AmeCon 2006 Details

Date: 2005 August 02 17:26

Posted by Joe

With AyaCon about to kick off in a few weeks, the AmeCon Crew have sent us the details of their Leicester based convention. Set to run from Friday 11th August to late on Sunday 13th in 2006 the convention looks like it's going to be good. The press release they've sent us has the full details and covers pretty much all the questions you could ask at this stage. It's great to see they've got the details sorted out even a year before the events set to run.

The guests include Monica Rial who was a real hoot at last years Amecon and interviewed really well, along with fellow voice actor Greg Ayres.

The AmeCon Crew have also decided to host a Cosplay Ball, which sounds exciting and attendees are advised to wear cosplay or formal wear (which basically means cosplay as Tuxedo Mask ^_-). The Otaku News Crew were at the first AmeCon and we've already paid the deposit for next years.

Full Story

Press release as follows:

AMECON 2006 ANNOUNCES REVISED VENUE AND DATES; PRICING; GUESTS AND EVENTS

Aston University renovations prompt relocation

LEICESTER, UK, August 2nd 2005 – The Committee of AmeCon 2004, the largest Anime Convention to be held in the British Isles, is pleased to announce a revision to the previously published dates and venue for their sequel event, AmeCon 2006.



CONVENTION INFORMATION:

Convention Venue Details:

AmeCon 2006, announced on the August 22nd, 2004, was originally slated to run at Aston University, Birmingham. Due to large-scale refurbishment, however, that venue is no longer suited to the needs of the convention. These renovations included, but were not limited to, the contraction of the main hall to approximately half the required capacity. While it might have been possible to remain at Aston through extensive video-linking, it was determined by the AmeCon Committee that the scale of the alterations made the venue unsuited to the purpose.

AmeCon 2006 will now be running at the University of Leicester’s Main Campus (University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH). The facilities available at the University include large, tiered-seating screening rooms; multiple events rooms; spacious socialising facilities; and the 1,500-person capacity ‘Venue’, within the Students’ Union.

Convention Dates:

AmeCon 2006 will now begin on the morning of Friday, August 11th, and the convention will run until late evening on Sunday, August 13th, in 2006.

Convention Accommodation:

The University of Leicester has 450 economy single-bedrooms within a few minutes’ walk of the convention site. These will be available for hire by registrants of AmeCon 2006, on a self-catered basis, from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, at a cost of approximately £20pppn.

There will be an announcement on the AmeCon website (http://www.amecon.org) regarding how to book these bedrooms in the near future. A list of nearby Hotels and Guest Houses will also be made available.



REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

Convention Registration Rates:

AmeCon 2006 will open registrations at AyaCon 2005. Pricing for a weekend convention pass (excluding accommodation) will be £40. AmeCon regrets that it will be unable to offer one-day passes at the 2006 event. Watch for more information when the AmeCon website relaunches this summer.

Discounted Registration Pricing:

Those who pre-registered for AmeCon 2006 at AmeCon 2004, or who paid a deposit on a place at the convention, will have accommodation reserved for them until October 31st, 2005. If they wish to take up their accommodation place, they should email the AmeCon secretary (Kirsty Blewitt, secretary@amecon.org) as soon as possible. Those who pre-registered for AmeCon 2006 at AmeCon 2004 are free to cancel their registrations in exchange for a full refund, and should contact the convention treasurer (Jon Hallam, treasurer@amecon.org) for more details.

Those who paid a £20 deposit on a place at AmeCon 2006 are invited to pay a supplementary charge of £10 before the September 30th to complete their reduced registration. After this deadline, the supplementary charge will be increased to £20, bringing the total cost in line with a standard registration.

Further information will be sent to those who have already registered for, or placed deposits regarding, the 2006 event within the next week.

Discounted Registration with Accommodation:

AmeCon is pleased to once again offer a discount scheme for those who wish to pay for their convention registration and accommodation simultaneously. This discount is exclusively available to those who registered for AmeCon 2006 at AmeCon 2004, or those who register for AmeCon 2006 this summer at AyaCon 2005.

The rate for registration with three nights of economy accommodation will be £97.50 for those registering at Aya.

Those who paid £30 for AmeCon 2006 attendance at AmeCon 2004 will be invited to pay a ‘top-up’ charge of £57.50 for three nights of accommodation, before the October 31st (as stated above). Whether or not they choose to take up this offer, they are still fully registered for the convention.

Those who paid a £20 deposit on a place for AmeCon 2006 at AmeCon 2004 will be invited to pay a ‘top-up’ charge of £67.50 before the September 30th, 2005, to complete their registration for the convention with three nights of accommodation. After this deadline, the ‘top-up’ charge will increase to £77.50, which should be paid before the October 31st to take advantage of the discount.



GUEST AND EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Monica Rial:

The AmeCon Committee is pleased to announce the return of Monica Rial to AmeCon, who injected a great deal of life and verve to the 2004 event. Monica Rial is a voice-actor for ADV Films and FUNimation Studios, and an ADR Script Writer for several anime series. Miss Rial will be giving several panels while here, and will be holding signings throughout the convention. We won’t say what she’ll be signing - after last time, who knows...?

Greg Ayres:

A fanboy-turned-voice-actor, Greg Ayres provides a relatively unique viewpoint on the Western anime industry, specifically regarding the dubbing of anime into English. He does anime voice-acting for both ADV Films and FUNimation Studios, as well as frequent stints on the Houston theatre circuit. Greg will be hosting question-and-answer sessions on subjects varying from the ins and outs of dubbing, to what it’s like for a fan to be on the inside, looking out. We might even get him to give us a demo of a favoured hobby of his, and DJ!

Cosplay Ball:

AmeCon 2006 is pleased to announce the UK’s first convention-based Cosplay Ball. This Ball is set to be the highlight of the Sunday evening of AmeCon 2006 and will be held as a special event in its own right, not as a replacement for the normal convention parties. Cosplay or formal wear is a must for the Ball – so if you don’t have a tux, it’s time to get stitching!

A more exhaustive list of the events slated for AmeCon 2006, along with updates on every other area of the convention will be included in the new website, so watch that space!



About AmeCon:

AmeCon is a convention dedicated to the celebration of Japanese animation and comics. Following some successful one-day events, several committee members of the Leicester Anime and Manga Club (LANMA – http://www.lanma.org.uk) decided to run a small, residential event in 2004. This event, through no fault of their own, became the largest anime convention to be hosted in the British Isles to date. The follow-up event, AmeCon 2006, promises to be even better than its predecessor – and not just because the new site doesn’t have a main road running through it!