As we have mentioned before, Azkatraz 2009 will be taking place in San Fransisco this coming July 17-21, 2009. Azkatraz promises to be on of the best HPEF events yet and we hope you can make it. The first issue of “The Informant”, Azkatraz’s official newsletter is up and it has information about registration, the Half Blood Prince Movie Screening, special events and more! Also, as we all know, HP Progs has some of the most intelligent listeners and readers out there, so we wanted to remind you that you can still submit proposals for presentations at Azkatraz. Both Greg and I will be submitting proposals and perhaps this year, Greg will actually get one accepted ( ).

You can go to the HPEF Website to register and remember that the sooner you register, the cheaper it will be. Just a little favor, when you do register make sure to write “HP Progs” in the referral area so that the folks at the HPEF know who sent ya there!

-Penny

If you’re going to Portus or still considering going the following message is for you:

Countdown the weeks and days until Portus by joining your fellow attendees and the Portus chairs for the last live chat before Portus!

Discuss everything from your best Quidditch strategy to your theory on the deconstruction of magic theology in Book 7. The Portus Live Chats are also a great way to talk to the Portus chairs about the latest programming and ask questions about anything and everything Portus.

The Portus Live chat will be taking place via Yahoo Instant Messenger from 8pm to 10pm Eastern Daylight Time tonight – Tuesday, July 1st.

To participate in the chats, you will need to have yahoo messenger and a username, which you can download for free here: http://messenger.yahoo.com/

The moderator for the chat will have the username of PortusPublicRelations. To join the chat, send an instant message to PortusPublicRelations requesting access to the chat and you will receive a notification inviting you to the chat. Press “Accept” and you’ll be chatting with the rest of us in no time!

If you have questions or concerns regarding the Portus Live Chats, please feel free to email us at pr@portus2008.org.

We hope to see you there!

Best Regards,
Aziza Aba Butain
Chair of Public Relations

I took part in the last live chat and it was a bunch of fun. I plan on joining tonight as well. Talk to you later! Penny

It is possible that this has been up for weeks but I just noticed that the Formal Programming for Portus has been announced on the website.

My two roundtable discussions are included.

If you haven’t decided whether to come to Portus or not yet, maybe this programming list will help you make your decision.

It is going to be amazing. Nuff said.

Update: I just read through the presenters biographies and I realized that I am one of the only presenters who didn’t offer my credentials. I feel stupid now because I certainly worked hard enough for my M.S. and there is no better place in the world for me to brag about it than at a Harry Potter convention.  Did I mention I graduated Summa Cum Laude (that is for Greg who didn’t)?