Kia ora anō/Hello again SRN attendees:

Just a few reminders as we get closer to the conference.

1) It has come to the committee’s attention that some of the people who are on panels have not been receiving emails and other notifications from the conference. If you are a panel leader, please be sure to forward information to your panel members. We can’t do this on our end, because several panels were submitted without full contact details for all of the members.

2) The Executive Residence (on campus) will be taking its SRN2017 block booking hold off as of tomorrow, so if you want to be sure of a room with them, please book immediately. 

3) The final deadline for registrations is approaching extremely fast: 

JULY 27TH. Please register if you have not done so already. The link is here and the deadline is FINAL (after that, rates increase to NZ$400):
https://secure-www.otago.ac.nz/conferences/srn-2017/

4) As a further update of speakers and events at SRN2017:

The line-up includes feature sessions with New Zealand writers Rachel Lang (of Outrageous Fortune fame), Tusi Tamasese, (The Orator, One Thousand Ropes), Fiona Samuel (Consent, the Louise Nicholas story), Born to Dance writers Steve Barr and Casey Whelan, and Arts Laureate Gaylene Preston.

Head of the NZ Film Commission Dave Gibson, and head of NZ on Air, Jane Wrightson, will outline the challenges in developing and taking New Zealand screen voices to the world.

Another keynote speaker is new talent, Alejandro Davila, who is pioneering the rapidly emerging realm of making movies as virtual reality here in New Zealand. In 2016, Alejandro Davila and his team made the country's first Virtual Reality movie, which proved that it is possible to tell stories in this medium. This has led to a ripple effect across the nation, resulting in government grants for interactive storytelling and a nationwide distribution model for VR content.

Please note: We are currently working on our opening reception also and will have news about this up shortly. Our conference schedule is constantly changing—so please ensure you have the most recent copy. We will be working on the paper presentation schedule after the final registrations are in.

5) Also, remember to check out our tours, organised especially for the SRN community and including:

•	Dunedin Craft Beer Tour
•	Dunedin City Historical Walking Tour
•	Sites and Scenes Walking Tour around the University of Otago
•	Monarch Wildlife Tour and Cruise
•	Do-it-yourself tours

The page itself is here:

 http://www.otago.ac.nz/srn-2017/visit-dunedin/tours/index.html

It’s still ski season down here in Aotearoa, so add that to your itineraries also!

In the meantime, please encourage those who are interested in attending the conference (not necessarily presenting) to check out:

www.otago.ac.nz/srn-2017


Nga mihi,

Davinia and the SRN2017 org. cttm (Al, Maureen, Rochelle, Amie--and new addition to our team, Pippi: our intern!)