Conference Schedule
The complete conference schedule for Sirens is now available on the Schedule page of the Sirens website. We’re sure that you’ll wish you had a Time-Turner so that you could be in three places at once; we always do! That’s a testament to this year’s presenters, and a challenge we’re extremely grateful to have.

If you are a presenter, you should have received a notice regarding the time and location for your presentation(s), as well as information about the audio-visual equipment available to you, if any. If you did not receive this e-mail, please check your bulk folder, and if you still can’t find a notice for one of your presentations, please write to (programming at sirensconference.org).

Schedule Notes
Because we’ve moved to a new location for 2012, we’ve adjusted our overall schedule to work with the space we have available to us. That’s affected the schedule in ways that might seem odd at first glance! Here’s what you need to know about this year’s changes.

Wednesday, October 10
If you’re an early arrival for the Sirens Supper, we’ll send you an e-mail about where to meet for dinner. If you’re taking the Sirens Shuttle on this day, we’ll e-mail you with the pickup point information in early October.

Thursday, October 11
You’ll notice that this year, we’re opening conference registration pickup at 3:00 p.m., a little later than we normally do. (If you are arriving early, let’s meet up for lunch at noon in the River Rock at Skamania Lodge.) Starting at 3:00, we’ll have our Information Desk in the Skamania conference center lobby, and we’ll have another room just down the hall where you can meet, chat, play games, and have afternoon tea. We’ve listed a location for the Sirens Shuttle on this day, but please do check your Sirens Shuttle e-mail in early October if you’ll be riding on Thursday; the bus vendor might change our meeting point. All shuttle riders will be at Skamania in time to grab dinner in the River Rock or the Cascade Dining Room before the dessert reception; the hotel is also planning to offer inexpensive grab-and-go meals in the conference center lobby, so that’s another option.

Friday, October 12, and Saturday, October 13
This year, we accepted more presentations than ever! We’ll still run three tracks of programming, but our programs will stretch later into the afternoon and evening. Also, we don’t have a separate ballroom to which we can adjourn for keynote lunches, so we’ll be clearing and repurposing one of the rooms we’re using for presentations during the middle of the day, and we’ve decided to put a break at this point in the schedule for 2012. At 11:00 a.m., you can join our exploratory programming team for writing challenges, and if you’d like to go hiking on the resort golf course trails or go swimming/hot tubbing with other attendees, we’ve put those on the schedule as suggestions. It’s also a good time for borrowing a bike at the fitness center, visiting the gift shop, squeezing in a pedicure, grabbing that forgotten item from your hotel room, or just relaxing in the main lobby.

After lunch, the hotel staff needs time to reset our space, so we’ll host author signings during that time. (And if you’re an attending author who would like to participate, please get in touch with Amy Tenbrink at (amy.tenbrink at sirensconference.org) as soon as possible.)

All of that said, we’ve squeezed in some free space for meet-ups and those discussions that just weren’t ready for programming proposals yet. There are five hours available as sign-up space; you can reserve a room once you arrive at Sirens.

Sunday, October 14
Finally, on Sunday, we’ll start the morning early to ensure that attendees catching mid-day flights to the East Coast have plenty of time to get through security lines. (Our tips: Bring your luggage to breakfast, and use the business center in the conference area to print your boarding pass for free before you leave.) If you’re not taking the Sirens Shuttle, we’ll provide meet-up points for creating and crafting with others, or squeezing in a few last minutes outside (in Washington, that means rain or shine) or in the pool until it’s time to check out.

Volunteering
If you’ll be attending Sirens, we could use a few extra hands! Volunteer shifts vary in length and responsibilities. If you’re a presenter who feels confident in managing the room while presenting, you may volunteer to monitor the shift that overlaps your presentation.

Most volunteer shifts are low-key, and nearly all of them are within waving distance of the Information Desk should you encounter a problem and need help. In general, because of Sirens’s size, our greatest need is for people to monitor a morning or afternoon’s worth of presentations. You might help people find seats, turn microphones on or off (or up or down), give presenters their five-minute warning to wrap up, and collect lost and found items. This kind of help goes a long way toward making Sirens run smoothly, and is much appreciated.

To volunteer, please visit the Volunteers page and fill out the volunteer form. You’ll be invited to join a Google Group with a light volume of informational e-mails. If you’re a returning volunteer, you don’t need to fill out the form—just keep an eye out for e-mail from the Google Group. Many thanks in advance!

Questions? You can comment here or write to us at (help at sirensconference.org).