Programming
As you might have noticed, we’re hosting a series on how you can participate in programming as a presenter on the Sirens LiveJournal. We encourage you to become a presenter, whether this is your first conference or your hundredth. Sirens’s programming will be designed, proposed, and presented by you–and will represent your interests, research, work, and passions. We’d also love to include as many viewpoints as possible. Signal boosting is welcomed and appreciated!

This month and next, we’ll provide how-to information for papers, panels, workshops, roundtables, and afternoon classes. In the meantime, you can visit the Sirens website for programming proposal instructions. Proposals are due May 7, 2010.

The Matchmaker
Are you looking for someone to work with? You’re not the only one. There are several threads on the Sirens message boards with people looking for co-presenters–feel free to respond to these or to start your own! We’ll happily feature you in upcoming posts and newsletters.

Current threads can be seen here, and they include:

Fantasy Book Covers
Faerie Folklore from Around the World
Fairy Tale Panel
Queer Fairy Panel

Programming Chat
Want to brainstorm? Looking for collaborators? Just need to talk things out a little to get your idea to gel? Instead of discussing a faery book, we’re devoting our chat this weekend to programming: topic discussions, possible collaborator matching, and answering all of your questions about the proposal submissions process. As always, general chatter, book chatter, and conference questions are welcome as well. We hope you’ll join us!

DATE: Saturday, March 6
TIME: 2-4 p.m. Eastern/1-3 p.m. Central/noon-2 p.m. Mountain/11-1 p.m. Pacific
LOCATION: www.sirensconference.org/chat/

You don’t need to download anything or have any special software to participate: the webpage will turn into a chat room when the chat begins.

Follow Along
Sirens has a number of information outlets. The most complete is the Sirens website. The most frequently updated is the Sirens LiveJournal, with the message boards following closely behind. Newsletters are posted to our Facebook group and mailing list. We’ve started using our Twitter account on occasion as well, and used it to post schedule reminders at Sirens in 2009. (If you don’t use Twitter, you can also subscribe to sirens_con’s RSS feed.)

Registration
As a reminder, the current registration rate of $165 expires April 30, 2010. After that, the rate is $180 until September 8, 2010 (when we stop registration until we open again at the door). Registration includes access to all conference programming and events, including the three keynote presentations by our guests of honor and a conference T-shirt available only to attendees, as well as a dessert reception, two lunches, and a breakfast. Via registration, you can also add a ticket for the Sirens Supper, a pre-conference kickoff banquet, or the Sirens Shuttle, which provides service from Denver International Airport to Vail.

Find out more or register now at the Sirens website.

Banner Exchanges
We’re excited to be exchanging banners and buttons with a number of sites, including newsletters, archives, conferences, artists, and online stores. To see the offerings or to exchange a banner, visit the Banner Exchange page of the Sirens website.

Travel Tip
The rate of $119 (for one or two people) or $139 (for three or four people), plus tax and resort fee, per night at the Vail Cascade Resort and Spa can be shared with a roommate or three to help your budget. Make a reservation here, and feel free to post here if you’re seeking roommates.

Quick Links
The Sirens Website and Tell a Friend Link
Registration
Travel
Become a Supporter
Read the FAQ

For More Information
Please feel free to contact us at (help at sirensconference.org). We’re happy to answer any questions you might have. You can leave general questions in the comments here as well.

We hope to see you in Vail!