CONvergence Convention Committee Meeting Notes
Saturday, July 19th, 2014 (Post Mortem and Volunteer Party)

Post Mortem Meeting 2pm July 19, 2014 – DoubleTree by Hilton, Bloomington

Moment of Silence observed for Tish Cassidy

Break Out Sessions

Registration Numbers for CVG2014

The final 2014 registration numbers:
Total Registrations: 6369 – down -%5 from last year
Warm Bodies: 6118 – down -3% from last year
At-The-Door: 655 – down -55% from last year

On Wednesday of con we registered around 3000 members, nearly half of the attendees!

Finance

Hey all, Mike from Finance here. I will not be at the post mortem comcom this weekend as my brother is getting married on Saturday. Liz Hernandez will be collecting any reimbursement requests and I will mail out checks early next week. Please contact me at fin…@convergence-con.org if you have any questions.

Remember all reimbursement requests are due by September 1st.

Logistics

We like to first thank all departments for their efforts in working with us in getting moved and out of the hotel. My team put in some long hours. My team puts in at least a 12 hour day the Monday before and after con.

We are putting systems into place to try and cut this time down.

  1. Trying to get to a standardize tote system for those who received them seem to worked well this year.
    Next year we will be getting in 50-70 more depending on the needs. After next year all departments will need to budget for them
  2. We are out of storage space! A couple departments flourished this year and added some new equipment. Moving forward we are asking that you check with the Logistics Team first if you are looking to store anything new. This year we had to turn away some items just because we did not know about them and were unable to shift items around to make room for them.
    One of the documents (procedures) we are working on for next year, are instructions on the best way to pack the pallets, so we can utilize our space better.
  3. Accessing the Storage unit

Storage Unit guidelines

As of the 2014 CONvergence year, we have started to store a majority of our equipment that was at the Waterbury location at secured storage unit.

We are using Lock-up Secure Storage in Bloomington located at

221 American Blvd. West Bloomington, MN 55420.

Reason:
In the past most of our locations have not been truly secure, we are getting in more expensive equipment for various departments and it was felt a more secure location needed to be acquired.

Access:
Lock-up is available year round to those that require access.
The following individuals have keys to the facilities:
Quartermaster (Head of Logistics): Steve Erickson – genera…@gmail.com
Administrative Director: Liz Hernandez – l…@convergenceevents.org
Systems Director: Thomas Keeley – tske…@gmail.com

  1. Email anyone of the three to gain access (please start with the Quartermaster) with the following information:
    1. Date you would like access
    2. Time you would like to meet to gain access
    3. What is being removed from the unit
    4. Expected length of time you will have the item(s)
    5. Date you will be returning the item(s)
    6. Time you will be returning the item(s)
  2. The preferred time to go over to the storage unit would be during the working portion of the Concom meeting.
  3. Try to contact us at least a week in advance.
  4. Either a department head or sub-head needs to be present.
  5. Please make sure your vehicle is large enough to carry your item(s)

GPS

This month:
August 2, noon to 5 – GPS Ice Cream Social at Highland Park picnic shelter, y’all are invited.
Aug 15 (afternoon ish) – Aug 17 (afternoon ish)- U.G.G.’s Weekend of Gaming at the center.

We are accepting donations for the Great Geek Garage Sale. Dates and times are posted on the web site and at the center.Donations for auction: If you weren’t able to get your donation in for this year’s con, or want a head start on next year’s, we’ll be accepting them during the drive for Great Geek Garage Sale Please complete the our Donation Online Submission Form so we can have the bid sheet info complete for your item.

Mark your calendars:
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.

Hi everyone! I’m speaking for GPS’s Space Camp committee. As you know, the winners to our Space Camp scholarship were announced at Opening Ceremonies. CONvergence donated memberships to the winners and one of their parents, BOTH of which sent us emails after the convention. I thought they were really cool and I wanted to share parts with you.

From Gunnar’s mom Sara:

  • “Gunnar was in heaven and told me more than once that he feels like he found his “people.”
  • “He…met others throughout the weekend who asked him about his CONvergence expereince… Six or seven different times people stopped him in the hallway and gave him a high five or a ‘congratulations'”
  • “We had such a great time that we are planning on attending next year.”

From Piper’s mom Tracy:

  • “Piper and I had so much fun at the Opening Ceremony and CONverence in general.”
  • “She…asked for a pass to next year’s CONvergence for Christmas.”
  • “Thank you all who welcomed her and made her feel so welcome and included.”

I want to thank all of you for this. For making these kids feel – and know – that they are not alone in their interests. I am so proud to be a part of this community and so thankful to CONvergence for giving these kids this opportunity. So thank you from the Space Camp committee to the CONvergence board. We are eternally grateful.

Farewell to Michael Lee as Activities Director

Thank You and Volunteer Party

As our year comes to a close, directors will be contacting the departments to schedule departmental post mortem meetings. We thank you for another successful year of CONvergence. We can’t do this with out every single one of our volunteers and the talent and passion of our ConCom is unparallelled.

The Volunteer Party will be at 7pm-11pm.

Upcoming Deadlines:

Reimbursement Requests September 1st, 2014

2015 CONvergence Calendar

Saturday October 18th 2:00 pm ConCom Meeting- First ConCom for CONvergence 2015