Hotel Website

http://events.ichotelsgroup.com/DPRD-7CVNEZ/BALLT

The Crown Plaza has given Farpoint its own website for members to make their room reservations!
Please use the above address to make certain your reservation is credited to Farpoint at the correct
room rate. If you prefer to call, the telephone number is
1-800-381-9553 (Reservation code FAR). The 2009 hotel room rate is
$124/night plus taxes. The 2009 dates are February 13-15, 2009
(President’s Day weekend), and our room rate is good from February 12
through the 16th.

2009 Update

Dear Friends of Farpoint,

Our website has been updated to start our 2009 news and planning.  One big piece of news is up already:

We are excited and pleased to announce that Farpoint 2009 will be held on February 13-15, 2009 at the CROWNE PLAZA hotel in Timonium, MD.  The hotel’s address is 2004 Greenspring Drive, Timonium MD, 21093.  It is located at exit 16A (Timonium Road East) off I-83.  The hotel’s telephone numbers are 1-410-252-7373 (direct) and 1-877-2-CROWNE (1-877-227-6963 for reservations).  You can visit the hotel online at http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cp/1/en/hotel/BALLT/welcome.  Our room block at the Crowne Plaza will be available for reservations soon.

Why change from our longtime home at Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn?  The reasons are:

1.  Economic.  Both hotels gave us proposals for 2009, and the Crowne Plaza’s was low enough to allow us to keep our 2009 membership rates for fans and dealers at the 2008 levels.  Crowne Plaza’s room rate of $124/night is also less than the rate of $129/night from Hunt Valley Inn.

2.  Amenities.  Both hotels are right off of I-83.  Both hotels have free parking, and both have a nearby light rail station.  Above and beyond this, the newly remodeled Crowne Plaza offered many upgraded and additional amenities that will be of interest to everyone.
a.  Free wi-fi internet access in the public areas and the sleeping rooms.
b.  3 separate elevator banks, which brings more sleeping rooms closer to an elevator.
c.  Multiple street level entrances for loading and unloading.
d.  Hopefully, a brand new indoor swimming pool.   This is hopefully, as construction is slated to start late spring/early summer 2008.
e.  A brand new restaurant and bar, with a variety of menu options and pricing.  And yes, the bar has a blender!

There are many other behind-the-scenes amenities that Crowne Plaza offers that made this choice attractive to us - things that will make our work organizing and running the convention easier, so that we can bring you an even better Farpoint in 2009.

This was not an easy decision, given the long-standing relationship we have with Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn.  They even countered their initial offer with a lower one in an attempt to win the bid over the Crowne Plaza, as HVI really does value our business.  However, HVI’s second bid was still greater than Crowne Plaza’s, making our decision purely an economic one.  This is not to say we will never go back to HVI; the door there is always open for us and we will continue to solicit proposals from them when our venue contract is up for renewal.

While change is never easy, it is definitely exciting.  We are looking forward to next year’s convention already, and we hope to see all of you join us in February 2009!

Sharon Van Blarcom
Sandy Zier-Teitler
Farpoint co-chairs, on behalf of the Farpoint Committee

An apology from the Farpoint Committee

It came to our attention at about 3:30 Sunday that many of you who stayed at the Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn were required to sign an agreement regarding the hotel’s rules before you were allowed to check in.  Since many of you had already headed home at that point, we want to make our position about this new policy clear.  The Farpoint committee was unaware that this was happening.  Farpoint committee members were, apparently, exempt from having to sign these statements.  Hotel registration staff confirmed that this policy was put into effect specifically for attendees of the Farpoint convention, and that other hotel guests were not required to sign.  Indeed, when we asked for a copy of the form, we were told they had to root through the trash for a blank, since they were thrown away after the Saturday checkins were complete.  Other than providing that information, they have declined to comment.  (We have been informed that other Marriott hotels have been known to use a similar agreement.  We’re investigating this.  But keep in mind that Hunt Valley Inn is not, in fact, owned by Marriott itself.  It merely licenses the name.  So Marriott policies may or not be in effect at this hotel.)

You are more than our customers; you are our friends and family.  And the management of the Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn has insulted you with this policy.  That our contractor has treated you in this manner appalls us.  We sincerely apologize.  It was done without our consent, but we are sorry nonetheless.  You all deserve far better.   We assure you, we will not let this hotel treat you this way next year. 

For those who are interested, the Marriott Corporate address is .  1 Marriott Drive, Washington DC 20058

Although the hotel is not Marriott-owned, we have been told that complaints to Marriott are brought back to hotel management, and are taken very seriously by Marriott.  It’s their name to protect, after all.

 We’ll keep you posted as we learn anything further.  Thank you for your support of Farpoint, and, again, we’re very sorry you were treated this way.

Wanted: Knowledgeable SciFi Anime Panelist…

I had a number of panelists become unavailable for “Anime for the Sci-Fi Eye.”  Any self proclaimed anime experts out there?  Current Panelist are Kathleen David and Paul Balze.  I’d like 2 more, for variety. The idea is to give new anime fans some sci fi oriented suggestions for their viewing pleasure.  What do you like, what might other fen like?

If you think you are ideal for this panel email Eli at elicivilunrest@gmail.com  Put “Anime Panel” in the title.

Guest Addition

We’ve just been able to add professional stunt actor Leslie Hoffman to our guest lineup!  Leslie has extensive experience working as a stunt performer in science fiction and horror movies and television.  She is currently the stunt coordinator for New Voyages, and appeared in both ST: DS9 and Voyager.  Leslie also holds the singular honor of being the only female Freddy Krueger ever used in the Nightmare on Elm Street series!

Leslie will be at Farpoint all 3 days, and will not only be speaking but have a table in the Hunt/Valley hallway with photos for sale of herself in her various “incarnations”.

Registration Note

Today is the final day to pre-register for Farpoint 2008. Our at the door prices are listed below:

Weekend membership, $65
Children 6-12, $20 (good for the weekend - no daily child memberships)
Children 5 and under, free with paying adult
Friday One Day, $10
Saturday One Day, $50
Sunday One Day, $35
Saturday evening after 7pm, $10

Autograph Sessions Update

We wanted to announce an update on the basic rules for our autograph sessions at Farpoint.

1.  There will be one official session Saturday and one Sunday - time TBA.  The line is formed by convention member badge numbers, which are announced throughout the public convention areas.

2.  Our celebrity guests James Callis, Marina Sirtis and Erin Gray, along with our author, scientist and performing artist guests will be participating in the official sessions.  Erin Gray and our author, scientist and performing artist guests will also be available to sign at tables in the Hunt/Valley hallway during the convention.

3.  Erin Gray will be charging a fee for her signature.  Erin and our author, scientist and performing artist guests will have signed items available for sale.

4.  James Callis and Marina Sirtis will be signing one item per convention member badge per session at no charge.  This includes the convention program book.

5.  Marina Sirtis has not confirmed whether she will have signed items or photos available for sale at the convention, or whether she will be offering additional signatures for sale during the signing session.  We will do our best to confirm this and announce as soon as possible.  To avoid disappointment, it is recommended that convention members bring an item to be signed, purchase an item to be signed in the Farpoint dealer’s room, or collect the signature in their program book.

6.  James Callis has confirmed he will NOT have signed items or photos available for sale at the convention.  As announced previously, a limited number of additional signatures are available for sale through Farpoint pre-registration.  In all cases, convention members should bring an item to be signed, purchase an item in the dealer’s room or collect the signature in the convention program book.

Model Contest Update

Here’s the REAL scoop, courtesy of Mary Ann Pugliese of The Collective…. Sharon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greetings….

The Collective is hosting our annual Model Contest at Farpoint this year. Entries must fall into the genre of Science Fiction or Fantasy. All models entered by you into the contest must be built by you.

The contest will begin on Friday, upon opening of the dealers room and entries will be accepted up until Noon on Sunday. All models will be displayed at a designated table next to The Collective dealer tables.

First, Second and Third Place ribbons will be awarded at 3p on Sunday at the model contest table. There is no charge for entering the contest.

Contact The Collective directly with any questions at emailcollective@earthlink.net or www.collectivemodels.com

Stay warm & we’ll see you at Farpoint!

Mary Ann

FAQ - Online Registration

Our cutoff for pre-registration is January 31st each year before the convention date.

Our online registration database will take your record and then transfer you out to www.PayPal.com to make the electronic payment.  Normally, this works beautifully, but once in awhile we will get messages from members that they had trouble with the PayPal side (usually an error message or web page not available problem).  This is a problem that happens periodically when PayPal is busy or parts of it down for maintenance.

If this happens to you - don’t worry.  Your registration record is in, you just need to complete the payment.  You can print out your form from our webpage and send it in with the payment to us at Farpoint Enterprises, 11708 Troy Ct., Waldorf, MD  20601, OR wait a bit then go directly to www.PayPal.com and electronically send the payment to FarpointEnt@comcast.net.

In either case, please add a note saying that you are sending your payment to match up with your already entered registration record.  We’ll take care of the rest.

Volker/McChesney Award

The Farpoint Committee is pleased to announce the 2008 recipient of the Volker/McChesney Award for service to Fandom is Mr. Dale Arnold.

Dale is a longtime member of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and a familiar face to those of us who attend Balticon.  You’ve also seen him at Farpoint and ShoreLeave working the BSFS/Balticon tables.  What you may not know is the tremendous amount of behind the scenes support Dale provides to all the local conventions, including the loan of equipment for our audio/visual needs.  Dale’s help and support is invaluable to the local convention scene, and we are proud to be able to recognize his efforts!

Congratulations!