Mancunicon Readme

This is an (edited) copy of the Mancunicon (2016) readme. Obviously many details are parochical, but future con-runners might want to look for anything they've missed. Created by Flick and Alan Sullivan.

The Hive-Member’s Guide to Mancunicon
In the Bee-ginning, or at least since the 1930s, Science Fiction and Fantasy fans have been gathering to share their interests. From this, fandom has grown into a thriving community, all linked into a global hive- mind by means of the Internet. Thanks to those fans who are also astronauts, such as Samantha Cristoforetti, fandom has even reached orbit aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, we swarm, chat, laugh, learn, and debate, en masse.

Your Membership Pack
Your Membership Pack should contain the following:
 * Badge
 * This Read Me
 * Programme letter, if you are on the programme
 * BSFA Awards voting form
 * Doc Weir Award voting form
 * Hall Costume tokens

The BSFA Awards
Members of the 67th British National Science Fiction Convention can vote in the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards. Please put completed forms in the ballot box on the BSFA fan table. Voting closes at midday on Saturday 26th.

The Doc Weir Award
The Doc Weir Award is presented at the Eastercon, and is voted on by the attending membership. It is given to fans who have contributed a lot to Science Fiction Fandom, as explained on the form itself. If you know of someone who deserves recognition, write their name on the form and put it in the ballot box in Operations (Ops) before midday on Monday.

Hall Costume Tokens
Saturday is Hall Costume Day! In your pack are three Hall Costume Tokens, which we’d like you to give to the people with the costumes you like the most.

Costumers: please take your tokens to Ops by 11:00 on Sunday. Put them in an envelope, write your name and badge number on it, and put it in the box provided.

Convention Policies and Code of Conduct
In the past, people have done foolish things at conventions. We want everyone at Mancunicon to have as enjoyable a convention as possible. Crucially, nobody should be subjected to threatening, harassing or unwelcome behaviour. Our behaviour policy is a clear statement of how hope to ensure that such incidents do not occur, and how we will deal with them if they do.

Badges
Membership badges must be worn and clearly visible at all times. If you lose your badge, or find a lost badge, please contact Ops.

Barefoot Policy
Hotel policy is for no bare feet in the hotel public areas, aside from the swimming pool area.

Mobile phones
Please either switch mobiles off or set to silent during programme items.

Weapons policy
Costumes are perfectly acceptable at Mancunicon. Where these incorporate weapons, the weapons should be replicas or very obviously toys, e.g. pink plastic water pistols. Replica side-arms must be peace- bonded. Larger replica weapons may be carried at the discretion of Ops.

The decision of Ops is final.

Members not adhering to this policy will have their weapons confiscated for the duration of the convention.

Photography and Recording
In general, photography and audio/visual recordings for personal, non- commercial use are permitted. However: respected. resulting media to be posted online or otherwise made public, this request must be respected. recording. This must be adhered to.
 * If anyone asks not to be photographed/recorded, this request must be
 * If anyone is willing to be photographed/recorded but does not wish the
 * Some panels or other programme items may not allow photography or

Bee-haviour
Mancunicon intends to be an inclusive and enjoyable event for everyone attending. Please be considerate of all other members. In particular, we will not tolerate harassment or abuse, including by online publication or other display, for any reason including but not restricted to grounds of age, appearance, clothing, ability, sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or beliefs.

Should you feel you have been subjected to harassment or abuse, please inform the Operations Manager who will contact the Duty Committee Member (DCM).

Any issue will be investigated by the Committee in a timely, sensitive fashion, and where appropriate a range of sanctions may be applied, up to and including withdrawal of membership and expulsion from the convention should that be appropriate.

Children at Mancunicon
As an inclusive convention, children and families are an important part of Mancunicon. Much of the programme will be accessible to younger members with some aimed specifically at them. Crèche facilities will be available. Note that with the exception of children in the care of the crèche, all members below the age of 18 remain entirely the responsibility of their parents or guardians.

Our Convention Policies and Code of Conduct can be found at: www.mancunicon.org.uk/about/code-of-conduct/

Mancunicon Independent Ombudsman
The Mancunicon Committee has appointed Alice Lawson as Mancunicon Independent Ombudsman. As Ombudsman, she has an independent role to investigate and manage complaints by members, especially those against the Convention, Committee or Chair. The Committee and Chair will manage any complaints brought to us concerning members or staff, but anything concerning the Chair, the Committee or the Convention as a whole would be referred to the Ombudsman.

Any member of Mancunicon can complain directly to the Ombudsman; if she chooses she can refer complaints back to the Chair, Committee, or Operations Manager, as appropriate. The Ombudsman can be contacted in confidence at: XXX

No other member of staff or committee can access this email.

Any member, including any committee, staff or volunteers may contact Alice Lawson with any concern or complaint. The Committee or Chair may also refer complaints to the Ombudsman if appropriate.

This role is intended to be in addition to, not a replacement or override for, the usual organisational processes of an Eastercon.

So, for example, a complaint about the provision of mushrooms at breakfast would be handled by the Operations Manager, Duty Committee Member, or Hotel Liaison; a complaint about the Hotel Liaison having been rude about mushrooms would be dealt with by the Chair; the Chair would talk sternly to someone throwing mushrooms around the restaurant; and a complaint that the Committee didn’t care about mushrooms and had misled members about their provision would fall to the Ombudsman.

Contacting Operations
Operations (Ops) is on the first floor, at the Business Centre (see map on back page). It is generally open whilst the convention is running. If the matter is serious, or confidential, ask to talk to the Operations Manager.

Volunteers - Stand Up and Bee Counted!
The convention committee and staff are volunteers - and we’re looking for people to help out for the weekend. Volunteering as a staff Gopher is fun, you’ll meet people and there are t-shirts involved. The Gopher Hole is in Room 1, near the fan tables (see map). We’re also holding Gopher Briefings in Deansgate 2 and 3 at 10:00 on Friday and in the Gopher Hole at 11:00 on Saturday.

We call them gophers, because they are the people who go’fer this and go'fer that.

Groats
Groats are given to volunteers as a mark of the convention's gratitude for their help. They can be used as vouchers at some of the Dealers' tables and all of the hotel's food and drink sales points except the Cloud 23 restaurant. This includes the special convention food. (Continued on P21).

Where’s the full programme?
You’ll soon notice that these programme items all have really short descriptions, to save on paper. If you’d like to see the full descriptions, there are several ways you can do so:
 * visit
 * use KonOpas, which also allows you to set reminders of items you’d like to see, by visiting
 * download the “Event Guide” app by Grenadine (available for Android and iOS), then use the event code EASTER16.

Where are the programme rooms?
The main programme rooms are Deansgate 2 and 3 on the first floor, and will be combined for large programme items. Rooms 6, 7, 8&9 and 10 are on the second floor, opposite the Green Room. The Presidential Suite is on the 22nd floor, and you can reach it by using the lifts.

Items
items removed

A few points about the programme:

Scheduling
All items are 60 minutes long, starting at the scheduled times. A 30 minute interval is arranged between items for comfort breaks and change over.

Participants
Participants should gather in the Green Room 15 minutes before their event is due to start.

Room Usage
As detailed in the programme, most items will take place on the first floor, in Deansgate 2 and 3. Some items will take place on the second floor, including the Filking, Games, Workshops, and Kaffeeklatsches. The Presidential Suite, on the 22nd floor of the hotel, can be reached using the hotel lifts. Room 5 is open from Friday morning for gaming. Other rooms are available in the evenings for Werewolf, LARPing and the like.

Signing Up for Kaffeeklatsches and Workshops
Most of these items are limited in numbers. The sign-up sheets will be available in Ops from midday the previous day. Friday items are available from midday.

Most items have ten slots, with two standbys. If you know you can't attend, please let Ops know as soon as possible so that someone else can have a spot. The chocolate workshop has 50 signup slots and 10 standbys.

Age Restrictions
We are showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Sunday evening at This has a 15 classification which we have to enforce as part of our license for showing it.

We have suggested minimum ages for two evening items - for Whose Line is it Anyway? on Friday at 21:30 we suggest a minimum age of 16; for North Country on Sunday at 20:30 we suggest a minimum age of 12. As parents and guardians, you will of course be aware of what your children are doing and what panels they’re attending. Panels that you might want to consider for their suitability or otherwise include Shipping the End of the World on Saturday at 10:00; The Female Gaze on Saturday at 17:30, and Queering Heroic Fantasy on Saturday at 20:30.

Disclaimer
The views expressed in programme items are those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, the convention or committee.

TAFF Voting
The 2016 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF) race is nearing its climax. There will be ballot forms and a ballot box in Ops. There is a minimum donation of £2 to vote but if you can afford more that would be much appreciated. There will also be a Fan Funds Auction (see the programme for details). Information about TAFF is available at: www.taff.org.uk

Hotel Facilities
The hotel bar and restaurant will be open as follows:

Breakfast 07:00-11:00 Lunch 11:30-13:30 Evening Meals 17:00-20:00 Late Night Food 23:00-00:30

As well as the affordable convention food served at the above times, the restaurant will have the standard menu. Room service will be available at all times, and bar snacks, tea and coffee will be on sale all day. For details of the beers and ciders available, please see the newsletter.

The Hotel Swimming Pool will be open at the following times:

Friday/Monday (Bank Holiday) 08:00-20:00 Saturday/Sunday 06:00-20:00

Please see the newsletter for the planned times for fannish family swims - both for families and for those who want to avoid those times!

Please Note: Children (under 16s) are allowed in at any time, however they must be accompanied by an adult (over 18). One adult cannot be responsible for more than 2 children.

Wi-Fi, ATMs and other local services
For details of wi-fi, and baggage storage, please see the newsletter. For information on local services, such as pharmacies, we suggest you ask at hotel reception.

The nearest Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are next to the hotel, and charge a fee. The nearest free ATMs are Santander (at 298 Deansgate), Natwest (on Hardman Boulevard) and Barclays (at 223 Deansgate).

Art Show and Art Auction
The Art Show (see map) will be open at the following times:

Friday 15:00-18:00 Saturday 10:00-18:00 Sunday 10:00-11:30

It will then close to prepare for the auction which will start at 13:00 and should finish by 15:30. Buyers will be expected to pay for and collect their purchases between 16:00 and 18:00. Payment can be made by credit card, cheque, cash, or bank transfer.

Dealers’ Rooms
The Dealers' Rooms (see map) will be open at the following times:

Friday 14:00-18:00 Saturday 10:00-18:00 Sunday 10:00-18:00 Monday 10:00-15:00

Newsletter
Throughout the weekend, your trusty newsletter team will be producing Waggle Dance, the Mancunicon newsletter. Look out for copies around the convention, and remember to send your news, gossip and bee- related items to: XXX

There won't be a newsletter office this year, but instead we'll be experimenting with setting up a semi-permanent base in the convention social space: we'll tell you more about how to find us in the first issue of the newsletter.

About Time
We should remind you that the clocks go forward on Saturday night/ Sunday morning. At 01:00 Greenwich Mean Time, the time becomes 02:00 British Summer Time. Anyone up that late/early may wish to consider it a demonstration of practical time travel.

Bee-All and End-All (Thanks, Everyone!)
We would like to thank lots of people for helping with the convention, in particular our guests for agreeing to come. There are also the many people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, running various areas for us, and who deserve a great deal of credit for what they’ve done. We would also like to thank you, the attendees, for making it all worth while.

Plans of hotel
Removed