This is it!  Many of us will be finding our way to the Escapade hotel tomorrow, and the con officially begins on Friday morning. We are all looking forward to a weekend of fun and socializing and talking and playing and … and …

Weather

It looks like the weather in Los Angeles is going to be chilly (by California standards): low 60s and partially sunny.  Pack accordingly, and remember that inside will likely be air-conditioned.

Hotel airport shuttle

If you’re flying in, the hotel (Embassy Suites North) has a free shuttle from LAX.

Shuttle information provided by the hotel:

When you are coming from the terminals, go to the center median and look up for the RED SIGN that says, Hotel and Courtesy Shuttle and look for the yellow and burgundy bus.  On the side it will say, Embassy Suites LAX North, Residence Inn LAX & Airport Center. The shuttle does a constant loop from the airport to the two hotels & Airport Center.  The frequency is approximately 20 to 30 minutes, but they are not on a set schedule.

 You can contact the our hotel directly at (310) 215-1000 to have them contact dispatch. Please provide them with your terminal number and how many people are in your group. The shuttle fits up to 18 people at a time and is Handicap Accessible.

Parking at the hotel

If you’re driving in, we have negotiated a reduced parking rate with the hotel (Embassy Suites North).  For the overnight parking, each guest with a vehicle will be asked upon check-in if they are parking a car with us. If they don’t ask, tell them!

We have a discounted rate of $16+tax per day in place for Escapade 2019, and the parking charges will be charged to your hotel bill. For the daily attendees who are not staying at the hotel, you will let the front desk know you are with Escapade 2019 and pay at the front desk. You can park in any spots in either the above-ground lot, or the below-ground parking garage, and take the elevator up to the lobby. (We recommend this as it is easier and quicker access to the lobby.)

Thursday night pre-reg and more

Early registration will run from 7:00-8:30 pm in the con suite, room 430.

This year, we are offering two events on Thursday night to help you prepare for your con experience.

Thursday at 7:00 pm in the large Laguna/Malibu room, join us for a guided tour of the convention space. Based on feedback from past years, we are offering this opportunity to familiarize yourselves with the room layout before you’re scrambling to get from one panel to the next.  This tour will also be offered at 12:00 pm on Friday.

Thursday at 7:30 pm in the Newport room, we will run an early version of How to Mod a Panel. New and experienced panel mods are welcome to come ask questions, discuss what it means to moderate an Escapade panel, and share wisdom and tips with your fellow mods!  This panel will also be offered at 1:00 pm on Friday.

Recent News Updates:

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-scholarship-recipients-2019/

https://escapadecon.net/the-escapade-dealer-room/

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-reminders-registration-art-show-diy-panel-signups-volunteering/

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-29-schedule-is-posted-and-diy-panel-signups-are-open/

The Escapade panel schedule is posted.  Go here to view the schedule and begin planning your weekend:

Schedule

Did your panel not make the cut?  Did something catch your interest  after panels suggestions closed?  We have a plan for that!  Find a slot marked “Available” in the schedule and claim it for your panel or gathering.  Requests received by Friday 2/15 will be listed in the Escapade program book.  All we need in order to add it to the schedule is a catchy title (you do want people to come join you, right?) a description, and your preferred  choice of time.  Open slots are filled on a “first come, first served”  basis, so please pick two time slots that would work for you, and we’ll try to give you your first choice.

Panel slots can still be claimed after 2/15, but are not guaranteed to be listed in the program book.  Any slots still available at the convention can be claimed on a “first-come, first served” basis during the weekend.

So check out the schedule, consider whether you want to schedule something in an open panel slot, and enjoy thinking about all the fun programming you can attend during the weekend!  Printable version of the schedule and program book will be linked on the schedule page on the website when they are finalized.

Recent News Updates:

https://escapadecon.net/thinking-of-bringing-food-to-share-in-the-con-suite/

https://escapadecon.net/the-escapade-raffle-and-swap-table/

https://escapadecon.net/the-escapade-volunteer-program-2/

https://escapadecon.net/the-escapade-panel-cut-and-call-for-additional-moderators/

Friday the 22nd, join us for Opening Night, Escapade’s dance party, where we don’t just play music, we dance to vids! We boogie to great dance vids from your favorite fandoms, new and old. Just vidded Detroit: Become Human?  What about classic Star Trek?  Do you have old MFU vids on DVD that you’d like to send us, or have you just spotted a great MFU movie vid on Youtube? Let us know!

We’ll be selecting the show for diversity of fandoms, diversity of vidders, and good musical flow. We welcome vids of any era, including old VCR vids (provided we can find a high enough quality digital file). We’d love to include more vidders outside of Escapade/Vividcon/Festivids circles whose work the Escapade audience might be missing out on. Let us know about your old favorites and undiscovered gems. Got a favorite fandom or dance song but no favorite vid? Let us know and we’ll see if we can find one.

Whether it’s a famous classic or somebody’s first vid, if you want to dance to it, we want to hear about it. Send ideas and suggestions to Franzi: fdickson@ix.netcom.com

Don’t be shy: rec us something!

Recent News Updates:

https://escapadecon.net/reminder-escapade-hotel-con-rate-deadline-2-1/

https://escapadecon.net/introducing-fanfair-2019/

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-2019-vid-show-call-for-vids-and-vid-show-volunteers/

https://escapadecon.net/reminders-panel-ballot-hotel-registration-scholarships/

We are less than 6 weeks away from Escapade 2019! Are you getting excited? We are! The con comm is meeting regularly to plan all the things you look forward to and love about Escapade: the panels, the art show, the vid show, the Friday night party, and all the little details that make the weekend run smoothly.

We wanted to remind you about a few things you can do to get ready for Escapade, too!

·         VOTE FOR PANELS! The deadline for panel voting is tomorrow, January 15, at midnight PST. Vote for the panels you want to attend, and volunteer to moderate panels, via the Escapade panel ballot. Remember that panels with moderators are more likely to make the final cut! You must be logged in to vote.

https://escapadecon.net/panels/panel-ballot/

·         BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM! If you haven't yet booked your hotel room for Escapade, you can do so through the link on the Escapade website to get the special con rate, or follow the instructions on the hotel page to register by phone. The deadline to book your hotel room at the con rate is February 1. If you need to connect with roommates for the con, check out the comments on the Rides and Roommates post on the Escapade website or leave a comment of your own.

https://escapadecon.net/location/

https://escapadecon.net/rides-and-roommates/

·         REGISTER FOR THE CON! Did you know you can still register for Escapade 2019? You can! If you've been meaning to get around to registering, you can do so easily and quickly through the Escapade store.  If you're within driving distance and can't make it for the whole weekend, don't forget  the single day membership options.

https://escapadecon.net/registration/

·         NOMINATE OR DONATE TO THE ESCAPADE SCHOLARSHIPS! We have several scholarship options available.  If you know someone who can't attend Escapade due to financial difficulty, check out the scholarship page and consider nominating them. And if you have a little extra cash on hand, consider donating to the scholarship fund to help someone join us at the con.

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-scholarship/

Recent News Updates:

https://escapadecon.net/introducing-the-escapade-art-show-2/

https://escapadecon.net/rides-and-roommates/

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-panel-ballot-is-open/

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-panel-suggestion-deadline-december-24/

The Escapade 2019 panel programming needs YOU! Specifically your brilliant, funny, engaging, thought-provoking ideas for panels, and maybe your panel moderating talents, too!

The deadline to suggest topics for panels is this Monday, December 24. 

Go read about the panels that your fellow Escapade members have already submitted, then think about what conversations are missing and submit your own!

Panel Suggestions

Recent News Updates:

https://escapadecon.net/reminder-roundup-do-all-the-things-for-escapade-2019/

https://escapadecon.net/the-escapade-scholarship-fund-and-scholarship-nominations-2/

https://escapadecon.net/this-holiday-season-check-out-the-escapade-store/

https://escapadecon.net/have-you-booked-your-escapade-hotel-room-yet/

Friends, the Escapade panel submission form is open and awaiting your suggestions for 2019 panels!  Give us your meta, your squee, your outrage, your knowledge, your skills, and your questions.  Is there a panel you wanted to submit last year or at another con, but you missed your chance?  Have that conversation with your Escapade friends this year!  Is there a panel at last year’s Escapade that you just haven’t been able to stop thinking about, and you want to continue that conversation, or rebut it, or take it in a new direction? Now is your chance! Been following a conversation online that you know some Escapade members are missing?  Bring it to it Escapade!  Have you discovered a new technology or learned a new skill that would be useful for fandom?  Submit a panel and teach us all about it!

Escapade has long been known as a meta-oriented con, with a reputation for thinky and sometimes controversial panels. There is always room for fannish squee, for panels that provide a space for wallowing in our shared enthusiasm, and we love skill-sharing and knowledge-sharing panels and fans helping fans.  But we don’t shy away from difficult topics and we really welcome panels that get people’s brains engaged and fannish blood pumping.

Escapade panels are also not like “panels” as they occur at traditional literary science-fiction and fantasy cons, or larger industry-oriented cons like ComicCon or DragonCon.  At Escapade, a panel is a moderated discussion.  The moderator’s role is to frame a discussion, to facilitate it and make sure the attendees get to engage and participate, and to document it in whatever way seems appropriate.  The moderator(s) are up front taking notes on a flip chart, but often they speak less than anybody else in the room! In an Escapade panel, the attendees engage with each other, with the topic, and with the mods, and everybody creates the conversation together.

For a taste of what an Escapade panel feels like, check out the Escapade YouTube channel to view an Escapade panel filmed in 2016:

So what’s on your minds?  What do you want to talk about at this year’s Escapade?  Which shows or showrunners have made you the most excited this year and why?  Which have pissed you off and made you want to write all the fic and vid all the vids and create all the art to fix their ridiculous mistakes and terrible choices?  Which meta discussions have taken over your brains or your social media feeds?  Which fandoms are doing something new, saying something new, making something new?  Which fandoms are toxic dumpster fires of wank that need some panel therapy or a panel cage match to fight it out?  Still having Deep Fannish Thoughts about that fandom you’ve loved since 1985? Submit a panel and see who else might still be thinking about it, too!  Now is the time to start making Escapade 2019 the con experience you want to have!

Check out the panel programming page on the Escapade website:

Panels

Submit your panels (and toggle the tab to view topics already submitted):

Panel Suggestions

Recent News Updates:

https://escapadecon.net/introducing-the-new-escapade-welcommittee/

https://escapadecon.net/updated-slack-invite-link/

https://escapadecon.net/reminder-escapade-is-on-slack/

https://escapadecon.net/have-you-registered-for-escapade-2019-yet/

The Escapade schedule still has many slots open and available for you to fill with…well, with whatever kind of programming you want and can’t already find on the schedule!  Maybe your panel idea didn’t make the cut, or you just thought of it yesterday.  Maybe you’d like to pimp people into your shiny new fandom.  Maybe you want to see who will join you to play a new fandom-themed game you just thought of.  Maybe you want to get a gang together and watch your favorite episode of your favorite show.  Maybe you want to hang out with folks from an old fandom and reminisce.  Sign up for a slot and make it happen!

View  time slots marked “Available” on the Escapade schedule here:

Schedule

This post has more information about Alt/DIY programming:

Escapade 2018 schedule is posted and Alt/DIY panel signups are open!

To sign up, send your first and second choice for panel slots to KatBear at: diypanels@escapadecon.net

Signups for open slots will still be available at the convention, but if you want your panel to be included in the program book, submit your request by 6:00 pm PST this Thursday, February 15.

The convention is just over a week away!  Now that the schedule is posted, it’s time to start planning your weekend and thinking about how you’d like to spend your time and the ways you’d like to be involved.  This is a great time to think about signing up for some volunteer slots.  And you can still submit art for the art show!  Follow these links to learn more about Escapade programming.

Escapade Opening Night: the Friday night dance party!

The Escapade Volunteer Program

Introducing: the Escapade Art Show!

Vid Show

Friday, join us for Opening Night, Escapade’s dance party where we don’t just play music, we dance to vids!  We boogie to great dance vids from your favorite fandoms, new and old. Just vidded Hamilton?  What about classic Star Trek?  Classic Trek to a song from Hamilton?  Do you have old MFU vids on DVD that you’d like to send us, or have you just spotted a great MFU movie vid on Youtube? Let us know!

We’ll be selecting the show for diversity of fandoms, diversity of vidders, and good musical flow. We welcome vids of any era, including old VCR vids (provided we can find a high enough quality digital file). We’d love to include more vidders outside of Escapade/Vividcon/Festivids circles whose work the Escapade audience might be missing out on. Let us know about your old favorites and undiscovered gems or just the fandoms you’d love to see included and the songs you’d love to dance to.

Whether it’s a famous classic or somebody’s first vid, if you want to dance to it, we want to hear about it.

Send ideas and suggestions to Franzi: fdickson@ix.netcom.com

Don’t be shy: rec us something!

Did you know that Escapade has a vid show? Trick question! Everyone knows that Escapade has a vid show!

Over the past 27 years, the vid show has been managed by such amazing fans as Kandy Fong, Katharine S., feochadn, and Killa. This year it will be curated and assembled by smutcutter, with onsite production by feochadn (she’s back again, yay!) and vidder outreach by ride_4ever.

We have pushed the submission deadline so everyone–including festivids participants [link: https://festivids.dreamwidth.org/]–can send their vids to the Escapade vid show. The deadline for vid upload is 2/5/18.

Please consider sending your new (or nearly new) vids to be included in the show.  Slashy or shippy vids especially welcome! They will make many fans happy.

We love it when vidders attend Escapade so that we can meet you and you can see your vids on the big screen (and bask in the applause). If you can’t make it to the convention, we will acknowledge you at the start of the show, then send you a copy of the convention DVD to watch in the quiet of your own home.

More information on the vid show and submission instructions can be found here:

Vid Show

You can also email vids@escapadecon.net.

You can still register for the convention here:

Register for Escapade

We also have a scholarship for a vidder to attend Escapade. Details here:

Escapade Scholarship

Sorting out the panel ballots, we have identified MANY panels that were popular in the voting, but no one has volunteered to moderate. We cannot schedule panels without a mod. If one of these is your favorite, please step up now so we can continue crafting the schedule.

If you want to rescue an orphan panel, please email info@escapadecon.net by midnight PST on Saturday 1/27.

Meta:

• Literature 101: Let’s Discuss the Literary Merit of our Fan Fiction


• Canon vs. Subtext


• Representing Slashers


• One Fandom, Many Canons


• Living in the Mirrorverse


• Utopian Fiction Recommendation Party


• Anonymity in Slash Fandom: Choosing to Hide


• Where Have All the Good Girls Gone?


• Not Gay if it’s a Threeway?


• One-Shot Novelty Paper Zines

Fandom:

• MCU: Avengers: Infinity War


• MCU: Black Panther


• Sherlock Season 4 Hatefest


• MCU: Supersoldiers in love: What does the future hold for Stucky?

Tech/Alt:

• Alternate Slash Card Deck


• Fieldtrip to Bésame

To read descriptions of these panels, visit the panel ballot page on the Escapade website.  Voting is closed, but you can still view both the panel descriptions and the votes you cast.

Panel Ballot