tThe SiliconventiontRokDaZone & Acrydt hpc02 THE SILICONVENTION - SILLY, OR? f1c03 by RokDaZone and Acryd/Stonehead c02Thec01 SiliConventionc02 took place from the 28.02.97 to 31.03.97 in a center owned by city of Bremen in northern Germany. Parallely to the Symposium as most people already know. The organizers (ADM, Inter and Blank for Atari/Falcon; Blank for PC; Icebird for Acorn; Fairlight, Oxyron, Plush and Talent for C64; Arsenic/Oxyron for Amiga) wanted to set a second movement as alternative to the Symposium, which was said to be unsatisfactory for Falcon and Acorn Sceners then. c03Although they found quite some acceptance within the circles of Falcon and Acorn people, it seemed like Amiga and PC people were not so immensivly attracted by the event and rather visited the rival event. In the end f2350f1 people with C64, Amiga, Atari/Falcon, Acorn and PC-systmes showed up, which itself is not the worst result, but by far is below the expected f2 700f1 attenders. Still, besides Germans also Poles, Danes, Swedes, French and Britons found their way to the SiliConvention and members from groups like Artwork, Plush, Sector 7, Absence and Oxyron have been seen. One has to keep in mind that a handful people took the unique chance to visit two parties at the same time by moving between them. Azure/Artwork confirms: f4 "We have been travelling to the SiliConvention and found it quite empty. But it was a well decision though as we were able to sleep much better there."f1 c01 FEATURES c02Much like the Symposium, also the SiliConvention came up with quite an instable powersupply:f4 "We had to excuse the powerdowns. It was an problem what was not solvable at the party."f1 Acryd from the organizing team admits. c03The foodsupply reportedly was better than the one from the Symposium. They had a computer for direkt pizzaordering and besides selled Coca Cola, Fanta, Sprite and beer. So also at this party, alcohol was allowed. The sanitarian conditions were with four showers and eight toilets quite well, but with the expected 700 attenders, this could have become a race for hygiene. c02The internet connection was online 24 hours a day. We have no information, how many PCs were available for this. It seems hard to value the Scenish worth of that event. While it might have been a success for the Falcon and Acorn-Scene (we don't know), for the Amiga it surely was of absolute minor quality. The only 40k-Intro from the Amiga Scene was the one f2Artwork f1members released under the name of Eastern Bunnies and which reached the second rank in the end. After f2Arsenic f1left the party to participate at the Symposium, only one group was left to deliver a demo to the Amiga demo competition: f4'Synergy' f1from f2Sector7f1. A release consisting to huge parts of animations (I presume, correct me if needed). Although stylish - especially for the splendid gfx by f2JCS f1and the advanced soundtrack by f2Marc f1- it is rather unspectacular. A clever move therefore to become number f4"one" f1easily at one party instead of getting lost at another competition. c03The winners of the competition got hardware like Super CPUs for C64 or Playstations, N64`s and Sega Saturns plus one PC and one digital camera and many magazines. Acryd is content about the competitions: f4 "We had some really good entrys. Especially in the wild competition." f1 He was highly satisfied that they got the competitions right finished after 36 hours." Strange only that f2Fiver2 f1never received his Playstation for winning the gfx-competition. He was not at the party when the prices were given. That taken alone would have been ok, if the organizers around f2Real Tino f1would not have agreed in handing out prices when Fiver2 asked them in the forefield. If they wouldn't have done this, Fiver2 would have delivered his picture at the Symposium surely. What a pathetic move to keep participants at ones party! It is btw not sure who actually got the Playstation. Was it f2JCS f1who won the second price or was it (as nasty people know to tell) the organizers themselves? We don't know as we didn't got a statement from any organizer about it. c02Results can be found in a seperate Article. c01 SUMMING UP c03Acryd himself admits that the powerdowns were quite annoying, but still is sure that "for the first SiliConvention it was an nice party." His hopes go for the future so against popular believe, there might be a second SiliConvention instead of a mix up of Symposium and SiliConvention: f4"Certain things could have gone better, that's for sure. I guess it has to do with the bad advertising and that both parties took place at the same dates. Well, these are all points which can be solved next year!" f1c02The Scene itself surely hopes so as many reasonable Amiga Sceners enjoy to watch Atari/Falcon and Acorn demos and surely not few would visit both events.