Being page 3 (of 16)
Welcome to what we believe will be the social event of 1999!
SwanCon 1999, or ICon as we like to call it, aims to bring you all the traditional features of SwanCons that that you love, with a few innovations that we hope will make a con to remember. For many people, the most important part of any Swancon is the programme. For ’99, we thought that we would trial two ideas: ongoing themes for part of the programming, and large ‘audience friendly’ after-dinner panels. Some areas within programming are simply too large to be contained into one hour. We have decided to break these items into ongoing ‘chapters’ of panels. This means that you will be able to attend either that part of the subject which interests you, or attend all three panels for a more complete picture of the theme. This is one way in which we are trying to develop the ways we think about con organisation,.
SwanCons have always been social events, and we are trying to encourage this within our programme. For every night, we have scheduled a large social event. These events are designed to encourage participation from the audience, forming a sort of after dinner entertainment, in which you can either take part, or just enjoy watching. Gaming and video programming for ICon are both covered in more detail later in the progress report, so I will simply say that if you would like to run something that does not appear, please let us know. Several tournaments will be taking place, including the World Trade Game and a Nuclear War tournament, and we have two freeforms scheduled already.
SwanCons, in general, are an eclectic jumble of social, educational, and informational ideas. For ICon, we want to bring you the best event that we can. For this, we need to have your participation. We can only think of so many ideas. If you feel that you can help in any way, from participation on the front desk or panels, to running Rail Baron, we would love to hear from you. Regardless of how much work the committee does, or who the guest is, a SwanCon can only work if you, the members, have the chance to make it a weekend of your own.
Julian Ackermann
Chair
credits at the bottom of the page:
Cover illustration by Laurie Goodridge.
Progress Report 1 designed & edited by Russell B. Farr