If you're gonna be in Illinois during October, then make sure you check out "Vampires: The Creatures of the Night", a slideshow presentation by Martin V. Riccardo.
He's the founder of Vampire Studies and authored Lure of the Vampire, Vampires Unearthed: The Complete Multi-Media Vampire and Dracula Bibliography (both 1983) and Liquid Dreams of Vampires (1996). He spoke at Flashback Weekend's Twilight Chicago 2009 Convention and you might remember that I interviewed him for this blog (part 1, part 2).
For info on precise dates and locations, click here. It won't even cost you a cent: the program's free. But make sure you register first. If you'd like to get a taste of his work, beforehand, then here's "The Vampire as a Psychic Archetype", TAT Journal 2.3 (1979).
