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Con Reports, Updates

Farpoint 2017 Progress Update

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Farpoint 2017 Autograph Information

Here is the information on obtaining guest autographs for your reference as you prepare to join us at Farpoint 2017! Email us at contact@FarpointCon.com if you have any additional questions.

Celebrity Autographs – Sam Witwer, Enver Gjokaj, Nicholas Meyer

Weekend, Saturday and Sunday attendees will receive ONE signature at no additional charge from the celebrity of their choice on an item they bring to be signed from their personal collection OR the convention program book. Weekend attendees can get one signature on Saturday and one on Sunday for a total of two no charge signatures for the weekend. Saturday and Sunday attendees will receive one signature on the day they attend the convention.

Costs for additional signatures/items from the guest’s table are as follows:

Sam Witwer

$40 – signed photo purchase from the table/additional items to be signed from personal collection

$30 – at the table picture with Sam

$60 – signed photo and at the table picture combination

Enver Gjokaj

$40 – signed photo purchase from the table/additional items to be signed from personal collection

$30 – at the table picture with Enver

$60 – signed photo and at the table picture combination

Nicholas Meyer

Items from attendee’s personal collection will be signed at no charge.

At the table photos with Nicholas will be at no charge.

Signed books, videos and items for sale at the table will be at the prices set by the guest.

 

Authors, Performers, Scientists and Other Guests

Our author, performer, scientist and other guests will sign items from attendee’s personal collection or the convention program book at no charge. Guests may also have books, videos and items for sale at prices they set. They will take photos with the attendee at no charge.

Our celebrity guests for 2017 will be Sam Witwer from the Star Wars universe, Once Upon A Time and Being Human; Academy Award-nominated director Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek Discovery, Star Trek II, Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI, Seven-Per-Cent Solution and Time After Time); and Enver Gjokaj from Marvel’s Agent Carter and Dollhouse. All 3 will be arriving in time to attend our Friday evening Opening Ceremony and we hope to see you there too! The Opening Ceremony starts with a Cocktail Hour at 7:00 pm, with cash bar and food buffet available if you wish to eat and drink with us. Food buffet tickets can be added on to your ticket for $25; the buffet is all you can eat.

Other new additions to our guest list include authors Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris, Michael Ventrella, artist Heidi Hooper and geek comedian/musician Mikey Mason. Unfortunately authors Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Mike McPhail and Mary Fan and musician Insane Ian have had to cancel their appearances at Farpoint Convention 2017 due to schedule conflicts.

You can purchase your tickets for Farpoint in advance at www.FarpointCon.com/register from now until January 31, 2017. Ticket prices will be higher at the door. You can also print out the registration form online at www.FarpointCon.com/flier and mail it in with your payment.

Our hotel room block at the Radisson Hotel North Baltimore is selling quickly as well. Book your room online at https://www.radisson.com/timonium-hotel-md-21093/usatmmd using code FARPOI, or call the hotel directly at 410-252-7373. Thank you in advance for booking your room under our block. The more rooms we sell, the more our hotel likes us and gives us excellent pricing for our use of the meeting rooms. We’ve been able to keep our ticket price the same for the last SIX YEARS because of your loyalty to us and our hotel.

Our 2017 charities are the Julien Fleming Memorial Fund (www.jfmf.org) and Art Way Alliance (www.artwayalliance.org). We will be having two live auctions (Friday and Saturday evening) and a silent auction from Friday through Sunday morning to benefit our charities. Art Way Alliance, which provides instruction in drawing and animation techniques to young fans, will be participating in programs throughout the weekend as well.

We’re excited to announce a new showcase for this year: Fandom Central! Located in Dulaney Valley 1, Fandom Central is where you will find the displays and information tables for our fandom partners – other local conventions, fan clubs, charities and independent film production companies. Please make sure to visit Fandom Central and thank our friends for their support.

Congratulations to John Norton, winner of the 2017 Volker/McChesney Award for Service to Fandom. John was nominated in recognition of his hands on support of our continuing charity activities. You may recognize John as “that guy” who aced you out of that prime collectible during one of our live auctions. He has participated in the Washington/Baltimore convention scene for many years and can always be counted on to lend a helping hand or a smile whenever needed.

Schedule development is well underway! If you are interested in participating on any panels, please send us an email at Programs@FarpointCon.com to request a copy of the list of proposed panels for the convention. We are also bringing back several of our most popular live events, including the Wizard Dueling League and Cosmic Game Show. A new live event is the Button Down Pinback Party, which is an all age event looking at the history of using buttons in advertising and political campaigns and providing all participants the chance to create their own button during the party. More information on all our panels, shows and activities will be forthcoming as plans continue to develop. Make sure you follow us on Facebook (Farpoint Convention) and Twitter (@FarpointCon) and check our website www.FarpointCon.com to keep up with the latest news. The convention schedule is scheduled to be finalized February 2, 2017 and will be published online at that time.

We look forward to seeing you in February at Farpoint Convention 24!

Con Reports

Con Report: Farpoint 2015

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Thank you to all of our members and guests who helped make Farpoint 2015 a wonderful convention. We welcomed 659 people through the door, holding our own as far as attendance, which is good.

Colin Ferguson, Tim Russ and Timothy Zahn all had nothing but superlatives when leaving. They enjoyed meeting all of you as much as you enjoyed meeting them, and they hope to be invited back for a future event. Tim Russ, especially, was wonderful in his guest starring role with Prometheus Radio Theatre on Friday night. If you missed “The Maltese Vulcan” it will be podcast by Prometheus Radio Theatre sometime soon. You can subscribe to the PRT podcast on their website, http://prometheusradiotheatre.com/

We received many compliments this year from members on the excellent and varied panel topics staged this year. This needs to be turned back around to the guests and members who both suggested topics but also participated on the panels. The contributions of our guests and members is priceless; we couldn’t do it without you all.

Photos from our official photographer have been added to our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/FarpointCon). Please enjoy looking at them and feel free to share your own photos with us. There were some wonderful costumes on display this year, especially, that deserve a second or third look via photograph.

On to the not-so-good: our hotel sales manager and the general manager were both very embarrassed at receiving our reports on the poor quality of service we experienced this weekend. They both extend their apologies to us and to you all. Our discussions with them are ongoing, but we can tell you at this time that they have proposed ideas to apologize to all of you and show their appreciation should we decide to return in 2016. Farpoint will also be discussing our hotel experiences with the organizing committee of ChessieCon, which is held in the same hotel in November. Sharing information with them and monitoring their experience with the hotel this fall will show us if the promised improvements are in place.

Farpoint 2015 was a great show! Thank you again to our members and guests, and a special thank you to the Farpoint Committee, Staff and Helpers. Their dedication makes the convention happen every year.

Con Reports

Con Report: Mego Meet 2014

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As the changing of Spring to Summer comes closer upon us, main convention season starts to arise. The very small convention that starts to kick this season of cons off is Mego Meet. At its Tenth Year, this convention or “meet” that focuses on cherishing the popular line of Mego Action figures release in the 1970s has had a great boost in attendance. This is Farpoint’s Report on Mego Meet 2014.

Even though Farpoint does not get a table(Since only dealer’s tables are available), Farpoint Representatives Christian(myself), Steven, Ethan, and Renee Wilson attend it every year since its creation. Held in Wheeling West Virginia, it is held at the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum. Museum? Yes, that’s right! Even though Mego Meet goes on downstairs on the ground floor, there are two floors of Toys and Trains in a Museum at no extra charge to the Membership. Speaking also of memberships, this event is for only ONE DAY. 9 AM to 5 PM. While that sounds short there are still dealers and panels(Which only get ONE ROOM) to attend, as well as concessions and the upstairs museum. The earlier-mentioned panels are quite a narrow range, but that’s OK since it is a very narrow-genre-centric convention. Panels include the one and only Dr. Mego as well as auctions and other Create-Your-Own-Toy events. With a lot of history behind the multiple lines of action figures, there is much to talk about and audience participation is very much wanted and accepted. Dr. Mego usually shows new production models and other indev projects.

I mentioned earlier that this is the con’s tenth year. This means there are many longish-standing traditions to be had, like every year there is a new custom Mego that is available for purchase and a FREE KEYCHAIN!!! I know that’s not big, but I like to make it a big deal. Also I mentioned that there were dealers too. There are a lot of dealers. There pretty much the main attraction as the items on sale can range from custom Doctor Who Megos to a 1978 Star Wars Death Star Playset. The dealers are an ever-growing “race” of Mego “Meeters” because they now take up three rooms. In the way of guests, the convention doesn’t have a huge following or a big budget so not too many guests are really in their demographic. However, the earlier-mentioned Dr. Mego comes as well as comic book author and artist Art Baltazar comes with his large collection of custom Megos.

Well, that’s it! Make sure to check out Mego Meet at their website and be sure to check back for more reports on other conventions coming soon!