SELEM 2009 Info and Sign-up Thread
SELEM 2009 is just around the corner, so I guess it's time to roll out the details.
First, let's talk about the location: The venue is the Newton-Connover Auditorium (formerly known as the Newton-Conover Civic and Performance Place), which is located in Newton, North Carolina. (Figure an hour outside of Charlotte.) This is the same venue as the previous two years - they've just changed their name.
Dates and Times: Load-in of equipment starts Friday, August 14th at noon. The venue will be open from noon until 5 PM for load-in and setup. You don't have to show up on Friday, but if you've got a lot of gear to bring, it's a good idea to do it Friday when there's lots of help available... Also, don't forget the pre-SELEM dinner party. That starts at 6PM on Friday. We all meet at The Artist's Cafe (which is about 3 blocks from the venue) for dinner. Then we retire to the upstairs lounge for drinks, cigars, and lots of trash talking! This usually runs until 10 PM, if not later.
SELEM officially kicks off Saturday morning, August 15th, at 10 AM. We'll run until midnight on Saturday. Then we come back on Sunday at 10 AM and run until about 5:30 PM or so. After that, we pack up, clean up, and we're out of there by 7 PM.
Cost: This year the cost will be $35 per laserist. For that, you get admittance to the event plus an offical SELEM 2009 knit shirt w/ the logo embroidered on the front. If you want to order additional shirts, they will be $20 each. The money raised will be used to pay for the auditorium rental, plus the fee for the staff to babysit us while we play, along with the cost of the shirts. (By the way, these are not cheap t-shirts. They're 2 button collared, knit shirts, and are quite nice.) Unfortunately, because the venue has to be paid for in advance, the fees are non-refundable if you decide at the last minute that you can't attend. (Sorry..)
If you want to bring guests (wives, girlfriends, neighbors, teenage children, co-workers, etc), that is fine, but they will be your responsibility. Make sure they understand the rules. Note that only one person in your group needs to pay the $35 entry fee. But understand that your guests won't get a shirt unless you buy an extra one for them. Also note that any excess money collected will be donated to PhotonLexicon to help cover bandwidth expenses, etc. And of course, remember that attendance is always at your own risk. Don't even think about trying to sue me! :)
We will have door prizes again this year. So far, we've got a set of ScanPro 40 scanners and a set of ScanPro20 scanners up for grabs, both donated by Dave and Adrian at LaserShowParts.com. We'll also have some used equipment up for grabs, including a 25 Mhz oscilloscope. As always, you must be present in order to win a door prize. More details on this as we get closer.
As for special guest speakers at this event - I'm still waiting for final confirmation from several people. I'm hoping that Mike Dunn will be able to make the trip, but he's incredibly busy right now and we're not sure yet if he can make it. Also, Greg Makhov from LSDI is thinking about attending, and if he does he'll be presenting his excellent lecture on color balance. But again, scheduling conflicts may prevent him from attending. More info on this as we get closer to the event.
I plan on setting up a "swap meet" area, either in the hallway backstage or in the lobby if we have a lot of gear, so that people can sell their used equipment if they want to. So if you have some equipment you'd like to sell or trade, bring it to SELEM!
The venue has lots of 110V power available on the stage. I'll have a distribution panel on stage that will supply up to 50 amps of 220v single-phase too. There is 450 amps of 208V 3 phase power available backstage, and there is a deep-sink in the mop closet backstage that should be able to provide 8 to 10 gpm for water cooling if needed. Figure 120 feet from the water source to the stage, and 80 feet from the 3 phase power to the stage. There is a loading dock backstage that is at the same elevation as the stage.
The venue has *plenty* of tables and chairs that we can use on stage for equipment and people. We'll be connecting to the house sound system again this year, but we'll also have the killer sound system that we've had at the previous Florida Laser Enthusiast's Meetings this past spring set up on stage as well.
Now for the important part: How to sign up! You can send your entry fee to me either via PayPal, or by mailing a check. My PayPal address is adburns@sc.rr.com The mailing address is Adam Burns 102 Nightingale Manor Charleston, SC 29418-3038 Be sure to include your shirt size! Sizes available are small, medium, large, X-large, 2XL, and 3XL. I also suggest that you reply to this thread if you are going to attend.
Here's what the guest list looks like so far... (I'll update this as people respond here.) Those names in bold have already paid.
300Evil
AllThatWhichIs
Ben Koss
Buffo
Cat
Carmangary
Daedal
Dchammonds
DJMatt
DocJohn
DreamBeamz
DR Lava
DZ
GottaLuvLasers
ImageLight
James Lehman
Kevin Harris
Lazerjock
ljk
MechEng3
Mophead
Pianoman
Platinum
RGB-Gas
Stuka
witcher88
WolfBlue
PLEASE NOTE: All PhotonLexicon members are invited to attend. In addition, any laser enthusiast that wants to attend SELEM (whether they are a member of PL or not) is also invited and encouraged to attend. If your name isn't on this list and you want to attend SELEM, then either reply to this thread (if you are a member of PL) or contact me privately either by phone (843) 767-0061 or E-mail (adburns@sc.rr.com) and I'll get you on the list.
Will give you check this weekend
Adam,
I will give you a check this weekend for Matthew and I. Shirt sizes will a medium and xl or xxl. Does anybody know what material of the shirts will be? I know it's a knit but even a knit can have a lot of cotton in it. Cat
SELEM approaches - sign up now!
David is right! 6 weeks until SELEM. Time is moving fast. Don't forget to reserve your room at the Holiday Inn Express if you haven't already done so!
Also, a little news: I got in touch with Mike Dunn, and while he can't commit for sure yet, he is very interested in attending this year's SELEM. Unfortunately, he has an overseas trip that *may* conflict with our event. There is a good chance that his trip will be postponed, however, so this would work out great for us. He's officially down as a "Definite Maybe" :D, but I'll keep updating this as we get closer.
Adam
SELEM is closer than you think!
Good news! Just got word that a new laserist (local to me) will probably be attending SELEM this year. He's mostly into cutting and machining lasers, so most of his gear is IR rather than visible, but he's still got an impressive collection of toys! I think he's looking forward to checking out the visible end of the spectrum though! :D (Showed him the SELEM video that 300Evil did last year and he loved it!)
He's also got a pal that lives in Georgia, and he's trying to talk him into attending as well. Between the two of them they've got some serious hardware (the guy near me has a 150 watt CO2 hooked to an x-y table set up in his house! Cuts 1/8 inch plywood like butter), so it should be great fun to compare notes. I'm hoping that they'll join up here on PL soon to introduce themselves. (Would you believe they had never heard of the place? I met them through E-bay!)
5 weeks and counting, people... 5 weeks and counting!
Adam
