Shirts, Prizes, & Schedules, Oh My!

Shorah and greetings once again fellow Myst fans! Mysterium 2009 is just two months away! The Mysterium Planning Committee is gearing up for it at full steam, and we’ve got a boat-load of updates for you today.

T-SHIRTS

First, we’re pleased to officially announce our logo contest winners! Two of them, in fact! This years t-shirt designs are from the lovely and talented Jean Fioca, and the equally lovely and talented Claire ‘Shoomlah’ Hummell.

Jean created this year’s front design, a lighthearted celebration of the 10th Mysterium ever.

By Jean Fioca

By Jean Fioca

Claire gives us the back design, a unique representation of all the Myst games to date. See if you can spot all the references!

By Shoom'lah

By Shoom'lah

Our t-shirts will be screen-printed this year. Because of this, we are taking pre-orders on shirts with registrations to get an accurate estimate of how many we need to print. As a result, if you want to ensure you get a shirt, we strongly recommend that you pre-register! Shirts are $14 each for Small through XL sizes (and $15 for XXL shirts). You can order your shirts by visiting the Mysterium website and pre-registering to attend here.

Thank you to all our entrants, you make voting fun! All of this years entries can be viewed here.

PRIZES

Once again, the Mysterium committee is reaching out to our talented community for Myst-themed items that can be given away as prizes at this year’s events. Last year, people went home with limited edition Riven keychains, beautiful handmade books, and unique swag… what will we have for the attendees this year?

Please email eleri@mysterium.net to donate a prize. Thanks so much for helping make Mysterium happen!

SCHEDULE

What’s on the menu for Mysterium 2009? We’re serving up a buffet of fun and frolic for the weekend!

Appetizers: Getting together

  • Pre Con Pool Party Thursday Night
  • Meet & Greet Friday Night

Snacks: Stuff to Do around town

  • Disk Golf
  • Lazer Tag
  • Putt Putt Golf

Side Dishes: Fun and Games

  • Beginner’s Bevin Party
  • Ahyoheek Tournament (Get your own ‘heek cards HERE!)
  • What Would Atrus Build
  • Marker Missions
  • Teledahn Tie Dye ($5 per shirt or bring your own; watch for sign up page!)

Main Course: Presentations!

  • Where Are They Now: The Lives of Former Cyantists
  • D’ni Timekeeping with RIUM+
  • Storytelling in the D’niverse with JD Barnes and Echo McKenzie (Scuttlebutt is that someone from the DRC may join them!)
  • More to Come…

Dessert:

  • Wolfie Memorial Waterpark Extravaganza! (optional, not included in the base registration cost. Deadline for signup is July 15)

Still in the Oven:

  • Town Hall discussions with Rand Miller, Mark DeForest, Derek Odell & More

More information about these events and when they will be held can be found on our new schedule page.

MYSTERIUM 2010

As a reminder, Mysterium 2010 will be moving to the Central time zone next year. If you live in a city in the Central time zone and want to see Mysterium come to you next year, please submit your city as a candidate here.

The deadline for location bids is June 30th!

Mysterium 2010 Location Bidding Now Open

Last year, during our feedback panel in Boston, we made a commitment to get the location of the next Mysterium out as quickly as possible, so that attendees would be able to work the event into their budget earlier, and so that the committee itself would have more time to plan the event. We have also stated that we would be working on a way to better balance the distribution of Mysterium events across the four time zones in the United States and Canada, and again make it easier for people to plan their attendance. To that end, we are pleased to be making the following announcements:

First, we are establishing a time zone rotation schedule that will better ensure that we don’t favor one side of the country over another. Each year, Mysterium will move to a new time zone in a predictable and repeating pattern. The rotation will run as follows:

2010: Central
2011: Eastern
2012: Mountain
2013: Pacific

Anyone with an interest in seeing Mysterium come to their city may submit a proposal for that opportunity when Mysterium is scheduled to be in your time zone. If your city is selected, you will not be able to bid again for one full rotation (so if St. Louis is selected for 2010, it will not be able to bid again until 2018 to give another city the opportunity to host in 2014). These rules also apply for the city of Spokane. Because of the expense generally required to attend Mysterium in Spokane (where the cost of living is low but the cost of travel can be high), and because we do not wish to be impose on Cyan by inviting ourselves over, Spokane will be treated just like any other city from now on; we will not be maintaining the every-three-year visiting schedule that has been used in the past largely by accident and coincidence. There is one exception to this: if Cyan does explicitly invite us to Spokane in a year when Mysterium is scheduled to be in another time zone, we will still add Spokane to the list of candidate cities so that if the community wants to visit Cyan at their invitation, we can do so.

Second, we intend to announce the location of Mysterium 2010 on the last day of Mysterium 2009. To make that possible, we need your help! If you live in the Central time zone and want to see Mysterium come to your town, please let us know! Because we suspect that you know your town better than we do, we ask that you provide us with the following information when making your bid:

  • Round-trip airfare for one person on coach to the, for a few major cities for mid-summer (preferably covering a range of locations within the U.S.)
  • Map/list of neighborhoods in and around the city
  • Sample hotel costs (ideally 3-5 two to three-star hotels)
  • List of local activities and associated costs
  • List of events that may potentially coincide with Mysterium (large conventions, festivals, etc. again during mid-summer)
  • Local transportation options and costs
  • Hotel/Sales/Food/etc. tax rates
  • Any links or resources relating to the area that may be helpful in planning Mysterium

Local Chamber of Commerce or tourism offices have resources at their disposal that should be able to assist with this.

We also ask that if you submit a bid, that you commit to assisting the committee with local planning efforts, including:

  • Attending 1 committee meeting a month, beginning in September, following your bid’s selection.
  • Performing location legwork in a timely manner including: Calling & visually inspecting hotels; Locating attractions/food within walking distance of chosen hotel; Negotiating group deals for activities and attractions; Obtaining visitor information from city/area.
  • Assisting with on-site responsibilities such as manning registration, cat-herding events, and other tasks as needed.

Bids must be received by June 14th, 2009. To submit your bid, please use the form on this page at the Mysterium.net website. Thank you for your interest in Mysterium, and we hope to hear from bidders soon as we move Mysterium into a brand new time zone: Central Time!

Mysterium 2009 Pre-Registration Now Open!

Shorah Mysterium-goers!

We are excited to announce that the Mysterium 2009 Online Registration system is now up and running! If you’re planning on attending Mysterium this year in Spokane, we encourage you to register online in advance. Online registration will run until July 1st, 2009.

Registration Costs
As with last year, Mysterium carries a nominal registration fee to cover the costs of the convention. Online registration grants you a $5 discount over the at-the-door registration fees. Adults (over 17) are $15, Youths (8-17) are $10, and children (0-7) are $5 when registering online.

If you are traveling as a family (2 adults and 2-4 youths or children) or as a group (5 or more adults), the registration form has some special options for you. Families can register for $40, and groups of five or more can register for just $12 per adult.

If you only want to come for a day, you can purchase a day pass for just $8, regardless of the age of the attendee. Please note that a day pass does not include a swag bag or a copy of the 2009 convention book.

Why Register Online?
Online registration comes with a copy of our full-color, magazine-quality convention book at no extra cost. We are also working to finalize the rest of our online-exclusive swag. While there will be a limited quantity of convention books available at Mysterium for walk-in attendees, we encourage you to register online to ensure you receive one.

This year, online registration ties in with the rest of the Mysterium website. Once you’ve registered, your will be able to use your account to take advantage of additional attendee services offered in the future, such as our room share and carpool tools, which can help you find a ride to the event, or a room to stay in once you get there.

Registration Extras
This year, Mysterium is getting our t-shirts screen printed, and shirts will be distributed at the registration desk to those who order them. To ensure an accurate count for our final order, please indicate the quantities and sizes of shirts you wish to purchase when filling out your registration form. While we will have a handful of extra shirts available at the convention for walk-in attendees, we cannot afford to purchase large quantities of extra shirts, so if you want to ensure that you get a shirt, please register online by July 1st.

On Sunday, Mysterium is planning a day-trip expedition to the nearby Silverwood theme park and Boulder Beach water park. Tickets to this optional activity are $50 for adults and youths, and $25 for children. This price includes admission to both sides of the park, a BBQ meal for lunch, and unlimited drinks all day long.

Go Forth And Register!
Click here to log into your Mysterium.net account or register for a new one. Once you’ve logged in, you will be able to complete your registration.

See you at Mysterium!

I like this idea…

It would seem that we’re going to be treated to some illustrated fiction at Mysterium next year.  Kite Line is working on a story that will be told with audience participation in the months leading up to Mysterium, and which will be distributed at Mysterium to anyone who wants one (Kite, I hope you bring lots of copies ;)).  If you’re interested in contributing crazy ideas to this story, check out Kite Line’s blog, and be sure to come to Mysterium… this sort of thing is only the tip of the iceberg!

(Somebody stop me, I’m actually using the Mysterium Blog as a blog!  I’ve gone mad with power!  Or quite possibly just gone mad… ;))