JordanCon 2010 was a great success. We had an attendance of approximately 300 people, and we raised slightly over $3,000 on behalf of the Mayo Clinc. We successfully launched two new programming tracks and doubled the size of our Dealers Hall. Our success is entirely due to the amazing staff, volunteers and guests who put in countless hours to help make JordanCon possible each year.

We’re a little busy now nailing down the details for 2011′s “Consaken”, but here are links to reviews and photos of the SeanCon Invasion.

Jeff Daniel’s Blademaster Report

Anthony Azziz’s JordanCon Report

Tor.com’s Recap by Richard Fife

Richard’s Interview with Harriet McDougal

Richard’s Interview with Maria Simons

Richard’s Interview with Wilson Grooms

Tiffany Franklin’s photos

Amy Romanczuk’s Gallery

Official Opening Ceremonies Gallery

Official JordanCon Programming Gallery

JordanCon Official Saturday Night Gallery (includes costume contest photos)

JordanCon Miscellaneous Gallery

You can find more photos and connect with friends you made at JordanCon through our official Facebook group.

So it’s only been a day, and already you’re coming out of your Con-induced coma and searching for photos and reports of the weekend. Or maybe you missed out on JordanCon and are aching to hear all about it from those who were there. Well, you’ve come to the right place–but just a little bit early. (We do love your enthusiam, though!) Give us just a few days to gather information and we will post links right here to Con-goers’ videos, reports, photos, blogs, and more.

If you have some JordanCon photos or other links you would like to share, please visit our Forum to let us know.

Thank you to everyone who made JordanCon II: The SeanCon Invasion such a great success. We hope to see you again next year!

~Padra

JordanCon II: The SeanCon Invasion is almost here! Are you scrambling around trying to get your Aes Sedai shawl or your Seanchan helmet packed? Are you thinking you may have forgotten something before you head for Atlanta? Here is what you need to know:

Registration

It is not too late to purchase a membership at the door if you did not pre-register. Just keep in mind that we will only accept cash or check at the event, so come prepared.

Friday-Sunday, April 23-25, 2010
Friday-Sunday: $65
Friday Only: $25
Saturday Only: $40
Sunday Only: $25
Saturday & Sunday: $50

Location and Travel

JordanCon will be held at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia in Atlanta, Georgia. Here are some helpful links to get you there:

JordanCon Hotel and Travel page
Crowne Plaza Ravinia’s website
Atlanta and state-wide traffic updates

Schedule

You can find the mostly-finalized schedule online, and the final schedule will be published in the event program. Registration will begin at 10:00 AM on Friday in the pre-function area of the ballrooms and Opening Ceremonies will begin at 1:00 PM Friday in the Oakwood ballroom.

JordanCon will feature four distinct and concurrent tracks:

Writers Track — Learn about fantasy writing, the editing and publishing process, and how to promote your book from our guest authors Brandon Sanderson (the final Wheel of Time books), David Wong (John Dies at the End), Jana G. Oliver (Time Rovers series), and editor Harriet McDougal (The Wheel of Time series).

The Forum — Whether you want to argue your favorite theory, speculate on the upcoming books, or just share your love of books with other fans, you will find plenty to discuss in this track.

The Workshop — This hands-on track will teach you everything a good WoT fan needs to know, from sword forms to costuming to dancing. Featured presenters include leaders from the WoT community, the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA), Jendayi Bellydance of Atlanta, and the Atlanta Jugglers Association.

World of the Wheel — A haven for WoT fans featuring gaming, trivia contests, guest panels and discussions, filking, and even a WoT interpretive dance presentation.

In addition, we will host a charity poker tournament on Friday night and a homecoming ball on Saturday night. Main programming events include our opening ceremonies, guest panels and book reading with Team Jordan, and a costume contest.

Additional Costs and Expenses

Please be prepared to pay by check or cash if you plan to register at the door or participate in any extra activities requiring fees. JordanCon will not accept credit cards at the event.

Special events requiring fees include:

• Charity Events

Proceeds from the charity events will be donated to amyloidosis research at the Mayo Clinic in honor of Robert Jordan.

Seanchan Hold ‘Em Charity Poker Tournament — $20 entry fee

Silent Auction at the Homecoming Ball — Although it’s difficult to estimate the range for this year’s bids, last year’s silent auction winners ranged from $30 (for a Wheel of Time grab bag) to $1,000 (for an original manuscript page with editing notes from The Eye of the World).

• Workshop Fees

The Shawl Sewing Workshop requires a $5 fee for supplies, in addition to materials you’re required to bring (see below).

What to Wear

We’re a pretty casual group, so bring comfortable clothing. We’ve had some nice springtime weather in Atlanta, but of course that means bring your antihistamines too. You are also welcome to dress in costume or tote around your Aes Sedai shawl if you want. We do prefer to keep the Homecoming Ball on Saturday night a special event, so if you choose not to wear a costume, please aim for cocktail attire.

Costume Contests — For those of you interested in the costume contests, we will actually have two this year. The official contest is on Saturday afternoon (5:30 PM) and you can show up in any WoT costume you want.

Workshop Fees, Supplies, and Pre-Registrations

• “Regional Costumes of Randland…in Paper” on Friday at 4:00 PM — Please bring your own scissors.

• “Peer Review Session” (Writers Workshop) on Saturday at 5:30 PM — Bring a portion of your own work to be critiqued by others in the group.

• “Aes Sedai Shawl Sewing Workshop” on Sunday at 10:00 AM — Bring two yards of fabric, three yards of fringe, scissors, and a $5 class fee for additional materials. Pre-register for this class by contacting Aubree at muirenn @ gmail.com.

• Book Signings — Bring your Brandon Sanderson, David Wong, and Jana Oliver books to have them signed (they should also be available for purchase in our vendor’s hall).

Any other questions? Check out the links on the side menu or visit our JordanCon forum. We look forward to seeing you this weekend!

~Padra, Director of Marketing

Age of Legends, LLC is pleased to announce the schedule for this year’s JordanCon, the world’s only Wheel of Time focused convention is now online. JordanCon will take place April 23-25 in Atlanta, GA.

Guests this year include Guest of Honor Brandon Sanderson, co-author of The Gathering Storm, the most recent Wheel of Time novel; David Wong, author of John Dies at the End and editor of Cracked.com; and Jana G. Oliver, author of the award winning Time Rovers series. Our Toastmaster for the weekend will be Matt Hatch, Benevolent Dictator of the Hard Core Fan Freaks of Theoryland.com.

Panelists and other presenters will include Jason Denzel, webmaster of Dragonmount.com; Jennifer Liang, Dragonmount staff, Director of Wheel of Time programing for Dragon*Con and Chair of JordanCon; Linda Taglieri, contributor to The 13th Depository blog; Harriet McDougal, editor of the Wheel of Time series; Jendayi Bellydance of Atlanta; Maria Simons and Alan Romanczuk, continuity editors for The Wheel of Time; the Society for Creative Anachronism; the Atlanta Jugglers Association, and many more.

Programming highlights this year will include our annual “Seanchan Hold’em” charity poker game and silent auction benefiting the Mayo Clinic. Additionally, JordanCon will feature gaming, a full Writer’s Track, a Seanchan Homecoming Ball, costuming, and numerous panels and discussions.

Pre-registration is currently $60, and will be $65 at the door. Pre-registration closes April 3. Our host hotel for 2010 is the gorgeous Crowne Plaza Ravinia in Atlanta, Georgia. Rooms are still available at the discounted rate of $105 a night. Overflow space has been made available at the Hilton Garden Inn for the same price. JordanCon t shirts are available for pre-order through our website.

More information, including our progress report, can be found on our website: www.ageoflegends.net

Pre-registration for JordanCon, the annual convention for fans of the late Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time closes April 3. Guests this year include Guest of Honor Brandon Sanderson, co-author of The Gathering Storm, the most recent Wheel of Time novel; David Wong, author of John Dies at the End and editor of Cracked.com; and Jana G. Oliver, author of the award winning Time Rovers series. Our Toastmaster for the weekend will be Matt Hatch, Benevolent Dictator of the Hard Core Fan Freaks of Theoryland.com. Panelists and other presenters will include Jason Denzel, webmaster of Dragonmount.com; Jennifer Liang, Dragonmount staff, Director of Wheel of Time programing for Dragon*Con and Chair of JordanCon; Linda Taglieri, contributor to The 13th Depository blog; Harriet McDougal, editor of the Wheel of Time series; Jendayi Bellydance of Atlanta; Maria Simmons and Alan Romanczuk, continuity editors for The Wheel of Time, and many more.

Programming highlights this year include our annual “Seanchan Hold’em” charity poker game and silent auction benefiting the Mayo Clinic. Additionally, JordanCon will feature gaming, a full Writer’s Track, a Seanchan Homecoming Ball, costuming, and numerous panels and discussions. Pre-registration is currently $60, and will be $65 at the door. Our host hotel for 2010 is the gorgeous Crowne Plaza Ravinia in Atlanta, Georgia. Rooms are still available at the discounted rate of $105 a night. JordanCon t shirts are available for pre-order through our website. JordanCon will take place April 23-25.

More information, including our progress report, can be found on our website: www.ageoflegends.net

JordanCon 2010 Progress Report Now Available

We have recently passed our 100-day mark until JordanCon II: “The SeanCon Invasion.” As the staff finalizes the details, we’ve prepared a progress report of what is planned so far. We are really excited about how this year’s Con is pulling together; we’ve arranged a solid weekend of guests, programming, events, and charity fundraising.

This year you’ll hear from some returning guests from our inaugural year — including Brandon Sanderson, Harriet McDougal, and Wilson Grooms — as well as some new authors you really need to discover. As we begin expanding JordanCon to encompass the fantasy genre as a whole, we’ve invited our first two non-Wheel of Time authors: David Wong (John Dies at the End) and Jana G. Oliver (Time Rovers series). If you haven’t read any of their books yet, do it — you will be impressed.

We’ve expanded our track set up, and we’re proud to announce an entire track devoted to writers workshops led by our three authors. We’re also introducing a “World of the Wheel” track devoted to all things Wheel of Time, plus bringing back our workshop and forum tracks. Whether you’re interested in costuming, weapons, dance, creative writing, or just discussing books, you’ll find plenty to keep you entertained.

For those of you who attended JordanCon last year, you know how successful our inaugural Con was. We had a great turnout, we sat in awe of Team Jordan, and we had a lot of fun. But one thing that I think stands out is the fact that we raised over $3,000 for amyloidosis research in memory of Robert Jordan. For the size of the crowd and the conditions of the economy, that is a seriously impressive amount. I can’t think of a better way to honor Robert Jordan and his idea of being a “servant of all” than to live out that concept. This year’s JordanCon is bringing back the poker tournament Friday night and the silent auction at Saturday’s ball. I hope you can be a part of these charity events, which will again benefit amyloidosis research at the Mayo Clinic.

We hope you enjoy the progress report — it not only gives an overview of what you’ll experience at JordanCon, but you’ll find details on the hotel, travel, and registration.

We hope to see you in April!

~Padra, Director of Marketing

P.S. — Wilson Grooms just gave us a great plug on his latest post on the Robert Jordan blog. Check it out over at Dragonmount. (Thank you Wilson!)

JordanCon II Progress Report:
http://www.ageoflegends.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/JordanCon-Progress-Report-2010-01-19.pdf

Pre-registration is my constant worry before JordanCon. It becomes something of an obsession for us. I check the database at least once a day, just to be sure. My husband and I discuss it over dinner. Brandon and Harriet asked me how it was going when they were here for the signing tour. Why is this so important?

Pre-registration is the best way you can support a convention. The sooner you register, the better, as far as convention organizers are concerned. There’s a few reasons for this:

A) It gets your money to us before the event. Our biggest bills (hotel, guest airfare) must be paid before the event occurs.

B) It gives us a more accurate headcount for planning purposes. We need to allocate space for the tracks, buy supplies for workshops, and create our security plan. It also helps us communicate clearly and honestly with the hotel regarding what they can expect from us that weekend. We REALLY don’t want to surprise them with an extra three hundred guests. They’ll get testy.

C) It gives us a better position when negotiating with Dealers and potential sponsors. There’s a big difference, sales wise, for conventions with a membership of 200 verses 2000. When I approach potential dealers and sponsors, the first question they always ask is “How many people are attending?” We’ve been turned down in the past by sponsors because our pre-reg numbers currently indicate a smaller convention than is feasible for them.

Not everyone pre-registers of course. Only about half to a third of you will pre-register. Many of you don’t have your travel plans finalized yet, or aren’t sure if you have the finances. But if you can pre-register, you should. There really is no better way to support a convention.

When Jimmy and I travel and meet with fans and discuss JordanCon, the first question we always, always, ALWAYS get is “Why Atlanta? It’s so far away from me!” My husband finds this be a frustrating question, because for him, the answer is obvious. We live in Atlanta, we founded JordanCon, therefore the convention is located for our convience. And while that’s certainly part of the answer, it doesn’t really touch on the myriad of reasons why we’ve chosen to anchor our convention in our home city.

Atlanta is a great city to host conventions in. It’s easy to travel to, with an international airport, and three interstates passing through. We’ve also got Amtrak and Greyhound stops. It’s easy to get to. We’re also within several hours drive of Team Jordan, which means they’ll be able attend frequently and easily. I often joke that it’s so easy to get to Atlanta, that most everyone’s been here once or twice by accident or airport layover.

As far as costs go, if we did decide to move the convention to another city, things get more expensive. We have a large amount of convention materials we’ve accumulated over the years. It fills up an entire closet at home, plus a few more things in the garage. Moving JordanCon to another city means I now have to arrange for shipping of these materials and risk damaging or losing them. I’d also have my own travel expenses to budget for, additional time off from work, and the cost of becoming licensed to do business outside of Georgia.

A pattern I’ve noticed is that the larger conventions tend to be the ones in fixed locations. There’s something about that predictability of location that allows your convention to really grow. Maybe it’s being able to build long term relationships with hotels and vendors. Maybe it’s fans preferring a familiar setting. It’s probably both. But JordanCon needs to have have every advantage right now, and that means a fixed location.

Another aspect of choosing a location is the neighborhood. When we began planning JordanCon last year, we assumed that the majority of attendees would be local and drive in. And then we started processing registrations from Austria, the UK, France, etc. We knew that for 2010, we’d need to be near MARTA for the convenience of our out of town guests. We also knew we’d need to be in a neighborhood that has access to many shops and restaurants. When I go to a convention, I hate leaving it for very long, so I want to grab quick convenient meals, and run any errands fast. Some people use a convention as part of a larger vacation though, so we wanted ease of access to downtown Atlanta and it’s attractions.

We really liked our first location near Northpoint Mall, but it wasn’t close enough to a MARTA station. Also, we filled the ballroom to max capacity. That Embassy Suites could not accommodate our future growth. We began looking in the Buckhead and Perimeter locations, both of which suited our needs. Eventually, we settled on the Crowne Plaza Ravinia in Perimeter. It’s near Perimeter Mall, the Dunwoody MARTA station is right there, and it’s right off the interstate. The hotel itself has plenty of room for our projected growth.

Choosing a location for an event like JordanCon isn’t easy. I do wish we’d found another Embassy Suites for 2010 (Happy hour just won’t be the same now), but I think the Crowne Plaza will suit us just fine for many years.

Alright, so Padra, my lovely Director of Marketing has been on me for several months to start blogging here about what exactly “working on JordanCon” means. I’ve given her a variety of excuses, ranging from DragonCon, book release parties, Sanderson’s book tour, the flu, being “really tired”, “I saw a weird rock”, “nothing good on TV” and “the internet broke”. But I’m going to suck it up tonight and actually post some of the thoughts in my head.

If you don’t know me, I’m Jennifer Liang and I chair JordanCon. I will be 30 in a matter of days, I live in Roswell, GA. I teach middle school. I blog about food occasionally. I’m married to Jimmy, who most of you have seen running around, looking adorable. Most people, when they get “kinda bored” eat a snack. I start a convention. I am not Asian.

A convention is traditionally organized by a “convention comittee” also known as a “concom”. The committee has a chair. So that’s where the title comes from. How do you get this job? By being strong and brave and not in the room at the time. Honestly, I don’t know. I can actually think of several people who I think could chair something like JordanCon. But I think I’m the best at it. Or I just got there first.

What do I do? I supervise the Senior Directors, who head up Operations, Programming and Finance. And for a small con like this, when we suddenly discover at three in the morning two weeks before show time that no one has made a program, I get to do that too. My job is to make sure the Senior Directors are on top of their jobs, that they communicate with the Directors under them and that none of them have gone homicidal yet. I also fill in the gaps when needed. I also select the guests for each year and set the tone and theme for the convention. I work directly with the hotel, the publisher and various members of Team Jordan and Team Sanderson to make sure JordanCon runs smoothly and on budget.

There is no “One True Way” to organize a convention. I borrow heavily from Dragon*Con, because I’m familiar with it. I am also indebted to ConRunner.net, which is an amazing resource for planning a convention of any size. I tend to snatch up my Directors in odd places. Some are friends I’ve had for years. Some are people I know through fandom. At least one got her job because she was calm and reliable when I needed someone to be. I found out her name and asked her to be a Director for 2010.

Next time I blog, I will answer the most frequently asked question I get regarding JordanCon.

Jennifer Liang, Director of Wheel of Time programing for Dragon*Con, Special Projects Manager for Dragonmount.com and the Chair of JordanCon, the only Wheel of Time fan convention, has written a short review of the upcoming Wheel of Time novel, THE GATHERING STORM.

Like Jason Denzel, I was given the opportunity to read The Gathering Storm prior to its release in October. With less than two weeks to go before the official release, I’ve decided to share a few of my impressions.

My first thought when I picked up my copy was “What do I tell Brandon if this sucks?” Luckily, I never needed to come up with an answer to that question. The Gathering Storm is a very, very good book. I hesitate to compare it to the others in the series, because I’m terrible at being objective regarding WoT books. I mean, I like these books enough to dress up like the characters on weekends. I am hardly objective about anything regarding this series. But, I do think this will be considered a strong entry to the series.

Things happen in this book. I know there is a concern among fans that this will feel like part of a book because of the decision to split the material Jordan intended to include in A Memory of Light. But so much happened in this book that I felt completely satisfied as a reader. Key events that have been foreshadowed since the first book of the series finally come to fruition. Some things happen almost exactly the way you might predict they do. Others happen in a completely surprising way. There was more than one reveal that made my jaw drop. Like Jason, I was surprised by how dark Rand’s arc became at points. And several things are set up for the next book. I think anyone who thinks they know exactly how the events of the next few books will play out will be surprised. Pleasantly so, I hope.

The difference in writing styles between Jordan and Sanderson was not jarring to me. Some passages feel more like Brandon, others feel more like Jordan. But, I found myself so caught up in the story and the characters that I didn’t care who wrote what. Brandon has achieved his goal of adapting his style to suit the story. The descriptions are lush and evocative. The attention to detail matches what we’ve come to expect when reading a Wheel of Time novel, without being a parody of Jordan’s style or mannerisms. I also found that this book triggered many emotions. I laughed out loud at several passages, and another had me yelling out loud in shock (much to the consternation of my husband, who was disrupted by my outburst). There was at least one point where I yelled “Stop being such a tool, [NameofCharacter]!” at the book.

While I think everyone will agree, we’d much rather have this story finished by the one who began it, Brandon has written an excellent and engaging novel that is a worthy addition to the series. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.