Ok. We know you want to talk, gush, and squee about LeakyCon 2009. Here’s your place to be express your happiness about the event.

I’ll start first with a huge SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I cannot wait for this event. It’s going to rock everyone’s socks, and the sheer fun of the event (not to mention that it will help charity… how cool is that?) will be astronomical. I’ve never been to Boston for more than a quick two day trip (and most of that was stuck in a conference room for a seminar) so I am really, really looking forward to getting to see more of the city. And the site of the conference? My goodness gracious, it has a CASTLE. And a Tower! What a perfect setting. Sigh. Is it May 2009 yet?

This is going to be AMAZING! I absolutely cannot wait until May of next year (ZOMG, a year away.... *faints*)

I'm so excited, this is going to be the best thing ever... in the history of the entire world... period... you can quote me on that...

A definite squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I have not been to Boston since I was a youngster, maybe 4 or 5. I can remember walking in the park with my doll carriage. I have been saving up for a fantastic vacation and LeakyCon is it, YEA. A nice hotel, the programs and just being able to talk to "Loungers" in person sounds like another ! I am looking forward to a side visit to Salem too. I want to go to the museum there.

Squeeee!!! First Terminus and now LeakyCon! I can't wait! Zaz!

~Sasha~

SQuuuuuuuueeeeeeE! I'm so excited for LeakyCon. This will be my first HP conference, and I KNOW its going to be the best! Can't wait to meet many of you lovely people!

Is it 2009 yet?

I cannot wait for LeakyCon! This is my first convention!!!!!!!! And my first trip to the U.S!!!!!!..... So many exclamation points!!!!

I am so incredibly excited! This is going to be so heck of awesome

Um, I'm so excited it is hard to talk about it. I've never been to Boston before, so I'm really excited to get out and enjoy the city and all the things around it. I am even more excited to meet people from the Leaky Community and share in person some of what we talk about online.

I cant wait! This is going to be sooooo cool!!!

I can't wait for next year!! I'm an old con goer, but never an HP con and this will be my first for this genre. I'm so excited at the prospect of a vacation visiting with HP fans!! Yeah!!!

Can I just say when I changed the calendar from April to May, my heart started thumping. One year away! Can you imagine just how insane we'll all be this time next year????

Anyone from england, uk, going to this convention? i am from england. im, by the looks of it, flying on my own. i put a post on the 'anyone going to leakycon09?' thread sayin i have a dilemna. my mother, annoyingly enough, doesnt want to go to boston. ive never been to the usa before. i am quite happy to go there on my own. i just thought it might be better to make friends with some people who are going to the leakycon and who are stayin at the plaza hotel, as thats where i am planning on stayin as its the main place and i wont have to travel to get there. im 22, and pretty easy to get on with. if anyone is like 15+ then id love to get to know ya! im a very young 22yr old, so u kno lol. im waiting to hear when i can register for a room and then in june i can book a flight, i would book one nearer the time, but knowing the way the prices go up and down, if i wait til later then the price could either be really cheap, in which case brilliant, but it could also go the other way, and then i would be stuck. anyway, so if anyone is defo goin, then i wanna make an effort to keep contact with ppl who r goin too, because i am definatly going no matter what. i pay for the flights, etc, so i dont see why i shouldnt be able to go! haha thatll teach my mother hahee

Squee! I can't wait!! It will be my first fan conference! You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out it is going to happen in Boston! I haven't been active on these boards before now, so I need some HP friends to meet up with in a year!

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited about LeakyCon! I don't know for certain yet that I'll be able to go but if so, LeakyCon will be my second conference after Terminus. *recognizes Sasha and waves*

Does anyone know of any good things to do in and around Boston?

I'm really hoping that things will work out in my favour, and I'll be able to attend. I'd signed up for Sectus 2009 over here in the UK, and that was cancelled, so I'd love to go to a HP con.

I've been to quite a few cons before (Mostly Quantum Leap cons), and I've been on the committee for a couple (including one to be held next March), but this would be my first time at a Harry Potter con, and I'm just about dying of squee at the thought of it.

Hey groovygal2k! As my username suggests, I'm from Scotland and I'm going. I've just registered for the Leaky Lounge (so this is my first post!! Hello Leaky Loungers!!!) so I could get more info on LeakyCon and I was gonna ask if anyone form the UcK was going over, because I'll be going by myself as well.

I'll probably be flying to Boston from London and I'm intending to go over for a couple of weeks so I can see more of Boston after the Con, and then head up to NYC for a week or so. I'm a wee bit older than you at 34 (since last month. Ouch!!) but when it comes to HP I'm just a big kid!!!!

Hi all! Please PM me if you're going and want to meet up. I'm hoping to drag my husband along with me from Western NY (Buffalo area). We've never been to any conferences, but I'm very excited to finally gab and gather with other wonderful HP fans! I'm 25 years old, married, in love with the magical world and eager to meet everyone!


Bye for now!

Hi everyone!

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's new to the Lounge. I signed up ages ago and let myself get intimidated by the size of it all (I felt like I should read everything ever posted so I wouldn't repeat anything, and that just wasn't feasible, LOL!)

Anyway, I'm here now because I'm just so excited about LeakyCon (my first conference) and I think it should be much easier to follow a thread that has just begun. I'm 30 years old and live about a hour south of Boston, so travel will be pretty easy for me. I think it'll also be nice to be local because I'll be able to participate in as much of the conference programming as possible, without feeling like I need to fit in all the sight-seeing stuff at the same time. I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to talk any friends into coming up with me--none of them are HP fanatics like I am--so I'm really looking forward to getting to know all of you over the next year. (Wow, a whole year...it seems so far away even though I'm sure it'll go by before I know it!)

Hello! *waves and looks around a little nervously*
I, like some other people here, am new to the Leaky Lounge. To be honest, big forums kind of intimidate me, so I'll probably be staying in the little LeakyCon corner, for awhile at least.

Okay, a little about me, as an introduction. I've been involved in the fandom probably for about a year or so now, but I became more involved after the release of DH. I went to Phoenix Rising, but didn't really know anyone, so didn't participate in as much as I could have, and I'm going to Terminus this summer (3 months from tomorrow!, so I"m really excited to meet people there.

I'm relatively sure that I'll be going to LeakyCon, although nothing's confirmed or set in stone yet, because I haven't booked the flight, room, etc yet. However, I'm really excited to get to know some of you in the next year before the Con.

I'm 15, and I cohost a wrock podcast, am a HUGE fan of basically all wizard rock, write some fanfiction stories that I desperately need to update, and otherwise just love having friends in the fandom.

I can't wait to get to know you guys on the forums!
~Cody

Hey everyone! seems like you are all getting settled down for a nice long chat. Excellent. This is just the place for it.

If you are interested in things to do in Boston, visit the LeakyCon website, we have links for Boston activities on it. Loads to do around the hotel area (but I gotta tell you... I didn't have time to SLEEP at Prophecy, much less do any site seeing!)

It sounds like this is going to be a first con for many of you... you are in for a fantastic treat. Harry Potter conferences are amazing, and of course we plan on pulling out all the stops for you this time around.

I guess I should introduce myself! I'm Questauthor, aka Lisa DeGroodt. I've been working in the Reading Groups on the Lounge for about a year, and now I am helping out with LeakyCon as the Communications Committee Chairperson. My group of CHARMed ones (Communicating Happenings And Resources Management) will be bringing you the online communities, press kits, newsletters, and website updates. Whew. As my moniker implies, I am an author of several fantasy books known as the Quest Series. I also work full time at a 'real life' job, have a wonderful husband and two children and yeah, I have no more time left in my life!

Enjoy the forum, folks. We're intimate and small and it's going to be a wonderful year and a wonderful conference.

I'm so excited for this! Beyond the Deathly Hallows release party I haven't gone to anything, not a Wizard Rock show, not a conference! We don't get much up in Halifax
I think my boyfriend and I might check out a Stephen King tour while we're around which could be awesome but I think all I'm going to be thinking of is Potter lol.

Hey Lisa aka Questauthor!!! Thanks for your last post. I'm sure I heard you being interviewed on PotterCast a month or two ago.

I'm Neil from a wee village about 45min North East of Edinburgh and I've never had the chance to get to a conference before, so when you announced LeakyCon I thought "That sounds sooooo cool!! And if I'm ever going to make sure I get to one it has to be LeakyCon!!!". I've been visiting Leaky for about 5yrs now, and I've been listening to PC since the very beginning. I made it to the London podcast last May which was fun, so I'm really excited about LeakyCon. I'm planning to stay in the US for a couple of weeks so I can see some more of Boston and NYC after the conference has finished.

ZOMG!

I so cannot wait until next May!

My first conference was Prophecy last year, and that was one of the best weeks of my life! Like Lisa/Questauthor said, we barely had time to sleep! I also spent a week in London with a bunch of Leaky Staffers for the release of Deathly Hallows, and that was also one of the best weeks of my life. I'm going to Terminus this Summer, and can't wait for that, either. HP fans, especially Leaky Members and Staffers, are just the best people to have fun and party with, so LeakyCon is gonna be the best HP Conference EVAR!

Hmm, introductions.

Well, my name is Laurie, I'm 23 and joined Leaky Staff about 2 years ago. I haven't done anything quite so interesting as Lisa, such as writing a book series, but I would love to! (For the record, the Quest Series is absolutely AMAZING!) I live in sunny Wales [/sarcasm], which is in the UK - it's not in England; it's a whole different Country, which is next to England

I haven't decided what dates I'm gonna be in Boston yet, but I'll prob spend at least 2 weeks in the US, maybe more. I usually decide these things last minute

Alright, so I am so excited for LeakyCon! If I get to go, it will be my first ever con and interaction with lots of other HP fans like myself. What's so cool about LC '09 is that most of the con-goers will be leaky visiters, thus I'm sure there will be many familiar faces (that is, screen names )

I actually had a dream I was at LC last night, too! I never ever ever remember my dreams, and I dreamed that I went and had the best time of my life there. So that's a good sign, eh?

I'm a little nervous, honestly, because I've never really been that involved with Leaky, mainly because by the time I was involved in the fandom, Leaky was very much large and already in existence, so little "just joining fandom" me was a bit intimidated just by the pure size of Leaky. Is there anyone else in the same boat?

Hey slythphoenix116!! I've been coming to Leakynews.com for years and I've been listening to PotterCast from the start, but yesterday was my first time on the Leaky Lounge and LeakyCon will be my first conference of any kind. Don't worry about coming to Leaky, if you love Harry Potter nothing else matters

Hop on board... it'll be FUN!!!!

I actually joined the fandom late in the game...REALLY late in the game. I didn't start reading the books until a week before HBP was released (July 2005). I didn't have a computer at home, so I would check Leaky's news at work. I bought a PC in January of 2006, and the first thing I did was sign up for the LeakyLounge. And, though it was HUGE, the Reading Groups helped me to find a place where I could meet people and discuss everything from the books to everyday life. I've made some great friends through Leaky's forum.

So, slythphoenix116, yes, I do know how you feel about jumping into something that SOO large and intimidating. However, I was able to navigate the forum by getting involved in discussions and just being myself. I think you'll find, as intimidated as you are is as accepting and friendly the members of the Lounge will be. Just DON'T start with stating your opinions of the WB/RDR case. LOL! That thread, though informative, is full of passionate and opinionated posters. Start small...try sorting for the PS/SS reading groups on May 15. That's how I started, and it didn't steer me wrong.

Welcome, and HAVE FUN!

slythphoenix116, I would follow MJLeakyCon's advice! I was pretty scared to join LeakyLounge at first, and I didn't even know what a forum was. I lurked a lot on the forums and didn't know anybody, but with time, you get to meet some pretty awesome people here on the boards. Everyone here is pretty friendly, and remember- we all have the common interest of a love for potter! So don't be afraid to jump into some of the threads, it may look intimidating, but with just a couple of weeks, you'll feel like you know leaky lounge pretty well and it won't seem so bad anymore! I joined the summer of 2006, which was even later than MJ, so I was decently late in the game. The good news is that the fandom is still booming, and events like Leakycon 2009 are still around to look forward to! (And I hope to possibly see you there!)

Like MJ said, the sorting for the reading groups are coming up, which is one of the cooler experiences here on the Lounge. It's open for everyone, so check it out on May 15th! It is a great opportunity to meet some new members, join in on some threads sharing your thoughts on the potter books, and generally help learn the lay of the land around here.

I am INSANELY excited for LeakyCon.

Since this year I will be unable to hit a fancon, it's even more exciting being around at the beginning of it all.

I love these conventions and I can't wait to get to know some new people and get to know some old people as well.

I'm Kel, I've been in and out of the lounge for 3 years now. I'm a slytherin by blood and a hufflepuff by heart ;) I'm 30 now, I will be 31 by the time LeakyCon rolls around though.

I'm just seriously excited about going to Boston. I've never been there before, I don't believe I've ever been that far East before being from Arizona. What's more exciting is going to be taking the train from Iowa to Boston with a great friend of mine. We're going to have a blast. Especially wearing my cloak on the train. I love it.

hehe. I am SO EXCITED!!!! I love Boston, and it will be my first ever con too! And hosted by my favorite website. I'm not totally new to the forum, but I rarely post, because like many of you I feel a bit intimidated by the size of the whole thing. When I joined Leaky in 2006 I was really busy and didn't have time to make a post every day like I feel most of the regulars do on the forums. But now I have time! Grad school = less busy than undergrad. I'm looking forward to meeting you all. I love Potter Fans!

As far as previous involvement with the fandom goes, I started listening to Pottercast last year and I love it. I got to go to one of the live ones this summer in Louisville and it was amazing. I'm a Gryffindor, although the 100+ question sorting hat test put Ravenclaw only one point below, so maybe I'm a Gryffinclaw or something. And oh yeah, I'm in the 23 year old age bracket, but think of myself as fairly youthful. In fact, this summer, I was asked if I was old enough to sit in the exit row on the plane

And after that lengthy intro i just have to let out one more....


SQUEE!!!!!!

::Post edited by me for using words that don't exist. You'll have to excuse the fact that engineering has killed my English...::

Ah maybe engineering would have been the way to go. I'm looking into grad school (Tech Theatre) and for the exact opposite would be true!

Anyway I'm totaly souped for Leaky Con but I'm not sure if I'm getting a room. I'd have to stick the dog with my mom and I don't really want to leave him but even an hour drive after a late night can be brutal.

i am totally SYKED about leakycon09!!! i love that word syked!! its so american (no offence). anyway, u shld all kno me by now. im me, lol obviously, who else wld i be lol, but if u dnt kno me, my name is...dun dun dun.... katherine! wooohoo thats over lol, and im 22 (sighs), i look about 13 so being told i was 22, was a shock lmao
so , yeh, im from england, at the moment, to say it is dull is TOTALLY the wrong word! IT IS SUUUUUUNNNNNY LOL about 22/23 degrees, WAYHEY! for a whole week, (another WAYHEY!) and i cant sunbathe cos i dont hav a decent garden (booooooo) but i get to buy a new laptop next weekend (WAYHEY) lol sorry i love saying WAYHEY, cos theres just no other word to show excitement lol not in my world neways lol
LEAKYCON will be my FIIIIRSST ever time to the USA! It will be my second con, cos i got ACCIO in Oxford in July! WOOHOO. and im waiting (patiently) to book a flight, cos i cant book ANYTHING until juuuunnnne! what a total buggerrr! anyway, to all you people in ur teens/20's itd be grrrrr8 to get to know u before leakycon so we can meet there or what ever. if u goin that is. i dont mind making friends with ppl in their 30's, it just feels weird for me thats all. but feel free to chat to me, i wont bite! lol
ANYWAY i am gonna go, cos i can sense im making ppl unconfortable lol hahaha im not this crazy in real life, i just am on forums, SOOORRRyyyyy LOL i kno neil in scotland and emma (soz forgotten ur screen name) have made contact wiv me! woohoooo

I can't wait till leakycon09! My friends and I are booking our flights at the end of june, i think. We are going to stay in Boston for a few weeks or we might travel, we haven't decided that yet. But since if not been to the USA before i'm going to keep bugging them into travelling

But we will be getting a flight out from Heathrow, London. So if anyone needs travel buddies give us a shout

groovygal2k, that was definately the most excited post yet!!! I had a wee chuckle to mysalf here at my desk!

This'll be my first trip to any part of the US that isn't Florida, which I've done twice. Boston looks like e beautiful city and I can't wait to see it after the LeakyCon madness!!!

Don't worry about getting to know people in their 30s- we may seem old to you but we can be quite nice, you know. I'm young at heart and really easy to get on with, and in my job I'm constalntly dealling with people from 18-65; so I can talk to anyone.

The thing about the cons that I've noticed (and is also reflected here on staff) is that age is irrelevant to the Potter Fandom. I'm happily in my forties, and I've never felt so good about myself and my outlook on life than I have right now. Through Leaky, I'm friends with folk as young as 15 as well as those into their 60s. With the common bond of the love for the Boy Who Lived... we're all one happy Magical Family.

I'm so glad to see many of you coming from overseas!! I'm really looking forward to the event; I've not spent time in Boston at all. I imagine I'll get there early (maybe bring the fam and let them go off sightseeing while I do my con thing?).

@ From the Ashes

I don't know if engineering is the way to go or not, the undergrad is pretty brutal. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but 80+ hours of schoolwork on the average week is enough to make anyone crazy! You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is Tech Theatre? Is that focusing mainly on lighting and such? It sounds way cool.

On a semi-unrelated to the Con note but related to Boston and Harry Potter, is anyone else going to the Hahvahd Commencement to see Rowling speak? My friend was lucky enough to score tickets for the two of us because her dad is an alum, and I am way psyched!

Fromtheashes - I studing Tech Theater and i love it! I'm just finishing up at college and starting uni after the summer.

How much is it going to be for Leakycon???

i know this isnt much to do with leakycon, but im asking anyone atm, does anyone know where i can buy/download or whatver wizard rock? i dont mind which band, cos they r all gr8, but so far, i cant find newhere to get anything. myspace only let me download harry and the potters, but personally i prefer the remus lupins and moaning myrtles lol haha anyone know? oooh and catchlove lol

LOL, Groovygal2k, we're going to have to ask that the name of the con be changed to SqueakyCon!

I'm not in my 30's yet (July is the big 30, waaah), and I work as a Nursery Nurse on a children's ward at the local hospital, so I spend most of my time with kids between the ages of 1 day old and 19 years!

I got into Quantum Leap fandom at the age of 12, and when I started joining fan groups at the age of 16, most of the people I met were in their late forties. I'm still good friends with these people almost 14 years on, and one of my friends is 86!

When you have something in common like we all have, age is not an issue, so don't worry!

Can I just ask if people will be able to volunteer/steward at the convention? I've been going to cons for years, and I've been on the committee for a couple (I'm currently co-organising a con for next March), and I love helping out.

My absolute favourite Wizard Rock band is Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls, and you can find the website here: http://obatr.playz.it/ You can buy two albums and an EP of the song 'Open at the Close', which is utterly gorgeous and I'm ever so slightly obsessed with it.

To make this on topic - LeakyCon staff, if you can get OBaTR to the con, I will love you forever!

Yeh emma, im just getting into wizard rock. since i got the leaky christmas album, i decided i like them. i know not many of the bands can actually sing, but the music is good!

That's what I love about OBatR - Christian can sing!

If you want a freebie taster, somebody made a Deathly Hallows video to the song Open at the Close: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DIYk81Deek0

groovygal2k, it is kind of related to LeakyCon, because the will be WRock there. Speaking of witch (ha ha! did you see what I did there?), does anyone know which bands a slated to appear.

I downloaded Harry and the Potters, Draco and The Malfoys, The Moaning Myrtles and The Whomping Willows from iTunes. I've don't know their stuff, but I've just checked and Catchlove are on there too. I think I'll have a little listen to them cos a lot of people see to like them.

omg im crying! i just watching the open at the close vid of obatr on youtube. noooo im so pathetic! lol

Gorgeous, isn't it? I'm not usually into music vids, but someone sent me a link and I fell in love with the song, and had to go check the band out. I'm on a one-woman mission to make everyone listen to OBatR, lol!

I really should branch out into some other bands, but I don't know where to start.

Well you've just converted me!! I've just watched it and it's fantastic!! The song is great too!!

I tend to just download individual songs that I like. But Draco and the Malfoys and the Moaning Myrtles are probably my favourites so far.

Wow, it is clear that it is exam season because I haven't posted in the LeakyCon forum yet! I am so, so, insanely excited for LeakyCon. I went to Prophecy last year and am going to Terminus this August, and am expecting LeakyCon to trump them both (though the amount of fun I had at Prophecy was kinda ridiculous).
Just to touch on a couple of topics I've seen in the thread... it's totally true about the age thing. I'm 17, but I started going on the lounge when I was 15, and made loads of amazing amazing friends of all ages (and across the world!). I was one of the youngest people in my "group" at Prophecy, but had no problem at all fitting in... Harry Potter definitely transcends age differences.
And on the topic of Wizard Rock... where to begin? I love Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys, but I know a lot of their appeal is in their awesome conferences. Just to listen to, I like The Whomping Willows, The Moaning Myrtles, The Remus Lupins, and the Parselmouths. I suggest going to any band's MySpace and then just clicking through some of their top friends-- that way you can listen to the songs bands have up and see what you like!
Anyway, that was long, but the gist is: LEAKYCON SQUEEEEE!!

I'm so excited to see what kind of presence wizard rock has at LeakyCon. I'm something of a wrock fanatic, so indulge me to ramble about them a little bit
OK. My favorite bands at the moment (and it's insanely hard to choose, since it feels like choosing between good friends) are probably The Butterbeer Experience, Riddle TM, Ministry of Magic, OBatR, Marked As His Equal (New CD = SQUEE!), and Split Seven Ways (and all the various split-off projects thereof ).

Wizard rock and LeakyCon talk... could it get any better?!

I just wanted to jump in and say I am truly excited about LeakyCon next May. These conferences are SO much fun. Being with friends, making new ones, talking Potter, singing Wizard Rock, and just sitting in the middle of a room with 1000 other people who you know love Harry Potter just as much as you are pretty much the best feelings in the entire world. I'm so EXCITE!

As for my Wizard Rock faves... it is so hard to decide! Oliver Boyd, Ministry of Magic, Into the Pensieve, and the Mudbloods come to mind... but there are so many more!

Can't wait to see you all there! SQUEE!

-Edward

Wizard Wrock.... i'm fond of the Remus Lupins, Alex is one of the few wrockers who actually has performances in Arizona on a regular basis!

I also like the Mudbloods, Whomping Willows, Hermione Crookshanks Experience. There's a wizwrock website... ah, here it is: wizrock.org

You can learn a lot about the bands there... and yeah, I imagine we'll have a strong wizard wrock presence at LeakyCon!

*fangirls Edward* <---- random fangirl moment. Sorry. Had to be done.