2000 Archive: Programming and Events
You can select from the following sections:
- Opening Ceremonies
- Mainstage
- Physics Force Next Generation
- The Masquerade
- DJDANCEMasquerade Ball and DJ Dance
- Panels and Programming
- Registration
- Volunteers
Opening Ceremonies
Opening & Closing Ceremonies
Once again, we were thrilled at the number of people who chose to attend our (incredibly late) opening ceremonies. We hope those of you that missed it were suitably chastised by those who enjoyed our Galaxy Quest skit and the first chance to catch a glimpse of our Guests of Honor.
As much as we enjoyed it, we know the event was a little on the long side, so we will be looking to shorten it up a bit for next year. Keep coming back, because we want this event to be one of the most popular at the convention.
Closing Ceremonies was, as usual, a little bittersweet. We had a great time listening to the cheers of many happy people, but also had to say goodbye to our guests as well as a lot of new friends. There is nothing like a good closing ceremonies to get you hyped for the next convention.
Main Stage Concert
"The live music is...a great idea."
"Great live music"
"The live music was great! Flash Girls ROCK!" — Survey Comments
We were especially lucky to land the reunion concert of The Flash Girls for CONvergence 2000. We really appreciate Emma and Lorraine appearing at our convention and the added show on Saturday was a real treat! We would also like to thank all the bands and groups that performed over the weekend. Performing on Mainstage were The Flash Girls, Scarlet Slipping and Psychopop.
Physics Force Next Generation
They came. They saw. They demonstrated physics on poor, unsuspecting inanimate objects for the amusement of organic bipedal life forms. And did a great job of it. Thanks, gang!
Masquerade
"Everything was well organized. I had a slight problem with the Matrix (Act 1, 2, 3) in the Masquerade, it seemed a little unfair for the same group to be in the contest more than once. Maybe could have been its own skit? I loved the masquerade though. Thank you." — Survey Comment
"Was it a conflict of interest for the Cinema Rex crew to enter the masquerade?" — Cinema Rex Comment Card
Though slightly smaller than last year, this year's masquerade was again a big success with high quality costumes in all categories. The Matrix entry was a single entry in three parts and was allowable under the rules of the masquerade. They were judged as a single entry.
Members of the convention committee are allowed to enter the masquerade and are judged based on the merit of their costume presentation. We do not consider it a conflict of interest. Several very good costumers work on the convention, and we wouldn’t want their volunteering for the convention committee to be a barrier to participating in the Masquerade or vice versa. We want people working on the convention to be able to do the things they enjoy.
We would like to thank everyone who entered as well as all of our judges. For those of you who missed the Masquerade or who have already forgotten who won, here is a list of all the winners.
Workmanship Winners (Excellence in Workmanship)
Sailor Moon – Novice (Lisa Fabio)Sylvan Dior – Master (Kris & Ian Honse, Hilary Moon Murphy and Cassandra Murphy, Deborah and Kaaren Spiesz, Kathy Shane and Meridian Shanwood)
Snow Queen – Novice (Nakita Peterson and Staci Ludwig)
Greed – Novice (Sean Doyle with special effects by Nathan Olson)
Oh God – Journeyman (Lionsmane the Red)
5th Doctor – Master (Kevin Klein and Rae Lundquist)
Best Workmanship Award:
Imperial Commissar – Journeyman (Jeff Andrajack)Performance Awards (Judges’ Choice)
5th Doctor – Master (Kevin Klein)Snow Queen – Novice (Nakita Peterson and Staci Lunwig)
Oh God – Journeyman (Lionsmane the Red)
Your Number Please – Journeyman (Sarah J Tesch)
Best Young Fan – Sylvan Dior (Meridian Shanewood)
Best Novice – Wonder Woman (Amanda Marquez Sullivan & James Gottfried)
Best Journeyman – Ming (George Richard, Wendy Tschampl and Matthew Tschampl)
Best Master – Sylvan Dior (Kris & Ian Honse, Hilary Moon Murphy and Cassandra Murphy, Deborah and Kaaren Spiesz, Kathy Shane and Meridian Shanwood)
Best Performance – Greed (Shelly Otterson and Bill Borea)
Best in Show Award: The Matrex (John Grams, Zvie Razieli, Eric Knight, Cheris Haire, Roger Bernstein, Pat Harrigan, Carrie Rainey and Rex)
Thanks to our Workmanship Judges (Berniece Krafft, Diana Steben, Amanda Gordon), our Performance Judges (Windy Merrill, Dayna Ring, Rex Bryant), and thanks to Judy Kaper - Greenroom Manager, Bob Aiken aka Roadkill, the rest of the Greenroom Staff, and Mainstage Tech (Matt, Lexi and Skaht). Thanks also to the Ug Boys for taking care of us, and to all of our videographers, bean counters and staff. We couldn’t do this without you.
Masquerade Ball and DJ Dance
Thanks to everyone who came and had a good time at our DJ Dance on Saturday Night after the Masquerade, whether you came in costume or not. We hope to do it again next year!
Panels and Programming
We received several comments - good, bad, and indifferent – regarding programming this year at CONvergence. Generally they seemed to fall into a three categories: timing, variety, and suggestions for next year.
"Also like the print programs and 1/2 hour between panels"
"30 minutes between programs - brilliant!" — Survey Comments
We like them too. It gives everyone a little breathing space to regroup, get a soda, allow for Guest of Honor panels running over, etc. The 30-minute break will return in 2001.
"I would also like to see more varied programming."
"Programming needs to be better."
"Programming seemed much less interesting than '99" - — Survey Comments
We would agree that the programming panels may not have been as varied as what we would like to see. However, we try to develop our programming schedule based on the topics and ideas given to us by the attendees. Some years this may work better than others in providing us with a varied schedule of events.
Similarly, we can't always find the right person or group of people to develop a panel idea or demonstration based on the topics suggested. We had a few really great panels that we weren't able to execute because we couldn't find the bodies for them. The best way to ensure that you can attend the panels you want to see is to send us your ideas (via the web site or through the PO Box). Better still, let us know if you have suggestions for who we could contact to help with that panel/event.
"How about a workshop or two for young writers?"
"More author readings. I can't rent those."
"Panel on pulp magazines, pulp-era SF would be good." - — Survey Comments
Suggestions. We like suggestions. And you had some great ones. We really like the idea of a writer’s workshop for young writers, and we like the idea of allowing "grown-ups" in on some of the youth programming (like the "computer guts" program). We'd also like to see if we can make more author readings happen, and are interested in seeing what we can do to include more audio and touch-oriented programming for our vision-impaired attendees. We want to be sure that programming is accessible to everyone. Did we mention the fabulous idea we got for a panel on pulp magazines and pulp SF? We think that one's a winner. But an idea isn’t enough, we need panelists. That’s true of all the ideas we get. So please let us know if you might be interested in helping with it, or with any other programming for next year.
Some other things we're working on for CONvergence 2001: Large-print editions of the program guide, finding a better method for communicating last-minute schedule changes, and making sure that there isn't a water leak in the main Guest of Honor programming space.
We plan on having a brainstorming session this fall to start the ball rolling on our schedule for next year. If you'd like to join us, the more the merrier! Drop us a line at programming@convergence-con.org, or send us a note at the PO Box address. The more ideas we have from you, the more we can try to make happen at CONvergence 2001!
Registration
Registration 2000 had its share of ups and downs. On the down side, there were some badge production problems that left the department frustrated and some people without pre-printed badges who should have gotten them. Thank you to all of the people who were patient and understanding about this. The problem has been solved from multiple directions, so we shouldn’t have the same difficulties next year.
The registration department enjoyed the support of fabulous volunteers who went above and beyond to help people get registered quickly so that they could enjoy the convention. The lines seemed to stay short and move quickly this year, and we hope that this trend continues.
The model for extended registration hours we used this year seemed to work well, so we expect to continue in that direction next year as well.
"Pink vs green for badge colors is bad - red/green color blindness. Blue & green or yellow & red are better." — Survey Comment
A good point! We do make the badge designs very visually different to help alleviate any other visibility issues (blacklight, strobe light, party lights...) but we will certainly try to keep this in mind.
Volunteers
"I tried to volunteer and couldn't find anyone who could tell me where. The volunteers table simply told me to find a department head. I do not know the department heads, nor were they easily identifiable." — Survey Comment
The Volunteers Department did its best to direct willing persons to the appropriate locale, and have them ask for the person in charge. Obviously, it cannot be expected that everyone would know every department head by sight. Hopefully, though, most people would be able to find someone who could tell them what to do. We're sorry to hear that there were problems, and will continue to improve our Volunteer systems and procedures to make sure people end up where and when they are needed.
"Spamming people to "encourage" them to volunteer is a bad idea & could get CVG a bad reputation amongst people concerned about e-mail privacy – did this get run past the board? Being told that to volunteer, people should find department heads is not helpful, especially for people who are from out of town & don't know the dept. heads." - Survey Comment
We only use e-mail when the person indicates that they wish to be contacted via that method, and we remove anyone who asks to be removed from our e-mail announcement list, so we’re surprised and sorry to hear that anyone felt "spammed".