Clayton Hotel Cork City and Online
Saturday 3rd October – Sunday 4th October, 2026
It’s done! We had lots of things to watch and do, some excellent traders, plenty of time to chat with old and new friends, and lots of money raised for our chosen charity.
Thank you, thank you, thank you
Octocon could not have happened without:
- Our Guests of Honour Adrian Tchaikovsky, C.E. (Catie) Murphy and Premee Mohamed, and our other guests Gareth Hanrahan, Ryan Cahill, Ruth Ennis, S.M. Hallow, Jean Bürlesk, and the Octothorpe podcast trio of Alison Scott, Liz Batty and John Coxon. They all gave generously of their time and energy (and prizes for our charity raffle and volunteer giveaway) and you should all go watch some of their recorded programme items!
- Our other programme participants. Whether you appeared on a panel, led a workshop or discussion or Meet the Creator session, interviewed a GoH, gave a talk or a reading, or ran a game… THANK YOU. Octocon is nothing without its programme, and your contributions are deeply appreciated.
- Our volunteers over the convention weekend, in-person and online – we can’t run this thing without you! Big big thanks especially to Daire, who ran our streaming from Cork, and Sakura, who produced our online streamed panels. You two are the best at what you do, and our online programme is amazing because of it.
- The Octocon committee and year-round staff including the programme team, who not only spend hours and hours throughout the year making this convention happen, but spend most (if not all) of the convention weekend doing that too. Huge appreciation for all their hard work especially goes to the members of the team who are stepping down imminently: Faranae for Virtual Operations, and David Green for trade and fan tables.
Special thanks go to:
- The staff of the Clayton Hotel Cork City who looked after us very well over the weekend.
- Jog Brogzin for his 3D map of our venue.
- Paul Carroll for the artwork used on our badges and recent publications and social media. And also, along with Faranae and Colm, for providing specialist assistance to the programme team.
- James Shields for all the software and technical support to keep our website, registration, Member Portal, and programming systems running.
- Kate and Gareth for their local-to-Cork knowledge and assistance.
- Jog Brogzin who designed our 2026 Octocon map.
- The Dublin 2029 Worldcon bid for sponsoring our Saturday night karaoke.
- Everyone who donated to the Octocon Community Fund – we were able to give out 2 bursaries to assist members to come to Cork.
- Everyone who donated something for our charity raffle and volunteer giveaways.
And everyone who bought a raffle ticket or braved the quiz! We raised over €600 for Cork Penny Dinners.
Our Friend members
And finally, thank you to all our Friend members who pay a little extra for their memberships to ensure Octocon can afford to keep going:
Alan Stuart, Alex McKenzie, BrenG, Colm Dodd, Dave Lally, Helvick, Ink Cryptwood, Jack-John Kirwan, Janet, Jonny Nexus, Kat Dodd, Marguerite Smith, Noelle, Oisin, Pat F, Paul Carroll, Paul Mara, Roderick O Hanlon & Seán Byrne.
What Went On at Octocon 2026
Octocon went hybrid again on October 3rd and 4th at the Clayton Hotel, Cork City and Online, with the programme streamed from Cork as well as online-only.
Our in-person and online programme featured:
- In-person Guests of Honour Adrian Tchaikovsky and C.E. (Catie) Murphy
- Online Guest of Honour Premee Mohamed
- In-person guests Gareth Hanrahan and Ryan Cahill
- and online guests Ruth Ennis, S.M. Hallow, Jean Bürlesk, and the Octothorpe podcast
We had lots of panels, talks, workshops, readings, crafting sessions, the cosplay parade, discussion groups (previously called fan chats), games, and Meet the Creator sessions where you could chat informally with our guests, both in Cork and online!
Octocon 2026 was a hybrid convention
As such, in addition to our in-person activities, we also featured:
- A Discord server for socializing
- Zoom for facilitating workshops, talks, and socializing for those who prefer it to Discord
- YouTube for live-streaming panels and YouTube for hosting recordings for replay
Throughout the year, we had:
- Octocon Presents streamed publicly on YouTube, followed by members-only Zoom Q&As
- Octocon Hangouts on Zoom
- A year-long Discord server for our 2025/2026 members
Programme highlights
Watch Back
Don’t forget that members of Octocon 2026 can immediately watch back all our recorded panels, interviews and podcasts – of which there are many! – on the Member Portal.
- Log into the Member Portal by visiting the Log in to the Member Portal page and entering the email address you’re registered with.
- You’ll receive an email with a link at the bottom that will log you into the Member Portal – click this to open the Member Portal page.
- Select 2026 Streaming in the menu to see a list of everything we recorded that’s available for playback.
- Or check out our Streaming Archive for other years you’ve been a member.
Enjoy!
Our Venue
Octocon 2026 in-person venue was the Clayton Hotel Cork City, centrally located on Lapp’s Quay and convenient for public transport.
How we got to Octocon 2026
Clayton Hotel Cork City
10 Lapp’s Quay, Centre, Cork, T12 RD6E
Opening Hours
Registration and Info Desk in the Clayton Hotel Cork City
- Saturday: from 09:00 until 18:00 in the conference centre lobby on the first floor of the Clayton Hotel
- Sunday: from 09:30 until 15:00
Trade Hall in the Clayton Hotel
- Saturday: 10:00 – 18:00 in Pegasus 2&3
- Sunday: 10:00 – 17:30
Programme hours
Programme in the Clayton Hotel Cork City
- Saturday: from 09:45 (Opening Ceremony), with programme 10:00 – 20:00
- Saturday night social in Cork: The Latest Greatest Octocon Table Quiz from 20:00; karaoke from 22:00
- Sunday: 10:00 – 18:30, followed by the Closing Ceremony
Programme online
- Saturday: from 09:45 (Opening Ceremony), with programme 10:00 – 20:00, including programme streamed from Cork
- Saturday night gaming: starts 20:30
- Sunday: 10:00 – 18:30, followed by the Closing Ceremony
Octocon 2026 Membership
Weekend Memberships
- Attending – €80
- Concession – €50
- YA (Young Adult) – €25
- Child (under 13) – Free (Must be accompanied by an adult member)
- Online Only – €20
- Online Only Concession – €10
- Supporting – €15
- Friend – €100
Coming with friends? Buy 5 memberships at the same time and get the cheapest one completely free
Day rates (including full weekend online access)
Saturday:
- Attending – €45
- Concession – €30
- YA (Young Adult) – €15
Sunday:
- Attending – €40
- Concession – €25
- YA (Young Adult) – €15
Octocon 2026 Team
Committee:
- Chair – Catherine Sharp – email
- Vice Chair – Kat Dodd
- Treasurer – Alex McKenzie
- Scribe – Alex Irwin
- Membership Officer – MaryBrigid Turner
- Programme Lead – Kat Dodd
- Accessibility Lead – Declan J
- Venue Liaison – John Doody
- Trade – David Green
- Virtual Operations Lead – Faranae
- On-site Operations – Colm Dodd
- Volunteer Manager – Donal Swan
- Communications Lead (Promotions & Publications) – Burdock Broughton
- Website Lead – Karina Steffens
Virtual Operations:
- Virtual Operations Lead – Faranae
- Producers –
- Daire
- Sakura
Communications Team:
- Communications Lead – Burdock Broughton
- Social Media Admin – Alex Irwin
- Web Designer and Web Content – Karina Steffens
- Web and Tech Administrator – James Shields
- Fan Tables – David Green
- Newsletter – Donal Swan
- Info Desk – Alex Irwin
Accessibility Team:
- Accessibility Lead – Declan J
- Faranae
- Kat Dodd
Programme Team:
- Programme Lead – Kat Dodd
- Programme Admin – S.L. Dove Cooper
- Guest Liaison – Fi Conlon
- Declan J
- MaryBrigid Turner
- with special thanks to Colm Dodd, Faranae and Paul Carroll