by Kevin A Davis | Feb 1, 2024 | Announcements, Authors Workshop, Programming, Writer Workshop
Friday Night Writer’s Workshop
Writers – this is your event! Industry professionals and your peers will read and critique 1000 word submissions.
You’ll get together in small groups with a couple guests and a few peers in a casual setting. This is an awesome chance to not only get feedback on a few pages, but give it as well.
Space is limited, so get your submission in early. Word documents only, double-spaced with default margins and readable font, so we can print them out for each critique pod. One submission per person. If you must revise and resubmit, it will change your place in the queue. Plan half an hour per reading so this will be a late Friday event which can last two hours or more. We’ll cutoff submissions when we reach capacity.
Scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Friday April 19, 2024 (results may vary so check the schedule when you arrive).
Submit here
by Kevin A Davis | Jan 26, 2024 | Authors Workshop, Programming, Writer Workshop
The Author’s Workshops Track is running with two old favorites for the writers at JordanCon!
First, the Friday Night Workshop is back!
Writers, we’ll take your 1000 word or less submissions starting in February, and then in April we’ll meet up at JordanCon and get together with some professionals in the industry and our peers for a critique of your work.
It’s casual and fun! You’ll meet people and get some views on some of your writing.
Watch for a post next month where we open up submissions for this!
Second, Saturday Slush again!
Have 600 words or less read anonymously while industry professional give immediate feedback on stage. Terrifying? Maybe. Useful – beyond measure!
We’ll open up with a limited number of available slots in February after another announcement.
But wait, there’s more!
We’re going to work on Elevator Pitches! Bring a pitch, hit the professionals with it, and they’ll let you know how effective you were. We’re aiming for Saturday for this event as well.
by Programming | Apr 13, 2023 | Activities, Programming
2023 JordanCon Costume Contest registration is open! We will be taking sign ups for this year’s contest until 1 PM Saturday, April 22 or until all entry slots are full. I’ll post the rules below, but they are also included in our registration form. If you have any questions, please reach out to mainprogram@jordancon.org. We can’t wait to see what you have created this year!
The link to sign up can be found here.
General Guidelines
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Contestants may choose to compete for “Best of” awards (Juried Entries) or only for Judges Choice/Audience Choice (Exhibition Entries).
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Due to time constraints, we will be limiting the number of entries to the following:
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We will accept the first 20 contestants to sign up who wish to be considered for juried awards. (Best in Show, Best in Class, or Best Workmanship)
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Anyone else who wishes to participate may be eligible for Judges Choice or Audience Choice, but will not be pre-judged or considered for the Best of categories.
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Mandatory pre-judging for juried entrants will take place between 2:30 and 4:30 in Ashford. Please arrive on time or you may not be eligible for judging.
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Participants who are not being pre-judged should come to Ashford by 4:30 to check in.
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Each entry will have approximately 1-2 minutes to walk across the stage to present their costume while the emcee reads your pre-written description. Please write descriptions clearly and provide pronunciations, otherwise the Emcee will ad-lib at their own discretion.
Classes
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Classes are determined by placement in previous JordanCon Costume Contests only, however entrants may choose to enter in a higher class based on other factors. Entrants may not enter a lower class. Group entries will be classified by the highest entrant in the group. Judges may choose to award a contestant an award from a higher class during judging should they deem entrance to be exceptional for their class.
Awards
The following awards will be given at the end of the contest:
- Best in Show- The highest scored entrance from all categories.
- Best Workmanship- The entrant with the highest score in workmanship who has not also won Best in Show.
- Best in Class- The best entrant from each class that is not also the Best in Show or Best Workmanship
- Judges Choice- Each judge may choose to present an award to any contestant that does not also receive a Best of award.
- Audience Choice- This award will be chosen based on audience reaction.
Judging Criteria
by Programming | Apr 8, 2023 | Programming, Uncategorized
This year we’re doing something a bit different for Friday night at JordanCon. We know many of you love karaoke, and we do too! But this year is our 15th anniversary, and we wanted to do something special. In the Wheel of Time series our very own JordanCon founders, Jennifer & Jimmy Liang, were written into the books as innkeepers at “The Yearly Brawl.” In honor of that we are hosting a pub/tavern night on Friday. Marc Gunn is joining us again and will kick us off playing music. If you’re not yet familiar with Marc, he is a traditional Celtic musician with a science fiction and fantasy twist. You can check out his website here.
In addition to music from Marc, we’re going to open up the mic! Some of you may have a song you were practicing all year in anticipation of karaoke, some of you like to play and sing with your friends or are part of the filking community, maybe you’re a poet and want to showcase some new work. We’re making time for this too. You can sign up for an open mic slot at this link. We’ll have a keyboard on the stage if you play or you can bring your own instrument. Back up tracks will need to be provided by you! Time allowing, we’ll also have some traditional pub sing-alongs throughout the night.
What’s a pub night without games? We’ll be providing cards, dice, “coins,” and a variety of printed game rules for each table. Rumor has it, there will be some dominoes sets as well if you want to kick back and “throw some bones” with your table.
Our JordanCon family has always enjoyed spending time together and making connections. We’re hoping that our pub night this year will continue to foster those opportunities. We’re very excited to host you for this night and hope you enjoy it.
See you in a few weeks!
Welcome Home to JordanCon. <3
The JordanCon Programming team
by JordanCon Marketing | Mar 10, 2023 | Activities, Announcements, Programming
As you look through this year’s schedule, I’m sure you’ll notice it looks different from previous years. That’s because this year we’re using a nifty piece of scheduling software called Sched.
Sched has a lot of cool features, but we know it’s something many of you have never used, and you might like some help getting started. No worries, we’ve got your back!
In this blog, you will find instructions on how to register for Sched, how to use it to add events to your own personal schedule, and how to view your schedule. We’ll also include some links at the very end to some helpful resources from Sched on the rest of their nifty features, including in-depth video walkthroughs on both the web application and the mobile app. (That’s right, they have an awesome mobile app!)
One thing I’ll call out is that you can view the schedule without registering or taking any other action. It’s available right here.
That said, if you’re interested in creating your own schedule of only the events you want to attend, you’ll need to start by registering for an account.
Registering
There are a couple ways to register. You can do it by viewing the schedule either in your browser or within the mobile app. Registering on the web is straightforward: just find and click the green ‘Sign Up’ button on the schedule.

From there, follow the prompts to register using either your email address or your Facebook account.
If you want to register using the mobile app, there are a couple more steps involved. First, you’ll need to download the app. You can either search for it on the Apple or Android App Store or you can view the schedule on our website and click on the Apple App Store or Android App Store link.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, the first thing you’ll need to do is search for ‘JordanCon 2023’ in the search bar and tap on our event when the search results come up.

This will load the JordanCon schedule, and you’ll now be able to see an icon in the bottom right corner of your screen that says ‘My Account.’ Tap on it. It will give you the option to log in to an existing account or sign up for a new one. Tap on ‘Sign Up’ and follow the prompts to create an account using your email address.


Adding Events
Once you’re all registered and signed in to Sched, you can now start adding events to your personal schedule!
On the web, all you need to do is click the white circle to the left of the name of the event you want to add:

And that’s it! You’ll see a checkmark instead of an empty circle, and that’s how you’ll know the event was added to your schedule.
On the mobile app, you’ll need to tap on the event you’re interested in adding.

This will bring up the event’s details in addition to an ‘Add to Sched’ button in the bottom left corner of the screen. Just tap on it to add the event to your schedule!

Viewing Your Schedule
Now that you’ve added a few events, you’ll probably want to view your schedule.
To view it on the web, hover over your profile picture and click on the ‘My Schedule’ option on the dropdown menu that appears while hovering:

To view it via the mobile app, go to the JordanCon 2023 schedule in the app and tap on the ‘My Sched’ tab on the top center of the screen:

Wrap-up
Now that you know the basics, you can go ahead and use Sched to create a personalized schedule for JordanCon 2023! Sched also has a lot of other features (too many for us to go over them all), so if you want to know more about what it can do, Sched had a number of support guides that can help.
They also have video walkthroughs that cover all of what we’ve covered and more.
Web video walkthrough
Mobile app video walkthrough
Have fun choosing your panels and activities! We can’t wait to see you all in April!
by Programming | Jan 20, 2023 | Activities, Programming

Do you want to create using the colors of Nalthis to command the light of Roshar? While we can’t transport you to the Cosmere, we can introduce you to Master Stained Glass Artisan Leia Powell. She has been creating glass
masterpieces, breaking down barriers, and rejuvenating the old world craft for over 25 years. The first stained glass artist to be nominated for the coveted Chesley Award, Leia is also the first glass artist in history to be the sole maker of an author’s trademarked characters: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Additionally, Leia has been licensed to make official JordanCon stained glass! Her three-dimensional dragons can be seen flying around the convention along with a host of other glass creations. Her intricate stained glass windows and fantastical builds have won her multiple art show awards at LibertyCon, Chattacon, and JordanCon. Her fused glass jewelry is a testament to how glorious melting glass at 1200 degrees can be. Leia keeps apprentices and interns on staff at her studio, Wildcat Mountain Artistry, in Florence, Alabama, and is determined to teach everyone she can to ensure the flame of stained glass creativity keeps burning.
At JordanCon 2023, Leia is offering a stained glass demonstration and a Learn to Cut Glass by a Master workshop in the Makers Track:
- The demonstration does not require registration or a fee.
- Glass cutting students will leave the class with a completed 9 ½” x 8 ½” piece to take home.
- There is a $200 fee that will be prepaid directly to Leia. It includes a student kit full of tools and
glass to keep.
- Sign up is first come, first serve. Mark your calendars for: 11 am Eastern on Saturday Jan 21st. That is when Leia will open registration for the class on Facebook.
If you are a returning student, you have the option to bring your tools and make a more difficult pattern that Leia will design especially for you. You will also receive more of a variety of glass, so stipulate if you plan to bring your tools. Should you forget them, some will be on-hand to purchase, sorry no loaners.
The class will be held Saturday, April 22, 2023, 2:30 pm – 5 pm.
Leia will post on the JordanCon Facebook group Saturday January 21st at 11 am Eastern. Engage with the post to reserve one of the 12 open seats. You will select your pattern and be given directions to prepay for the class. Once the class is full, there will be two alternates chosen in case someone has to cancel. If an alternate is able to participate, they will have to make whatever the canceled student chose. Because this class requires a significant amount of preparation, no refunds will be available.
This is a high demand class that typically fills up in less than a day so mark your calendars!