One conference to rule them all, One conference to find them, One conference to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Londor where the shadows lie

	ILMC 17: THE LAST FEW STEPS ... final chance to join the Fellowship.
	FRESH CHALLENGES  ... latest news on the events schedule.
	THE NEVERENDING STORY ... session formats and main themes.
	THE ***KING ARTHUR AWARDS ... nominees for the new-look Arthurs.
	ANCIENT WISDOM ... pre-Quest checklist for all passbearers.
	CONTACT  ... how to reach us and get involved in e.News.

ILMC 17: THE LAST FEW STEPS

The ‘Fellowship of the ILMC’ is now nearing its journey’s end with the grim spectacle of Hotel Doom (aka The Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington) looming menacingly on the horizon. Registrations are piling into the ILMC office at what is probably an unprecedented rate, as the great and the good of five continents clamour to sign up as pass-bearers at this, our 17th meeting – and the organising team is burning candles at every end possible to make sure that the final details are all in place.

For the benefit of anyone who hasn’t yet committed to this year’s epic quest (and to remind everyone else exactly what it is that they’ve signed up for), this month’s issue of IQ magazine will include a copy of the original registration pack and a review of all the latest developments. The bumper package will also contain your ballot paper for the new-look Arthur Awards and a booking form for our Thursday evening London Eye adventure. Meanwhile you can find out far more than you’ll ever need to know about ILMC 17 – including latest updates on the ever-growing Delegate List - by moving your cursor over the following words and clicking once: http://www.ilmc.com/ilmc17. Magic, isn’t it..?

Ride up to the 10th floor for Das Deutsche Dinner

Saturday’s ‘Night of the Round Tables’ Gala Dinner at Claridges - the jewel in the crown of ILMC 17’s social agenda – has found a new host in the shape of the Academy Music Group (AMG). Meanwhile a posse of our German friends – spearheaded by Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion, Peter Rieger Konzertagentur and Musik Pool Germany - is forming to ensure the best possible send-off at our farewell Sunday function, ‘Das Deutsche Dinner’.

Following our announcement that Philip Morris will be donating F1 tickets to the winners of Friday’s new-format Super Grand Prix, several regulars who inhabit the area around our Table Football machine each year have decided that this might be the time to organise something a little more competitive and structured. There are even rumours of prizes – so watch out for news and start working on that ball-rattling wrist action (steady..).

On a more cultural note, award winning photographer, Guido Karp, has provided some fine examples of his outstanding music prints to be exhibited at ILMC 17 and auctioned for our charity this year, War Child. Meanwhile, two of Italy’s finest exports, Negramaro and Elio e le Storie Tese, have been confirmed as co-headliners of Friday’s in-house Italia Wave Showcase. The best part is likely to be the look on their faces when they see the stage that they have to somehow fit on – the very same stage, in fact, that may well see the birth of new stars from among the ranks of our very own members during the ‘Rockin’ Out With Rock-it' delegate jams on Saturday and Sunday nights.

For the full story on these and all other ILMC 17 events, check your registration brochure or get the latest details at www.ilmc.com.

THE NEVERENDING STORY

The serious business of the weekend is the conference’s meetings and panels. Inevitably the main focus is usually ‘change’, and each year this theme seems to grow in importance as more and more aspects of our industry face new challenges. ILMC 17 will consider a broad range of the issues involved, including the effects of new technologies, social developments in emerging territories, environmental issues, the problems facing the next generation of both artists and business people, and the increased interactions with both corporate business and governments as our industry continues to grow.

Last year’s innovative and successful presentation format for the meetings will be continued, again giving five rooms to better service the expansive and varied topics for discussion. Most sessions will be restricted to 90 minutes, with no more than three meetings taking place at any one time, and every effort has been made to reduce crossover in the subject matter to a minimum.

With sufficient input now received from our delegates to be able to begin drawing some final conclusions about the layout of this year’s meeting schedule, our ‘Provisional Agenda’ will be emailed to you shortly as a ‘part 2’ to this eNews. All suggestions are still welcome, though, so keep the ideas coming.

An extreme makeover for Arthur

Despite our best efforts to keep our tongue firmly in our cheek during the 15 or so years that these awards have been running, it seems that winning one has developed an importance that we never envisaged - not only within the industry but even to the world's media.

To match their new, elevated status we've decided to upgrade as many aspects of the awards as possible. Not only will the little plastic statuettes be replaced by something that you wouldn't be ashamed to show your Mum, but the voting system itself has been redesigned in order to make the results as relevant as possible.

Whether they are actually planning to attend the conference or not, all members are being asked to make their votes count, and the onerous task of having to search your soul to come up with the nominations has been shifted to a randomly-selected jury of some 30 people – each representing a wide range of countries, experience and occupations. Voting forms will be provided with the next issue of IQ magazine, and an on-line version can be found at http://www.ilmc.com/ilmc17/arthur_voter.html – so there’s no excuse for not taking part! As always, the winners will be announced at our Saturday Gala Dinner, but we're counting on your votes this year to make the 'new Arthurs' the best ever!

The ILMC Bottle Award (our special award for services to live music) will be decided by the nominations panel.

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• To help you sort out your meetings, an advance preview of everyone
  registered so far for ILMC 17 is available at www.ilmc.com
• If you haven’t done so already – complete your registration & hotel booking forms, and return them post haste! Pre-registration closes on Tuesday 8th March (6pm GMT), but if you want to make sure that your listing is in the the Globetrotters Guide and not the “late delegates list”, make sure payment is received by 25th February.
• For marketing opportunities with the ILMC, email us now at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Chris Prosser on +44 (0) 20 7449 2980.
• The deadline for Street poster Exhibition entries is March 3rd.
• Make sure to return your Arthur Awards voting form.
• Prepare items for the delegates leaflet table and make sure you pre-book by Tuesday 8th March, as no items will be accepted over the ILMC weekend.
• Let us know about any prizes you can donate for the Nikos Fund Grand Prize Draw.
• Submit your gigs for the Access All Areas list.
• Send a current photo to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for the Rogues Gallery.

Please also remember to let us know if you change your email (or any other) address. We need your involvement, so contact us any time you like with news, ideas, criticisms, and contributions at: