recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Chonsong Hospital

**Chonsong Hospital** (jeonseong byeongwon, 전성병원, 全盛病院) is the largest and main hospital of the Seol Group. It is the largest hospital in South Korea, and one of the largest in the world. The hospital is diveded into branches designated to a certain field, here are some of them.

* **Neuro Psychiatric Branch** (the main field for neurosurgeons, psychologists, psychiatrists.)
* **Cardiological and Vascular Branch** (vascular surgeries, cardiological surgeries, cardiothoracic surgeries)
* **Cancer Center** (a branch specialising treatment of cancer)
Tiffany Hyeong

**Tiffany Hyeong**, or **Hyeong Eun-jae (형은재)**, is a former student at the Royal Academy. She hails from a family that fled to Norway during the Korean War. Her great grandparents worked as tailors after arriving Norway.

## History

### Early life (1995 -)

After her grandparents fled to Norway during the Korean War, they started working as tailors. Her grandmother was a former hanbok master, and used her sewing skills to create wonderful patterns on the Norwegian folk costume, bunad. Tiffany's parents worked majority of the time during her childhood, therefore she was raised by her grandparents. She faced some difficulties with the norwegian language at first, because Korean was the primarily spoken language at home.

### Upper secondary school and University (2011-2019)

After she finished compulsory school she was unsure what she wanted to do. Majority of her life she had played tennis, and therefore wanted to become a tennis player. Despite her parents disapproval of her pursuing sports as a carrier she applied and got accepted into the Royal Academy, and focused on tennis.

### Moving to South Korea (2021)

After finished her studies, and waiting for her boyfriend to finish his studies, they decided to move to South Korea where Tiffany got a job as a tennis player. After their arrival they left for her family home, and lived there for half a year before moving to Seoul.

## Personality

Tiffany is a quick-tempered person and lots of energy. She portrayed a lust for being in physical activity as a small child, and loved competing.
Singapore Housemates

Singapore Housemates is the main instalment of the Housemates series. It takes place in a sharehouse in Singapore.

## Known people

### Current Housemates

* Gina Page ♉️ 23
	+ Our typical flower girl who’s into vintage, brown shoes and braids. She manages a popular blog-made-business, and har recently ventured onto instagram because of x. She likes to dress in layers and love scarfs and her fashion sense screams autumn. She constantly uses the air condition to lower the temperature as the Singaporean weather is too hot and humid. Eurasian, Singaporean.
* Dennis Wang ♋️ 19
	+ Skinny jeans, baggy jumpers, out of the emo face, but still a weeb. Always face times his sister and father. Kind of emotional that his mother was very neglecting during their childhood. Has a trauma of citrus cleaning products due to his mother's excessive cleaning. Half Russian, half Chinese (Taiwan)
* Effie Knight ♊️ 24
	+ DJ and Soundcloud composer. Makes tracks that sound like samples (Stella’s words). Wild. The opposite of her sister. Friends with everybody. Makes the best apple pie. Completely ruins the kitchen in the process though. Cannot make food for life. Will live off fast food. English.
* Dominique ♎️ 35
	+ A flirt. Do not get close Gina!!!!!! Chef. Apparently old classmate of Victoria. French Canadian.

### Former Housemates

* Lucia Lundestad ♏️ 29
	+ Will burn your house for a hundred bucks. Never learnt to think before acting. Best fashion sense after Victoria (Victoria’s words). Norwegian.
* Victoria Knight ♑️ 32
	+ A former model, CEO in IKNU, and fashion designer. Sister of Effie Knight. Annoyed by the high electricity bill (Gina’s air conditioner). Married to a mystery man, no friends was invited except for her sister, and even Effie keeps tight about who it is. English.
* Alaire ♋️ 24
	+ Ex-boyfriend of Cain Lamont Clay (tea emoji). Left after finding out about Cain’s cheating through Dominique. Friend of Tara. Norwegian.

### Other

* Tara ♓️ 18
	+ Works at IKNU. Big fan of Victoria Knight. Graphic desiner, need to work in order to live.

* Tara’s Bf ♉️ 19
* Sasha Wang ♐️ 21
	+ She left home at 15, started living by herself, loves to travel, always picks up the phone when her father calls. Half Russian, half Chinese (Taiwan)
* Eliana Wang ♋️ 19
	+ Twin sister of Dennis Wang. Kind of emo, very close to her brother and father. Half Russian, half Chinese (Taiwan)
* Olga Yermilova ♍️ 45
	+ Mother of Sasha, Dennis and Eliana Wang. Over shorter periods of time she disappears, and comes home with a hefty amount of money on her bank. Neat freak, their house is sterile. Super woman, can cook, clean, fix the TV, charismatic, won a chess tournament. Russian.
* Eugene Wang ♋️ 53
	+ Former body building champion, has gained a lot of weight since his prime time. Love his children immensely, more or less a single father since Olga believed in tough love and doesn't really call her children that much. Taiwanese Shanghainese.
Seol Group

Seol Group is one of the largest family groups in South Korea. Their family consists mostly of health practitioners, and have hospitals or health clinics (including dentistry) in 31 countries.

## History

The Seol family hails from Hamhung, North Korea. The family has served the royalty of the Joseon Dynasty, House of Yi family for centuries, as physicians and doctors. During the Japanese Occupation of Korea, the family split and started businesses around the world. After the Second World War, the family helped with the building of Europe and Korea.

## Notable members

* Seol Seong-eun (Biomedical Engineer)
* Seol Shin-ah (Psychiatrist)
* Seol Seong-jae (Pharmacist)
Norwegian Police Service

**Norwegian Police Service**, is the Norwegian police department that is stationed on posts around in the country. It is controlled by the National University Police Directorate.

Their tasks include:

* Educating citizens on safety measures
* Regulating traffic and traffic schools
* Passport and custom control
* Educating police officers (6 years for Police Service, or 2+4 years for Defence Force.
* Immigration control
* Surveillance (Norwegian Police Security Service)

## References

1. ↑ The remaining 4 years of education is taken at the department of the Norwegian Police Force.
Pontus

## Republic of Pontus

### Largest cities

Trebizond (1 080 477)
Sampsunda (605 319)
Kotyora (333 000)
Rizounta (241 032)
Sinopi (95 970)

### Regional language

Armenian
Kurdish

### Ethnic groups

Greeks
Turks
Kurds
Armenians

### Religion

Orthodox Christianity (81%)
Islam (17,5%)

### Formation

1204 *(formation of Kingdom of Trebizond*
1598 *(under Ottoman control as Trebizond Vilayet)*
1922 *(formation of First Republic of Pontus)*
1968 *(Turkish invasion)*
1971 *(formation of Republic of Pontus)*

### Population

**Total:** 4 210 730 (census, 2023)
**Greeks:** 3 476 244
**Armenians:** 107 415
**Muslims:** 627 071
Riksnorsk

**Riksnorsk** (NO: //; literally 'national Norwegian') is the official written and spoken standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Moderat Riksmål (lit. 'contemporary national language'), or Riksmål for short, which is a co-official spoken standard used outside of formal situations. It is accepted in interviews, on television (though not news anchors), public speeches (frowned upon by some) and it is commonly used in classrooms outside of Norwegian class. Riksnorsk is the preferred spoken standard for about 3% of the population of Norway, and the preferred written standard for about 65% of the population. In later years, more and more people have started writing Riksmål, but overall the preferred language of use is English in all situations.

Riksmål is regulated by the governmental Norwegian and Nordic Language Council. The standard is a Norwegianised variety of the Danish language, whilst Riksmål is the de facto standard of the Eastern Norwegian dialects, yet, is the most common variety Norwegians code-switch to in formal situations regardless of dialect.

The first Riksnorsk orthography was introduced in 1879 as Riksmål, and the first spoken standard was adopted in 1907 under the name *Dannet Dagligtale* (lit. 'cultivated everyday speech'). In 1929, the two standards fused and was named Riksnorsk.
Green Room

A longer, better article will be along here soon, but in the meantime ...

is usually run as part of Programming, and at Eastercons is basically responsible for making sure that each programme item has the people and equipment they need. This may involve talking to tech about tech equipment, hotel liaison if the room needs to be cleared or reset, and ops for any other specialist equipment like OHP foils or flipchart markers.

Part of the setup for a programme item may be putting name cards on the table in front of each panellist. Green Room will also handle the five minute warning and "finish off now" signs to the programme participants to let them know when to wrap up their item.

Green Room also ensures that each person scheduled to be on a programme item has a drink! Ideally each programme participant shows up at Green Room fifteen minutes before their programme item and gets a chance to talk to the other people involved in that programme item as well as putting in their drink order.

Green Room may also liaise with the Guest liaison if Guests have any special requirements before or after their programme items.

In recent years Green Room has expanded to be a place where programme participants can hang out or get a cup of tea at any time, not just when they are getting ready to go on stage.

We do some things differently to the Americans.

And finally, Green Room may have a supply of aspirin, antacids etc. to help the nervous and afflicted before or after their programme item. Ops keeps the convention running, Green Room keeps the programme participants running!
Norwegian Social Liberal Party

(Sosialliberale Parti)

Egalitarisme

Liberalkonservatisme

### Slogan

"Forskjellige, men samlet" (Diverse but united)"Unity in Diversity" (Samhold i mangfold)

The Norwegian Social Liberal Party is the largest political party in Norway, gaining over half of the votes last election. The party gained immense recognition during the 2021 election, and played a large role in the political turmoil in Norway. The party is also a supporter of the Scandinavian Union.

## Politics

The party view themselves as social liberal and a neutral party. One of their goals is to provide freedom and truth to its citizens. They are also very egalitarian.

## Controversies

Despite Norway being a country known for it's privileges and that women and the LGBT-community has immense recognition and laws that uphold their rights, the party has been criticised for censoring LGBT parades and feminist speeches. The party leader, Inaya Muna, spoke about this in one of her speeches, explaining the reason.

> "The LGBT-community and woman are represented in our country, but our party wants to eliminate our prejudicial differences. Instead of focusing on our differences, we want to teach everyone accept and tolerance. Fighting hatred with parades and speeches evoking anger in citizens will only worsen the situation. Why make a problem when you are already accepted?"
>
>

Despite gaining some acceptance for her speech, she was largely criticised by LGBT communities and feminists both domestically and internationally.
IKNU (retailer)

**IKNU**, *pronounced* /ˈiknʉ/, also knows as **Ideas Know Nothing Unknown**, is a clothing and accessories retail store. It is the largest retail store in Norway, and is well known for their ethical purpose. They use only clothing manufactures from developed countries, and are very strict when importing clothing, making sure that no child labour or underpaid workers made the clothes or accessories. Their motto is "for show only" which was used as a rhetoric attack against critics saying their ethical purpose was a fraud and "for show only".

## Trivia

* An unfinished projects revealed that an unrevealed main character for another story worked in an IKNU store, which later on the 29th of December, 2017, through an update on an exhibition, revealed to be Tara.
How Do I Join

Each Eastercon is run by a separate committee, and so you need to contact them to buy a membership in that year's Eastercon.

All the current Eastercons (at the date of writing this) allow you to join their convention online.

Go to their individual pages to find out the current cost of membership and other details such as discounts for students, unemployed or unwaged (which may vary from convention to convention).
Filk

## What is "Filk"?

Filk is the indigenous "folk" music of Science Fiction fandom.

Any time you get a group of people together to socialise or work together, there's a change a song will break out in the corner of the bar, the back of the school bus, around the campfire, down the coal mines or at the sides of the sports pitch. Often this involves taking a well-known tune and then changing the words to amuse, or to tell a story, or to protest.

Science Fiction fandom is no different in that matter ... originally taking well-known folk songs and popular music tunes and adding lyrics about dragons, fantasy lands, spaceships, aliens, computers, the people you see around the convention, and the joy and fun of being with other fans ... new tunes were written, people formed bands, singing groups and even choirs, and nowadays there are many conventions that are held specifically around filk music, including annual filkcons in the UK and Germany, plus many annual conventions in the US and Canada.

Plus there's a grand tradition of filk and singing among the various re-enactment groups including the SCA and the Far Isles. You can also find filk happening among groups like The Tolkien Society.

## So why "Filk"?

The story goes that many years ago a convention (in the US) was putting in a programme item for "Science Fiction Folk Music" and a typo occurred and it got printed as "Science Fiction Filk Music" and the name stuck.

## Who can filk?

Anyone. Just show up. If you don't know any songs, you can borrow a songbook from someone, or you can just sit and listen and join in with chorus songs as you learn them. If you can play an instrument, bring it along! Enthusiasm, and appreciation for other people's performances are the two most important things in filk.
Audience is very welcome and you can just sit outside the circle and listen and join in on the choruses if you want.

## So what happens?

People bring along voices, guitars, other instruments and play songs that are (to some extent) based in Science Fiction, Fantasy or Fandom ... the main "open" filking tends to be organised in a circle where each person gets a chance to pick a song, play a song, do something else (e.g. read a poem or tell a joke) or just pass along ... this is often known as a "bardic circle".
The other main form of open filking is "chaos", where anyone can sing the next song, but it is regarded as good form for your song to follow on in some way from the previous one, and to give people a fair chance to sing their songs.
Aside from "open" filking, there may be concerts, single performer/band sessions and workshops.

## Where can I find out more about filk?

In the UK, start with http://www.filk.co.uk (IA) and then there are many links on there ... there are online archives of MP3s and lyrics, there are songbooks that can be bought and webpages full of songs, and there are mailing lists, LiveJournal groups and regular meetings as well as the UK filkcon (first weekend in February, http://www.contabile.org.uk (IA)) and filk sessions at other conventions including Eastercon.
Closing ceremony

This is where the Chair stands up and tells everybody it's all over. It's nice to go out with a bang, it gives everyone a feeling that the convention has really finished-even if you've got more items on afterwards.

At Helicon in 1993 they closed with a 3-screen slide-show of about 200 photographs taken throughout the convention (an idea borrwed from Noreascon 3, the 1989 Worldcon). It was an awful lot of work, but it went down extremely well.

At Orbital in 2008 a projected slideshow of digital photographs taken during the convention was shown as people entered the main hall for the closing ceremony.

### Things to say include

* Thank the guests for coming and for being wonderful. It's customary to present them with a memento, like a plaque or a glass or something.

* Present any prizes that haven't been presented previously.

* Tell people when and where the Dead Dog Party is being held.

* Thank everybody who worked on the con. This is fraught with peril. If you miss people out, they will be upset. In 1992, Sou' Wester's chairman omitted to thank the Newsletter and was promptly roasted in a special edition. In 1999 we asked everybody who had worked on the con to stand up and then gave them a round of applause. I still don't know if this was felt to be acceptable, but at least we tried.

It is almost traditional to accidentally leave out some major group or person during these thanks so that bitterness and resentment will be the result!

* Ask for volunteers to help tidy up the hall/hotel after the ceremony, especially the technical equipment.

* Quite often a raffle is drawn for prizes donated by publishers, authors, dealers and other groups.

* Any last minute announcements about the hotel

* the amount raised for charity

* announcements of lost property

* often a collection is made for hotel staff (but some conventions just make a payment out of convention funds instead)

* everyone is thanked for coming and helping make this such an enjoyable convention

* It's traditional for the Chair to hand over responsibility for the con to next year's chairman at this point. Give them the DCM badge or something. Now you can relax.

### Things not to do

* Don't congratulate yourself and your committee on what a wonderful job you've done. It's tacky

*Steve Davies wrote most of the above article ... some people think it's fine for the Chair to thank the other members of the committee and senior staff for their hard work and then for the Chair of the next year's Eastercon to thank the Chair of this year's convention.*

* Don't go on too long.

* Don't try and make excuses for problems. It's too late for that.

It is very common to schedule a "Feedback to next year's convention committee" programme item for after the Closing Ceremony.
Magnus Noia

A recurring character in Truth Behind Beauty. Magnus befriends Emma and ends up developing a rather interesting relationship with her. The two characters grow fond of each other, but because of trust issues and age difference they remain their distance.

## Personality

Magnus is a festive person with immense laughter and humour. His negative traits often overshadows his good sides for most people, making him often unwanted in social gatherings. Moving to Seoul and becoming a part of the underground society there made him find himself to live a better life. Making him want to finally do something in his life, giving him a massive will to succeed.

## Personal life

Magnus' mother left home when he was seven years old, and blamed his father's lack of care for the family as the reason. Thus leading Magnus to an unhealthy lifestyle, he would skip classes to smoke outside the school premises, only to get caught but never punished because of his father's influence.

Trying to gain attention from his surroundings he started behaving worse, and in the end he ended up getting caught by the police in the hospital after being hospitalised for drug overdose. A couple of weeks later he was let out prison, only to have a fight with his father and then leave for Korea where his older brother was dispatched as a military officer.
Norwegian Police Force

**Norwegian Police Force**, is the Norwegian on-field police department that protects the citizens from danger. It is controlled by the National University Police Directorate.

Their tasks include:

* Anti-terror measures
* Upholding the citizens safety
* Crimes and criminal investigation
* Jails and imprisoning
Diana de Fiore

## Notes

* Born on November 1st, 2018
	+ In: Rome, Italy
* Muggle-Born
	+ Stephen de Fiore
	+ Rosalia de Fiore
* Not exotic in anyway

## Personality

Diana's beautiful and she knows it. With her stunning golden-brown hair always loose, flowing around her shoulders, and bright brown eyes to match, she is a girl who turns heads in the hallway. Despite this knowledge, she does not let it go to her head and prefers to keep her job on the down-low. It is thought that on her mother's side, there's Veela blood, giving her her almost unnatural beauty. She isn't the popular queen-b\*\*ch that you think of when you hear of a beautiful girl, but rather she is one of the kindest and gentlest girls you'll ever meet. Just one word of advice... Don't get her angry, just don't.

Under her beauty, she hides a very quick mind with a skill with words. She knows how to hit people, not physically, but deals them mental and emotional blows when they irritate her beyond her belief. She does not have much patience for dealing with idiotic behaviors, and will almost immediately snap, but when helping younger students with their schoolwork, she is as patient as can be.

She may be muggle-born, but like Hermione Granger, don't mess with her and she won't go ballistic on you. Diana is a very traditional young woman, and she personally enjoys spending time outside and on her own with her school work, but she does have little friends with this quirk of hers.
Caroline Mullan

Caroline has kindly agreed for 2 pieces of fanwriting, about her experiences running Beccon 87, and just what attendees get out of Eastercons, to be re-published here.

* Black Easter? The Day After Judgement
* The Eastercon Is Not Your Bitch

(also of interest Reflections in the Shards at efanzines)

**Notes**

This website has my permission to publish two pieces of fan writing about Eastercons, for the benefit of people interested in Eastercons. Both of them are now historical documents. They were both fan writing: personal pieces, written with an audience of fans in mind, in years when things were not as they are now.
Black Easter? The Day After Judgement was written in 1987 for an APA, a private group of some thirty-five women. They were used to my frequent writing about SF fandom and Eastercons, and many of them were personal friends. I wrote an introduction and coda when it was reprinted in Claire Brialey’s and Mark Plummer’s Banana Wings in 1999, and circulated as a paper fanzine to about 200 readers across three continents.

The Eastercon is Not Your Bitch was written just after the 2011 Eastercon. I had spent several years not paying attention in fandom while busy about real life, but this was a year I spent getting to know a new generation of Eastercon runners and attendees, and also catching up with the recent doings of sf fandom, and its many internet flame wars (including Neil Gaiman’s 2009 blog post ‘Entitlement Issues’). This piece was also published in Banana Wings.

In 2015 I was Fan Guest of Honour at Dysprosium, the 66th Eastercon, which published a fanthology of my writing entitled ‘Reflections in the Shards’, edited by Mark Plummer and Claire Brialey. It includes pieces about many aspects of sf conventions and fandom, written over a couple of decades. This led directly to the request to publish these two pieces here, on the Eastercon website.

Even on original publication these were published to audiences that did not share all of their assumptions. The members of Dysprosium and visitors to this website share even less with the assumptions and cultures of 1987, 1999 and 2011. I no longer inhabit those cultures. There are many aspects of both pieces I would be critical of now, and would not write again. Other aspects perhaps remain current, but experiences and opinions vary. Responses to both pieces in earlier contexts have helped to inform my current opinions about fandom and Eastercons. As I learn what people think of them now, I will no doubt change my mind again.

Please take these as the once personal, now historical documents they are. I hope you find them interesting, and even perhaps useful, in thinking about Eastercons in general. I would not wish you to take anything from them as final statements on anything in particular.

Caroline Mullan – May 2015
Budget

Summary: how the (projected) income is allocated to run the convention, and then tracking the flow of money in and out to make sure everything gets paid for without the committee going bankrupt!

(this needs to be expanded by someone who had done Eastercon treasurer work!)

A sample financial report from a convention was published in the ConRunner fanzine a number of years ago.

## Income

The income for a convention basically falls into the following categories:

* Membership (say 800 people paying £50 each)
* Sponsorship (grants from the Arts Councils, donations from publishers etc.)
* Advertising (primarily paying for ads in the convention publications)
* Merchandise
* Fees for Dealers Room/Art Show
* PassAlong funds - money from previous Eastercons
* Other

## Expenditure

The main areas of expenditure are:

* Site/Hotel
* Guests
* Tech equipment
* Publications
* Logistics (moving tech, artboards etc. around)
* Publicity
* Operations (including Groats
* Programme
* Exhibits (including art show)
* Insurance
* Other equipment and fees
* Paid entertainment (the convention might bring in someone to perform, like the disco, ceilidh band, or Mitch Benn)
* Emergency/Contingency money

And the budget is there to match up how much we think is going to come in, against how much we want to spend on each area, and then it is the Treasurer's job to say "no, we don't have the money for that"
Awards

Aside from any awards being presented by other groups (such as the BSFA awards), and prizes given for things like the Masquerade, there are at least three awards that are commonly presented at modern Eastercons.

## The Doc Weir Award

Voted on by the members of the current Eastercon, with the voting opening usually on the Friday of the convention and closing either late Saturday night or late Sunday night. Presented to a fan who has worked hard, over a period of years, to make things better for fandom (e.g. a con runner, an organiser of the Friends of Foundation, or just a hard working gopher), basically an unsung hero. The award is the possession of a silver cup which is engraved with the names of past winners, and which is passed on to the next winner the following Easter.
Arthur Rose "Doc" Weir died March 4th 1961. The first Doc Weir award was presented in 1963.

More on the Doc Weir Award can be found at eFanzones (IA) including photos of Doc Weir, the cup and the award certificate.

## The Ken McIntyre award

For fannish artwork (best "unpublished" artwork in the artshow, unpublished as in, not on a book cover, professional magazine cover etc. I believe convention publication and fanzine artwork is eligible as long as the original artwork it is on display in the convention artshow). I don't remember hearing about it for the last few years so I'm not sure what has happened to it. It was presented for the first time at the 1971 Eastercon and was still being presented at the 1999 Eastercon. I can find references leading up to the 2000 Eastercon requesting eligible submissions, but nothing after that.
Ken McIntyre was a much-loved British fan artist who died of pancreatitis in August 1968.

## The Phlosque award

An award presented by artist SMS to the piece of artwork (usually in the current Eastercon's artshow, but not necessarily!) which is the most sickeningly sweet, sentimental and schlocky. A unicorn painted on velvet would have a good chance of winning.

Details of Doc Weir and Ken McIntyre found at Part of a history of fandom in the 60s compiled by Richard Lynch (IA)
Programme Book

## Programme Book/Souvenir Book

The Programme Book is a publication that is given to every member either in their programme pack when they arrive at the convention, or is sometimes produced as a Souvenir Book after the convention.

"Every Member" - Possibly just to most members but not toys, infants, one day members, and certain other categories, at the Committee's discretion. Also for the Souvenir Book it may be the committee's decision to send one per address rather than one per person to keep the postage costs down and many households only want the one copy.

It usually contains:

* an introduction from the Chair
* articles on each of the Guests, usually with their photograph
* a list of all the members of the convention
* the accounts of the previous Eastercon(s) that haven't already been published
* a list of all the previous Eastercons
* advertising for other conventions, publishers etc.
* a place to collect autographs
* a long version of the Programme including any longer articles, explanations, background etc. that won't fit in the Read Me/Pocket Programme

## Souvenir Book

Instead of producing a Programme Book to be handed out at the convention, some conventions choose to collect articles, photographs etc. at the convention and produce a post-convention souvenir book full of memories. This may include copies of the Newsletter, copies of any fun/silly things that were handed out at the convention, results of competitions and convention reports.

The advantage of a Souvenir Book is that after the convention is complete, it is clear how much money is left over and the Souvenir book can be adjusted depending on that remaining money (colour pages, more pages etc.)

The disadvantages are:

* nowhere to collect autographs during the con
* the longer programme item descriptions are not available at the con
* someone has to put in a lot of effort \*after\* the convention when everyone else is decompressing and relaxing and doesn't want to talk about the convention
* it costs a lot to post out
Auction

There are up to four main types of auction during a convention

* the Art Auction

* a general "Book" auction (people bring in boxes of books they would like to get some money for, either for themselves or a nominated "good cause/charity" and the convention auctioneers sell them for whatever they can get). In recent years this has either been dropped from the programme, or it's been the rarer books and/or raising money for a particular cause.

* Fannish Good Cause auctions. There are a number of fannish "good causes" such as the TransAtlantic Fan Fund (TAFF) which was set up to let fans from either side of the Atlantic get to fannish events on the other side. In the days of expensive airfares it was the only way that most Fans could afford to get across the pond. Nowadays it is less "necessary" but helps to keep a good mix going, particularly among the fanzine fans who might not otherwise travel much.) The TAFF (and GUFF (Getting Under/Getting Up from Under Fan Fund, for antipodean fans)) auctions tend to be much more eclectic (including things like chocolates, fun jewelry, the chance to have your name as a character in a book, silly tourist items etc.)

* Dead Dog Auction where supplies and equipment that were purchased for the convention, and are now finished with, are sold off to help pay for the convention or to raise funds to pass on to the following years' Eastercons.
Eastercon2010

Archived website

April 2-5, 2010 – Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, London, UK
Guests of Honour: Alastair Reynolds, Liz Williams, Mike Carey. Fan Guests of Honour: Fran & John Dowd

Carlos Esquerra was supposed to attend as a guest, but had to drop out shortly before the convention for family health reasons.

Fancyclopedia entry
Video Programme

The video programme typically covers all items that predominantly consist of playing back a pre-recorded presentation, film, TV show, YouTube clips etc. though it can also include programme items which have a live narration over video/film, or some talking/discussion between clips.

## Film Programme

In the past there used to be a small team of enthusiasts who would bring film projectors to conventions and hire in rare and popular films ... however the march of time has replaced that almost entirely with videos and DVDs.

## Video Programme Room

A room with either a video projector or a large screen television showing new and classic science fiction and genre films and TV epidsodes. There's usually a separate schedule posted up outside the video programme room and often a printed version will accompany the ReadMe.

## Other elements of Video Programme

Sometimes major films and premiers will be shown in the Main Hall instead. Or a talk may be given about Japanese animation or how science is depicted on TV, or the history of the film The Wicker Man (hi David!) and these items may occur in a workshop or other programme room. They can still be considered part of the Video Programme/Video Stream.

## David Lally

For many years now, Irish fan David Lally has been organising video programming for many conventions. It has got to the point now where some conventions call the Video Programme the "David Lally stream" even if someone else is organising the video programme for that con!
Art Show

Professional and Amateur artists can book (usually for a fee) space in the display area to show their artwork.

## What sort of art is displayed in the Art Show?

A piece of artwork can be a painting, a drawing, a sculpture, a painted t-shirt, stained glass, a model, a robot or any other creative work.

## Are all items for sale?

Not all works on display in the Art Auction are for sale. Some are there to display the artists abilities, to entertain and amaze viewers, or as samples of the artist's work for potential commissions (private, book covers etc.)

The majority of items however are for sale.

## How do I buy a piece of artwork?

There may be a "Buy It Now" price on a piece of artwork, but if not then the usual process of buying/selling a piece of art involves an auction.

Next to the artwork is a bid sheet. Write your name, your badge number, and your bid amount on the first empty line. If someone wants to bid more they write their name, number and amount below yours ... if the form fills up, then the artwork goes to the Art Auction voice auction, where the auctioneer will see if people in the room will bid higher than the last (highest) bid on the form. If not, then the last written bid wins.

If the form doesn't fill up, then it is at the discretion of the Art Show organiser whether it automatically sells to the last written bid, or whether it should go to the voice auction anyway.

## How do I sell a piece of artwork?

You ask for one or more boards (or table space) from the Art Show Liaison/Organiser in advance of the convention. There may be a fee associated with booking the artboard or table space. There may also be limits on how many boards you can book.
You (or an associate) brings the artwork to the convention on either the Thursday evening or Friday morning and arrange with the organisers so you can get access to the artboards and can hang up your artwork yourself.

## Advice to artists

* there may be sticky velcro available to stick your artwork on the display boards, so if you want any other kind of mounting, you'll probably have to bring it with you
* it's perfectly ok to put up an ad for your artwork or other supporting material alongside your art, as long as it fits on the art board
* you will be responsible for hanging your own art, and for collecting any unsold art at the end of the Art Auction
* it is usual that the artist bring their art with them to the convention, most Eastercons do not accept art posted in, nor do they accept art from a non-member, but see the next poing
* the person displaying/selling the art does not have to be the original artist. You can sell the collection of items you've bought at previous art shows, or act as agent for a friend. And you can mix artists on the same art board]

## Web page

The Mancunicon Art Show web page is a good example.
Masquerade

Also known as the Fancy Dress competition or more recently as CosPlay [Costume Play].

Usually held on the Saturday night, usually starts late evening with rehearsals being block booked in the main programme room during the day sometimes followed by the convention disco (not all Eastercons have a disco-type events).

In recent years a Cabaret has sometimes been added before or after the Masquerade, where fans perform a 3-5 minute performance.

With the increasing interest of CosPlay in the US and increasing interest and participation in media cons and events such as Comic Con. The masquerade could potentially be used as a CosPlay showcase at the convention attracting a younger and more diverse membership.

## Hall Costumes

It is true that some people wear costumes just to attend Eastercon - even if they are not participating in a formal Masquerade. This is generally known as a Hall Costume. They may be wearing a costume specifically from a film or tv show or from a novel, or it may just be something out of the ordinary that you might wear to a party. With the increased interest in CosPlay Hall Costumes are becoming more prominent at Eastercon members choose to participate or not and its not unusual to see people at the convention bar in a variety of clothing ranging from costumes based on TV and movies to jeans and a T shirt.

Hall Costumes are perhaps the best known aspect of conventions outside convention members because it is usually all that the Media focusses on and has become the public perception of conventions.
Eastercon

## What is an Eastercon?

The "Eastercon" is the British National Science Fiction convention and has been held annually since 1948 (in recent times over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, though in earlier years it was held in May over the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend). There were earlier national conventions going back to 1937 that some people include in the list.

It is for fans of Science Fiction, Fantasy and associated genres. It is a good general interest convention (rather than being focused on one TV show or just on written SF) and is a great way of trying out different things (gaming, media SF, filking, writing etc.) while spending a fun (long) weekend with like-minded people.

The average attendance is around 7-800 people (sometimes as many as 1,400) including a number of authors, publishers, artists and others who work in the Science Fiction and Fantasy field. People travel from all over the UK, plus a number of fans come from Europe (including Ireland and The Netherlands) and further afield (there are always a few Americans, often a few Australians, and many others).

There are many specialist conventions held throughout the year for people with a particular interest in one detailed area of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Star Trek conventions, Dr.Who events, Tolkein Society events, Filk conventions etc.) but the Eastercon is a place where all the fandoms can come together.
Opening ceremony

This is the point at which the Chair stands up, introduces the guests so that everyone recognises them, and informs everybody of any late-breaking developments. Make all of these announcements now, so that when people come and complain you can say "it was all explained at the Opening Ceremony." If possible, the opening ceremony should last no longer than 15 minutes. Don't try and make a big production of it. Don't do something big and flashy. Most people just don't care, they want to get on with the convention, not listen to you wittering on or watch some half-baked presentation. If you have something very flashy, and you can guarantee that it will take no longer than 5 minutes and will be visible to everyone, then you might consider giving it a go, otherwise just forget it. Consider scheduling a panel in the 45 minutes after the end of the opening ceremony, so you've got an incentive not to run any longer.

*Note: this is the opinion of Steve Davies ... other people think that something flashy at the Opening ceremony is a good way of building atmosphere and "getting the party started." Make up your own minds!*

Things that the Chair should say include:

* Welcome everyone to the convention

* Point out the guests of honour and ask everyone to be nice to them, buy them drinks in the bar etc.

* Ask for people to come and volunteer as gophers.

* Remind everybody what the policy is on smoking, mobile phones and other areas of contention.

* Remind everyone that they should wear their badge as they won't be allowed back in without it.

* Announce anything that got omitted from the 'Read Me' by mistake, like times for the Dealers Room and Art Show.

* Request that everybody be polite to hotel staff and non-convention people staying in the hotel. Some people do need reminding.

* Remind them to lock hotel doors, not leave wallets in the bar and so on, especially if you are in a hotel where this is going to be a problem.

* Remind them that, if they have a problem, please come and talk to the committee first and not either shout at the hotel staff or feel miserable about it for the whole weekend.

* Tell them to go away and have a good time.
Ioanna Lin

Ioanna Lin is a recurring character in Truth Behind Beauty. She has also been mentioned in several other stories, Royal Academy, Singapore Housemates, among other.

## Personality

According to her best friends, Emma and Victoria, she is a relatively calm person capable of murder. Despite her strong image, it's a side very few people know of, including her husband.

People's first impression of her is usually very good. She has an immensely strong love for flowers, and her home is always filled with different flowers.

She also views family to be the most important thing in life, stating she would do anything to protect her family.

## Personal life

Ioanna was born in South Korea to a Chinese father and a korean mother. She moved to Norway with her parents, 7 years old. She once told in an interview that she used to be angry at her parents for moving, saying she missed her friends. Growing up in Norway made Ioanna a liberal person, and she also stated in the same interview, that despite being angry as a child, she now found gratefulness, stating that she now not only hold eastern values, but also western. She believes that having a broad cultural background will make you more accepting.

She met her husband in Norway when he was working at the Canadian Embassy in Oslo. They soon started going out after their first encounter, and decided to get married in 2017. They had their first child, a son, 5th of July, 2021.
Badges

See Membership Badges for individual membership badges.

Steve Davies submits the following opinion:

You don't actually need the proliferation of staff badges, ribbons and so on that are so common now. You could get away with one extra badge, for volunteers. However, if you are determined to pander to the badge-collecting frenzy that grips volunteers as soon as they enter the con, and do badges for everyone, the following areas could have distinct badges:

* Guests (so they feel special, and so people know who to buy drinks for)

* Stewards (not "Security")

* Committee (so that people with problems know who to hassle)

* Gophers (so you know who to delegate problems to)

* Dealers (so that Security know who is allowed in the Dealers Room out of hours)

* Artists (so that Security know who is allowed in the art show out of hours)

If you've got a lot of spare badges, you can have different badges for workers in various areas such as Ops, Registration, Art Show, Green Room, Tech, Newsletter etc. Remember though, this is icing on the cake, you don't have to do it. Ops do not need badges to show who they are. *[COS: though to be fair, Ops \*like\* having Ops badges :-) ]*
Eastercon2017

Pasgon won the bid in 2015 for Eastercon 2017, unopposed, to be held at the Mercure Holland House Hotel & Spa, Cardiff, but then had to fold with site problems, so Innominate were quickly formed and won in 2016, to hold the event in the NEC Hilton, Birmingham. Pat Cadigan, Judith Clute, and Colin Harris were guests.

Fancyclopedia article
Groats

## What is a Groat?

A "Groat" is a **G**opher **R**eward **T**oken (GRT) and is given to volunteers who help out at the convention.

Usually worth one pound, the rate of distribution is up to Ops or the Gopher Mom and can be, for example, one groat for each one hour worked. For a particularly hard job (e.g. half an hour moving books into the dealers room) then the Gopher Mom may decide to award extra groats.

## Where can they be spent?

Usually they can be spent in any bar or restaurant in the hotel.

## Can I spend them on T-shirts?

Sometimes there is an agreement that they can also be used in the Dealers Room or towards convention merchandise and membership in future conventions. In this case the current Eastercon has agreed to exchange groats received by dealers/other conventions for cash. Note: if such a deal is done, then the Eastercon may require all such groats to be redeemed on or before the Monday of the convention so that accounts can be balanced.

## Can I keep my groats?

Yes. They are usually made to a pretty design and many people decide to keep one or more as a souvenir.

## What if I don't use all my groats during the convention?

Then it's a pretty piece of paper you can keep as a souvenir. It has no monetary value, can not be used at the next convention and won't be exchanged for cash.

## Can I get change for my groats?

The usual agreement with the hotel is that they don't give change. So if you're buying a drink for £1.50 and give them two groats, you won't get 50p back. So either give them one groat and 50p cash, or buy two drinks and use three groats! The point of the groat is to give you food/drink/other benefit for helping out, not to give you cash (there are probably all sorts of tax and employment laws that we'd have to follow if we paid you!) so by not giving change we hope we're avoiding that issue ... and hotels often insist on it anyway (don't know why!)

## Ok, but still, why Groat?

See this Wikipedia article for the original Groat coins, issued in England and in Scotland, made of silver and worth fourpence/four pennies. And, as it says at the top of this page, *A "Groat" is a **G**opher **R**eward **T**oken (GRT)*
Setup

Steve Davies has started an article about setting up a convention but it needs more work

## Getting There

Aim on getting to the con at least a couple of days before it starts.
The days when you could get to the con on Friday morning and be ready by Friday
evening are long gone (unless you are running a very small relaxed convention).
For Reconvene, most of the committee arrived on the Wednesday before Easter and
left on the Wednesday after. This way, if you’ve ordered something (films,
radios, stationery, whatever) and it hasn’t arrived, you have some very
slight chance of arranging a replacement on Thursday.

## Things To Do

For Reconvene, I had a checklist of things that needed to be done and on
which days. As usual, reality didn’t bear much relationship to the plan,
but it did mean that I had some idea of what needed in place by the start of
the con.

* Set up radios

* Put up signs

* Allocate rooms