We just sent confirmation notes for everyone who registered at the convention, or who has paid by Paypal since the convention closed. Remember that members of Escapade 2008 have through midnight Monday (3/31) to register and receive the “at convention” price of $85. After that, prices go up to $100.
Here are the people to whom we sent confirmation emails:
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Hello! Welcome to the planning for Escapade 19. (Yes, I’m planning already. <g>)
First let me introduce myself, for those of you who might not know me; I’m Charlotte Hill, and Jenn and I have produced Escapade since 1991 together, though in recent years I’ve been more in the background and Jenn has been in the foreground. This year we’re switching roles so Jenn can take a bit of a break, especially in pre-con planning and other pre-convention work.
Email me at charlotte@escapadecon.net with any questions, and if I don’t get back to you quickly you can try me at charlottechill@yahoo.com.
Okay, here’s the information I’m putting out, with a request for feedback.
The current, tentative date for Escapade 2009 is March 6-8, 2009. The good news is that this date doesn’t currently conflict with any other known slash cons (like RevelCon, or
the newer Washington State relaxacon). The bad news is that yes, that is the weekend of the Daylight Savings Time rollback.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?
Regards,
Charlotte C. Hill
With Escapade 18 behind us–and all grown up–we look forward to Escapade 19 spreading her wings and deciding to get a little wild. *g* Currently we’re in the process of selecting a weekend in March 2009 that conflicts with as few other regional and/or slash conventions as possible. Now is the time to let us know if you know of March, 2009 conventions, so we can do our best to schedule our con around them. Read the rest of this entry »
Our Filemaker host is experiencing technical problems that have prevented us from generating the new reg database for Escapade 2009. We hope to have it sorted out this weekend. As a result of this SNAFU, we are extend the at-convention rate (only for people who were members of Escapade 2008) until 3/31/08. We’ll send a message as soon as the new database is working.
At-convention pricing is $85 for membership, $35 for dealers tables. You can always send a check to: Escapade, P.O. Box 1753, Goleta, CA 93116. Or you can paypal the money to info@escapadecon.net.
As you all know, Escapade had a potentially huge shortfall this year and we asked for your support to help retire the debt. The support was… phenomenal. So generous that we were deeply moved by your contributions. The total amount contributed to retire the Escapade debt was $2,456.
And then we lucked out with the hotel. Due to some very sharp negotiating from Charlotte, we reached a settlement that was covered by our initial contract plus an mount far less than the $5,000 Jenn feared and, in fact, far less than the $2,456 you contributed. So. If you wrote a check directly for the debt retirement fund, we have torn up your check and will contact you privately. THANK YOU—we’re grateful for your support, and grateful that we are able to return it to you. If you contributed via the art show charity auction (thereby receiving a valuable service *g*), or in cash, any remaining funds are in a kitty that we’re trying to decide what to do with. More on this below. If you contributed in your pre-reg check for 2009, we can refund you by check or paypal, or place your contribution in the kitty to be discussed below. We will contact you privately via email and act per your wishes. Again, our thanks to all of you.
WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO. So. We have approximately $600 in cash remaining in the debt retirement kitty, and no clear idea to whom this money belongs. Because part of our negotiation involved a much more strict contract for next year (that we believe we’ll be fine with—we were very careful about our room guarantees and such), it might be wisest to leave this money sitting in case there is a shortfall next year. If there is NOT a shortfall (and we should know this based on room blocks by early February of next year), those of you who so generously contributed would be “sponsors” for the post-convention dead dog party, with some really nice food and drink. If there is a shortfall, then the hotel would get it anyway. 
We’re open to ideas about how to identify contributors and return the money to you, or to any other thoughts you have on what to do with the remains of the contribution. To those of you who contributed, please email us with your thoughts or comment here or on the con LJ, and let us know what you’d like us to do.
Well, it’s almost 96 hours since we finished negotiating with the hotel to close out the bill for Escapade 2008, and we’re already in the planning stages for Escapade 2009. There has been much sleeping, and some re-engagement with real life.
Closing out 2008 includes:
Planning 2009 includes:
to all panel mods. I need a really fast turnaround on these, so if you didn’t get one (and expected to), please drop me a note immediately. Thanks!