General FAQ
ABOUT US
CONvergence is a convention for fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy in all media, and is held at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota on the first full weekend of July each year. CONvergence is a production of The Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy, a 501(c)3 non-profit organziation, and acts as an annual fundraiser for that organization.
CONvergence features three days of nearly round-the-clock entertainment including: Local and National Guests, Two Full Floors of Cabana Room Parties, Panels and other Programming, Live Music and DJ Dance, Costume Contest/Masquerade, Cinema Rex Movie Room, Theater Nippon Anime Room, Dealers Room, Art Show and Auction, ConSuite, COF2E2 Free Coffee Shop, Harmonic CONvergence, Connie's Space Lounge, Silent Auction, and more!
This web site allows you to Pre-Register for convention membership, Reserve a Room for the convention weekend, Volunteer, join our convention mailing list, or Contact Us.
Can I register online?
How many people attend CONvergence?
What is the history of CONvergence?
Why are you organized as a non-profit?
What qualities make CONvergence unique?
Why do you capitalize the CON in CONvergence?
Who is the smiling robot that we keep seeing everywhere?
Your weekend is bad for me. Do you have any plans to change your con's weekend in the future?
Will your convention be serving alcohol?
Do you have supporting memberships?
Does CONvergence offer Day Passes?
Can we put up signs at the hotel, like they do at some other conventions?
Why don't you have different kinds of soda? (I like Coke and you only have Pepsi products!)
Why doesn't the CONvergence website have a community forum or message board?
Can I register online?
Sure! We’ve made an agreement with www.convention-reg.com to handle online registrations. Have your Credit Card ready, and they’ll take care of all your needs! If you don't want to do that, you can print out a form and mail it in with a check too.
How many people attend CONvergence?
In 2007, 2,665 people registered to attend convergence, with 2,549 people actually in attendance. Our attendance has continued to grow each year since the convention started in 1999, when we had exactly 1,500 registrations.
What is the history of CONvergence?
With the exception of our year 2000 convention, CONvergence has been held in the same hotel each year, the Sheraton Bloomington South (formerly the Radisson Hotel South), a hotel that has a long history with regional fandom, having hosted Minicon and other SF conventions in past years.
CONvergence was begun in 1998 in response to changes being made to Minicon, which had been the major SF convention on the local scene for decades, and in a different form is still held in the Twin Cities every Easter weekend. Minicon had intended to sharpen it's focus on SF literature, and to shrink the size of their convention which had ballooned to over 3,000 attendees after 32 years. CONvergence was never intended to copy or replace the "old" Minicon, but rather to take advantage of the perceived need to fill a niche that allowed us to create something new. We hoped to provide a home for those that wanted the large, boisterous convention that Minicon was moving away from, while further broadening our convention's focus to an even wider variety of genres and mediums connected to Science Fiction and Fantasy.
As part of the organization of CONvergence, a non-profit parent organization was created: The Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Any profit from CONvergence is given to the parent organization and becomes their operating capital for the year, funding various clubs, events and programs that benefit the community, including literacy programs and bringing authors and other creative professionals to speak at local schools. (See below for more reasons why we chose to organize as a non-profit).
Our first public event was a room party held at Minicon 33 in 1998 where we took over 500 pre-registrations for our first convention - which was still over a year away.
We observed our 1-year-to-go mark with the absurdly named CPAPAHWWH (pronounced See-PAH-pah-wah)- the CONvergence Pre-Anniversary Picnic and Hootenanny with Wacky Highjinx - a public picnic held July 4 weekend of 1998.
Our first convention was held July 2, 3 and 4 1999 and had 1,500 registered attendees. An archive of past conventions including Guests of Honor, attendance figures, budget information, and photos can be found here.
We wanted a name that truly described our convention. We wanted to evoke the feeling of community while still acknowledging the different media that comprise the science fiction/fantasy genre. We wanted to keep with the fandom tradition of making "con" part of our name, but wanted to stay away from the pattern of "SOMETHING-con" which seemed overly prevalent when the name was being decided on back in 1998. The more we thought about it, the better CONvergence sounded.
Why are you organized as a non-profit?
We chose to organize ourselves as a non-profit for several reasons:
The first, and most important, is that we are tax-exempt. This allows us to purchase goods at a lower rate and it makes our lives easier every April 15th.
Second, we can accept tax-deductible contributions. This is really an offshoot of the tax-exempt status. Corporations are far more likely to make a donation to us when they know they can write off that expense. The same is true of individuals. This allows us avenues of fund-raising that would otherwise be unavailable to us. The more funds we can raise outside of simple membership fees, the better convention we can provide.
Third, we can apply for grants and receive other benefits only available to non-profit organizations. This is a zero investment opportunity for us and, again, it allows us to put on a better con.
Finally, our non-profit status makes it easier for us to get clearances from copyright-holders to feature their films and music at our convention.
We need to point out that non-profit does not mean that an organization cannot make money. We can make bundles of money. The issue is how that money is spent. Basically, the members of the board cannot profit from the operation of the organization. All income must be used to fund charitable activities or to run the organization.
What qualities make CONvergence unique?
CONvergence attempts to draw together all the various mediums and aspects of the science fiction & fantasy genres as equals. Many conventions choose one aspect as a primary focus (literature, comics, movies, etc.). By covering this broad spectrum, we hope to show what brings all of us together as fans of the media.
Most fans are not a fan of Science Fiction in only one medium or narrow sub-genre. Our intention with CONvergence is to offer a large smorgasboard of entertainment and programming that we think would appeal to fans of SF and Fantasy. We do not expect that every event featured at CONvergence would appeal to every attendee, but we hope that plenty of fun can be found by anyone.
Towards this end, we not only invite guests of honor who are creatively involved in a variety of media, we organize our programming into different tracks reflected the different media, allowing attending fans to more easily find panels relating to their favorite, books, movies, television shows, comics, and games.
One of the best reasons for making the Sheraton Bloomington South our permanent home are the two floors of Cabana Rooms that surround the poolside area and open onto balconies and hallways surrounding poolside. These cabanas are filled with room parties run by individuals and fan groups. These parties all have individual themes, but the layout of the cabanas allows the energy from those parties to intermingle, creating a unique and exciting party space that is the heart of the convention on Friday and Saturday nights.
Many of the staples of an SF con are done a little differently at CONvergence. Most cons have a movie room, but Cinema Rex is special. A floor to ceiling screen, 5.1 surround sound, comfy chairs and couches, free soda, popcorn, cookies and other snacks. CONvergence takes the standard Anime room and transforms it into Theater Nippon, which is open 24 hours during the convention weekend and serves snacks including pokey and other Japanese goodies. And you've never seen anything at a convention quite like Connie's Space Lounge...
Finally, what makes us unique is you. Every convention gets its own unique character as a result of it's attendees. We hope you come to our convention and help us make it yours.
Why do you capitalize the CON in CONvergence?
Well, it turns out there is a sizeable Goth convention (Convergence) with the name Convergence and we wanted to differentiate ourselves from them. It's also to distinguish the name of our convention from the plain old word "convergence" when used in a sentence. And we all think it looks kind of cool. Of course, that doesn't stop people from trying to spell it differently. "ConVergence" seems to be the most common variant. But "CONvergence" is the official and correct version. Really.
Who is the smiling robot that we keep seeing everywhere?
That's Connie, our mascot. Ain't she cute? Her creator, Professor Maxwell Misfittle, is the mascot of our parent organization: The Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy. For more information about Connie, check out her Myspace page.
Your weekend is bad for me. Do you have any plans to change your con's weekend in the future?
No. CONvergence will always fall on the first full weekend in July. We know that this causes a conflict for some who would like to make other plans for July 4 in years when these dates coincide, but there is no weekend on the calendar that wouldn't pose a conflict for some subsection of our attendees. Our weekend was chosen considering a number of factors including:
- 1) Making sure that we were not in direct competition with any other local convention.
- 2) We also wanted to choose a holiday weekend when many people get a day off.
- 3) Finding a weekend that is a good fit for our hotel, the Sheraton Hotel South.
Will your convention be serving alcohol?
There is plenty of opportunity to drink at CONvergence, in fact MANY of the room parties at CONvergence serve alcohol (to those displaying ID to show that they are 21 or over), but the convention itself does not serve alcohol in ConSuite or any other location. We have two reasons for this:
- First - Expense. The cost of the liquor is not so much the issue as insurance and corkage fees. We simply would like to be able to spend that money on other things.
- Second - Liability. By not serving alcohol, the con is not liable for any liquor-related incidents. Room parties will be allowed to serve alcoholic beverages at their own discretion. They will be expected to follow all laws regarding under-age drinking. They will also be expected to stop serving those who have "had too much".
- This is the same policy that has been in use since CONvergence began in 1999, and it has worked very well. There is never a shortage of free alcohol for those who want it, but it makes things much easier for the convention. It has the added benefit of combating overcrowding around our ConSuite area.
Do you have supporting memberships?
Yes. Supporting memberships are $30 with an additional $20 payable at the door. This saves you $15 over the at-the-door rate. So, if you don't have the funds to pre-register now, or aren't sure if you'll be able to attend - by all means become a Supporting Member.
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.
Can we put up signs at the hotel, like they do at some other conventions?
Of course you can. There is abundant wallspace throughout the hotel where flyers can be placed, using MASKING TAPE ONLY. The rules about where one can put up flyers are driven by the hotel, and are sometimes tweaked from year to year. If you have any questions about where it is and isn't OK to place your flyers, please stop in to the Operations Bridge and ask.
Why don't you have different kinds of soda? (I like Coke and you only have Pepsi products!)
Coke, Pepsi, why can't we just all get along?
The truth is, we'd love to do both Coke AND Pepsi so cola drinkers of all varieties could hold hands and sing kumbaya in a caffeine induced moment of brother (or sister) hood. Alas, this moment of togetherness is not yet upon us and we must settle for Pepsi.
Why Pepsi? Because Coke won't return our phone calls.
Seriously, that is the reason. If they returned our phone calls, we would take bids from both companies and choose the most cost effective option for the convention.
But for the last several years, Coke has not indicated they are interested in our business. Pepsi has been more than happy to receive our funds.
So the folks who like Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper and caffeine free Root Beer are having a ball while those who will only drink Diet Coke are shaking their fists in silent (or not so silent) frustration.
We will continue to reach out to the Coke folks on a regular basis and if things go better, you may see a year where the Sprite and 7up drinkers can enjoy their clear carbonated beverage of choice while arguing whether "Deep Space Nine" is better than "Babylon 5" (we choose not to offer an opinion).
Until then, we have Pepsi.
Why doesn't the CONvergence website have a community forum or message board?
We believe that such a forum could be confusing for the casual user on what is "official" policy or news. Instead, there are several online communities dedicated to CONvergence (and other fan groups and events) through all of the popular social networking sites. Official communication is restricted to meetings, our website and paper or electronic mailings.