Kansas City, July 6-7-8, 2007...
That Was a Helluva Party, Wasn't It!
The weekend of July 6, 7 and 8, 2007 was a busy one in Kansas City. The Heinlein Centennial rocked the Westin Crown Center with programming, keynote addresses, entertainment, academic conferences and a Saturday night bash - the 07/07/07 Gala - that will not soon be forgotten.
Bringing together, for the first time, Heinlein's myriad worlds of influence - fandom, literary studies, government and commercial spaceflight and entertainment - created something whose components have always been around us but never had a focal point. That focus was found in Kansas City, and connections were forged between these worlds that will have lasting effects.
The Kansas City Centennial event was the effort of a group of Heinlein scholars and admirers who rose to fill the void and ensure that the celebration of Robert Heinlein's 100th birthday happened in grand style. The consensus seems to be that we succeeded.
It's important for the community to understand that Heinlein Centennial is a unique entity - brought into being by the need for someone to plan and carry out that event and then manage its legacy - that is not associated, in any form, with any other group or institution.
Specifically, we are not connected with the Heinlein Prize Trust, the Heinlein Estate or the Heinlein Society. None of these institutions contributed to the costs or effort of the Kansas City Centennial event.
Thanks Where Thanks Are Due
We had the support of more than 600 paying attendees... and no one is due more thanks than those folks who committed their registration, hotel and travel dollars to be with us and make the event a success. (That's you - take a bow!)
We had the early endorsement of the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society, and their experience and people on the ground in KC are what made the mechanics of the event happen.
We had the publicity support of the Kansas City in 2009 group, which carried our materials and banner to all the places they visited in pursuit of their 2009 Worldcon bid. We can say this much: KC is a helluva place for a big convention, and the KC'09 crowd knows how to do it. Here's wishing them luck in getting the bid this September and telling you that if it's KC in '09, you'll want to be there!
Having the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) and Campbell Conference join us, early on, made all the difference in making the event successful and stable at the critical early stages. Thanks to David Mead and Adam Frisch of SFRA, and James Gunn of the Campbell Conference for your trust and support when we needed it!
It does seem like this list should be longer, doesn't it? But nope, the small and overworked event committee, plus the above groups and the people they brought to the effort, are what made that magical weekend happen. Think about that for a bit while you're remembering what a bash it was.
Thanks to Our Sterling Lineup of Guests
There's never been an event that brought together A-list guests from so many different worlds. Thanks to all our guests for making the whole much greater than the sum of its parts!
- SpaceShipOne astronaut Brian Binnie
- X Prize founder Peter Diamandis
- Spider and Jeanne Robinson (Good luck on your Zero-G flights, Jeanne!)
- NASA Administrator Michael Griffin
- Heinlein Prize Trustee Buckner Hightower
- XCOR CEO Jeff Greason
- Mike Cassutt
- Dr. Robert James
- Ben Bova
- James Gunn
- David Gerrold
- J. Neil Schulman
- Elizabeth Anne Hull
- Dr. Jordin Kare
- Eric Anderson, Space Adventures
- John Scalzi
- Allen Steele
- Kathleen Goonan
- Yoji Kondo
- Dr. Martine Rothblatt, Sirius Satellite Radio
- Frederik Pohl
- M.G. Lord
- Bill Ritch and the Atlanta Radio Theater Company
- Patti Smith, FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation
- Our excellent MC Robin Wayne Bailey
- Chuck Lauer
- Jacqueline Lichtenberg
- Lee Martindale
- Selina Rosen
- Rob Chilson
- Chris McKitterick
- Paula Helm Murray
- Sturgeon Award winner Robert Charles Wilson
- The attending membership of SFRA
- The Campbell Conference participants
- ...and many more, some of whom joined panels impromptu and contributed greatly by doing so. Thanks to all of you for coming together and making Heinlein's worlds collide.
Volunteers
We said we couldn't do it without volunteers to help... and we did it because of our fabulous crew of volunteers. Most came to us through KaCSFFS and KC'09, but several key people just walked in (paid!) and rolled up their sleeves. The event ran smoothly and was a success because of these folks' hard work:
- Joyce Downing, Registration
- Michael Downing, Registration Assistant
- Margene Bahm, Registration Assistant
- Jim Murray, Registration Assistant
- Susan Satterfield, Writing Contest Coordinator
- Lynn Stranathan, Marketplace Manager
- Jeff Orth, Volunteer Coordinator & Display Wrangler
- Tracy Majkol, Videographer, Driver & Display Wrangler
- William McCullough, Don Mull, Adam Crafter, Alan Koslow, Display Wranglers
- David Sooby, Heinlein Theater video room manager
- John Taylor, Hotel Liason (Hyatt), Shipping Agent
- Michael McCain, Publication Printing Liaison
- Barbara Tevington, VIP Escort
- Joe Dixon, Panel Name Tents, Videographer
- Ruth Lichtwardt, Autographing Coordinator
- Paula Murray: Art Exhibit Coordinator
- Cheryl Russell, Art Exhibit Assistant
- Sherry Dean: Marketplace Assistant
- Ann Lowenstein, Catering Coordinator
- Ed DeGruy, Catering Assistant
- Thomas Dresser, Blood Drive Assistant
- Kate Anson, Blood Drive Bait (aka Eunice)
Rolled-Up Sleeves Crew (incomplete because lots of people pitched in when they saw a need):
- R. Kelly Cutler
- Dave Truesdale
- Matt Randolph
- Corey Barber
- Cheryl Peugh
- John Tilden
- Bob & Tricia Crichton
- Barbara Trumpinski-Roberts
Centennial Writing Contest Winners
A writing contest was held as part of the Centennial, and we tried to get the book of winners published in time for the event. There were just too many details to deal with and this one slipped... our apologies to the worthy winners!
The winning stories and authors are:
- Winner, Amateur Division: "Hammers and Snails" - Christopher J. Howard
- Honorable Mention, Amateur Division: "A Condition of Intelligence" - Robert Jenkins
- Special Recognition, Amateur Division: "World Ceres" - Sandy Sandfort
- Winner, Professional Division: "The Beautiful Accident" - Edward Carmien
- Honorable Mention, Professional Division: "Refuse" - Marjorie Dieter Keyishian
- Special Recognition, Professional Division: "B All U Cn B" - Fran Van Cleave
All of the winning stories were published in a PDF volume that was available for 30 days after the end of the event. The stories then reverted to their owners and you'll have to find out where they placed them in order to read them... or find someone who still has the Centennial story book available.
You Wanted a Schedule Book?
Well, it's a little late to plan your days but you can see what you missed. Here you go...
- STRAIGHTUP VERSION - This PDF prints on standard letter-size pages. Easy. Simple. No tricks.
- PAGINATED VERSION - Want to get artsy? Have a duplexing printer or know how to manually duplex pages? Grab this version instead and print it out duplex - "tumble," "top/bottom" or "flip up" style, not the usual side-to-side style. Fold the stack, staple it if you have a long-reach stapler handy (or Kinko's does), and you've got pretty much the book we handed out in KC. The cover sheet was light green, if you are fussy about details.
How About the Daily Event Updates?
We issued three daily update sheets and had some fun with them.
- DAILY LUNATIC - This PDF prints on standard letter-size pages.
Some Attendee Stats...
Here's the abstract: We had over seven hundred attendees from 43 US states and territories, 2 Canadian provinces, and four continents... Japan, Israel, France, Brazil and Italy, from fandom, academia, spaceflight, government and entertainment.
Page Updated 04 January 2009