About.

What?

Punctuation is a series of small, fan-run SF conventions in the style of Novacon or <plokta.con>. We want to create a convention which prioritises social spaces and engagement while also delivering a great programme.

We’re running some programme items that will require some action to be taken ahead of the weekend (for example, the various tastings), so keep an eye on our blog posts to learn more about those.

Who?

Punctuation 1 was headed by Liz Batty, John Coxon, Steve Davies, and Alison Scott, but for Punctuation 2 we’re adding some people to our illustrious team! Well-known to fans of Octothorpe, Claire Brialey (of Croydon) joins the team and bring a lot of expertise and “doing things in the right order”. James Shields is handling our con registration system this time around, which will be much smoother than the one for Punctuation 1. We are very grateful to all of them for joining the team.

Where?

We’re holding Punctuation 2 primarily on Zoom and on Discord. When you join, you’ll be invited to the Discord server which forms the backbone of the convention (and the “bar”). Zoom programme items and social spaces will be linked to from Discord, alongside any other social spaces we use. We’ve made a YouTube video of the Discord onboarding process if you’d like us to show you how it works.

When?

We’re running this convention over 18–20 June 2021. The opening ceremony and social spaces will open on 18 June; programme items will start in earnest on 19 June, and we’ll wrap up on 20 June.

We’ll be aiming to deliver our social spaces and programme at times that make sense to people in British Summer Time (UTC+1), but fans from around the world are welcome to attend.

Why?

Because people seemed to think Punctuation 1 was quite good, and we had enough fun we fancied doing it again! Punctuation is our way of bringing conventions with a strong focus on social spaces experiences to the Internet.

(Also, Punctuation 2 is basically the lockdown dead dog party.)