NEIL History

Intercon exists because of the efforts of the volunteers that work hard to make the conventions happen. There are a handful of volunteers that take on extra responsibilities, who look to the future, to see that the con continues to happen. These are the board members of NEIL. These volunteers include the con-chair for the current year, who acts as the President of NEIL.

Intercon has a long history, and there are more details elsewhere.

By March of 1996, a number of New England LARPers were traveling down to the Baltimore/Washington DC area to play in games, and to meet up at the southern Intercons. The idea of running a local LARP convention was raised by several people. There'd been a convergence of a number of LARP groups in the Boston area, and it seemed like critical mass was there. On Columbus Day weekend, at Intercon 11.5, the bid for a New England Intercon was accepted.

The first thing that was different about the New England Intercons was the staff. Each southern Intercon had been organized by one or two con chairs, with a small dedicated group of volunteers. Intercon the Thirteenth had a large group of volunteers, sharing the work amongst a much wider set of people. This is the model that we've followed ever since.

The second thing that was different was that, at the first meeting, no one person knew everyone else in the room. Everyone was a newcomer to someone in that room. Organizing a convention was a new thing, so we had to trust people we didn't know to do important jobs. While the original people now know each other, we still follow the model, letting newcomers come in and do important things for the con.

The first three New England Intercons were run under the aegis of the Interactive Literature Foundation (ILF). Given the distance, there were concerns about the liabilities and responsibilities for those efforts. There were also some problems internal to the ILF itself, which led to its dissolution and the creation of LARPA. NEIL was incorporated in October of 2000, in order to define a local entity solely responsible for the New England Intercons.

This was done with the understanding and agreement of the local New England community, the ILF and the new LARPA leadership. This was a friendly delineation of responsibilities, agreed to by all involved. Rather than split the community with schism, we defined a model for how to run several LARP conventions a year in a friendly and cooperative manner.

NEIL Board of Directors Membership

No experience is necessary to be a part of Intercon or of NEIL. We're open to anyone willing to put time and effort into our conventions and the LARP events that are associated with the cons. You don't even have to be local to New England; many of our volunteers come from outside the region.

These are the people who have served on the NEIL Board of Directors. When first established, the NEIL Board comprised five voting members and two advisors.

In 2011, the Board voted to expand its membership to seven active members and three advisors.

In 2014, the Board voted to add the chair of the New England LARP Conference to the board as a non-voting member.

In 2015, the NEIL Board split the Presidency and the Intercon con-chair into separate roles. Adina Schreiber was chosen as the President. Nat Budin was chosen as the Intercon P con-chair with a seat on the Board as a non-voting advisor. The Board also asked Joshua Sheena to head a Site Exploratory Committee, for a limited time, in order to evaluate and advise the Board on possible new venues should the convention continue to grow in size. This was prescient, given the need to change hotels for 2016.

In 2017, Viktoriya Fuzalyova was added as an advisor as the Game Wrap Editor. Emily Care Boss was added as an advisor for the 2017 Living Games effort. There were no volunteers for the Clerk position; notes were captured by volunteers at each meeting.

Year — Indicates the year in which the board members were elected. Terms begin at a date specified by the Board after the New England Intercon convention that year until after the convention the following year.

Note 1: Julia Suggs was Intercon M Co-Chair and NEIL Vice-President during this time.

Note 2: This position would have been Adina Schreiber's, as the previous President. Since she was elected as a voting member of the Board, this position is empty.

Note 3: Kim Sward, as outgoing Intercon Q chair, would be an advisor, but was elected to the NEIL Board.

Note 4: Jen Eastman-Lawrence, as outgoing Intercon R chair, would be an advisor, but was elected to the NEIL Board.

Note 5: Dave Kapell, as outgoing Intercon S chair, would be an advisor, but was elected as the NEIL President.