All Change at Octocon
This Story: June 29, 2004
Since I wrote last about Octocon, there have been many changes. Firstly, there has been a change at the head of the committee, with James Brophy stepping down as chairman, and Michael Carroll taking his place. Michael has considerable experience at convention running, having been on the Octocon committee a few times over the years, including the committee that ran Eurocon here in 1997. He was also involved with the organisation of They Came & Shaved Us, the event in Dundalk last October.
Other changes at committee level include Caitriona McGrath stepping down, and Caitríona Hamman joining. Ms. Hamman is actually my sister, so I’m glad to see her getting involved at this level. I believe Liam Proven is a sort of committee member without portfolio at large in the UK, and James Bacon has an off-committee post as dealer liaison.
The other major change at Octocon has been a change of venue. They were originally to hold the convention in Chief O’Neill’s hotel in Smithfield, but, and largely in the wake of that same hotel’s less than wonderful handling of the DMZ’s various events, the hotel suddenly found that they were double booked, and Octocon had to find another home. This they have done by moving to the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth, in the lovely county of Kildare. They have also added a number of names to their guest list, including Irish author Michael Scott, Matt Smith, who is the current editor of British comic 2000 AD, Northern Irish comic artist Paul J Holden, and up and coming young Irish filmmaker John Vaughan, giving them a very eclectic guest list indeed.
I’d like to wish them well with their new location, and particularly to wish Michael good luck with his position as chairman.
More information from www.octocon.com.
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