This is a early post in preparation for next year’s HFFL event. Now normally, this is where I say it’s going to be a LAN event. Not this time! Nope! I’m planning on something MUCH bigger!

I’m talking mini convention size, to start. I’m inviting all sorts of Halo communities to come to the event and set up a booth so that they can promote their communities.

Along with that, there will be a full fledge FFA tournament. AND…a 4v4 tourney as well. For REAL money, not just prizes as I’ve had the last three years.

To get this off the ground it’s going to take a lot of work and a good bit of funding. I’m going to need your help on this. I’m setting up a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds for the event. I’d like to ask you all to not just take a look (and hopefully donate), but also pass the word along to all of your fellow Halo fans.

I’m looking for sponsorship as well. This in the form of prizes for contests, door prizes, etc. Hoping to have something for each attendee. Speaking of contests, the event will have a costume contest. There will be different parts to this. Spartans will be one category, Covenant and Promethean two others and a miscellaneous Halo category. The winners of each of the four categories will then go to a final round for ‘costume of the event’.

I’ve started contacting Halo licensees for their participation and/or donating samples of their products to show and prizes for this as well.

I’ve sent a very short initial proposal to 343 about this. Hopefully I will be able to get their endorsement. Better yet, have some of them there in person!

The ultimate goal of this (that will likely take a few conventions/years) is to have this at a large convention center, with an HCS sanctioned tournament, 343/Microsoft approved event.

I’m being practical about this. I know it’s going to take some time to hit into the multi-thousand attendees mark. You have to start somewhere though, right?

I’ve been working towards this for a few years now. My annual LANs, for example, were in part preparation for event planning for something larger.

This will be a two-day event. Dates and times will be announced soon.

I can’t stress enough how much I’m going to need you good folks to pass the word along here.  This whole thing is going to depend on those funds being raised. If I don’t hit the mark needed, the event won’t happen on the scale that I’m planning for. 

Okay, so let’s take a look again at some of the things the event will have, some already mentioned, some not yet until now (more will likely be added):

• Free For All Halo 5 Tournament
• 4v4 Halo 5 Tournament
• Costume contest; 4 categories with winners in each; one overall winner for ‘costume of show’.
• Door Prizes
• Several fellow Halo Communities displaying their wares in their own booths
• Live band
• Large Halo Mega Bloks battle scene (This one is going to be VERY cool!)
• McFarlane Halo Action figure display
• Other Halo collectibles display
• Halo licensee booths
• 405th Special display (I’m trying to find the right person there to talk to about this, if anyone can help, email me! [email protected])

These next couple are going to be tougher to attain, but I’m going to try none the less:

• 343 folks present
• Voice actor(s) appearance

The whole point of this is to have the opportunity for Halo fans to come together in an atmosphere that is dedicated to THEM and all things HALO. There is NO other convention that is EXCLUSIVELY Halo. Sure, the bigs ones like SDCC, NYCC, PAX have participation by Halo reps, but it’s not all Halo everywhere the eye can see. RTX is fantastic of course, though they’ve become more than just Halo now too. (Not knocking them at all, in fact, I’m trying to model this event after them!)

Folks, I have the drive and determination, not to mention a whole lot of enthusiasm to make this happen. Once again, I REALLY need your help getting the word out and helping to raise funds for this. On that part, I can’t do it alone.

For now, the name of the event is being held close as I have to make sure I can use it without any trademark issues. I do have alternate names ready as well and am looking up trademarks for those too.

Specific dates and cost information will be soon in announcement. I’m going to do my best to keep this at as most a reasonable cost to come to as possible. Oh, on the point of cost, I want to make mention that since this will be in Pittsburgh, you can expect to have lower costs involved than other conventions. Hotel costs are definitely less. The cost of living around these parts is less than San Diego, New York, Houston, etc. So eateries won’t break the bank, cab fares are certainly cheaper. Even air fare in most cases will be quite a bit less. The convention, by location alone, will make it much more affordable to come to!

I’ve got a little bit more work on the Kickstarter page to do and will have that up soon. Likely after the holidays (mid January) as I know many of you have your attention and funds set towards that and I don’t want to interfere there.

Also, I should be further along in the process of planning for this by the time of the Kickstarter page going up, so look for more info then for sure!

I’ll have more info on this as time goes on. I’m just announcing the plans now so there is plenty of time for me to plan accordingly and hopefully for YOU to participate! I want to meet as many of you in person as possible! Halo continues to be a blast to be a part of, in large part because of the community.

My motto for the blog is, “By a Halo fan, for Halo fans”. That rings just as true here with this event. This is for YOU my fellow fans and friends!

-Sal