We’ve been wanting to tell you a little bit about this year’s Saturday Night Social for ages, but we’ve been busy working out the final details. As old hands will know, Eroticon isn’t just about working during the day, we also like to get up to fun stuff in the evenings too.
On Friday we have our meet-and-greet drinks – open to all Eroticon attendees so you can meet each other before the conference, and pre-register if you’d like to save time picking up your delegate badge on the first morning.
On Saturday, we lay on some entertainment – this year courtesy of Magician Daniel Barker and silhouette artist Alison Russell! Daniel’s been performing magic for over ten years, including at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Nine Worlds Convention, and he’ll be on-hand at our Saturday night social to entertain you with some fantastic close-up tricks. Alison is one of the few remaining silhouette artists in England – using just scissors and paper she can cut your portrait in profile, giving you an accurate and unique souvenir of the night.
And that’s not all – we’ll have other surprises for you on the night, as well as the chance to meet and chat to our brilliant Saturday night sponsors. Eropartner Distribution will be with us, showing off the fantastic Zumio, which you can check out on the night and enter for a chance to win. Thanks to their generous sponsorship we’ll also be able to offer everyone who comes a free beer, wine or soft drink – just head to their sponsor table at the venue to grab yours.
The Saturday night social begins at 7:30, which leaves plenty of time for you to head to your hotel/drop off your bags/get dressed up/have a sandwich/write a quick blog post/nap/take a breath and chill – whatever you need to do before you’re ready for an evening of fun!
There’s no dress code – wear whatever you are comfortable in! Some people like to glam up a bit as it’s Saturday, others prefer jeans, and we’re happy as long as you’re comfortable.
Saturday night changes from last year
All the above you can find on the Saturday Night details page, but the main reason for writing this blog post is to give you all more of a flavour of the night. Over the last few weeks we’ve had some tweets in from people asking more about what the event itself will be like, and others asking if things will be the same as last year/in the same venue, etc. I thought this would be a good chance to give new folks an idea what to expect and old hands an insight into changes since last year based on their feedback.
Venue-hunting
The Saturday night social is in a different venue to last year – last year’s was fab in many ways but it was a little further away from the main conference venue than we’d like (a few people got lost on the way!), and frankly there were just so many of us that we needed somewhere a little bigger too – with a larger kitchen to cope with a crowd of hungry writers. The magic intersection of affordability, space, accessibility and good food is incredibly tricky to find in central London – especially as we realised partway through our planning that we were booking for St Patrick’s Day!
But despite a few hiccups and false starts, we have managed to find a lovely pub that is just a 5-7 minute walk from Arlington House, is fully wheelchair-accessible, has very friendly staff, and serves food as well as drinks. A large section of the venue will be reserved for us, including a covered area outside as well as space inside to mingle.
Entertainment
Last year was the first year we’d organised entertainment for Eroticon on Saturday night, and the feedback we got from the survey was overwhelmingly positive – people enjoyed having something to see and talk about during the evening, and our comedians and burlesque performer went down a storm! However, we did also get some suggestions that people wanted more time throughout the conference itself to get to know their fellow Eroticon attendees, and we figured the Saturday night was probably a good time to try and do this. That’s why this year we’ve found some fabulous people to come and entertain you in a way that is more casual and relaxed, and doesn’t require a prompt start/finish time – so this way you can take in magic, chat to sponsors, sit for a silhouette portrait, at whatever pace you like!
Atmosphere/what to expect
This is less a change from last year and more just an ‘FYI’ – as a general rule, all our social events are relaxed and casual, so you can dress in whatever makes you comfortable (as long as your dress is suitable for public spaces, as the pubs we go to aren’t wholly private venues). We’re also a friendly crowd of people, and the organisers (Molly, Michael and Girl On The Net – you’ll know us by our loud voices, badges, and friendly greetings when you arrive) are always happy to introduce you to people if you’re coming to Eroticon for the first time or you need a hand getting over nerves or shyness. You’re welcome to come to as much or as little of the evening as you’d like – no one will tell you off if you’re tired and need to head home early, and no one will judge you if you decide to stay up till 2 am with the new friends you’ve made on the day. We’ll have coffee ready for you on Sunday morning at the conference…
