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30 January 2004
Sailing the Clyde, October – December 2003The behind-the-scenes newsletter for Interaction, the 63rd
World Science Fiction Convention
Welcome to the latest issue of Sailing the Clyde, covering October – December 2003. With the holiday season things have been fairly quiet, but we are now gearing up for the new calendar year, with an open meeting in London and our second Staff Weekend in Swindon, both of which take place in February. Unfortunately, however, we have to open up with some sad news about our Convenor, KIM Campbell. KIM Campbell (15 June 1956 - 15 Nov. 2003) – Vince DochertyIn November we received the sad news that after a long fight against cancer, KIM Campbell had died. Although this was expected, it was no less painful for the many people who knew her. KIM was a long time fan whose great talent was in engaging and encouraging people. She often expressed her admiration for the 'Knights of St. Fanthony' who welcomed new fans to conventions many years ago, and she emulated their example as often as she could. This can be seen in the online Book of Condolence at <http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/cgi-con/kim/guestbook.cgi> where so many have expressed fond memories of her welcoming approach and encouragement. Her first year of contact with fandom was 1979 and she participated in many fannish activities, including the fanzine KIM'S GAME, acting and online fanac. She was on numerous convention committees over the years, chaired the 2001 SMOFcon in York where she lived, and co-founded the UK in 2005 Bid, thus being instrumental in the creation of this convention. We will highlight KIM's life and achievements in future publications and at the Worldcon itself and her name will also be in the Worldcon Long List section of all future Worldcon Souvenir books. She was a force for good and will be missed by us all. To close, KIM's mother Margaret's words seem most appropriate: "Kim died in her sleep on Saturday evening about half an hour after I had said 'good night' to her. She had not been well since she entered the hospice and we all knew that the end was near, but, true to Kim's habits, she surprised us a little. She looked peaceful and at rest when I saw her the next day. The hospice staff had dressed her in her favourite purple and she was in a flower filled room which included purple freesias on a window sill that was lit by the autumn sun. I, too, have lost a friend and as someone has said the world will be less colourful without her. While I have no strong belief in an afterlife, one of the nicest things that has been said to me is 'that wherever she is she will be having fun'. I agree." London Open MeetingInteraction will be holding an open meeting in London on February 14. The location will be the Windmill pub, Mill Street, off Conduit Street (off Regent Street). Interaction staff will be available from 12:30pm until the early evening and will be happy to answer questions about the Worldcon from all comers. For further details, including a map, see: <http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/meetus.htm>. Construction 2Interaction’s second staff weekend will take place at the Holiday Inn in Swindon over the weekend 28/29 February. We have negotiated excellent rates of £25/person for a shared twin or £45/person for a single. This includes full English breakfast and access to the leisure club and swimming pool. The rates are available for the nights of the February 27, 28 and 29. A very small number of rooms are available for February 26 (Thursday) on a first-come-first-served basis. You can make reservations by calling the hotel on +44 (0) 1793 817040 or by emailing them at: <reservations-swindon@ichotelsgroup.com>. The program for the convention is available on our web site at <http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/cstn2prg.htm>. Events include discussion of what fans in different countries expect from a Worldcon and a review of Interaction’s marketing strategy. There will also be fun events such as quizzes. Sparks normally provides something suitably fiendish. Staff Weekends are an excellent opportunity to get your colleagues and to find out what is happening in other divisions. This is particularly important for such a geographically dispersed group as ourselves. You do not have to already be a member of the Interaction staff in order to attend a Staff Weekend. Newcomers who want to volunteer to help out are especially welcome. For further details see: <http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/cstn2.htm>. Forthcoming Appearances – Steve CooperInteraction staff will be (or in a couple of cases were) present at the following conventions during the first third of 2004. Where a listing says "agents and table" we will have a table in a prominent location at which Interaction memberships can be purchased and you can obtain information about the convention. If an entry just says "agents" there will be no table but you should look out for people wearing Interaction badges. And where an entry says "party" we will be hoping you will join us one evening for food, drinks and an extended opportunity to chat. January 2004 Arisia 2004, 16-18, Boston MA USA, Agents & Table February 2004 6 Tones, 06-08, Bromsgrove UK, Agents Concave 25, 26-29, Horse Cave KY USA, Agents March 2004 Mecon, 05-07, Belfast NI, Agents Minamicon, 12-14, Southampton, Agents April 2004 World Horror Con, 08-11, Tempe AZ USA, Agents
(provisional) Help Wanted – Steve CooperOne of the easiest and most fun ways to help Interaction is by promoting the convention. So what advanced qualifications do you need? Well, do you attend club meetings at a local Science Fiction or Fantasy club, or do you attend one or more Science Fiction or Fantasy conventions every year? If so then you already have most of what it takes. This is not a task that requires con-running skills or experience. All it needs is enthusiasm. What Interaction needs is to maintain a high profile amongst fannish circles and our promotional activities are at the heart of this. As part of our team you just have to represent Interaction at the club meetings and conventions that you would have attended anyway. You wear a badge that invites questions about Interaction, and distribute flyers to promote the Worldcon and explain how people can join. On some occasions you sit at a fan table as part of a more obvious Interaction presence, where you will help to make us accessible to fans, while also selling those all-important memberships. And on a few occasions there may be an opportunity to help run an Interaction promotional party. This is an enjoyable and interesting job that brings you into contact with many fans in a fun way. There is little to do outside of meetings/conventions, making it an easygoing affair. It also costs you nothing because you only represent Interaction at conventions/meetings that you planned to attend anyway, and then only when you choose to do so, and doing only tasks that you feel comfortable with. Our team will help and guide you every step of the way. At the same time you will help to spread the word about Interaction and what a tremendous Worldcon it will be. You will be a part of the Interaction team! A real win-win situation. To volunteer:
Site News – Colin HarrisThe last three months has seen further progress in the Site Area as we
have refined our hotel and function space requirements. The formal
contract with the SECC was signed after some fine-tuning, followed rapidly
by the payment of a rather large deposit! On accommodation, we have
worked with Infotel (our accommodation partner) to narrow down our list of
hotels and to improve their room prices. As we noted in issue 4 of
"Sailing the Clyde", Glasgow has seen a substantial expansion in hotel
space since 1995, and we are finding as expected that the increased
competition for business is working to our advantage. Our selection of hotels has of course taken account not only of geography but also of cost. We have included a wide range of hotel grades and prices to cater for all tastes and expectations, and we have taken care to achieve rates that will be competitive even for those on the wrong side of exchange rate fluctuations. Starting at the cheaper end of the range, we will have some 300 beds in university accommodation not far from the SECC for around £35 per night for single rooms (for those on even smaller budgets, we also have space in the Eurohostel from less than half of this amount!). The bulk of our accommodation then falls between £70 and £90 per room per night for two people sharing, whilst for those wanting that unique experience we also have discounted rates at some of the best hotels in the City. Most of our hotels will be offering a choice of room-only or bed & breakfast rates, and all rates in the UK are stated including all taxes. Full information on accommodation booking for Interaction will be available in the summer, and we plan to accept bookings officially from September 2nd 2004. Memberships Update – Colin HarrisMemberships continued to flow in steadily throughout the quarter – in fact we added another 231 full adult attending members to bring the total to 1,776 by the end of the year. Adding in over 100 Children, Infants and Guests and we are well on track to beat Intersection's total of 4,264 members on site in Glasgow. We increased our membership rates on 1st December in line with our policy of reviewing our rates every 6 months. We also expired our bid pre-supporter discounts at the same time, but not before a letter campaign had encouraged nearly 100 more pre-supporters to convert to full membership. The installment plan also continued to be popular with over 80 people signed up to buy memberships this way. Looking to the future, this will be a key year for us, as we hope to attract another 1,000 attending members before the end of 2004. Whilst we expect to do particularly well at this year's Worldcon, Noreascon 4, in Boston in September, we still need to do more to raise our profile throughout the UK and Europe. If you can help, please get in touch with your local agent (see <http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/agents.htm> for agent details or contact us centrally at <info@interaction.worldcon.org.uk>). Finally, we'd like to give a special welcome to Aileen Boyle Latzko, who joined the convention on the 25th November 2003 - at 6 days old. One can never be sure, but that ought to be some kind of record! We look forward to seeing Aileen in Glasgow, along with all our members, young and old. Addresses and E-dressesConvention Office – General Queries - mailto:info@interaction.worldcon.org.uk>
Con Website - <http://www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk/>
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Page last updated 26th July 2004
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