Antonia Forest Conference

[leapingirbis.livejournal.com]

The Antonia Forest Conference is rapidly approaching ... and as this is my very first non-work-related, non-professional, purely-voluntary conference EVER, I am starting to get slightly nervous. It occurs to me that I have no idea what sort of people go to such things. Will everyone there know one another except for me? Will they all be madly intellectual or greet one another with secret handshakes? If you meet people who are members of AF forums, will they identify themselves as such or are internet personas secret identities which are never to be revealed in Real Life?

Therefore my question - how many Trennels members will be at the conference? Does anyone know how many attendees there will in fact be? And if there is a special handshake - can someone let me know how it goes???

Comments

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I'm going!

I think coughingbear said 80 people were booked, but I can't seem to find *where* she said that, so I might have dreamt it or something. I'd love to know how many of those are us, and how many are people from girlsown or offline fandom.

It's probably a bit late to arrange 'Trennels Member' (and, of course, 'Trennels Anonymouse') badges, alas. :(

I tend to think of everybody by their LJ names and will probably have quite a lot of 'But I never thought of you as a Peggy' or 'But I always envisioned you as short and blonde' cognitive dissonance. I haven't real-life met anyone who's going except for antisoppist and frankie_ecap and a couple of people I used to know from a book group about six years ago, so I honestly doubt everyone else will already know each other. :)

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

It's probably a bit late to arrange 'Trennels Member' (and, of course, 'Trennels Anonymouse') badges, alas. :(

Darn. If we'd thought of it, you could have done everyone their own icon T-shirt :-)

Are we likely to get name badges or stickers or anything anyone know? If so, those who want to be identified could always add their LJ username. It would save going up to total strangers and muttering "are you leapingirbis?" and have them write you off for the rest of the conference as being totally insane.

I've met quite a few people who are going but they are all from different places - 2 different local book groups, girlsown and here and I'm not quite sure how they will mix.

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

I'm going, but I mostly lurk around here, so I'm trimmensely nervous about not knowing anyone.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

I'm going, but I mostly lurk around here, so I'm trimmensely nervous about not knowing anyone.

I'm sure that you don't need to be!
I couldn't afford even the daily rate,so I won't be there - but I'm quite sure that all you need to do is tell the nearest person that you are new and what-you-said and they will look after you for as long as you want to be.

[coughingbear]

I'm going. And though I do know a few of the people who will be there, I'm sure most of us will be new to each other, so you shouldn't worry!

Though I think we will have to volunteer our online identities if we want anyone to know. Unless someone wants to invent a special trennels handshake (and draw diagrams of how to perform it).

[oursin.livejournal.com]

One of those electric-shocky things to conceal in the palm of your hand that they sell in joke shops?

[coughingbear]

Or perhaps we should do Lawrie-style salutes to our cheering regiments.

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

I'm going. And the handshake, of course, is performed with the left hand (for Guides), held above one's head, dangling at the wrist (to indicate a suspension from Guides), and with a falcon's (rather than a tiercel's)jesses dangling from one's wrist.

Alternatively, it is acceptable to say, "Hi! I'm [ x]. Did you have a completely dreggy journey? Me too."

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

And a hanky tied round the right hand in memoriam Ginty's four-leaf clover.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure I can't afford to get in the conference, but does anyone want to get together for coffee or something and tell me about it afterwards? I live in Bournemouth...

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

I'm going too, and as I'm from Australia I won't know anyone there either, except in fictional form through LJ. Some people from trennels have kindly said they'd like to meet me, and I'm slightly worried about (a) how I'm going to identify them, and (b) whether I'll be able to meet and spend Quality Time with them all. But hey! I'll figure it out.

I've never been to a convention of this sort before either, though I've heard tell of them from other people. I expect the AF one will be more academic than most. Even dubbing itself a "conference" rather than a "convention" suggests as much...

[(Anonymous)]

Well I hope it will be fun - it should be as there are some great speakers - and know that the committee have spent absolutely ages trying to arrange the programme but think that everyone will be a bit apprehensive. I'm meant to be organising some discussion groups and am absolutely terrified that either a) not one person will come or b) people will come and say nothing at all and I will look very silly indeed... Charlotte

[leapingirbis.livejournal.com]

Australia - goodness! And I thought I was making quite an effort by coming over from Germany - clearly this is very low down on the scale of AF-devotedness!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm so jealous of you all! The conference is right when I'm travelling with my 3 kids and graduate student between Rome and Amsterdam. I seriously considered rearranging my entire summer so that I could nip across the Channel for Antonia, leaving the kids with the grad student, but I just couldn't justify such madness. I hope that people will report on every possible detail. I will be with you in spirit!!
(This is Elizabeth, by the way, from an internet cafe in sweltering Rome)