By James Bacon, Chair Dublin 2019: Dublin 2019 has had an offer open for those attending their first Worldcon, a specially discounted rate, and it has been very successful. On the 1st of August, we had some 335 First Worldcon members. By the 2nd of September that had leapt to 585, which we were very impressed by, and now it has passed 600.

When we reach 700 First Worldcon members, we will be ceasing this offer. We think this is quite an achievement and are very pleased that we can welcome so many fans to their first Worldcon. Dublin 2019 has benefited from a brilliant idea that Helsinki implemented. However, once we reach 700 first Worldcon memberships sold we will remove the First Worldcon rate option from our website. We expect that this could happen quickly after we make this announcement.

I am sorry that we cannot keep this particular offer going. I did not expect us to reach that figure this soon, but we are pleased so many have availed of the offer. We hope many other people will also choose to make Dublin 2019 their first Worldcon, but we cannot sustain selling memberships at this discounted rate and still bring you the convention we envision.

We are and will be pursuing other initiatives:

• We have an instalment plan available to help spread the cost of a Dublin 2019 membership.

• Beginning Saturday the 20th of October, we will have 100 memberships available at the first Worldcon rate exclusively for residents of the Island of Ireland, to help encourage those from Ireland to attend their first Worldcon. Local initiatives elsewhere have proven successful and we hope that will be too.

• We will soon launch the Fantastic Dublin Fund, which will help fans of limited financial means attend Dublin 2019.

• We have donated memberships to Con-or-Bust to help fans of colour to attend Dublin 2019.

I am grateful to all the fans who have joined and support Dublin 2019. With your support we will continue to work to make Dublin 2019 a welcoming experience as well as a brilliant celebration of the fantastic.