by JordanCon Marketing | Apr 9, 2024 | Guests
When Jennifer Liang asked us to be Toastmasters for 2024 we had a few questions, such as “Can we get paid in cheese?” and “Can we set things on fire?” We took the silence as a yes…AND HERE WE ARE.
This is the 16th JordanCon, a coming of Age for the convention and we, Graendal and Lanfear, disguised as mortals Aleena Jack and Kitty Rallo, are here to bask in the celebrations as your Ringmasters.
JordanCon was first graced with our presence back in 2013. A Memory of Light was published that year and we planned on finishing it before the con. Alas, the road to the Dark is paved with good intentions. Unsurprisingly, we spent Saturday in our hotel room speed-reading until the final minute. We managed to finish just in time to be the last ones to get our books signed by Team Jordan. Did we learn our lesson? No. Did we come back? Not right away. We thought
the convention would be ending since the books ended. How exorbitantly wrong we were. This seemingly one-show convention has turned into a magnificent 3-ring grand circus. JordanCon has grown and thrived, and we have grown with it. Our lives are now intertwined with our Chosen chosen family and our friends that we have met here.
A little about each of us. Aleena Jack lives in northern California with her partner as well as her cat, Zeppelin. She is a Gothy Sparkle Mermaid stuck on land. Currently she is a second grade teaching assistant. When not reading, being an executive/personal assistant, wrangling 7 year olds, or working as a Social Media Manager for JordanCon, this Red is probably knitting. You can also find her in her garden getting messy.
Kitty Rallo is an actor living in LA with her main partner and the real loves of her life, her cats Dandelion and Sunflower. She is a Dark Ray of Sunshine, has worked as a chef and a butcher and is doing nothing with her degrees in Physical Anthropology and Dance. You’ve seen her as a host for Dragonmount, in numerous national commercials, the motion capture behind well-known games, and as a legion of Wheel of Time characters on TikTok. Perpetually freezing, this cold-blooded Green is never far from a hot body drink or warm socks.
This year’s theme of Valen Luca’s Traveling Circus is close to our dark hearts. We agreed to be Toastmasters at JordanCon this year to cause mayhem; why else would they have even asked us to host? The past JordanCons were about coming together as a family, but this year we are all running off to join the Circus. This includes our delightful Guests of Honor, whom we grandly welcome into our show of chaos.
Our Author Guest of Honor, Michael Livingston, PhD, is a three-ring circus in his own right. Author of not only Origins of the Wheel of Time, he also released Agincourt and Killing Ground this year. He is also an award-winning conflict analyst, an avant-garde armorer, and a scholar of pre-modern military history. Two of these are true, and the other could be true in a different timeline.
Incidentally, Mark Poole, our Artist Guest of Honor, is concentrating on his personal visions of imaginative realism. He is a superstar, a worldwide award-winning and displaying artist, creating oil paintings that cross subtle landscapes of dreams with emotional journey. His works of riot and color fit perfectly into the havoc of JordanCon.
All great traveling shows have a surprise headliner, and for us this year it is none other than Guy Roberts, who plays Uno Nomesta in Amazon/SONY’s smash-hit TV Series THE WHEEL OF TIME. Guy is the Founder and Artistic Director of Prague Shakespeare Company, the professional English-language theatre of the Czech Republic, now celebrating its 17th season. We are devilishly delighted to have him be a part of our show.
Welcome to the delightful chaos of JordanCon. We relish in the flow of creativity and friendship. If you lose your way or want to join in, come find us and say hello. We are here to serve you as your Toastmasters. Let the Show begin!
by JordanCon Marketing | Feb 6, 2024 | Announcements, Art Show
The annual Art Show is one of the highlights of our convention, and this year we’re adding something for our younger attendees! Last year we had a spare panel in the show and decided to offer it as a place for kids to show off their art skills. It was such a success that we decided to include it as an official part of the Art Show moving forward. So if you’re between the ages of 0-18, the Kidz Corner is just for you!
As long as you fall within the age range above, you can submit anything you want to show off at JordanCon 2024. Whether you practice a traditional art (drawing, painting, etc.), a fiber art (knitting, crocheting, weaving, etc.), or something less traditional (painting miniatures, lego builds, etc.), there is a place for you in the Kidz Corner. Once you drop off your art with us, we will make each project its own display card. Aradani has also donated some mats and backboards that fit 8.5″ x 11″ pictures, so we will add those to any projects that will fit.
Please keep in mind that art in the Kidz Corner will not be for sale and it will not be stored after the convention ends. That means you need to be sure to pick your art up before the convention is over to be sure it makes it back home with you.
If you don’t have any art prepared, that’s no reason to miss out on participating in the Kidz Corner. We will have crayons and colored pencils next to the Aradani booth, so feel free to stop by and make something new!
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Art Show director at artshow@jordancon.org for help.
by JordanCon Marketing | Mar 10, 2023 | Activities, Announcements, Programming
As you look through this year’s schedule, I’m sure you’ll notice it looks different from previous years. That’s because this year we’re using a nifty piece of scheduling software called Sched.
Sched has a lot of cool features, but we know it’s something many of you have never used, and you might like some help getting started. No worries, we’ve got your back!
In this blog, you will find instructions on how to register for Sched, how to use it to add events to your own personal schedule, and how to view your schedule. We’ll also include some links at the very end to some helpful resources from Sched on the rest of their nifty features, including in-depth video walkthroughs on both the web application and the mobile app. (That’s right, they have an awesome mobile app!)
One thing I’ll call out is that you can view the schedule without registering or taking any other action. It’s available right here.
That said, if you’re interested in creating your own schedule of only the events you want to attend, you’ll need to start by registering for an account.
Registering
There are a couple ways to register. You can do it by viewing the schedule either in your browser or within the mobile app. Registering on the web is straightforward: just find and click the green ‘Sign Up’ button on the schedule.
From there, follow the prompts to register using either your email address or your Facebook account.
If you want to register using the mobile app, there are a couple more steps involved. First, you’ll need to download the app. You can either search for it on the Apple or Android App Store or you can view the schedule on our website and click on the Apple App Store or Android App Store link.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, the first thing you’ll need to do is search for ‘JordanCon 2023’ in the search bar and tap on our event when the search results come up.
This will load the JordanCon schedule, and you’ll now be able to see an icon in the bottom right corner of your screen that says ‘My Account.’ Tap on it. It will give you the option to log in to an existing account or sign up for a new one. Tap on ‘Sign Up’ and follow the prompts to create an account using your email address.
Adding Events
Once you’re all registered and signed in to Sched, you can now start adding events to your personal schedule!
On the web, all you need to do is click the white circle to the left of the name of the event you want to add:
And that’s it! You’ll see a checkmark instead of an empty circle, and that’s how you’ll know the event was added to your schedule.
On the mobile app, you’ll need to tap on the event you’re interested in adding.
This will bring up the event’s details in addition to an ‘Add to Sched’ button in the bottom left corner of the screen. Just tap on it to add the event to your schedule!
Viewing Your Schedule
Now that you’ve added a few events, you’ll probably want to view your schedule.
To view it on the web, hover over your profile picture and click on the ‘My Schedule’ option on the dropdown menu that appears while hovering:
To view it via the mobile app, go to the JordanCon 2023 schedule in the app and tap on the ‘My Sched’ tab on the top center of the screen:
Wrap-up
Now that you know the basics, you can go ahead and use Sched to create a personalized schedule for JordanCon 2023! Sched also has a lot of other features (too many for us to go over them all), so if you want to know more about what it can do, Sched had a number of support guides that can help.
They also have video walkthroughs that cover all of what we’ve covered and more.
Web video walkthrough
Mobile app video walkthrough
Have fun choosing your panels and activities! We can’t wait to see you all in April!
by JordanCon Marketing | Mar 10, 2023 | Announcements, Engagement, Guests
Halito! Hello! When Jennifer Liang asked me to be Toastmaster for 2023 I said yes almost instantly. Attending JordanCon caused many new beginnings for me. I can’t imagine the last decade of my life without the connections and opportunities stirred by the winds in Dunwoody, GA.
This will be the 15th year for JordanCon. The 10th anniversary of A Memory of Light and the first season of the Wheel of Time show were two pivotal moments in the WoT fandom. How will the next few turnings of the wheel change the fandom and JordanCon?
JordanCon’s 5th year was a turning point for many fans and attendees, including myself. A Memory of Light was newly published. An ending had occurred. All of Team Jordan and Brandon Sanderson were attending. Leigh Butler, leader of the Tor Wheel of Time Reread, was the Toastmaster. A large number of the Leigh’s Loonies, my online fandom group, were attending for the first time. I told my spouse I had to go, for “It might be my only chance to ever meet them all!”
How I laugh at my “only chance” comment now. JordanCon friends became a new family. Since 2013, I’ve attended all but one year. The weekend energizes me in ways hard to put into words. The friends I have online every other week are next to me and we can just talk, or hug, or chill together in person. This joy is shared by all who post using #IsItAprilYet.
Since the 5th year of JordanCon, the community has grown in multiple ways. I thank the community for enabling my growth as well. The confidence I gained in becoming the (former) Workshop Director and a panelist filtered into other aspects of my life. From sharing my fan art food creations, to sharing my opinions and writings. I went from reading Tor.com blog posts to writing articles for them. I went from entering the costume contest to judging the contest. I went from a book lover to a beta reader for multiple best-selling authors. My younger shy dyslexic self could never have imagined being an active part of creating a novel, let alone over a dozen. Parts of the last ten years boggle my mind, while also bringing me great joy.
Deana wearing her Veil cosplay.
Now I get to share a part of this joy as Toastmaster of JordanCon. The Toastmaster is the master of ceremonies. They help kick off the fun and welcome everyone to the convention. I remember feeling thrilled while watching Leigh Butler give her welcoming speech. It was the start of an amazing weekend. I hope to start the 15th JordanCon on a similar entertaining footing. JordanCon has found a wonderful recipe for success, and I plan to highlight several flavor notes as Toastmaster.
JordanCon is about welcoming people to the buffet table. This includes our amazing Guests of Honor. As this year’s Toastmaster, I consider it an honor and privilege to be able to interview this year’s author Guest of Honor, Wesley Chu. I’ve been a fan of his for years, since reading his Tao novels and his season 12 co-host role on Writing Excuses. His newest novel, The Art of Prophecy, is his “love letter to the wuxia genera.” It is the start of a very promising journey.
Equally impressive is our artist Guest of Honor Omar Ryyan. His art is full of whimsy, grace, and fantasy creatures. His work reminds me of the best of Romantic era paintings. My costumer’s heart delights in the fine detail he pours into clothing, accessories, and finer details. What a delightful addition his work will be to the Art Show!
Welcome home to JordanCon everyone. I look forward to sharing the community table and ribbons with everyone in 2023. Come talk to me about your favorite flavors, cuisine or literature, your choice.
By Deana Whitney
by JordanCon Marketing | Mar 9, 2023 | Charity Auction, Uncategorized
JordanConners!
It is my pleasure to announce that the 2023 JordanCon Charity Auction is live online. As we have in years before, we’re using 32Auction.com. The direct link is here. We will be adding additional items to the Auction as we receive donation submissions.
If you were already curious and went looking at the Auction page, you might notice we already have a number of items there for you to check out. Not a lot, but we’re hoping that will change in the very near future. “But Hopper,” you ask, “if I want to donate something to the Auction to help out, how would I go about doing that?” Well, my dear friends, we have a Google Form all set up so that you can tell us all about yourself and the items you’d like for us to have. For anyone who has donated in the past, you might notice the form only allows one item per submission. We had to do that to cut down on the back-of-house processing that was required to bring items from our submissions spreadsheet to the online auction.
I know there are a number of you who have already indicated you have some amazing items you’re planning to donate. If you’re ready to submit them, I’m sure we have people out there who are ready to start dreaming about budgeting and outbidding their best friends to own them.
If you do have something you’re donating that you’d rather not have to deal with packing in your luggage, please let me know and I’ll share a shipping address so that it gets here on time.
You may have also heard the Charities Division of JordanCon has been boosted to the Officer Level and now reports directly to our amazing Chair, Jennifer Liang. This is true, and as part of that change we’ve hired a new Charity Auctions Director, Larry Daniels. I am NOT just walking away from the Charity Auction. Larry, however, will give me the time and space to work on other events too.
I can’t wait to see you all in April.
-Hopper
