Hello!

On behalf of the Northeast Region and the organizer teams below, I’m excited to announce the US-Northeast’s 2017 Conference Schedule:

• Regional Conference Rochester, NY; Saturday, July 1st; organized by Michael Bauman and Joseph Steet. Application deadline and presentation proposals due by May 26th.
• Regional Conference Lock Haven, PA; Sunday, July 2nd; organized by Joshua Hudson and Thomas Tyson. Application deadline and presentation proposals due by May 26th.
• Regional Conference Brockton, MA; Sunday, July 16th; organized by Gil Medeiros and Elliot Raff. Application deadline June 9th. Presentation proposals due by May 28th.
• Regional Conference Deerfield, NH; Sunday, July 16th; organized by Rob Castellon, Ben Coursey, and Jeff Emery. Application deadline June 9th. Presentation proposals due by June 2nd.
• Regional Conference East Norriton, PA; Saturday, July 22nd; organized by Charles Featherer and Trevor Gulley. Application deadline June 16th. Presentation proposals due by June 4th.

Wow, that’s a lot of events! A few notes that potential attendees will be interested in:

Megaconference

Yes, we’re still planning on running one; no, a venue has not been chosen yet. This will our typical huge event, and we do still want to run one each year. If you’re interested in organizing it and have access to a venue that can comfortably hold 150+ judges, ideally in classrooms with projectors, feel free to contact me at ne.conference.coordinator@gmail.com.

Regional Conference Series

The events we’re announcing today are a series. They are each smaller events, with limited physical space and foil support, and they are intended to draw from a smaller geographical area. We hope these will serve as networking and social events for the communities that make up our region. The following sections apply only to the Regional Conference Series and not to the Megaconference.

Attendance

Attendance will be by application only. Please submit a JudgeApps application to the events you wish to participate in. If you are unable to access JudgeApps, or wish to bring a Judge Candidate who cannot access JudgeApps, you can email us at ne.conference.coordinator@gmail.com to register. Be sure to note which event you are signing up for, and include names and DCI numbers.

Unless otherwise specified, these events will accept applicants on a first-come basis. In particular, the NH/VT/ME conference wishes to give priority to participants from those three states. See the JudgeApps events for more information.

When you are accepted to a conference, you will be accepted to the JudgeApps event. Users without a JudgeApps account who contact us by email will receive a reply noting that they have been registered. If neither of these occur, you have not yet been accepted/registered for the conference.

Foils

Judge Conference Foil packets are available to conference attendees. In order to be eligible, you must:

• Register for the conference and be accepted by the deadline, as listed in the individual event application.
• Be a certified judge, with your level correct in JudgeApps, when you are accepted for the conference.
• Be among the first N people to do so, where N is a variable number based on the planned size of the conference, and is listed on each event’s JudgeApps page.
• Attend the conference and meet the expectations of conference attendees – pay attention, be respectful, and participate. Attendance lists or feedback forms may be used to validate your participation.

If you are certified, but your level in JudgeApps is “Uncertified” when you apply, then you /must/ separately email us at the email address listed on the JudgeApps event when you register. Otherwise, you will not be considered eligible for foils. If you are uncertified when you apply, you /must/ separately email us when and if you level up in order to become eligible for foils.

In general, judges will be eligible to receive no more than one foil packet for attending the five Regional Conference Series events. This is due to limited supply, and because we wish to allow greater sharing of ideas and knowledge by allowing as many unique judges as possible to participate in the conference events. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis, primarily for individuals who wish to contribute by presenting at more than one conference. Please contact ne.conference.coordinator@gmail.com if you believe this applies to you, and you wish to receive attendee foils for attending multiple conferences.

Presentations

Proposals to present at these events are welcome. The address to contact is listed on the individual JudgeApps events. A presentation schedule for each conference will be finalized and posted closer to the event.

Code of Conduct

We believe our community should be truly open for everyone. We are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all attendees, presenters, organizers, staff members, and other participants, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, disability, or favorite basic land art. We expect all participants to abide by the Magic Judge Code of Conduct at all conference venues.

• Be considerate, respectful, and collaborative.
• Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory or harassing behavior and speech.
• Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants.
• Alert conference organizers if you notice a dangerous situation or someone in distress.

Unacceptable behaviors include: intimidating, threatening, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory or demeaning conduct by any attendees. Harassment includes: offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability; inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images (including presentation slides); deliberate intimidation, stalking or following; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

Attendees should have a reasonable expectation to feel safe and secure in their person, and in their belongings. Threatening or physically violent behavior, theft, or any destructive actions will not be tolerated.

Participants are expected to give each presenter their attention and respect that they deserve.

Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately. Violations of the above policies should be reported to a staff member for corrective action. Corrective action may consist of a wide range of actions, from a discussion with the offending participant, to ejection, at the discretion of the organizers.

Contact Information

Because we are planning 5 different events in parallel, we have created separate email aliases for each set of organizers.

• General questions or comments, anything that doesn’t apply to one specific event: ne.conference.coordinator@gmail.com
• Rochester, NY event: ne.judge.conference.NY@gmail.com
• Lock Haven, PA event: ne.judge.conference.PA@gmail.com
• Brockton, MA event: ne.judge.conference.MA@gmail.com
• Deerfield, NH event: ne.judge.conference.NH@gmail.com
• East Norriton, PA event: ne.judge.conference.PHL@gmail.com

Feedback

Feedback about presenters and conferences may be submitted as part of the feedback form distributed as part of each conference. Additional feedback can be sent to the email address listed on the JudgeApps events at any time. If you are for any reason uncomfortable sending your feedback to a group account, you may submit feedback directly to either Dan Collins or John Alderfer.