Hi folks, it's Kevin here, your friendly neighbourhood masochis... er, masquerade director here with the official "Here's what's going
on" thread for this board.
I'll lay out a lot of stuff you probably already know but want a little more details on, plus stick around to answer questions as well.
What's new for 2008:
Not much, actually - the format from last year seems to have worked well so there's little in terms of tweaking, other than trying to start a touch earlier.
Where and when:
The masquerade will be starting early again as it was last year. We're planning to start by 5 PM on Saturday - we'll start as early as 4:30 PM if everyone's seated and we're ready in order to give the moonlight masq more setup time.
To guarantee entrance to the masquerade, you need a wristband/ticket (To be determined) - this is free, and will be obtainable at the convention at specified times. These will be available at the masquerade office and at the TCC at designated times. A ticket will guarantee admission to the masquerade if you are there before 4:30 PM saturday - after which we go into overflow mode and a ticket will no longer guarantee admission. In other words, if you want to see the masquerade, pick up a ticket and be in line before 4:30, and you get to see the show.
If you are entering the masquerade, do not pick up a ticket.
Entering:
As in previous years, the masquerade is capped - we haven't run into issues with this in recent years, but we can only accomodate so many entries. All registration is on-site; on Friday and Saturday, masquerade registration will be in the masquerade office. We are hoping to allow a limited number of entries Thursday night as well - this may be at a different location (since we may not have the office open yet) but it will be visible, so don't worry.
There are a limited number of spots per day to ensure that people who can't come until Saturday can still enter.
Times are still to be determined but there is one firm time: Masquerade registration closes at 1 PM Saturday. If your form isn't in, well, you're not in the masquerade. Tentative times for masq registration are 6-9 PM Friday and 10AM-1PM Saturday.
Check-in for masq entries begins at 2 PM - once there you will receive your entry # and prepare for sound check, your photo, MC check and workmanship judging.
Note: due to stresses involved entrants in the young fan division are not entered for workmanship and can register later (from 3:30 PM to 4:00 PM) so that the young ones don't have to deal with being stuck in the green room for as long.
Because every year someone asks, here's the answer - show up late at your own peril. Once we're done, we're done, and if you're not there yet, well, I've got bad news for you, all bets are off. Also, since every year people ask, nobody's forcing you to stay in the green room, but if we call your entry and you're not there, we're not searching for you, so do so at your own risk.
Workmanship Judging:
This goes on pretty much as normal. Workmanship judging starts at check-in, and continues until there's nobody else there who wants it. So if everyone's done, and you show up after, sorry, no workmanship judging for you.
As in previous years, Artisan and Master level costumers are required to go through workmanship inspection to enter; this isn't judging, but it is having a judge going over to have a look at the group's stuff. In short, we want to know exactly what was made for your entry, that's all. We don't want to mistakenly assume that guy in your group wearing a suit bought it, when in fact he made it, and vice-versa.
Entry Time Limit:
There's a one-minute time limit on entries. We don't release the attack bees at precisely 60 seconds, but at that point all bets are off as to whether the sound tech cuts you off, or the judges decide you've gone too long and are disqualified. And yes, there are judges who carry a stopwatch and I won't stop them from making use of it. You've been warned
Questions:
If you've got any, this is as good a place as any to ask. Myself or some other familiar faces will be happy to answer questions to the best of our ability.
I'll lay out a lot of stuff you probably already know but want a little more details on, plus stick around to answer questions as well.
What's new for 2008:
Not much, actually - the format from last year seems to have worked well so there's little in terms of tweaking, other than trying to start a touch earlier.
Where and when:
The masquerade will be starting early again as it was last year. We're planning to start by 5 PM on Saturday - we'll start as early as 4:30 PM if everyone's seated and we're ready in order to give the moonlight masq more setup time.
To guarantee entrance to the masquerade, you need a wristband/ticket (To be determined) - this is free, and will be obtainable at the convention at specified times. These will be available at the masquerade office and at the TCC at designated times. A ticket will guarantee admission to the masquerade if you are there before 4:30 PM saturday - after which we go into overflow mode and a ticket will no longer guarantee admission. In other words, if you want to see the masquerade, pick up a ticket and be in line before 4:30, and you get to see the show.
If you are entering the masquerade, do not pick up a ticket.
Entering:
As in previous years, the masquerade is capped - we haven't run into issues with this in recent years, but we can only accomodate so many entries. All registration is on-site; on Friday and Saturday, masquerade registration will be in the masquerade office. We are hoping to allow a limited number of entries Thursday night as well - this may be at a different location (since we may not have the office open yet) but it will be visible, so don't worry.
There are a limited number of spots per day to ensure that people who can't come until Saturday can still enter.
Times are still to be determined but there is one firm time: Masquerade registration closes at 1 PM Saturday. If your form isn't in, well, you're not in the masquerade. Tentative times for masq registration are 6-9 PM Friday and 10AM-1PM Saturday.
Check-in for masq entries begins at 2 PM - once there you will receive your entry # and prepare for sound check, your photo, MC check and workmanship judging.
Note: due to stresses involved entrants in the young fan division are not entered for workmanship and can register later (from 3:30 PM to 4:00 PM) so that the young ones don't have to deal with being stuck in the green room for as long.
Because every year someone asks, here's the answer - show up late at your own peril. Once we're done, we're done, and if you're not there yet, well, I've got bad news for you, all bets are off. Also, since every year people ask, nobody's forcing you to stay in the green room, but if we call your entry and you're not there, we're not searching for you, so do so at your own risk.
Workmanship Judging:
This goes on pretty much as normal. Workmanship judging starts at check-in, and continues until there's nobody else there who wants it. So if everyone's done, and you show up after, sorry, no workmanship judging for you.
As in previous years, Artisan and Master level costumers are required to go through workmanship inspection to enter; this isn't judging, but it is having a judge going over to have a look at the group's stuff. In short, we want to know exactly what was made for your entry, that's all. We don't want to mistakenly assume that guy in your group wearing a suit bought it, when in fact he made it, and vice-versa.
Entry Time Limit:
There's a one-minute time limit on entries. We don't release the attack bees at precisely 60 seconds, but at that point all bets are off as to whether the sound tech cuts you off, or the judges decide you've gone too long and are disqualified. And yes, there are judges who carry a stopwatch and I won't stop them from making use of it. You've been warned
Questions:
If you've got any, this is as good a place as any to ask. Myself or some other familiar faces will be happy to answer questions to the best of our ability.
