CONvergence Convention Committee Meeting Notes
Saturday, June 21st, 2014

2pm DATE – DoubleTree by Hilton, Bloomington

Thank you!

On behalf of the Board of Directors, THANK YOU! This convention is made possible by your dedication and talent and passion, and would not be possible without you.

Remember to take a moment to thank each other and our volunteers At Con.

Registration

We are at 5488 registrations, up 0% from last year.
Last year we were at 5493, so it is only a difference of 5 registrations!
Last year’s at the door was 1441, which was a huge increase over previous years, so it will be interesting to see if we match that this year. We were predicting a 6% increase this year, but that may not happen.

Important Reminder

Important Reminder: PLEASE Do NOT take photos of you badge (ConCom or Membership) and post them online. After the Con ends on Monday you can share your badge if you so desire but before that date we ask that you refrain from posting pictures of it.

Finance

If you will need a check at the convention, please let Finance know by Sunday, June 29th.
fin…@convergence-con.org

Publications

Banner/Signage will be available for Pick Up At Con from 4:00pm – 6:00pm Wednesday in the Garden Court. If you must have it prior to the time or day, please email public…@convergence-con.org to arrange another pick up.

Operations

  • Need department schedules – who is on at what times. This is so we can contact the correct persons, not the ones who are off duty and sleeping. Email these to opera…@convergence-con.org.
  • Need department blackout times – when should we not contact your department, when should we not contact a certain person in your department. Email these to opera…@convergence-con.org.
  • Final Radio Training before the convention. If you or any one on your team has yet to attend radio training for the 2014 please do so. If you are unable to attend but still need radio training please advise Operations immediately and we will schedule you in at the convention (we prefer Wednesday if at all possible)

Volunteers

The Mobile Vol Den is now taking orders for delivery of food for departments that do not have the ability to get out for food during the con.

The form to sign up is located here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YOgzVFTbs7sD2j2fz-sCP1i0N4D-jLmqUrxTsdakWfU/viewform

If you have questions please email volun…@convergence-con.org

Here is the list of meals (and recipes for those who need to check ingredients).

Thursday Lunch (Noon’ish):
Sandwich bar (we’ll have GF bread available and have veggie options for the vegetarians/vegans)

Thursday Dinner (5’ish):
Mac and Cheese – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Slow-Cooker-Macaroni-And-Cheese-I-Allrecipes
Baked Potato (Vegan/GF) with seasonings / toppings

Thursday Late Night (10’ish):
Oatmeal, quinoa, baked potatoes, boiled eggs

Friday Lunch (Noon’ish):
Adobo Chicken – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Slow-Cooker-Adobo-Chicken-Allrecipes
Tangy Curried Chickpea Salad – http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/tangy-curried-chickpea-salad/
Chickpea, Corn, and Red Pepper Salad – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Serious-Salads_-Chickpeas_-Corn-and-Red-Peppers-with-Honey-Lime-Vinaigrette-Serious-Eats-46559

Friday Dinner (5’ish):
Tamale Pie – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Slow-Cooker-Tamale-Pie-TasteOfHome (We will have a gluten-free batch available)
Bean and Cheese Burrito Casserole – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Bean-and-cheese-burrito-casserole-slow-cooker-310276 (We will also make Vegan / GF batch of this)

Friday Late Night (10’ish):
Oatmeal, quinoa, baked potatoes, boiled eggs

Saturday Lunch (Noon’ish):
Braised Chicken in Tomato Sauce – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Slowly-braised-chicken-in-tomato-sauce-303883 (using gluten free tomato sauce)
Cheesy Lentils and Rice – http://gicrockpot.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/spanish-style-lentils-and-rice/ (Vegetarian, Vegan, and Gluten-Free options available)

Saturday Dinner (5’ish):
Moroccan Beef Stew – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Moroccan-Beef-Stew-Epicurious (Gluten-Free)
Moroccan Lentil Soup – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Moroccan-Lentil-Soup-Allrecipes (Vegan, GF)
Moroccan Quinoa – http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Moroccan-Quinoa-510541 (Vegan, GF)

Saturday Late Night (10’ish):
Oatmeal, quinoa, baked potatoes, boiled eggs

Sunday Lunch (Noon’ish):
Sandwich bar (we’ll have GF bread available and have veggie options for the vegetarians/vegans)
Baked Potato Bar

Sunday Late Snack (4pm’ish):
Assorted snacks / leftovers

Volunteers

Volunteer t-shirts, Ubers and Ribbons are all here today. We will be located at the west end of the room. Please come and see us during the working portion of the meeting today to pick up your things. Also, please make sure that your ribbons are put onto your convention badge so you will be able to get into the Volunteer Den again this year. We again have a number of Cool prizes for the Volunteer Party. You will receive a volunteer card. Please put your name and “Con Com” on the left side of the card. On the right side of the card you will find a line to enter your choice for the prize you wish to go for. We will have photos of each prize back by our t-shirt pick up area.

The Uber prize this year is a refillable pen shell. These pen shells hold all full size Sharpie Markers and a large variety of pens on the market. To find a list of pens that fit in your pen shell, please see this website: http://www.sherpapen.com/

ConCom Badges:

Pick up Badges today or at the Guest of Honor Reception or they will be delivered to the Heads of the Departments on Thursday Afternoon.

ConCom badges are souvenir badges for ConCom members. These are not to be used as badges for access to the Con. Your Membership badge is expected to be prominently displayed on your person for the entirety of the convention. ConCom members must show their Membership badge to all badgers and set a good example for all the Convention Members.

GPS

Donations for the auction: We’ll be taking donations at the last concom (sent out an email reminder), and can make arrangements to take them at the center. If you plan on delivering your donation to the convention, we’ll be taking them Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Please complete the our Donation Online Submission Form so we can have the bid sheet for your item ready.

June 28-29 – Geeks@Pride – Once again GPS is sponsoring a tent at Twin Cities Pride, and Convergence Events will be joining us to represent geek pride. Stop by and say “hi”!

After CONvergence we’ll be accepting donations for the Great Geek Garage Sale. We hope to have dates by the next concom, and will have them posted online and at the center no later than Pride weekend.

Mark your calendars:
August 2, noon to 5 – GPS Ice Cream Social at Highland Park, y’all are invited.
Aug 15 (afternoon ish) – Aug 17 (afternoon ish)- U.G.G.’s Weekend of Gaming.
September 20, 9 am to 5pm – Great Geek Garage Sale at the center
October 11 – Scavenger Hunt
Oct. 31-Nov 2 – GPS Haunted House at the center. If you are interested in helping plan and execute a family friendly geeky haunted house, email volun…@geekpartnership.org to sign up.

As always you can find information on our website at www.geekpartnership.org, or email in…@geekpartnership.org if you have questions, or volun…@geekpartnership.org if you want to help out.

GOH

Wednesday, July 2nd, at 7:00 pm, we will be having the Guest of Honor reception in Atrium 4. This is a chance for you, our busy ConCom members, to meet the Guests of Honor before you have to go run a convention for 4 days. There will be food, non-alcoholic drinks and a generally good time. (There will be vegetarian and Gluten Free options.) Guests of Honor will have special badges so you know them from everyone else in attendance.
We look forward to seeing you on July 2nd at 7:00 pm.

MainStage

MainStage wants to remind the ConCom about reserved seating for MainStage events. 15 minutes before start time, arrive at door at top of escalator we will seat you then.

If you will be late tell us and we will save a seat for you.

Social Media

Social Media Department needs Roving Reporters to live tweet panels on our CONvergence Live Twitter account! As a Roving Reporter you get guaranteed access into panels and events that you will live tweet. You must have your own smart phone or tablet to use. You will be a member of our department and you will earn a volunteer hour for each panel you live tweet.(if you need them) We will do a quick review of your tweeting skills and talk about how to speak as Connie. Anyone interested should email socia…@convergence-con.org. We will be posting this opportunity on the Volunteer page on the CONvergence Website.

Hotel Request Process

The Hotel Request system is changing! For 2015, the Convergence Hotel Department will be using a Lottery System for room requests. The opportunity to enter the room lottery will be available as a part of the Registration system when you register for CONvergence 2015. Hotel and room choices will be ranked according to preferences selected and allocations will be made based on this.
Guaranteed rooms in the DoubleTree is still given to all Uber ConCom members and volunteers who have earned a minimum of 25 hours volunteer time. But you will still be required to go through the process of filling out the request in the registration system.

If you have any questions please email ho…@convergence-con.org

Hotel Room Drawing

Winner is: Cali Mastny

ConCom Survey

There will be a Survey specific to the ConCom that will be available from July 3rd until July 15th. We will be using the feedback and data gathered from this survey to guide us for the future and in our Post Mort em meeting. The link will be sent out via email. The Survey is for ConCom only, please do not share the link with anyone. Feel free to answer as honestly as you can, the survey is anonymous.

The survey includes feedback on your department, your division, your director and offers opportunities to write your experiences and even share a con story.

We hope you will take the time to fill it out as we depend on your feedback to help guide us into the future of CONvergence.

Upcoming Deadlines:

ALL THE THINGS! OMG OMG OMG! It is almost time for KAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHNNNNN! Oh, wait. not that Con. COOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNN!

2014 CONvergence Calendar

July 3-6 CONvergence

Saturday July 19th 2:00pm ConCom Post Mortem Meeting and Volunteer Party

ConCom Meetings Agenda

We will no longer be printing up agendas for the meetings but if you want to be on the Agenda for the ConCom meeting you will need to email me your request and a write up of your announcement no later than 6:00pm Friday, July 18th