Memph, TN MSC Planning/Events

I'm starting a new thread since this is more of a To Do/Volunteer/Sign-up/Reminder thread than Discussion.



We're at T-minus one month and counting from MidSouthCon (less than one month, actually- EEK!) and here's what we have/don't have/need done, etc. for Fan Force & friends:

Banner for Fan Force table - Lin is working on it

Promotional cards for Fan Force - Lin is working on it

(We love you, Lin!! )

SMT t-shirts - Do we have time or still want to mess with this? Ideas/volunteers?

Flyers

- I got a couple hundred copies made today and Tim and I will hit the comic shops Wednesday. Anybody need copies to spread around?

Table

- I doubt we can have actual sign-up times for our table until we get a semi-finalized schedule, but I'd like to have someone at or near the table most of the time so our stuff doesn't get stolen. I should be able to put us next to the MSCA table and we can watch out for each other.

- We thought about doing a raffle for charity (St. Jude, maybe?). Does anybody have anything they'd like to offer as the raffle prize?

Announcement to Fan Force SE Main - I'll do it this week

Announcement to TFN Main - Rhonda or I will handle it

Events to keep in mind (times are tentative at this point):

Friday - The Mississippi 501st Garrison (who are made of awesome ) will be participating in the Opening Ceremony and it sounds like it should be fun.

Saturday & Sunday - Several panels involving our Star Wars VIPs/guests on the schedule: Writing workshop by John Ostrander, KOTOR panel with JJM and Dean, Legacy panel with John O., and a Meet the 501st/Rebel Legion panel with the MS 501st and local RL members...and there's more...lots more...

Many of our Fan Force members are panelists this year - more info to follow as the schedule is hammered out.

Sunday - For those who haven't heard, local 501st member Chad Suppa was killed last week in a base jumping accident when his parachute malfunctioned. He came to MSC every year as Boba Fett and it was one of his favorite Cons. There will be a memorial for him on Sunday morning hosted by MidSouth Garrison.


Did I forget anything, Kelly? Rhonda?


If anybody has more ideas or can help out with any of the above, holla!

 

If I remember correctly, the tables are only manned during the day for the most part, right?

I won't be able to be there Friday night and part of Saturday. I've got to figure out how to be at this thing when I need to, and still do real life that weekend. It's March 6,7, and 8? Right?

I'll help with the announcement if you'd like.

 

No, MSC is March 20,21, and 22. I would still love to have t-shirts made, but we have to decide on a design and we haven't got much time. There is a programming meeting this Saturday at Carlin's at 2pm. I don't know if we (Rob and I) will be able to make it. We are working on cleaning out his Grandmother's house. She passed last week and we have a lot to do. We will try to be there, but no promises. Maybe if we don't have time to get shirts made, we could have buttons that say "Ask me about the Memphis FanForce!" or something like that. Is there any time we could get together and have a brainstorming meeting and get things nailed down? Sunday's are usually good for us. Friday's are ok. Saturday night late is ok as well. Ya'll just let us know.

Kelly

 

Realistically, I don't think we have time to make/order t-shirts.

The banner should be ordered either late this week or early next week. Lin has finished inking the art, and he's waiting on me to approve the line art before he starts coloring. Once he finished the coloring, he's going to pass the art to Tim, who graciously volunteered to take care of ordering the promo cards. Lin will place the order for the new banner (4' x 6').

I'm also going to be creating SMT name badges for everyone to use at MSC and other events.

 

Don't know if we can do a raffle or not. We may be able to give out tickets to those who sign up for our mailing list and have a donations jar (or a donations Jar-Jar) to raise money for a charity.

I'd be glad to donate a few prizes. I'm sure I've got a few in the prize closet at home. If we had a small dry erase board we could draw a winner out each day (or maybe a few times a day and folks can stop by the table to see if they have won. We just need a roll of 2-part tickets or some printed entry forms.

I'd be glad to man the table whenever I'm not doing panels or stuffs. I'd still like one for the MSCA.

I'm going to be ordering a 6'x4' horizontal banner to go behind the table. If I can get the art done by this weekend I'll order it then, if not it'll be sometime next week. They're pretty quicl to turn things around. Same for Club Flyers (postcards).

Lin

 

Roo: Life? Who said you get to have a life? Thanks for the help with the announcement.

Kelly: Sorry about his grandmother. I'll be there Sat. if you need me to pass anything along. Lemme see what still needs to be ironed out next week and we might need the brainstorming session.

Nicki: and he's waiting on me to approve the line art before he starts coloring.

Well, then approve it, woman!

Maybe raffle isn't the right word, but that's what I was thinking of: give out tickets for a donation (any amount) and have drawings for prizes. Or is there a rule against collecting for charity? Seems like we did it in the past without any problems. (Jar Jar - )

Good idea about the dry erase board. Does anybody have one or should we pick one up?

Do you know yet what the color scheme will be? Tim is going to work on something to drape over the table and I'd like for them to match. Tim is also going to make a slide show to show on the laptop (tasteful pics only, we promise ) and we're going to look into getting glowsticks or something fun for freebies on Sat. (Or, even better, sani-wipes. )

 

I'm up for a brainstorming session if we need one. I think I should be able to go this Saturday to the meeting, do you want to go together, Traci?


Yeah, I'm pretty sure Friday is out for me that weekend (I still going to try to make it to opening ceremonies), as well as Saturday morning, and Sunday afternoon. So basically, I'll only be able to be there Sat afternoon and evening and Sunday morning. That's why I didn't volunteer, though. I just don't know for sure.


I think they said in one of the meetings that they frown on the charity thing because of the auction, but we can still do our own thing if we want, IMO.

 

Is this Midsouthcon thing a pure SW event or general sci-fi/fantasy?

 

It's general Sci/Fantasy. Leaning more towards Fantasy and Fantasy Literature. They have a lot of guests from the Literature world like Kevin J Anderson, Terry Pratchet, etc.

 

Yeah- it's a sci-fi/fantasy con- heavy on the lit, but always has a hint of SW. This year there should be a good presence of SW around- especially SW comics.

I got the color flats done and started rendering the ElVader illustration yesterday. Did a little bit more today. Hope to have the art done by late Friday or this weekend. I'll get postcard art to Tim first of next week. I was going to go mostly black/blue with the illustration, but decided to throw some red in there- it is Vader after all.

I think a black table cloth would work- something simple, basic, flat color. If he wants to do any red or blue or shiny black piping on it (like Vader's cape) that would be cool. I'll leave that up to the sew-master.

Lin

 

Hey- if I knew they would use them I'd say let's give away some of those mini Speed Sticks, "It's not 'spensive!" Maybe we could offer a hand sanitizing station. No, wait- only we'd use that, too.

If you're going to give away some glow-sticks and stuffs what about having them answer a trivia question and the sticks be a prize? We could have it like the Trivia Pursuit and have every answer be Luke, R2-D2, or 3.

Lin

 

Lin: I'm doing black vinyl for the table cover with a copy of the ESB-style yellow lettering you created for the original SMT flyers & t-shirts. (The one that says "Memphis Star Wars FanForce" instead of "Suspicious Mind Trick: Memphis FanForce".)

I put in an order with Club Flyers as soon as you get that artwork to me.

 

I'm not kidding about the soaps. I'm going to find a box of hotel sized soaps and put them out at the fan table.

And I'm making that anonymous "Soap and water will not melt your soul" sign. We need to find the printout of the con funk thing, and leave those lying around, also. Anyone know where to get them?

 

Right there with you, Roo! It's a little out of our budget this year, but I did look into promotional handi-wipes and mini bottles of hand sanitizer that we could get imprinted with our logo. OR - the ULTIMATE Con freebie - hand sanitizer on a lanyard!

I betcha we could get hotel soaps or generic moist towelettes to put in our Vader Halloween buckets on the table.

 

I'm not even worried about a logo, I'm just getting them from my janitorial supply at Office Depot with my rewards points.

 

Emailed the DH promotions person (Aaron) today again about the SW freebies to hand out. Made sure he had my shipping address and the dates of the con.

Lin

 

Update, y'all.

Completed Action Items


• Banner. Lin has completed the banner art and is in the process of ordering the banner.


• Promo Cards. Lin has forwarded the art to Tim so that he can place the order.


• FanForce SE Region Announcement. Trace got the announcement posted over the weekend.

Any other updates?

Remaining Action Items (in random order)


• TFN Main Page Announcement. Trace or Rhonda will handle.


• MySpace/Facebook Announcement. I will handle.


• T-shirts. I checked Zazzle this morning, and black tees would be very expensive ($25-$30 each after s/h charges). The price comes down to a more manageable level if we go with white tees. Thoughts?


• Name Badges. I'll start working on these now that I have the final art.


• Prizes. Lin and I went through our personal stashes this weekend and donated some items to the SMT Prize Bucket. If anyone else has anything they'd like to donate, let me know. I'll keep whatever we don't give away at MSC in the Prize Bucket for future events.


• Website. I'll start finalizing the website now that I have art. I really want to have it done by MSC.


• Honorary Member Certificates. Lin is working on redesigning them based on the new art.

Have I forgotten anything?

 

Here's a sneak peek at the new banner/postcard promo art-

[image=http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/linworkman/SMT%20Star%20Wars/smtvaderbanner6x4.jpg]

Am about to order the banner here in a minute.

Nicki- let me know if you need the art in any other format/form. I can get you just the logo, just ElVader, SMT, or web addy by itself in whatever dimensions you need for the web.

Lin

 

Banner ordered!

 

Club Flyers was only offering 500 free 4x6 postcards this month instead of 1000, but they also had an offer for 500 free business cards, so I ordered those with the same artwork.

So, check that off the list.

 

T-shirts. I checked Zazzle this morning, and black tees would be very expensive ($25-$30 each after s/h charges). The price comes down to a more manageable level if we go with white tees. Thoughts?

White is fine with me. And it'll probably look better with the dark background of the design.



Prizes. Lin and I went through our personal stashes this weekend and donated some items to the SMT Prize Bucket. If anyone else has anything they'd like to donate, let me know. I'll keep whatever we don't give away at MSC in the Prize Bucket for future events.

I'm sure we've got stuff we can contribute.



Here's a sneak peek at the new banner/postcard promo art-

That looks fantastic, Lin! I LOVE it!


Lin & Tim: Awesome!

 

Cool- 500 of each should cover us for the next few shows and then some. I'm going to order up some BT cards today. I'll need them for MSC, Cape, and Metro for sure.

I can set up the art to go on white tees, too. I'll check the Zazzle site to see how they need it. I'll see about setting up some button art, too.

Glad you like the art, Traci. I think it'll really look great on the banner, and a black vinyl table cloth will really set it all off.

We's gonna be stylin' at MSC!

Lin

 

Any T-shirt is fine with me, as long as we can order them big enough for Robert and I.

Traci/Rhonda,

Did Carlin say when the next programming meeting is? We are still going through Roberts Grandmother's house cleaning it out. We will probably be doing that again this weekend. I know we need to be there for the meetings, but family does come first. If you know, please post it here. If you don't know, I can get in touch with Carlin.

Kelly

 

Just got an email from Aron at DH and he's sending some SW posters and a powerpoint presentation on using comics in schools.

Also, just got confirmation that the SMT banner has shipped and will be delivered here Tuesday.

Lin

 

Cool!

Kelly: I missed the last meeting because of the snow. Carlin called me a couple of times, but he didn't mention a next meeting. I'll let you know if I hear anything.