CONvergence: 4-days Forever?
Our 10th anniversary four-day extravaganza was so well received, that after several weeks of gathering feedback from the Convention Committee, Dealers, Party Hosts, the Membership at large, and even other conventions that have made the leap to four days, we have committed to making the change to a four-day model permanent, starting in 2009!
We are aware that while this is exciting news for many, this change raises a number of concerns. We feel that the majority of these concerns can be mitigated or negated altogether with careful planning. While we haven't yet had the chance to figure out all the implementation details, much of the early thinking on this can be found here on this page.
After reading the FAQ, if you have additional questions, concerns, or ideas on how to make the new 4-day CONvergence an even greater success, please direct your comments to info@convergence-con.org.
The CONvergence 4-Day FAQ
Why do you want to go to 4 days?
How would a 4-day CONvergence 2009 be different than 2008?
I've already Registered for a three-day con - what do I do?
I've already requested a hotel room - what do I do?
Will it affect how room reservations are handled?
Are there other changes to hotel room assignments or reservations as a result of the 4-day convention?
Will a 4-day convention be more expensive to CONvergence in hotel charges?
I can’t afford 4 days!
What about the room parties?
Does CONvergence offer Day Passes?
What about the Dealers?
Why rush to make this change for 2009?
Why not alternate?
Can CONvergence/MISFITS afford it?
Won't it be more work? Will people burn out?
So does this mean there’ll be 25 Guests roaming around every year?
What if it doesn’t work?
Why do you want to go to 4 days?
The reaction to our four-day convention was so positive, not just among attendees but also our convention staff, that we decided to investigate the advantages of moving to a four-day model permanently. As CONvergence has grown, we have found that it is impossible for us to expand in space (the hotel ain’t gettin' any bigger), but we can expand in time. In fact, conversations with other four-day conventions gave us some interesting perspective. As one convention chair said (to paraphrase), "Once you pass 3000 attendees, your choices are four days or death."
How would a 4-day CONvergence 2009 be different than 2008?
Nothing. Your registration is now for a four-day con.
Going forward, our Registration Rates will be the same as they were in 2008, plus an extra $5 at the door to make our At-the-Door rate $70. This was NOT done out of necessity to cover the cost of the extra day, but rather is an attempt to drive more people to pre-register. The number of At-the-Door registrations have been skyrocketing in recent years with nearly a thousand in 2008. As the convention gets larger it is more and more critical for us to be able to plan for our membership size, which is increasingly difficult with higher numbers of At-the-Door registrations.
With that said, we wanted to make the transition to a four day model as easy for our membership as possible, so we will honor the Pre-registration rate announced at the con until December 31, even though this was for the expected 3-day convention. So if you pre-register before the end of the year, the rate is only $35. On January 1 the rate goes to $50 until pre-registration ends on May 15. And the At-the-Door rate is $70. And again, if you have ALREADY pre-registered for CONvergence 2009, you don't need to do ANYTHING. Your registration is now for a 4-day con.
More information on our rates is available on our Registration page.
I've already Registered for a three-day con - what do I do?
Nothing. Your registration is now for a four-day con.
Our plan is to revise the registration rates starting after the end of the year deadline.
The registration rate always goes up after the end of the year. If you wait to register until after December 31st, the rate is $10 more.
If we do adopt a four-day model, then this year, the rate after December 31st will jump a bit higher than $10. (Exactly how much more has not yet been decided, but the increase will be in the $5-10 range.)
So, it's to your advantage to register NOW before the end-of-the-year deadline. And if you're already registered, then you're golden. You got a four-day convention for the price of a three-day convention!
I've already requested a hotel room - what do I do?
Don't worry - we'll be doing all the work. Our fabulous hotel team will be contacting each and every person who has turned in a hotel room reservation form and asking them if and how they want to change their room reservation. In essence, if you've already sent in a form, you'll be contacted by us so that we can ask, "Hey, did you want your room for Thursday night too?"
And if you don't want the extra night, there will be no penalty. (See FAQ below "Will it affect how room reservations are handled?")
Will it affect how room reservations are handled?
No. Rooms are always assigned, as much as is possible, on a first come, first served basis. Of course we are dealing with finite resources and a large demand - often it is not possible to meet every exact need. But a person requesting a room early gets what they want, whether for a 3-day convention or a 4-day convention (meaning that even if you only want two nights of a four-day convention, as long as the rooms are available, your request will be honored).
Of course, the Sheraton and the CONvergence hotel department do reserve the right to make last minute changes as needs dictate. But the process will still remain the same.
Are there other changes to hotel room assignments or reservations as a result of the 4-day convention?
None are expected at this time, except this is a handy spot to remind everyone that as of October 2008 the Sheraton will go completely non-smoking - there won't even be rooms in the hotel for smokers to reside. Please plan accordingly, and please be aware that if a room has been smoked in, the cleaning charge is a minimum of $250.00.
Will a 4-day convention be more expensive to CONvergence in hotel charges?
No. And yes. The Sheraton has extended to us a very reasonable rate for the use of their function space, and as such, doing 4 days is not going to cost us more than 3 days. There is a modest inflation increase built into our contracts; there has been one in the contract every year since 2002. This is basically an increase to help keep pace with rising costs, and has nothing to do with the additional day of the convention.
I can’t afford 4 days!
Quick solution: You don’t have to come for four days. The convention will still be enjoyable if you are only able to attend three days. It is also possible to attend all four days, but only get a hotel room for two nights. If you are choosing to attend one less day of the convention, the only additional expense you might incur is a slightly higher registration rate (and if you register now, you won’t even have that). The expanded schedule provides more flexibility for YOU. You can miss some of the convention and still get a full convention experience.
What about the room parties?
As we have continued to speak to more party hosts on this subject, it is clear that many of them are concerned about the ramifications of such a change. We know that *some* parties like the idea and that others are not sure. A small number has also expressed serious negative reactions.
Primary concerns seem to be the cost of an added room night plus the cost of added food and drink to be served. For those parties that would choose NOT to operate an additional night and only operate one night, there are concerns over whether 3-night parties would receive preferred treatment in the assignment of Cabana Party Rooms and whether the desire to slot in some 1-night parties on nights when certain cabanas were "dark" would mean that they'd lose their opportunity to check into their cabana a night early to set up.
While we fully intend for 2-night parties to not be penalized in deference to 3-night parties, we have not yet had a chance to work out the entire procedure for how these new complications to the cabana assignment process would work. Similarly, we have a number of ideas for ways to mitigate the potential negatives of a 4-day model for party hosts, but due to early stages of planning and ongoing negotiations with the hotel, we are not yet able to commit to specific plans that we hope would alleviate most of these concerns.
We have not been able to speak to the majority of party hosts about our ideas and their concerns as quickly as we would have liked, and for that, we apologize. We would like to assure them and all our membership that this IS an area of *particular concern* to everyone involved with the convention, and from the beginning of the process of considering this move has been an area we knew would be the most crucial to resolve favorably if we wanted to move forward. We plan to gather more information in greater detail and from more of our community of party hosts and to involve them more in our process of looking at how a 4-day model could be made to work best for them.
Does CONvergence offer Day Passes?
We do NOT offer Day Passes for a number of reasons. The biggest is that day passes would make it EASIER for people to make a last minute decision to attend the convention, or only part of the convention. We are trying to drive the opposite behavior. In recent years, the number of at-the-door registrations have been going up and up, making it more challenging to effectively budget and plan for the number of attendees at the convention. Similarly, people often ask if they could pay a reduced rate to attend only live music, MainStage events, or some other element of the convention. It is not our intention to sell off the convention piecemeal. It's a package deal. We would much rather have our membership pre-register, and be a part of the whole convention. For those concerned about the at-the-door rates for the convention, we suggest that you pre-register or get a supporting membership to lock in a lower rate. CONvergence memberships ARE transferrable, so you do have options if you find you are unable to attend.
What about the Dealers?
In general, the dealers in 2008 had comparable or better sales. The extra day does present challenges to dealers (for example, staffing the table), and we will be talking with them about how best to resolve them.
Why rush to make this change for 2009?
Well, first of all this change is about keeping our community and our convention sustainable through the coming years. By changing now, we capitalize immediately on the lessons learned in 2008—both our successes and our challenges! This move takes us toward a much more sustainable position for a convention of this size. Once we crossed the threshold of 2500 registrations, CONvergence entered a whole new territory of potential burnout and staffing challenges. We passed that 2500 mark years ago. If anything, this change is not rushed, but an answer to the steady growth over these past few years. Secondly, we do want to communicate a change like this as quickly as possible to get on top of our annual publications/PR schedule and give everyone in our community enough lead time to plan and make decisions about their participation in the convention.
Why not alternate?
We want to limit the potential for confusion. Honestly, people forget. Do you want to be caught flatfooted trying to remember if one year is a four day convention and another year is not? Also, alternating the convention length means changing our processes every single year. That would be a nightmare for our convention staff.
Can CONvergence/MISFITS afford it?
Quite simply - yes. While we were planning for our four-day 10th anniversary extravaganza, we were concerned about the possible expenses of that extra day. As it turned out, money that was set aside to cover the extra day in 2008 was not even needed and 2008 resulted in approximately $20,000 profit for MISFITS. We are confident that running a leaner four-day convention in 2009 (for example, 7 Guests instead of two dozen!) will result in at least as much money for MISFITS.
Won't it be more work? Will people burn out?
Yes, it will be more work. There's an extra day of badging, stocking Consuite, and covering Wandering Host shifts after all. I think the real question is "Will it be too much work for our volunteers to handle?" The answer, at least from our experience during the 2008 convention, is actually NO.
As it turns out, we had better coverage of volunteer needs during the 2008 convention because the extra day allowed for a more relaxed pace, and people now felt that they had the time to spare: An hour or two spent badging wasn't going to be the sacrifice that it would be during a three-day convention. More time means more volunteer needs. But it also means more volunteering opportunities too!
As for burn out, we worked with our departments before the 2008 convention to make sure that staffing was up and schedules were not too onerous. And we will continue to work with departments to address the challenges of staffing a four-day convention. But ultimately, "burn out" rests with the individual. Each person decides for themselves what they can handle, and we trust each individual to only do as much as is healthy. For some individuals, a 24 hour shift is fun. For others, two hours with no break would exhaust them. Each person must determine their own limits and communicate them. Emergency situations do arise (people don't show up for their shifts, a crisis happens), but in those situations all the person needs to do is cry for "HELP!" from their fellow volunteers and from the CONvergence Directors and we'll do everything in our power to step in and take the pressure off.
Also, a number of department heads are actually excited by the move to four days as the extra day was another day to recover between the work of setting up and the exhaustion of tearing down.
So does this mean there’ll be 25 Guests roaming around every year?
Moving to a 4-day convention does not mean that every year will resemble our Super-Sized Year 10 convention. Having over 20 guests return from past years of the convention was a great way to celebrate our tenth year, but going forward we'll be returning to the number of guests we've typically had in the past. It's more manageable for our budget, and in terms of the demands on our volunteers, and on the convention in general. It's just one way that an ongoing 4-day model would not be exactly the same as our 2008 extravaganza.
What if it doesn’t work?
If it became clear that the 4-day model "didn't work" on an every year basis, there is nothing to prevent us from moving back to three days. We wouldn't take that decision any less seriously than the decision to move to 4-days on an ongoing basis. We feel it's important to be consistent and not-reinvent the wheel every year.
What would we be looking at to see whether or not the 4-day model works? Registration and attendance numbers, hotel occupancy, the overall profitability of the convention as a fundraiser for MISFITS, the impact on volunteers, and anecdotal feedback from the CONvergence membership.