Hal-Con 2011 was an amazing year. Record-breaking attendance of nearly 4700 participants was astounding. Thank you to absolutely everybody for rocking our world.
The organizers have gone into Quiet Planning mode (a little like hibernation). However, stay tuned as lots will be announced shortly!
DATES & LOCATION: Hal-Con 2012 will be from October 26-28 in beautiful downtown Halifax at the World Trade & Convention Centre.
GUESTS: A partial guest list was announced at the convention closing and there are some clues on our social media sites. A more complete list will be posted in February. If you’re interested in participating as a guest for Hal-Con 2012, please reach out to us! We’d love to hear from you. Email the guest coordinator.
WEBSITE: Being re-vamped with new shinies to make it more functional and friendly. (Suggestions? Email webmaster@hal-con.com with your ideas.)
COMMUNITY EVENTS: Laser tag, trivia nights and loads of more fun activities are being planned and will be announced soon!
EXHIBITOR REGISTRATION: We are planning to have the number of tables and prices ready to go by end of January.
TICKETS: We are planning to have tickets available online by April and in stores by May/June. Good news – our amazing Warp Speed ticket option is decreasing in price!
KEEP IN TOUCH: Please sign up for our email list over on the bottom of the right hand column, join us on Twitter @HalCon_SciFiCon, @Nelson_HalCon, Google+ page or the Facebook page or group.
In the meantime…
Hal-Con is 100% run on volunteer power and is a registered not-for-profit organization.
Hal-Con is holding an online auction to wrap up 2011 donations, and we’ve added a few goodies from early 2012 as well! Come and check out the new group page, browse the photos, and place bids on any items that catch your fancy. Bids are open until February 10, 2012. Details are available on the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/330063307022668/. Spread the word! Share your favourite photos, and post your suggestions for items you’d like to see on the auction block at the 2012 convention on the wall. Happy Bidding!!
Click on the link below to see a PDF with the winners and honourable mentions!
The numbers from the door prize draw:
166857, 138550, 346327, 346063, 345604, 346059, 166784, 328450, 166884, 345922, 306563, 166807, 167009, 346290, 138422, 306542, 308168, 307984, 138348, 345930, 345942, 345987, 345674, 346507, 433431, 346204, 346518
If your number is listed above, please contact us at info@hal-con.com
Exciting news everyone!
Aperture Studios has posted the photographs taken yesterday to their website. Please go to the gallery link and select the guest you posed with to see your photo.
The creators of the comic book series Kill Shakespeare are excited to announce that Canada’s eastern-most comic convention, Hal-Con, will serve as the launch-pad for the release of the second collection of the award-winning series.
The all-Toronto creative team behind the Harvey- and Joe Shuster-nominated series will be in Halifax this weekend to unveil Kill Shakespeare Volume 2: The Blast of War to Canadian comic fans for the first time. The concluding chapter of the IDW Publishing series, which pits the Bard’s heroes and villains on a quest to track down a mysterious wizard by the name of William Shakespeare, will be released in bookstores in Canada at the end of November.
Series co-creators Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery, as well as series artist Andy Belanger, will also be taking part in panels and will provide workshops on how to create and market comic book series.
“I attended the inaugural Hal-Con last year and bar none I had the best time of any convention I have ever attended, say McCreery. “I’m beyond pleased that the timing of the release means we get to make Hal-Con the first convention in Canada to see The Blast of War.”
The Kill Shakespeare team will also provide more details on the upcoming Kill Shakespeare stage show. Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre – one of the country’s top theatre groups – will perform the series live on November 26th and 27th in Toronto. The play will provide the audience with a never-before seen mix of comic art, performance and music to bring the series to life in a way that will delight both theatre and comic “geeks”.
Del Col, McCreery and Belanger will be available for interviews during Hal-Con 2011.
Last minute fiddling with the schedule and even some guest updates are coming. Our programme book goes to print on Monday and we take over the venue on Friday. It’s going to be a hugely busy week for the organizing team!
Pre-purchased ticket sales come to a close soon! Registration opens at 8am to get wristbands on… doors open at 9am on Saturday! If you have PRE PURCHASED a ticket, you’ll get in first. If you bought online – bring your confirmation/ID to speed things up.
Warp Speed pass holders will get a special line-up to get through the door first! There are only 50 passes total available for this – so get ‘em quick!
Alright comic fans – check this out. STEVE MCNIVEN just confirmed he’ll be at the Strange Adventures signing table on Sunday! This information is SO NEW – we haven’t even got it online yet. Check our Guests page for updates soon on that!
Just over a week to go, and everything is falling in to place nicely. Just a couple of quick updates for everyone:
Autograph and Photo prices for some of the guests are as follows:
The last day for in store ticket purchases is November 6th. On-line sales will be done on November the 10th. After that tickets will be available at the door, unless we sell out like we did last year. It’s cash sales only at the door, so if you want to pay by credit card you need to buy on-line.
There have been some changes to the schedule so if you haven’t checked it out lately please do so.
At Hal-Con 2011, please join many of Eastern Canada’s emerging talents for the launch of the charity anthology ‘What the Wild Things Read.’ For the benefit of ‘Free the Children,’ a Canadian-based international charity, over 15 talented individuals came together and donated comics, prose and poetry. Included are Hal-Con guests Ellen Curtis, Matthew LeDrew and Andrew Power as well as international artist Jono Doiron, acclaimed webcomic creators Peter Chiykowski and Josh Rodgers and more. Hal-Con organizers have generously offered a room in which people can interact with some of the project’s contributors such as co-creator Jay Paulin. Copies of the book will be on sale for $15 at the launch as well as at the Ink’d Well Comics table. All net proceeds are donated to the local chapter of Free the Children.
We’re starting to get down to the wire now. On-line ticket sales will be closed on November 5th, and October 31st is the last day to have them mailed to you.
Our draft schedule is now available as a PDF download so you can plan all the Q&A, workshop and gaming sessions you want to attend.
If you’re not part of Zaboo’s Seat-Saver’s network, you should look in to getting a Warp Speed pass. There will be a special line at registration and priority seating to everything for the holders of these golden tickets.
Registration opens at 8am Saturday. All pre-purchased ticket holders are getting processed first. So if you don’t want to be stuck waiting in line while your friends are snapping up all the cool stuff in the vendors room, buy your tickets now. Doors open at 9am Saturday, and the opening ceremonies are at 9:30am. Gaming and the vendors rooms will be open at 9am.
Tickets for the Time Travellers Ball are going quickly. This will be a great dance taking place the day before Halloween (October 30th) and a fabulous time to show off your best costume.
Well, at the time of this post, we’re only 41 days from the con. This is usually the time where the schedule is getting it’s finishing touches and will be posted online soon. Door prizes, charity auction items, and last minute sponsors are coming on board. Volunteer recruitment is in full swing too, and we’re lining up our press interviews.
The month before the convention is nutty but probably the most fun time, except for during the convention itself! The whole planning team gets to see their hard work magically come together.
Keep an eye out for the schedule!
PRE-SALES ONLINE for tickets will end on November 5th! If you didn’t grab one in time, check your local comic shop or purchase at registration at the event. October 31st is the last day to have tickets mailed to you.
