Brannon Braga, Dominic Keating and Anthony Montgomery are among the celebrities who will be participating in exclusive chats with attendees at Vir-Con 2002, the first official virtual Star Trek convention to be held August 2-4.

The Enterprise actors and producer will be special guests in the cyberspace event's "Green Room," which will be accessible only to users with a Preferred Pass or the upgraded "Latinum Pass." Other celebrities scheduled to visit the Green Room that weekend will be George Takei and Nichelle Nichols from the Original Series; Nana Visitor, Max Grodénchik, Aron Eisenberg and Chase Masterson of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Tim Russ and Robert Duncan McNeill from Star Trek: Voyager; plus other special guests.

Vir-Con will also stream live video of celebrities appearing on stage at Creation Entertainment's official convention in Las Vegas, which can be seen by all pass holders. Those stars include Leonard Nimoy, Kate Mulgrew, Marina Sirtis, Roxann Dawson, Walter Koenig and others.

The "Latinum Pass" has recently been implemented as the highest level of participation available to users. It has all the features of the Three-Day Preferred Pass, including "preferred seating" in the streaming video sessions with the ability to submit questions to the stage, and a full range of avatar choices. But to better simulate a live convention experience, the Latinum Pass comes with two autographed photos, which the user can choose from among a list of Star Trek celebrities including William Shatner, Joan Collins, Ricardo Montalban, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, John de Lancie, Terry Farrell, Linda Park and others. The Latinum Pass is $109.95 (U.S. dollars) for the whole weekend.

To participate the weekend of Aug. 2-4, you must buy one of the various levels of passes (Latinum, Preferred, General Admission, or Pay-Per-View). But you can visit Vir-Con's 3D Lobby and attend a variety of pre-show activities now taking place, for free. Chats will be held throughout this week with characters from the "Star Trek: The Experience" attraction in Las Vegas, including Klingon "Master Motog," Borg drone "Three of Six," and Bajoran major "Eron Cam." Also, Keith R.A. DeCandido, author of several Star Trek novels from Pocket Books, will speak with visitors in the virtual space. A chat will be held every night this week at 8:00 PST starting Wednesday, July 17.

Next week, more special guests will host pre-show activities. On Wednesday, July 24, Dan Madsen, president of the Official Star Trek Fan Club, will give a sneak preview of the "Officers Lounge" virtual room, an area that will be accessible by tier-2 and tier-3 avatars during the convention. The next day, Eugene W. Roddenberry Jr., son of Gene and Majel Roddenberry who is currently running Roddenberry.com, will introduce the "Babel Lounge," an exclusive gathering place only for tier-3 avatars. And then on Thursday, August 1, there will be a Pre-Convention Kickoff Party, with a sneak preview of the "Virtual Quark's Bar," a digital reproduction of Quark's Bar from "The Experience," which will be open to every pass-holder.

For more specific information about convention passes, avatars and pre-show activities, visit the Vir-Con site below.

Please note: All appearances and features are subject to change.

Do you have your avatar yet? Let everyone know how to find you during convention weekend at the Star Trek message boards!