Schedule Highlights
Thursday
If you're at the hotel after 3pm Thursday afternoon, you're likely to find fellow fans in the bar or in the Smofcon 9th floor suite. We expect to be in rooms are 981-984, but that's of course subject to confirmation when we get there. The front desk staff or a nearby sensitive fannish face should be able to point you in the right direction come the day.
The MCFI Smofcon pre-con party being organized by Naomi Fisher starts at 8pm Thursday night in the Smofcon suite.
Friday
Debbie King will be up early to serve continental-style breakfast snacks in the 9th floor suite starting at 8am. Friday is a good day to explore Boston. Watch the Smofcon list for outings being planned, or suggest your own. We'll keep updating the suggestions at www.mcfi.org/smofcon/boston.html.
At 2pm, Sheila Perry and the decorating crew will start setting up the consuite in the New England Ballroom with help from logistics director Chip Hitchcock and a truck-emptying crew that could include YOU. Marvel at everything we brought and count how many times you hear the Fan's Mantra: "But we might need that!"
Program starts at 4pm in the Wellesley room on the second floor of the Hilton. There's a dinner break at 6pm. Be sure to save room for dessert – we're having crepes in the New England Ballroom starting at 8:30pm Friday and our resident Scandihoovian, Pam Fremon, will lead the ice breaker starting at 9pm. Everyone is welcome; please come – it's a Smofcon tradition.
The bar will be open from 8:30pm – 12:30am.
Saturday
8am: Breakfast suite opens (9th floor). I-CON is sponsoring bagels-and-lox and also Brooklyn egg creams on Saturday. Yum. Thanks, I-CON!
9:30 am: New England Ballroom
consuite opens
10am: Program starts in the
Wellesley and Middlebury rooms.
11am: Keynote speaker
Our keynote presentation by Dr. Gloria M. Boone emphasizes the advertising concept of branding: what branding is, how to build an unique brand identity for a convention, and how to capitalize on that brand identity. She will also discuss how new advertising and marketing technologies can be applied to spreading the word about the convention.
Dr. Boone is professor at Suffolk University and communication consultant in Boston. Her research examines new marketing technologies, advertising, and the interactions and evolution of online communities.
Gloria's Keynote Speech slides are available at http://infoacrs.com/branding.html.
Saturday evening, Janice Gelb will host a group Chanukah celebration with candles, dreidels, refreshments, and the eagerly anticipated new page of the SMOFTalmud.
Saturday night, Anticipation, the 2009 Montréal Worldcon, plans to host dessert and more before the Fannish Inquisition starts at 9pm.
Site selection for the 2008 Smofcon is scheduled
at 10:30pm.
The bar will be open from 4:30pm – 12:30am.
Sunday
Breakfast suite opens at 8am (9th floor). On Sunday, breakfast is being sponsored and hosted by the Australia in 2010 Worldcon bid. Thanks, Australia!
New England Ballroom consuite opens at 9:30 am.
Programming starts at 10am in the Wellesley and Middlebury rooms.
The last program item ends at 4pm Sunday, immediately followed by a "pack up the consuite" work party.
The Sunday night Dead Dog party starts at 7pm in the suite on the 9th floor. Naomi Fisher is once again our hostess for this final evening of hospitality.
Notes from Program: There will be an open program slot on Sunday for an item to be determined during a Saturday 10am program item. When the program is posted online, think about what we're missing. There will also be room for very specific "birds-of-a-feather" discussions in the consuite on Saturday and Sunday. Some are being pre-arranged, and there will be room for more to be set up during Smofcon.
Smofcon thanks Dr. Gloria Boone, OffWorld Designs, Anticipation, Australia in 2010, I-CON, and Janice Gelb for their "above and beyond" contributions to the convention.