would be a living nightmare to get the thing organised, but in my opinion it would be more than worth it.

I actually live in Wales where (as Lord Rubidium so kindly pointed out) we have a lot of space that's relatively easy to come by. It may be worth looking into what people like Burners Without Borders have been doing and seeing whether we can organise something ourselves.

I would certainly be willing to get involved, and I have organised things like this before, though never on a scale of more than twenty or so people.

Depending on how big an event we're talking about, I have a good friend with a little bit of land that I may be able to bully talk into letting people use it, and once upon a time I was also pretty good friends with one of the beach wardens over on Anglesey, which could be an interesting thought.

Regards,
Allegra xxx

[Sebastian Gaunt]

It would certainly be interesting to see how many folk might come along to such an event, and sit in a field in the wilds of Wales, or elsewhere, being steampunk at each other for a day or two.

[Matthias Gladstone]

I'm not so sure about wales- I was there over the last week, and while the people were very nice it was freezing cold and raining, and partly flooded in places. I don't think a ramshackle village could hold up to the weather there.
I Personally think somewhere in the midlands or south east would be better, and we should be careful to pick somehwere with good drainage.
Otherwise, i'm in, and if it's during the school holidays I can lend a hand building stuff etc (currently at college, well over 18 so no worries about insurance there).
-matt

[ShatteredRoses]

You know, the weather in Wales isn't actually that bad all of the time.

In fact, a lot of places in the midlands, the southeast, or Devon/Cornwall are far more prone to flooding than we are.

Generally speaking, the weather is rubbish all over the UK, and there isn't much any of us could do about that.

Besides which, we have plenty of fairs and fetes and the like that manage to withstand the elements up here, you know. It's hardly the howling plains of Siberia.

[Captain_Sadeian]

Though the idea of an outdoor event is interesting I don't think it quite fits in qith what we are trying to do here.

Anyone who has been to an outdoor event will have experienced the problems associated with it such as the need for increased security, less control over admittance, lack of hygienic facilities and bad weather.

While Glastonbury and the like can be good fun I somehow can't see people in Neo-Victorian costume roughing it in a field.

As for modern buildings in modern towns the event will be in Brighton, in buildings doubtfully older than the 1930's

As to being a captive audience, this would not be the case. There will be competitions and galleries for people to display their creations. Not to mention evening events at which the wearing of "steamgear" will be strongly encouraged. There will be commercial stalls available in part to fund the event and in part to allow people access to well made steampunk clothing and accoutrements.

There are a large number of reasons for choosing Brighton as the venue for 2009's con. This is not to say the locartion won't change in the future, just that Brighton has the edge for this first event.

Yours,

Sydeian

[ShatteredRoses]

While Glastonbury and the like can be good fun I somehow can't see people in Neo-Victorian costume roughing it in a field.

Quite to the contrary, I think a lot of people would say that this sort of thing is entirely steampunk. We're not all bustle-wearing dandies, after all.

I think the Brighton idea is a great one. It will be interesting to see it come to fruition, and I shall do my absolute best to make sure that I'm there.

That said, the idea of a 'Burning Man' type event also lights my boiler and is something I'd certainly like to see some more work put into.

Ultimately, it's just great to see so many ideas being thrown around. It will be interesting to see how many of them come to life.

Kind regards,
Allegra xxx

[Sebastian Gaunt]

Sorry, I wasn't really taking pot shots at your convention, but rather thinking aloud and musing over possibilities. I hope to make it to your convention and expect to enjoy it a lot. However there is always room for something else, and not all steampunks are high neo-victorian and some have a sense of adventure where an outdoor Camp might appeal to them. Good luck with your endeavours

[Matthias Gladstone]

You know, the weather in Wales isn't actually that bad all of the time.

In fact, a lot of places in the midlands, the southeast, or Devon/Cornwall are far more prone to flooding than we are.

Generally speaking, the weather is rubbish all over the UK, and there isn't much any of us could do about that.

Besides which, we have plenty of fairs and fetes and the like that manage to withstand the elements up here, you know. It's hardly the howling plains of Siberia.

I'm sorry, I wasn't knocking wales- I know it's not always raining, but the west of the country tends to see much more rain than we do in the south east. I was only worried about flash flooding and the like- which I saw a fair bit of- but to be fair I was in the mid and north of the country, and the weather was exceptional that week.
-Matt

[Mr Bellows]

Does this mean someones organising a Giant weekend long bun-fight in Brighton next September ??

I think its a spiffing idea & can't wait for more details & stuff (so long as there are buns, I could not find any at the Chinese wedding I attended recently !!)

[ShatteredRoses]

I'm sorry, I wasn't knocking wales-

Oh, knock it all you like, sir. I was only defending the weather!

And aside from which, I am most certainly biased as anything we do in my back garden means that I don't have to travel seven hours to get to it.

Kind regards,
Allegra xxx

[Honeythorn]

I'll come to it if I can get there.

[Matthias Gladstone]

I'm sorry, I wasn't knocking wales-

Oh, knock it all you like, sir. I was only defending the weather!

And aside from which, I am most certainly biased as anything we do in my back garden means that I don't have to travel seven hours to get to it.

Kind regards,
Allegra xxx

I think that hits the nail on the head; where do we put this convention? My personal thought would be London, thanks to it's transport networks and range of venues.
-Matt

[Lord Ivor Rubidium]

Sirs,
     I see that in my previous post I put the proverbial cut amongst the pigeons! London would be a good place, but this means much higher costs to hire the venue. I went to the MCM Animé and Japanese convention, a very large venue (Excel, or edexcel centre?) and it would be perfect for a large gathering. You are looking at about 5-10 thousand golden guineas a day though, so where would we factor our fees?

LIR

[SteamBlast Mary]

London is far from ideal. Even if transport TO London wasn't a pain (never yet caught the train to OR from London and had it arrive on time), travelling WITHIN London is a nightmare, esp. if one is sporting an outfit deemed outside the norm. It's horrendously expensive, and, well, it's been done. One can talk about the Whitby weekend and many people will go, oh yes, I've heard of it- because it's distinctive. Who knows, in a few years, we could be talking about the Brighton/Angelsey/Oujamaflip SP weekend and have people go, oh yes, I've heard of that... run to the hills
 
 Somewhere a little more off the beaten track will be cheaper, more memorable, and easier to negiotiate around the place itself. It would also make driving to it a more reasonable option. And if it has the options of camping OR B&B'ing it for us lightwieghts- bonus.

[Mr Peter Harrow, Esq]

Started quite a little debate.

Brighton is a good suggestion for an initial venue, they have hosted a large number of previous SF conventions and are holding the world horror convention in 2010.

Venue selection I would recommend a website Conference UK, which allows for geographical and function space search. You can get function space effectively free if you can guarantee filling a hotel and meeting a meeting a food and drink spend. We got effectively £70,000 of function space at the Cedar Court Bradford for LX 2009 on this basis. De Vere Hotels are expressly seeking Convention business at the moment.

Programme- Eastercons run four programme streams which include panels, lectures, games, running from the academic to the fun. There are also workshops, plays, music, a video room, an artshow, masqerades, dances, a dealers room, a gamers room. You might want initially to have a two programme stream event with video (magic lantern) room, gamers room, workshop room , dealers room and art show. These will all require separate rooms for ops, tech and secure storage.

We do occasionally run outside events but not too many of these if you have a spend to meet you want people in the hotel eating and drinking.

Date- September is expensive for hotel and function space, especially at a seaside resort. If you push it to out of season you will get a much better deal, but avoid clashing with other cons. February is probably cheapest, Feb 2010should currently be clear

Guests - Eastercon is primarily literary, but we ended up with two authors, an artist and multi-media. We have Fan Guests of Honour a reward for people who as fans have made major contributions to fandom. A Guest of Honour should have three qualities 1. The attract people to join, 2. They are good speakers and can contribute to programme items, 3. Their mere presence in the bar lifts the convention. Robert Rankin is oft cited as the paragon of this trinity.

Eastercon moves around every year with bids two years in advance
this allows people to attend who might not be able to make such a long journey. Brighton is remote if you live in Sheffield, if you come from Glasgow, it becomes very expensive.

[SteamBlast Mary]

Brighton is remote if you live in Sheffield, if you come from Glasgow, it becomes very expensive.

Bizarrely, it can be cheaper and quicker to fly from Glasgow if you get a good deal that it would be to get a train from Nottingham. It's cheaper and more convenient to hire a car & use 2 x tanks of petrol to get from Worcester to Whitby than get 2 train tickets.

Anyway, everywhere is far away from somewhere.

[Matthias Gladstone]

What about Canterbury? It's a lovely place for this sort of thing. Not sure about Venues and the like though.
-Matt

[Dr. Munro]

In my experience Canterbury is a nice place to visit for the Cathedral and what not but it is rather limited on the social activity side.

[Mr Peter Harrow, Esq]

The point about everywhere being far from somewhere doesn't apply, air travel presumes that you live close enough to an airport and the venue is equally close to an airport. Driving presumes that you can get a convenient parking space at the venue andpay for it over the weekend, not likely with a City Centre venue. On the train, anywhere which would require you to pass through London during peak hours will make the cost prohibitive. Brighton is on the coast which immediately means half the catchment area for the convention is in fact the sea.

These rationales mean that Eastercon has often been pushed to inland venues with good transport infrastructure links. People always push their home towns because it is convenient for them, ans they know whst they have to offer, not because it is convenient for the maximum number of people. The other common problems is looking at venues in country house hotels, ignoring the fact that they are in the middle of nowhere often have limited residential accomodation, and are miles and miles from overflow accomodation. My suggestion for a venue would be Harrogate, it has several large hotels with conference facilities are in the town proper it is fairly central, with good transport infrastructure links, and of course is a Victorian Spa town. There are a number of specialist gentlemans and ladies clothing emporium in the town ( I bought my second smoking jacket their), and the Barnes- Wallis trust are based there.