A Thank You from Tamara
21 August 2018
It’s now been two weeks since the Convention. Those of us on ConCom have washed and packed away the purple shirts, stored the last bits of Ops away for the next few years and just about caught up on our sleep. Judging by the posts to our social media it looks as if even those of you who travelled the furthest to be with us have now made it home, with the exception of the megapode who is still enjoying a tour of the world on the way to the Australian Discworld Convention.
So it seems like a good time for some reflections, and some thanks.
First and foremost, I want to thank all of our Guests for agreeing to come and spend their time with us, and for the many, many programme items they ran over the weekend. As some of Sir Terry’s closest friends, and with a long history of working together, I am very grateful to Rob, Colin, Stephen and Bernard for sharing their memories, reflections and plans for the future. Like me, I know that many of you will have listened to their panels, and to the talks Rob gave with Paul Kidby, Dirk Maggs and Simon Allen with interest. It sounds as if the next few years will be busy, and full of lots of ways to allow us older fans to look at new interpretations of Sir Terry’s work and ways to bring new fans into the fold.
I also want to thank Ian Stewart, Daniel Knight, Ray Frieson, Phil Masters, Mark Oshiro, Diane Duane, Peter Morwood, Ian Mitchell, Reb Voyce, Duncan Bolton and Pat Harkin for their time and support. All of their items were well attended over the weekend and I know how much many of you valued spending time with them and talking about a range of topics and interests. Particular highlights include the draw off with Ray (I am so sorry I missed that!), Pat’s lecture on the importance and uses of dragons in medicine and Phil’s Discworld RPG. Those of you who heard Peter’s plea not to be eaten by the dragon at the gala dinner may also remember that fondly!
A special mention should also go to Daniel Knight. In case you missed it, Daniel screened some exclusive footage from the film Troll’s Bridge at the Convention. This is the culmination of many years of hard work and dedication, and the final piece looks to be everything we might have hoped for as we have followed Snowgum’s progress.
Special mentions should also go to the cast and crew of our play, Night Watch; as well as all the time they spent locked in rehearsals during the Convention, the actors for the play gave up two weekends to rehearsals beforehand.
Chaos Costuming were, as ever, able and willing over the whole weekend and I saw more than one outfit created there worn in the corridors of the hotel. John, Barbara, Teddy and Tom did an incredible job and deserve our thanks. As do those of you who ran programme items for us over the weekend. That’s how it starts by the way. We lure you in with a short hour of doing things and before you know it, boom, you’re in purple!
Talking of the people in purple, I may be the one who gets the fame (but not the fortune) of being Chair, but the tireless work of ConCom is what enables the Convention to go ahead. Both before and during the weekend of the Convention. Between hotel wrangling, membership pack prep, the giant jigsaw that is the programme and all the things that happen behind the scenes, like the website, the finances and all the design work, they have done an excellent job and I am very grateful to them for making my job so easy. We are, as ever, looking for new wearers of the purple (new shirts obviously) and if you would be interested in volunteering, or learning more, please email us at info@dwcon.org.
Finally, I need to thank all of you, for coming along, and allowing us to run this Convention. To those of you who gophered, watched or tech’d all weekend - we are very grateful for your time. You built incredible constructions for the hedgehog race, joined in the fun of the Brotherhoods and entered into our many competitions. To those of you who put on a costume, you all looked amazing and I am continually marvelling at the ingenuity and dedication you show to bringing Discworld to life.
A short survey asking for your feedback on the Convention will be hitting your inboxes soon. Please fill it in as it helps us to get things right in the future. And speaking of the future, if you want to keep up with news for the 2020 Convention, we have set up a new mailing list for people to join in anticipation:
https://2018.dwcon.org/about/2020-mailing-list/
And until then, have fun, read lots and GNU Terry Pratchett.
Tamara