If you've got questions, post 'em here, and I'll collate answers into this top post!

- Casey

When is HandmadeCon 2016?
Saturday November 19th and Sunday November 20th, 2016.

Where is HandmadeCon 2016?
It’s in the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall, a 380-person lecture hall in the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall performing arts venue at Seattle Center.
Here is its address.

Who is speaking at HandmadeCon 2016?
The speaker list hasn't been announced yet.

Jon Blow once said in a talk on programming indie games that you can learn to write software that doesn't have bugs. What did he mean by this? I'm not just looking for his take on the idea. Though I will understand if you want to say "this is a programming conference, not a Jon Blow Q&A session" :P

I can't take the time off work to get to HandmadeCon 2016 - living in Australia, I'm not travelling that far for a single weekend.

I'd like to sponsor someone who has the time, but can't afford it. I don't know if there's an official method to provide this kind of support and I don't want to create more work for you. But is there any feasible way to do this?

hamishtodd1
Jon Blow once said in a talk on programming indie games that you can learn to write software that doesn't have bugs. What did he mean by this?

This is probably a topic for a different thread :) I can't move it, though, because the moderation tools are still forthcoming.

I would have to say that I can't answer for Jon, of course, so you should probably ask him?

- Casey

mike
I'd like to sponsor someone who has the time, but can't afford it. I don't know if there's an official method to provide this kind of support and I don't want to create more work for you. But is there any feasible way to do this?

That is very kind of you! No, I do not have time to set up anything official for this kind of thing, although I really do wish we had something like that :( But if you are OK doing it person to person, you can e-mail me at [email protected] and I probably know some good candidates for you that I could point you toward.

- Casey

cmuratori

That is very kind of you! No, I do not have time to set up anything official for this kind of thing, although I really do wish we had something like that :( But if you are OK doing it person to person, you can e-mail me at [email protected] and I probably know some good candidates for you that I could point you toward.

- Casey

No worries. I'll be in contact; I appreciate the offer to connect me to the right people.

Have you thought about having a round table discussion with all of the speakers at the end of the day/con? Last year, some of the speakers had comments on earlier talks, and it may be cool to see them hash ideas out instead of those comments being one-sided (or maybe they'll fight that would be awesome). :)
Also, what are the chances of having Jon (or, alternatively, someone who doesn't know him as well) talk to Casey for a while? I get the impression that Casey wants to focus on other people, but I suspect everyone would really enjoy a year in review by him.

TinyConstruct
Have you thought about having a round table discussion with all of the speakers at the end of the day/con?

That is a likely possibility, but not 100% certain yet. It may be slightly different than you're imagining though, we'll see.

Also, what are the chances of having Jon (or, alternatively, someone who doesn't know him as well) talk to Casey for a while?

Not going to happen this year. Maybe sometime further down the line.

- Casey

I am hoping to attend and am traveling from the United Kingdom.

Can someone please suggest some good hotels to stay at over the weekend?
(The closer to the venue the better)

Codeslasher
I am hoping to attend and am traveling from the United Kingdom.

Can someone please suggests some good hotels to stay at over the weekend?

Bear in mind I was last in Seattle back in 2005 but I stayed in the Mediterranean Inn. http://www.mediterranean-inn.com/. Very nice, simple hotel and in walking distance to the Seattle Centre where Handmadecon is being held. Also has a Starbucks below it for the early morning pick you up!

It's also an easy walk into downtown, although I found it easier to walk to the monorail or jump on the bus.

Codeslasher
I am hoping to attend and am traveling from the United Kingdom.

Can someone please suggest some good hotels to stay at over the weekend?
(The closer to the venue the better)

Miblo and I both flew from the UK for HandmadeCon 2015 (Debiatan was also on the flight !) and it was great :D
We stayed at the Courtyard Marrott Seattle, which was fine (wifi++) and the price was reasonable. The main benefit was that we organised a bunch of people to roomshare in 2 neighbouring rooms. Since HMC2016 location is a little further away from this hotel than HMC2015 was, there are probably better locations available this year -- worth putting in the mix for consideration though.

The coolest thing would be to be able to share flights and hotels again, since that was a great way to socialise especially on the (fairly) long flight over.

I stayed at the Green Tortoise Hostel and I regret it deeply.

PRO: It was cheap, the staff were nice, breakfast was included and the free wifi was reliable.
CON: I couldn't get a good night's sleep. On the first night my roommates wouldn't shut up. On the second night the guy on the lower bunk coughed his lungs out for hours (and of course I fell sick after the hmhcon). On the third night the guys on the floor above decided to have a very loud party at around 3am.

Maybe I just had bad luck, but I'm pretty sure sharing a room at the Courtyard Marriott would have been much better choice.

Yes, keep in mind that the monorail connects downtown to the HandmadeCon location, so you can actually stay at anything downtown without too much trouble. Monorail fare should run less than $10 total for both days' round trips (I think it's $4.50 per round trip?) So downtown hotels _and_ lower Queen Anne hotels would both be very easy to do, I think, and the monorail runs 8:30AM to 11PM so it should not pose a timing problem either.

- Casey

I recommend Seattle's Executive Hotel.

Last year they gave a good discount for those staying because of Handmade Con. Contact Sales Manager Toña Zubia through e-mail or phone (206-777-7102) because she was the one that negotiated the price with me. Won't hurt to ask if they can do that again this year.

As a review the place is peaceful and everything from checking in, room service, all the way to checking out was laid back and straightforward.

I stayed in the Doubletree by the airport last year. Bit cheaper than downtown, and the hotel runs a free shuttle to the airport. Pretty sure most of the hotels in that area do. It's about 30 minutes by train from there. (Some of the signage suggested I wasn't *technically* supposed to do that, but no one said anything.)