1. We will set up the voodoo message board in the pre-function area (on the ground floor, near the meeting rooms) as soon as the hotel lets us. This is the best way to connect with your friends as they arrive at the hotel.
2. Early convention registration will take place in this area Thursday evening from 7:30 to 9 pm. We will also have snacks. C’mon down!
3. Part of our hotel contract includes free wi-fi. You should get a code for the network in your hotel check-in packet. If you don’t, ask for it. The hotel network sometimes forgets you, so you may need to re-login through the weekend.
4. Parking. In the past, free parking was only in the city structure next door. That’s still available. Just have the hotel validate your city lot ticket. This year, they will also allow you to park in the hotel lot, until it fills up.

Captain Liberty: Manuel, we’re not lonely, are we?
Batmanuel: We? No. No, no, no, no. We’re too attractive to be lonely.
Capt. Liberty: Yeah, but we are alone.
Batmanuel: I’m not alone. Uh, spinsters, shut-ins, toll booth attendants — these are alone people. Batmanuel is lone — as in Lone Ranger, or, uh, lone wolf. Alone is an unfortunate predicament. Lone is an aesthetic choice.

On reviewing the program book, we’re somewhat surprised to notice that almost half of the panels have only one listed moderator. Given that we like to keep conversations lively, we’d love to see two mods wherever possible. So… If one of these panels looks like a juicy chance for conversation, and you’d like to help moderate it, please drop us a line at info@escapadecon.net and we’ll hook you up.

• Avengers Assemble
• Comedies in fandom: Unfairly ignored?
• Consuming our shows – small meals, group feasts, or binge sessions?
• DCU: Introduction to Young Justice
• Don’t Call It a Bromance (It’s Just Canon)
• Femslash Fandom Faire
• Festivids Review
• Free Range Pimping
• Future Proof Your E-Book Collection
• Grimm: Fairy Playground
• H50: keep extremities inside the ride for safety
• Mentalist
• Natural Woman
• Once Upon a Time: Everything Old is New Again
• Professionals: Pros 101
• Remakes, reboots & sequels
• Running a fandom thing-a-thon for porn and egoboo
• SG-1: Best Fan fiction recommendations OR Daniel Jackson: messiah or hopelessly naive idealist?
• SGA: Rodney and John: What we see is not what we get.
• Spartacus: By Jupiter’s Cock! Let’s talk Spartacus!
• Supernatural: Butch and Sundance Ride Again
• SW: New Buzz?
• Tour of the Zine Library
• White Collar: We’re still slashy, but is it?

Here’s what the Escapade FAQ has currently:

What kinds of panels do you have at Escapade?
Escapade panels are usually more like moderated roundtable discussions, where everyone in the room is presumed to be a potential conversation participant. One or two people “moderate” each panel, which basically means some combination of offering some questions to get the conversation started, keeping order in the room and ensuring that nobody monopolizes the conversation, and occasionally holding forth with finely-crafted monologues and/or squee.

What else should be here? What do you wish you’d known before you said “yes” to being a panel mod? If you’ve never been a mod, what would make you think that stepping up would be a good idea? Please comment here, or drop us an email to info@escapadecon.net.

As you pack for Escapade, take a look around for things you could bring to donate for the raffle.  Your generosity will help make this year’s raffle another fabulous one.

Think, your favorite 5-O guys running toward the camera, away from–an explosion, a volcano, even an angry woman. As long as they’re running toward the camera and in high enough definition, we can provide the apocalypse behind them and your boys will be on an Escapade cover.

But we need the image TONIGHT. Spread the word, help us out, and accept our apologies for realizing too late that the H-50 pics we had weren’t high enough resolution to use.

Email pics or links to Charlotte (charlottechill@yahoo.com), as soon as you can.

As you pack for Escapade, take a look around for things you might like to bring for the swap table. Think of it this way, the more room you create, the more new stuff you can bring home.

Some fans may argue that pimping is an art, others a science. But either way, Escapade is an opportunity to practice it. In addition to a dedicated panel (Free Range Pimping), the panel ballot results indicated a hunger for a dedicated pimping timeslot. We’ve scheduled the dealers room on Friday, during the lunch break for this purpose. Think of it like a fannish trade show. Pimps: this is your chance to hook passing victims fans into your crush du jour. You can bring displays, flyers, fanfic teasers, URL lists, DVDs, or just your enthusiastic self.  Everyone else: there is no better place than Escapade to pick up a new obsession. At 1 pm, we’ll move the displays to the swap meet room, where they’ll continue enticing fans all weekend.

If you want some thoughts on from an experienced and extremely successful pimp, check out Delibby’s LJ post here. If you know you want to pimp, drop us an email and let us know what you plan to pitch.