The following two announcements both wound up in my inbox today, coincidentally, so I thought I’d share for those who might not be on the right mailing lists. First, PaizoCon registration opened today:
PaizoCon has become one of my most anticipated events of the year! Up to 500 of our most devoted community members can hang out with the Paizo staff, gaming, debating, telling stories and just having a great time! PaizoCon gets bigger and better each year, and I can’t wait to unveil all the cool surprises we have in store for you this time around!
Officially sponsored and run by Paizo Publishing, LLC, PaizoCon 2011 brings together dozens of hobby gaming’s veteran authors, artists, publishers, and designers, and gives YOU the opportunity to meet, greet, and game with some of the best and brightest that the hobby gaming industry has to offer.
PaizoCon 2011 is three days of gaming, panels, workshops, and (most importantly) fun! Rub shoulders with your favorite Paizo Publishing employees and freelancers, and game with your favorite people from the paizo.com online community. Only 500 PaizoCon 2011 3-Day Badges are available, so order yours soon!Saturday night at PaizoCon, we’ll also be hosting the Paizo Preview Banquet. Attendees will preview Ultimate Combat, the Jade Regent Adventure Path, and a Super Secret New Product, as well as seeing other Paizo products for the first time outside the Paizo offices. Additionally, a member of the Paizo staff, a PaizoCon 2011 Guest of Honor, or another hobby industry luminary will be seated at each table in the room, giving attendees the opportunity to chat with industry professionals. Throughout the banquet, there will be games and quizzes, with each table acting as a team. There will be prizes and—of course—food! Due to the limited size of the room, only 200 banquet tickets will be sold, so don’t delay!
And next, GenCon pre-registration opens tomorrow. Coincidence? I think not…
Gen Con Pre-Registration opens on January 23rdOur “Release Your Inner Gamer” theme this year can be seen all over our www.gencon.com. Follow the “Register Now” logo to reach our registration site, and from there you can check out all sorts of great information. While you’re looking around, make sure you click “Sign In | Sign Up” at the top of the page and “Get a Badge” for Gen Con Indy 2011!
It’s the time many of you have been waiting for… Badge Pre-Registration opens this Sunday, January 23, at 12:00 Noon (Eastern)!
Simply go to www.gencon.com and click on the “Register Now” logo. Log into your account (or create an account if you don’t have one yet) and make sure your contact information is correct. If you plan to purchase badges for your friends or family members, be sure to add them to your “Friends List”. Just click on your name to access your Account Details and Friends List. They will need to accept the Friend Request before you can purchase them a badge.
If you’re interested in becoming a “Very Important Gamer”, you’ll need to be quick! Our 2010 VIGs have already snatched up half of the VIG Packages by renewing for 2011. The package is still only $500 and includes a VIG Pack, access to the VIG Lounge, complimentary beverages, a separate hotel block and much more! Check out our website for more information on VIG Benefits.
To everyone who has emailed us or is considering volunteering for Gen Con Indy 2011, thank you for your patience! Our Volunteer Applications are not online yet but should be available at the end of February or early March. This is later than usual because we’re doing some development work on a new way of signing up, so stay tuned for more information.
Gen Con attendee housing will open at 12 noon EST on Tuesday January 25. You will need a valid housing code, issued when you purchase a show badge, in order to book housing inside the Gen Con block.
Gen Con asks all users booking housing online to refrain from opening multiple browser windows to the reservations portal on opening day. We believe the newly expanded downtown room inventory and real-time reservations process and inventory control systems will make it unnecessary for users to deploy multiple windows to successfully book one or more rooms meeting their criteria.Please be courteous to your fellow attendees by launching a single browser window and booking room reservations one at a time.
Growing every year, Wednesday was hopping in 2010, with almost 60 different games and hundreds of early-bird gamers getting their game on before the convention even began.
Wednesday events are all free, run by fans for fans. It’s a chance to hang out with friends and get a few games in before the chaos of the Best Four Days In Gaming really gets underway.
If you’re working in a booth all weekend or plan our your whole schedule months in advance, Wednesday is when you can kick back, relax with your fellow gamers and maybe even find something new and interesting to jump into.
Tickets are available if you want to reserve a spot in a Wednesday game, but they’re not required and remember – all events are free, so it’s the perfect chance to try out something new and meet your fellow die-hard Gen Con-goers at the forum party!
As we mentioned before, the newly-opened, high-end JW Marriott is going to be packed with RPGs in 2011. Several prominent gaming groups, including Catalyst Game Labs, GameBase7, Arc Dream Publishing and MU Skulls will be based in the JW. In 2010, those groups combined ran more than 700 events for 4,000 gamers, so 2011 will be quite the inauguration of the brand-new hotel.
Gen Con will be at the JW in full force this year. Will you?
