Frequently asked questions
Well, the technical name is a multi media, multi-genre residential pop culture convention, but that doesn't exactly trip off the tongue. We went for something that conveyed what we’re doing as accurately as possible.
Explore the website, check out the guests and the tracks, sign up for our newsletter, and email info@nineworlds.co.uk if you have any questions. We also have a Twitter account and Facebook page where we publish regular updates. Really though, the only way to fully grasp the breadth of what we're building is to come along and see it for yourself.
We're putting on our party shoes at Novotel London West from August 10th-12th 2018. The address is One Shortlands, London W6 8DR:
- Thursday evening starts things off with some low key, informal events and socialising
- Friday morning kicks in at full speed at 10am, and carries through until the early hours
- Saturday starts at 10am, and keeps on going until 2am or even later
- Sunday starts at 10am, and gradually winds down around 4.30pm with informal socialising in the evening
We're a residential convention - attendees normally stay on-site for the weekend. This means that the party doesn't stop at dusk, and we'll have games, talks, discos, live music and performance, and all-night film marathons running through the evenings. We'll also have a daytime market and stall holders on each day, for convention attendees.
Yes. We sell free tickets for children under 18. Please be aware that we do not take guardianship responsibility for children, and they must therefore be under the supervision of an adult guardian at all times.
There will be a page with further information on child friendliness and facilities.
The convention hotel for 2018 is the Novotel London West. There is a page with information on the venue, and accommodation suggestions.
We recommend staying from Thursday 9th until Sunday 12th for the best convention experience, as the full programme will be starting at 10am sharp on Friday and winding up in the early evening on Sunday.
Please remember to eat and drink occasionally! People tend to get excited at all the stuff going on and forget to get round to it until they keel over, and that's not much fun.
There will be a public lounge bar, a convention bar by the five large content rooms, and a convention bar in the gaming room by the convention terrace. Several of these will serve food in the day and during the evenings. The on-site restaurant will also be in operation. We will have a webpage with opening hours, and a list of menu options closer to the time of the event.
Many hotels offer free breakfasts. Please make full use of these and other breakfast options, as it's a good time to build up your reserves for a day of doing All The Things. If you plan to stay in a hotel and have specific dietary requirements or allergies, please let the hotel know at the time of booking.
There are occasional workshops that require paid tickets, and ones that are free but have limited capacity or require sign-up. We'll notify attendees of these via mailout, and open online bookings until they sell out.
Nope. Our payment providers keep a record of your name, email address, and the value of the purchase, and we email you an e-ticket at the time of purchase. This acts as your proof of purchase, so please don't delete it. The ticket email should normally be enough to get your badge at the registration desk, and we can look up your purchase records if necessary. There's more detail on registration further down in the FAQs.
Yes. We're going to give you a blank badge and a pen to write your name on, most likely. There will be a unique registration number on each badge so we can match you to our registration, but no other identifying requirements. Except that journalists should wear a press lanyard and badge in addition to their normal one.
The venue's address is Novotel London West, One Shortlands, London W6 8DR. We have a page with complete directions, including accessible travel options.
There is a car park onsite, with 240 spaces, which charges £1.50 per hour for convention or expo attendees. This means that three full days of parking would cost £108. There are 6 accessible, blue badge parking bays in the hotel car park. These are first come, first served, and are chargeable at the con rate of £1.50 per hour. These are served by the small lift which serves all floors, including the mezzanine level. We may be able to contribute to costs from the convention's access budget - get in touch with our access co-ordinator if this is important to you. Access from the car park is generally good for wheelchair users of all types.
The car park is built in the basement of the hotel, and can therefore be considered to be on the cramped side in terms of manoeuvring space, and has a height restriction for vehicles. However this does mean that all car park spaces are covered and protected from the elements, as well as being relatively secure. For enquiries please call the hotel on 020 8237 7540.
Unfortunately, the large NCP West 12 car park up the road at Shepherds Bush has closed down. Some private or smaller parking options can be found through sites such as Parkopedia. Additionally, the entire area has on-street parking with various rules.
There'll be a registration desk in the lobby through most of the weekend, where both attendees and guests will be able to obtain their badges. The badge also comes with a welcome pack containing the programme booklet and unspecified freebies.
To collect your badges, you'll need the e-ticket emailed to the purchase address. As a backup, we can if necessary look up your purchase details if you can provide the name and email address used in ordering.
So, there's lots of amazing stuff going on and you want to capture it and show the world? Well, you can take photographs, but you need to ask the person you're photographing beforehand. If they're wearing a yellow no-photo lanyard, you should assume they will not give permission. You can take pictures of most panels and sessions provided you don't disrupt them, but some sessions may not allow photographs. Videoing is much the same, but you must obtain permission from the moderator or track organiser before a session if you wish to film it. Please be aware that photographing people without permission contravenes our anti-harassment policy, which applies to all ticket holders and attendees.
Tickets are non-refundable. We're fine with transfers though, provided you don't charge more than you paid. Just email tickets@nineworlds.co.uk with 1) your name and email, and 2) the name and email address of the new ticket holder.
To find someone to buy your ticket, try tweeting and including @london_geekfest in your tweet so we can RT, and also posting in the Facebook Ticket Resale group.
Nine Worlds 2018 is run by the event director, Dan, the deputy director, Kate, a management team of a couple of dozen experienced convention organisers, and hundreds of volunteers, speakers and performers. There's a page with further information on all of the 2018 organisers. On a legal level, the event is run by Nine Worlds Ltd, a company registered in England, company no. 08222868, VAT no. 171 3043 43, with registered address 2a Brunswick St East, Hove BN3 1AU.
That would be awesome! Email volunteer@nineworlds.co.uk and we can talk about what would work. There's plenty that needs doing - right now we need people to steward, help with the reg desk and security teams, and doubtless 101 other things that'll crop up before the convention's over.
Email press@nineworlds.co.uk with your name, who you'll be reporting for, whether you'll be recording or taking photographs, and your particular areas of interest. Links to published work would be useful as well. If you're interested in interviewing specific guests, let us know about that as well and we'll see what we can arrange.
Well, in the beginning, there were two regions: Muspellsheim in the south, full of fire, light and heat; and Niflheim in the north, full of arctic waters, mists, and cold. Between them stretched the yawning emptiness of Ginnungagap, and into it poured sparks and smoke from the south and layers of rime-ice and glacial rivers from the north. As heat and cold met in Ginnungagap, a living Jötunn, Ymir, appeared in the melting ice. From his left armpit, the first man and woman were born. From his legs, the frost jötnar were born, making Ymir the progenitor of the jötnar.*
So anyways, yada yada, some more stuff happened, and now here we are running an annual event that seeks to bring together an entire constellation of different people and fandoms and nestle them in the branches of our world tree. SO IT'S THE OBVIOUS NAME FOR US TO TAKE.
* - thanks, Wikipedia!
The logo is by Andrew O. Ellis, who’s a fabulous designer based in Pittsburgh. Further design work is by Ash Farbrother, Morgan Spicer, Charles Carr and Elin Ingblom, a bit closer to home. Website design is by Daniel Johnston, plus assorted guns for hire, based on a concept by Andrew O. Ellis.
We only announce guests once we've agreed with them that they're coming, and they're happy to be announced. However, guests have lives, and we can't guarantee that a particular guest won't run into issues that prevent them from turning up. If that happens, we'll update the site and programme as soon as reasonably possible. Given the number of other guests that would still be left, we think that people will have a pretty awesome time regardless.
Yup. It's not a primary focus, but there will be a mix of both paid and free signings by authors, actors and other guests. All the information on this will be in the final programme.
We don't have a notice board for this year's event. However, you're welcome to post on the Facebook page, or tweet at us and we'll retweet it.
The difference in pricing between your local friendly expo and Nine Worlds is because of a major difference in content and business model. MCM and similar expo-style events focus primarily on vendors and paid autographs. While there may be some workshops and guests, they're a small fraction of what you'd find at a residential convention such as Nine Worlds.
We've got a large number of simultaneous content tracks with their own curators, each putting together a set of panels, workshops and activities that reflect their fandom or area of interest. Additionally, guests at residential conventions are expected to take a fuller part in the programme, and ideally to be a *part* of the convention rather than being whisked on-stage and then off again after their panel. We've got a film festival, gaming tables, social gaming with nerf guns, and a full evening entertainment programme with music, parties, and more gaming and discussions.
This focus puts us more in line with residential conventions such as Eastercon, Worldcon, Redemption, Starfury and Massive Events, all of which cost a similar amount.
TL;DR Geek festival, not geek market.
The Novotel has free wifi, which coped well during last year's event, although live streaming of video or games was a wee bit iffy. Mobile signal looked generally good across the hotel with one or two blackspots on some networks (as is often the case in Central London). As always, we can't guarantee quality of service for either.