Co-Chair, Director of Guest Relations & Sponsorships
902-292-3214
Jennifer@hal-con.com
Contact me about Guest Relations, Advertising, Sponsorship & Partnerships, Contracts, or anything else.

Jennifer was raised in Ottawa, ON in a small family, and had a pretty traditional upbringing. While attending college, she learned to embrace the geek in herself and take pride in her extreme knowledge of random sci-fi trivia. Escaping from her parent’s basement at 23, she moved to Halifax, NS with a boy she met on the Internet. Her diverse work history made her a great candidate to take on new experimental volunteer projects. Jennifer currently volunteers as a representative for Steve Jackson Games, in addition to her day job and leadership role with Hal-Con. She is now married and lives in Cole Habour, NS.

Co-Chair, Director of Venue & Scheduling
902-229-4882
Amanda@hal-con.com

Contact me about the venue, becoming an Exhibitor, scheduling, or anything venue related.

At age 5, wanting to be just like the “cool kids” (a.k.a. her best friend’s older siblings) she rolled her first D20 as an NPC for an epic battle to the death between good and evil… or it may have been a “how drunk does the character get?” roll. The memory is a little fuzzy, but regardless, either way, she’s been hooked on geek since.

As the daughter of a librarian, she always had access to books, and loved reading about other worlds and galaxies where magic and science merged. Favourite books include the Harry Potter series (go on, ask her a question) and Good Omens.

After moving to Halifax, she began to help out at smaller conventions and game days around the city for years. Always, there was talk about “What if a larger festival came to Halifax?” Well, that “what if” has happened.  Two long years of planning saw Hal-Con 2010 come to life, and Amanda hopes that we only grow from here.

 Director of Community Events and Promotions
Travers@hal-con.com

Sci-Fi/Fantasy has long been a part of shaping who Travers is – at the age of 8 he learned about accepting different people (And hairstyles!), and how they work together watching Classic Star Trek Saturdays at noon on CBC. His first big-screen movie was Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. His girlfriend and future wife bonded by going to see LOTR: Return of the King. Over the last 12 years and more he has enjoyed doing charity work and Face Painting in and out of Klingon costume – it is always a Kodak moment seeing a six-foot-plus-tall Warrior painting a butterfly or Spiderman face on an 8-year-old! And he absolutely rejoiced when the TV cable package included Teletoon Retro (ThunderCats! HO!). This is what draws Travers to Hal-Con. Knowing so many great people could accept and party with this NORT-shirt wearing, Voltron-loving, Monty Python Card Game Playing, proud KAG/Kanada member, Big Bang Theory mega-fan, LEGO-is-soooo-much-cooler-now, All-Round nerd-‘migo – Makes regular old boring real life much more fun. EXCELSIOR!

Director of Community Events and Promotions
Leanne@hal-con.com

Leanne Milo (nee Chatham) is just like Hal-Con – a totally Nova Scotian creation!!!  Born in Halifax and raised in Cole Harbour, the Sc-fi and Fantasy genre has been a part of her life from a very early age… not too many young girls would fight to watch the Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman back in the 1970’s… she was unique to say the least!  Encouraged to pursue her love of the genre by her father and favorite uncle, it eventually lead to meeting the love of her life, her husband of 6 years, and getting the fabulous chance to work with the special group of people who make up the board and committee of Hal-Con.  This is the second year Leanne and Travers have been the team behind Community Events and Promotions and things will only keep growing from year to year.

Gaming Director
Shawn@hal-con.com

At the tender age of ten, Shawn’s major interests were Spider-man comics, scary monsters and games of all kinds; 20 years later, none of this has changed. In junior high Shawn was introduced to the gaming trifecta of D&D, BattleTech and Magic.

Shawn studied engineering at Dalhousie University and now works for a local engineering firm. His gaming time is currently split between board games, Call of Duty, D&D and miniature war games. Other interests include Doctor Who, reading comics and watching movies.

Director of Finances
Diana@hal-con.com

Talk to me about anything money related.

Achieving her CA designation in 2010, Diana decided to re-join the world of non-accountants and volunteer. And where else better to meet unique and impressively interesting people? Hal-Con.  Joining as a volunteer in October 2010, Diana joined the Board in late 2010 to become our Director of Financial Operations.  Keeping our books balanced, we head forward Hal-Con 2011!

Director of Design & Print Standards
Travis@hal-con.com

Travis Whalen is not your typical “geek.”

He loves the Internet, photography, anime/manga and Minecraft. Travis only started watching Star Trek because his wife made him, and admittedly hasn’t even seen the original Star Wars triology.

Travis grew up in Cape Breton, NS and moved to Ottawa, ON in his early 20′s. Moving to the ‘big city’ gave him opportunity to live in a run-down apartment near the downtown core and gain substantial life experience.

He met his now-wife in 2004 on the Internet and they moved to Halifax together in 2005. They have only one pet; an evil rabbit (the kind that might guard the entrance to a cave). Travis works at a local Halifax university print centre as a graphic designer and senior team member.

Media Relations Director
Shane@hal-con.com

Contact me about Press at Hal-Con.

Shane Wilson has always loved geeky things, and it has nothing to do with his likeness to “Q” actor John de Lancie.

As a former flight instructor, Wilson took to the skies to share his love of flight with students for many years at the Shearwater Flight Centre. Though it would never replace his dream of travelling the stars as an omnipotent being, it was as close as his human form would permit.

Wilson’s history has provided him many opportunities to share the limelight; working as News Director and morning personality on local radio in Halifax.  He has also worked in television, other radio and print journalism around the Maritimes for 20 years.

And, don’t ask about the parrot. They had a disagreement over who’s cracker it was and it ended badly.

Director of Security
Dan@hal-con.com

Originally born in Boulder CO, USA, Dan and his mother moved to Nova Scotia in 1983. At a young age, Dan fell prey to comic books. It was Spiderman first, then Wolverine, the X-men, the Avengers, Superman, Batman, and so on.  All the while, seeing these fantastic characters and others jumping into life upon this new and wonderful medium his mother told him was called “Television.” So, it was that comics begat TV, TV begat movies, movies begat video games, and all the while a dread fascination with games of strategy gestated within him like a glorious alien waiting to burst forth from his chest and eat the faces of any who would challenge him.

Dan has had a deeply held love of most things genre from comics to toys to video games, to movies, to TV for almost his entire life.  In fact the first novel he ever read was the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  He has a particular passion for table-top hobby gaming, particularly Games Workshops Warhammer and Warhammer: 40,000.  So much so, in fact, that he now works for the company in addition to being Hal-Cons spokesperson and a member of the board.