CONvergence Convention Committee Meeting Notes
Saturday, June 20th, 2015
Remaining 2015 ConCom Meeting Dates (2pm):
- 7/25/15: Saturday, July 25th Post Mortem
Remaining 2015 Open Committee Meeting:
- 7/3/15: Friday, 5pm-6pm during the Convention.
Dedication, commitment, passion, that is what makes this thing happen. Whether you enjoy each other’s company or not – whether the relationships you have with the people next to you are always on an even keel or occasionally get a little bumpy – you come together day after day, throughout the year, to make this thing possible. It’s an amazing achievement and humbling to see all of these people come together to create the EXPERIENCE that’s about to befall all of us. You guys are amazing and no words can express the depth of thanks that you deserve. Thank you for the dedication, commitment, passion, and hard work – thank you for everything you do to make CONvergence possible. You should give yourselves a hand.
We were not located this meeting in our other usual space of Plazas 5 & 6 but rather met in Nine Mile Grill. We were told that the new DoubleTree GM has mandated that the Sales Department cannot book spaces more than 90 days and it may be that in the wake of that announcement the sales calendar was scrubbed and hence our booking was lost. Ishmael Williams has spoken with the DT sales rep that confirmed that the 2015 convention is on the books and hence safe; that the July 25 post mortem and volunteer party are safe. She will look into the date for the first meeting for the 2016 cycle, which is in September (exact date to be announced at the post mortem). Beyond that she will be speaking with the GM and other powers that be on Monday and will report back.
Entries into the Room Drawing
We will be utilizing the Sign In spreadsheet to pick the room drawing winners. 2 Rooms will be drawn at this meeting.
Please sign in by 2:30pm in order to take part in the drawing
Winners:
- Jason Hedlund (Art Show)
(after Craig Finseth declined) - Mary Rohe (CVG-TV/Video)
(after Shannon Fairbanks declined)
Hotel News\Update
As you probably know a disaster hit the La Quinta hotel where some of our attendees were booked. A couple of weeks ago building management was made aware that there was potential damage happening to the building. They received such notice on a Friday afternoon and resolved to have it investigated on the Monday morning after the notice was received. Early that Monday morning, before they could make the necessary arrangements, a part of the building literally fell off the 17th floor facade. According to the news photos and videos, one can literally see INTO the hotel, a hallway and at least part of a sleeping room were visible. The hotel is now closed and undergoing repair. All reservations were transferred by this La Quinta to the La Quinta Nicollet, which is a number of miles away. All guests were to have been contacted by the hotel and apprised of the situation. Based on feedback we have received, the guests were contacted.
At the Days Inn it would appear that the previous manager severely overbooked the hotel and many reservations were cancelled with no notice. There is a new manager there and has worked to either restore reservations or to at least contact those affected.
The good news is that on light of both of these events, the hotels around this part of the world have rallied and reached out to us and the La Quinta particularly and made more rooms available.
ConCom Badges
The ConCom Badges will be handed out at the Convention by your Divisional Director starting on Tuesday, June 30th.
Those on ConCom Contact list as of Thursday, June 25th will have a ConCom Badge printed. The ConCom list may be adjusted after this date, however, any new ConCom Members will not have a ConCom Badge. Please review the ConCom list and make any updates via the Update 2015 ConCom List Request Form.
Update 2015 ConCom List Request Form
Guest Reception
The Guest of Honor Reception will take place on Wednesday, July 1st from 7:00to 10:00 pm in Atrium 4.
All ConCom members are invited and may bring a Plus 1. Children are also allowed. There will be food and non-alcoholic drinks, as well as a chance to meet the Guests of Honor before we all dive into the convention and surface again sometime Sunday night.
Please extend this invitation to all ConCom members in your department. This invitation is NOT open to anyone who is not a member of ConCom and not a Plus 1 of someone on ConCom.
Post Mortem ConCom Meeting & Volunteer Party
Reminder that the Post Mortem ConCom Meeting will be held on Saturday, July 25th at 2pm
Reminder that the Volunteer Party will be held at the DoubleTree on Saturday, July 25th at 7pm.
Department Announcements
H.o.M.E. (Hospitality and Member Experience)
Nerfherders
Gaff tape is available for pickup today. If you need to pick it up at the con, the Nerf Herders move into Nine Mile on Tuesday. Come by and find a Nerf Head to pick up your tape.
Operations
Radio Training:
- If you will make use of a radio during the convention, Radio Training for 2015 is required. Training took place during the working portion of June 20 ConCom and will also be offered Wednesday, July 1 at 4pm.
- If you would like for someone from Operations to provide Radio Training specifically for your department at an alternate time, please let us know. There will be scheduled Radio Training sessions during the convention for volunteers, but we ask that all members of ConCom be radio trained in advance so that there is no delay in getting radios to you when you need them.
- Radio Training sessions that are included as a part our department volunteer training will occur Tuesday, June 23 around 7pm and Saturday, June 27around 1pm. The ConCom is welcome to attend these as well.
Schedules, Contact and Blackout Times:
All individuals or departments that may need to be contacted by Operations directly during the course of the convention should send information related to shared or centralized phone numbers and schedules to Opera…@convergence-con.org.
Operations has pretty new Wandering Host Vests:
The vests worn by CONvergence Wandering Hosts will again be purple this year. They are similar in style to the green smocks worn by the Nerf Herders and read “Wandering Host” in large letters across the back.
Administration
Volunteers
Volunteer Green Cards: Gift information
- You have the ability to view the volunteer spreadsheet to make sure that you are entered for the prize drawing at the Volunteer Party. There is a column marked “prize #” please make sure the correct number is in that space next to your name.
Volunteers Spreadsheet - There was also a request to send a list of the prizes out so you could refresh your memory of that list of prizes.
- The list of the 6 prizes for that drawing are below. You DO NOT need to be at the party to win if your name is drawn for that prize. We will contact you and set up a time and place for you to collect the prize.
- Thank you all so much for everything you do and will be doing for CONvergence! You All Rock!
- CONvergence 2015 10 Hr. plus Prizes for the Volunteer Party July 25th
- Star Trek Phaser Replica Remote Control
- Apple iPad mini 16GB Wi-Fi – Space Gray
- Lego Mindstorms EV3
- Neil Gaiman’s Sandman 10 Volume Slipcase Set (Paperback)
- Saber Forge Custom Lightsaber Arbiter Warrior Edition – Green LED
- 2 Memberships to JOFCon Minneapolis 2015 Friday, October 9 – Sunday, October 11, 2015 http://jofconmsp2015.blogspot.com/
Volunteer Den
Please have the head of your department fill out the following form in order to request food from mobile Volunteer Den during the Con.
http://goo.gl/forms/pQW3Va2W3W
Please fill out this form before or on June 28th. If you do not fill out this form your department will not receive food from us at Con. The head of a department may ask us for their numbers from last year; however we will not “auto fill” your numbers from last year. If you have any questions please email the volunteer department. If you have a correction to your order just re-submit the ENTIRE order to the form above.
Data Transmissions
Publications
All is in print. Banners have been distributed. Books will be delivered approximately 11:00am on Wednesday, July 1. Signage will be available that afternoon at the latest.
Productions
CVG-TV/Video
CVG/TV needs volunteers! We are looking for people with moderate to expert knowledge about taking video for panels and other events around CONvergence. It would be preferable for you to have your own equipment, but we may also have a couple of extra cameras for use.
If you are going to a panel and were going to tape it anyway, we would be willing to bump you up to prime taping locations in exchange for your memory card (for a short time to capture your footage – you WILL get your memory card back). All footage taken by a deputized CVG-TV/Video volunteer belongs to CONvergence first.
Speaking of volunteers, you will also get volunteer hours for helping us out! Please contact cv…@convergence-con.org for more information or to sign up.
Systems
Finance
- If you will need a check at-con, please notify Finance ASAP, even if you don’t know details, just that you will need a check.
- If you need a reimbursement at-con, contact the finance department directly. Reimbursement requests dropped off at the Bridge will not be processed until after the convention.
- Reimbursements dropped off at the convention should ONLY be placed in the drop-off box on the bridge or handed to Mike Stroh. Do NOT give it to anyone else because it may not find its way home to Finance.
IT
Please make sure you have your network designs to IT today (6/20/15). Email them to i…@convergence-con.org
Partners
GPS
Auction Donations Are Being Accepted – We’ve got our upcoming auction at CONvergence (this year’s theme is dystopia). We’ll be taking donations at CVG concom meetings, and can make arrangements to take them at the center. If you plan on delivering your donation to a convention, we’ll be taking them Friday and Saturday at CONsole Room, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at CONvergence. Do you have items you want to donate? Please complete the Donation Online Submission Form so we can arrange delivery and have the bid sheet for your item ready.
Reminder that funds raised go to supporting our mission, including the Space Camp Scholarship and our educational grants program, Project Lighthouse.
Howdy Partners – YOU ARE INVITED!
June 27-28 | Geeks@Pride
Once again we are sponsoring a booth at the festival and have invited our partners and geeky organizations to provide volunteers to represent their organization. This year we will also be in the Parade on Sunday!
To volunteer to help build the float, staff the booth, or participate in the parade please email pr…@geekpartnership.org.
Upcoming for GPS
Mark your Calendars
- July 12 – Renfest Booth Garb Day – come work on your garb, find out about booth volunteering.
- mid July – we’ll start accepting donations for the Great Geek Garage Sale, watch for dates and times.
- 7/31-8/2 – U.G.G. Weekend of Gaming – in case you didn’t get enough gaming at con…
- August 1 – GPS Ice Cream Social – Phalen Regional Park noon-5
- August 8 – GPS Movie Night
- August 18 – GPS Open Forum – want to know what the money is going toward? Come and find out.
- August 22 – ReCon – Minnesota Miniatures Gaming Association quarterly event