heidi | Crossposted from HP2009.org (Reply)

Greetings, Azkatrazi!

Our Programming schedule is coming out soon, offering you hours and hours of fantastic panels, lectures, and roundtables throughout the conference.

The Master's in Potter Administration has also taken shape to provide a full day's mini-conference in itself. Our presenters at the MPA include:

Aaron Schwabach and Julie Cramer-Young of the Jefferson School of Law;

Lev Grossman, book editor for TIME Magazine and author of his own series of fantasy books;

Ryan Freerkson, creator of the Claymation version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows;

Monique Trotter, formerly of Raincoast Books (the Canadian publishers of Harry Potter);

Jeannie Barresi, creator and guide for HP Fan Trips;

representatives from new social networking site Dreamwidth,

Bob Moog of University Games;

The creators of the Harry Potter 20Q game

Announcements of more speakers are yet to come! The MPA is a unique addition to the overall AZKATRAZ experience and combined with the regular programming, crams nearly 60 hours of formal presentations into Monday's agenda.

With so much to do during the day and night, it's easy to forget sometimes that HPEF events are run by the power of volunteers. The smoothness of our operations depends on the hard work and dedication of the volunteers who give their time so that everyone else can relax and enjoy. If everyone who attended our events spent just one hour volunteering, we could run the full table of tasks without any burden on anyone. There are always a dedicated few who spend almost their whole week working - and it's thanks to them that the conferences are so successful. But volunteering is also fun! It's a great way to meet people, get involved, get to know the organizers, and bond over Potter in a wholly different way.

There are dozens of jobs that need doing at AZKATRAZ that don't require a huge commitment - just an hour or two - and will literally make certain events possible that won't be without volunteer support. Plus, each chair has the opportunity to invite volunteers of their choice to a special thank-you party on Tuesday afternoon - and volunteers can get special t-shirts and other small tokens of appreciation. Please sign up to volunteer now so that we can guarantee we have enough help. You can work a security shift, help out at the Meet & Greet desk or Registration, serve as a programming Prefect or Common Room monitor, or support the conference in any number of other positions. We also have openings to help organize ahead of time, ranging from Food and Beverage Coordinator to a Head of the Prison Break Ball to Assistant to the Informal Programming Chairs. As people's plans and situations alter, the volunteer help we need keeps changing, too, so we are constantly filling and opening different capacities. Help us out! Volunteer and make the conference work.

We're also in the middle of our t-shirt design contest, getting ready to announce more special programming, and we're putting together the opportunity to use our rooms on off-hours for your meet ups and informal "birds of a feather" get-togethers. In the three months until AZKATRAZ, we're moving into the most exciting parts of the planning process, so keep your eyes and ears open for the latest, greatest information. Read on for some valuable intel that will help make your time in AZKATRAZ well-spent.