Poets participating in the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam are required to attend this orientation. This event has been completely revamped from last year. The focus will be on making sure everyone is aware of the rules and format of the tournament, the location of the venues, community resources available to them, and the Honour Code (hint: play nice and everything will be groovy). You can expect to hear from the festival directors, Jillian Christmas and Chris Gilpin, and from our CIPS Tournament Director, shayne avec i grec, who will tell you all kinds of useful things, including the make-up of the protest committee (which we hope will never be convened).

It’s also a great chance for everyone to meet each other and socialize outside of the competition. After the orientation, visiting poets who are SpoCan venue representatives will receive their travel subsidy cheque.

Poets are invited to stick around for the new-to-Verses 2015 open mike Hello My Name Is …  that follows at 3:00 pm.

This discussion is for CIPS competing poets ONLY.

Accessibility Info:

Havana Theatre is an accessible venue. To reach the theatre, you must pass through the restaurant to the gallery space. On the right, is a black door leading into the theatre. There is a narrow hallway and two doors to access the performance space, but no stairs.