PZS is Around the Corner

[Portland Zine Symposium]

Hello everyone!

The 12th annual Portland Zine Symposium is just about one week away! We organizers are extremely busy getting all of the loose ends tied up, but we are stoked to see you all soon!

First off, important notes for tablers: If you have not paid for your table by August 8th (Wednesday), you forfeit your table to someone on the waitlist. It is very important that we get caught up on tabling fees! This is how we pay our bills and make it work. Please pay as soon as possible. Also, if you have a table at the symposium but feel like you might have some extra room to share, there are lots of people on our waitlist that would love to help you fill that space and maybe kick in a few bucks towards the tabling fee. Head over to our forums if you think that might be an option for you. 

Good news: We will have air conditioning this year! 

Tablers are allowed to check in both Saturday and Sunday at 9am to begin setting up. Doors open to the public at 10am. 

This year, we are going to be strict about the one chair per half table rule. In past years, we've been somewhat lenient about it, but this year we absolutely do not have extra chairs to give out, so please keep this in mind when making your arrangements. This is in part because we have to pay for every chair that we rent, but we hope this rule also encourages those at the symposium to take an active role in getting up, looking around, and participating in the workshops and the other events going on.

Lastly, with a little more than one week left, now is the time to help us promote the Portland Zine Symposium! Invite your friends to our event (in person and on Facebook), tweet about it, write about it on your blog, pass out flyers—help us get the word out to folks who may otherwise not know! 

We will have three events going on the weekend of the symposium. 

We're having a kick off party on Friday August 10th starting at 7pm. Join us at the Independent Publishing Resource Center (1001 SE Division) for tours of the new facility, letterpress demonstrations, and a thrilling game of Zinester's Jeopardy - with prizes! We'll have refreshments, including Ninkasi beer. The event is free, but donations for the symposium are graciously accepted. 

On Saturday, August 11th, at 7:30PM join us for an amazing reading and music show at Backspace (115 NW 5th Ave.). Point Juncture WA and The World Radiant will be playing, in addition to selected readings from the final installment of A FIELD GUIDE TO STAR TREK: TNG, Martha Grover, Alex Wrekk, and Everett Patterson. There will be a suggested donation of $5 to help benefit the Portland Zine Symposium, but no one will be turned away.

And on Sunday August 12th, wind down after a long weekend of zine-ing out with karaoke at the IPRC (1001 SE Division). The event is free, and we'll have refreshments for you to enjoy as you relax and do some bonding with all the friends you made at this year's symposium. 

We are still looking for volunteers to help out during the symposium! We need people to help run the info and merch table, set up and break down, monitor the food and drink area, pick up donations, and generally help out throughout the weekend. Please email us at pdxz...@gmail.com to get signed up! We can't do it without you. 

And if you want to submit a workshop, please do so by Monday August 6!

And last, we'd like to thank our sponsors who have so generously supported us this year. Thanks to Whole Foods, SoupCycle, Publication Studio, Top Shelf Productions, Lion Heart Kombucha, Pacific Pie Co., Skint Press, Turtle Island Foods, Careen Stoll, Dave's Killer Bread, King Harvest, Ninkasi Brewing, Black Sheep Bakery, Grand Central Bakery, Alicia at Fancy! Salon, Einstein's Bagels, and Wallace Books. 

If you are interested in donating, check out our donations page to see how you can help! 

See you next week,

the 2012 PZS organizers