Expedition C&C

Satellite 5 is brought to you by our crack team of seasoned conrunners, augmented by some new blood.

Mission Commander (Chair) — Michael Davidson

Michael has been going to conventions since Christine took him to an Albacon in the early 1980s. Since then he has caught the bug. He dipped his toe in the waters of con-running with Satellite 1, managed to get up to his neck chairing Satellites 2 & 3 and got full immersion with our Eastercon, Satellite 4. And still he comes back for more... Previous to that his main contribution to cons has been running a series of 'Deface the Music' quizzes at Redemptions, Eastercons and even a Worldcon.

In the real world he runs an Analytical Services Team at the Health Protection Agency, and when not working or SMOFing, likes to sail, sing and play the sax.

Mission Profile (Programme) — Christine Davidson

Christine started attending cons in the early 1980's but only became involved in con-running later in life, when it dawned on her that experience gained running scientific meetings might be transferable. Interestingly, this is now working in reverse: the 11th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant may be the first ever major scientific conference to feature a ‘gopher hole’! She ran programme for Satellite 1 through 4, and also looked after guest liaison, as a result of which she is now an official minion of Fluff (the plush Cthulhu).

Her real-life job is as an academic, specialising in environmental and analytical chemistry. She plays guitar, various types of percussion and also enjoys walking and sailing, especially in the West of Scotland.

Payload / Resources (Treasurer / Membership) — Carolyn Sleith (Dyllanne)

Carolyn's conrunning career started with Satellite 1 when she was involved with hotel selection. For Satellite 2 she was treasurer. Since then she has doubled as is treasurer and membership secretary. So now she doesn't just count beans she counts chickens as well. Carolyn is a big hard sci-fi fan and even wrote her library studies dissertation on Science Fiction in Libraries. She concluded that libraries do have science fiction, but the staff aren't aware of it.

In real life she is a SIGN Information Officer with Healthcare Improvement Scotland working exclusively on clinical guidelines. She is Pog's mother, Alligator Descartes' wife and is a director of her local Out-of-School Care Service. Officially she likes wine, coffee and reading. Unofficially it's more like eating, sleeping and playing facebook games.

Habitat / Life Support (Hotel Liaison) — Mark Meenan

Mark's first convention was Albacon II, he enjoyed it so much he volunteered at his next convention — Invention later the same year — and helped run the at-con registration desk. After helping again at Albacon 84 he was invited onto the committee of Albacon 85. He has been on the committee of 4 Eastercons, most recently our very own Satellite 4. For both Intersection and Interaction (the 2 Worldcons held in Glasgow) he was responsible for liaison with the SECC & the Moat House hotel (now the Crowne Plaza). He was also Deputy Division Head for Logistics for Loncon 3.

Mark's enormous contribution to fandom was recognised in 2014 when he was voted recipient of the Doc Weir Award.

In real life Mark works as a sysadmin at the University of Glasgow while trying to amass enough books to enter L-space.

Communications (Publicity / Publications) — Mad Elf

Mad Elf has been congoing since 1988. In that time he has discovered the delights of being a Gopher, Green Room Bod, Tech, and Steward, and has finally settled on Operations as the place to be. He has also been on several con committees, from the tiny Isocon 4 to Albacons and Eastercons, and only one of the resulting conventions has been classified as Better Off Not Mentioned.

Outside of conventions, he enjoys watching anime, playing table-top RPGs, computer games, and reading dodgy fan-fiction — and also working on his own RPG, and writing the occasional computer game and dodgy fan-fiction. He is also discovering the wonders of raising a teenage daughter. All of this is funded by a job contracting as a web applications programmer.

Contact / Emissary (Guest Liaison) — Morag O'Neill

Morag’s first convention was a day event featuring Babylon 5 and including Guest of Honour, Michael O’Hare, in Glasgow way back when. After that, her next trip into the heady realms of sci-fi cons was Satellite 1, followed by Satellite 2 and Satellite 3. She bravely decided to try out a different convention, went to Novacon 42 with Christine and Michael and was prevailed upon to become Scribe to the Satellite 4 Committee, a position she filled with great expertise. From there it was a natural step to join the committee of Satellite 5...

In her other life, Morag works as a free-lance scientific/medical indexer and editor, producing work for such exciting journals as “The World Journal of Gastroenterology” and probably knows more than anyone ever might need to on weird and wonderful biomedical topics.