ads3: Symposium Update

[Edvard Gayer]

Yes, things have been quiet re: the Symposium of late.  With Twelfth Night 
spinning-up here locally, you can probably consider this the calm before the 
storm.  :)  I wanted to take a quick opportunity *before* Twelfth Night to 
get everyone up-to-speed on what everyone *else* is doing, and to offer 
anyone who may be coming to Twelfth Night an invitation to visit the 
Symposium site.

Last things first...

The Symposium site is about a 15-20 minute drive from the K12N site.  If 
anyone is interested, I am planning to make arrangements for a quick site 
visit sometime Saturday afternoon.  You can see where the place is located, 
see the rooms, the stage, the floor, etc, and get an overall "feel" for how 
things will play out in February.  Except for some Troll duty, some personal 
business, and my need to be on-site during the two courts, I will be 
available to do this pretty much any time that afternoon.  Drop me an email, 
or find me on-site if you'd be interested in going.  :)

Middle things next...

The site has 3 large dance-suitable rooms, and two medium-sized 
meeting-suitable rooms.  We have the 3 large rooms guaranteed, and can use 
the two meeting rooms if they are not otherwise booked when we arrive on 
site that morning.  (The site itself is a public community center, and 
they're hesitant to book the ENTIRETY of their facilities for the use of a 
single group).

There will be three 5-hour dance tracks... two Western European and one 
Middle Eastern.  The current plans are to begin our classes at noon, and run 
them until 5 with 5-10 minute breaks between each.  The *specific* break-out 
of the schedule won't happen until we know exactly how many classes of each 
type we are booking, but every day we get closer to knowing that.  
Unofficially, we currently have 4 hours of European and 3 hours of Middle 
Eastern classes confirmed, and more are in the works.  I do not anticipate 
having a problem filling the 15 hours.  If more classes are offered, we can 
expand the class time by an hour with no problem... we just need to know to 
do it.  Constanza, Khalilla, and Izdihara have these areas well in-hand.

The dance rooms are divided by partitions.  They're NOT very insulated 
sound-wise, but they do provide a little bit of isolation between the three 
rooms.  We will schedule our classes judiciously to try to minimize the 
cross-talk between rooms, and I'm certain the problem will prove to be 
minor.  The largest of the rooms also includes a raised stage, and the 
second-largest of the rooms is used by a local ballet class and it comes 
with a mirrored wall.  The Middle Eastern track will get one of these two 
rooms for their very own.  :)

In the evening, the site will be reconfigured for the Ball.  We lose one of 
the rooms, but the other two (including the one with the stage) will be 
quite large enough to suit our needs.  (If I measured correctly, the 
combined room will be 57' long by 37' wide, not including the 400 sq foot 
stage.)  This will be extensively decorated... you probably won't recognize 
it when you get back from dinner.  :)

I am still working to find a site for a Hafla, and am 99% confident that we 
will get AT LEAST one of the two meeting rooms that evening... possibly 
both.  I believe that they are both sufficiently large enough to work 
Hafla-wise, but will defer to someone with more experience in these matters. 
  (Hence, the site visit!)

Since the site CANNOT guarantee that we will get the use of either of the 
meeting rooms, I also CANNOT announce that a Hafla will happen.  I am 
working on finding a backup Hafla site, either at the school adjacent to the 
site or at the hotel, so that we will know for sure that it will happen.  We 
can "word of mouth" it to folks that the Hafla is *very* likely to happen, 
but we can't officially announce it until I know there will be a site for 
it.  I'm sure y'all understand.  :)

First things last...

In the event flyer, there are a pair of statements which might confuse some 
folks, since they seem to contradict each other.  The first says "$5 before 
2/2, $8 at the door", and the second says "due to site restrictions, money 
cannot be exchanged on site".  How can you pay "at the door" and not be 
exchanging money on site???

The community center does not permit groups to charge admission for their 
activities, though we may collect money in advance, afterwards, or even at 
the same time PROVIDED we don't do it on their property.  To alleviate the 
confusion, the flyer will be changed to read "$5 before 2/2, $8 after".  Our 
on-site troll table will be solely to check people in and distribute site 
tokens.  Guests who are not pre-registered will fill out the proper 
paperwork, but will NOT receive a site token.

We are still working the details as to how to handle walk-ups, and it may 
take one of several forms, including the possibility of having an off-site 
Troll station.  Once I and the Barony come up with a solution, we'll let 
y'all know how it will play out.  If you have a suggestion, by all means, 
please suggest!  The best thing everybody can do right now is to push 
heavily for pre-registrations and try to minimize the problem altogether.  
:)

The Symosium website is http://isenfir.org/academie/symposium   It has not 
been updated recently, but I *hope* (hope hope) that it will be soon.  
(Bryan???)  We will be including maps, class listings, contact information, 
and anything else that may be of use.  The website is our primary vehicle 
for getting pre-event information out to our guests, so if you have any 
specific suggestions for information that you currently don't see there, 
please let Bryan *and* me know.

Finally, this mailing list is for everybody's use, not just mine.  If you 
have any ideas or suggestions, concerns, or general questions that you'd 
like to see addressed, please feel free to use this list.  The question you 
ask might be of vital interest to others.  Besides, I'm getting lonely being 
the only person talking about the Symposium right now.  ;)

Thanks!  Happy Twelfth Night, and I hope to see many, if not all of you, 
this weekend.  Dress warmly, and don't say the s-word too often when talking 
about the weather!  :)

-Vard

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