Decongestant

It's the 2016 MinnStF fallcon: Oct 14–16, 2016 at the Hilton Bloomington, 3900 American Blvd W. (Already convinced? Skip to registration.)

It's over!

Decongestant is over! It had 70 members: 49 pre-registered, all of whom came, plus 21 more at the door.

You might be interested in Decongestant 4, which is being held in 2019.

What should I expect at Decongestant?

Decongestant is a small science fiction and fantasy convention geared primarily towards relaxation. There will be good food, music, gaming, a teen room, an art show, a science exhibit, a bit of programming, and whatever else you bring to it. If you have been to a Minn-stf fallcon before, you can expect pretty much the same thing you've seen in recent years.

(There wasn't a science exhibit, but there was an Occulus Rift demo.)

Hotel/room reservations

Directions to the hotel and airport shuttle information.

The hotel deadline has passed. Rates were $109 for a standard king room, or $119 for a double/double, if booked by Sept 14 on the interweb, or by calling +1-952-893-9500 and mentioning "fallcon". There are probably still rooms available, but it does not appear the hotel will give you these rates any more.

What space does the con have?

We have a cluster of small-to-medium-small rooms on the 2nd floor. One is a suite, and the rest are function-space-type rooms.

This is an expandable con. If you want to run a large game, create a new department, or have some other cool idea, let us know. We can expand into more space — the hotel currently also has available at least one boardroom and a large ballroom on the first floor. (We also are likely to repeat in the same hotel for 2017, so if it's now too late to make plans for this year, think about next.)

When should I show up?

Registration will be available starting at 2pm on Friday. Other rooms will be opening up soon thereafter. See those departments' sections for details.

On Thursday night, we'll open the consuite for people willing to help set up. Once set up is done, the room will stay open as long as people want, but there won't be food or drink provided until Friday.

Who will be there?

Check out the member list.

Programming

There'll be a bunch of stuff to do! Here's the complete schedule.

Added July 2017: Here's the program book.

Art Show

Art of all forms is welcome! Pieces may be for sale or just for display. Space is limited — we will try to fairly share it if we run out. There will be no fees for entering pieces in the show nor commissions taken for sales.

Craft swap/flea market

As per tradition, we will have a table for swapping, selling, or giving away fannish items, craft projects and craft materials. It will be available Friday afternoon through Sunday.

Gaming

There will be a dedicated gaming room available 24h during the convention, starting 3pm Friday (or maybe a bit earlier) and running through at least midnight Sunday/Monday.

Music

There will be space available for musicians after programming ends all three days. Friday and Saturday nights the room will be available all night. Sunday night, we have it until at least midnight.

Teen Room

There will be a teen room! The teens will probably run an RPG or two and who knows what else?

Consuite

We plan on there being the usual snacky-type foods barring catastrophe!

The consuite will be open for set up Thursday.

On Friday, it will open as a socialization space (no food or drink) around noon. By 5pm, we'll have soft drinks available and after Opening Ceremonies (7:30pm) full snacky-service will begin. We will endeavour to have consuite open as late as people are awake and somewhat vertical. It might close ~2am if people aren't.

On Sunday, the consuite will officially become the Dead Dog Party after closing ceremonies, and will run as late as people want!

Friday Dinner

There will be an optional organized Friday dinner from Noodles & Company. Everyone will order individual dishes and we'll place one big order. There will be paper menus available, or you can look at their website. They have two different non-wheat noodles available.

We'll take orders and money to cover them (cash or check) 4:30–5:00pm. You can also write sraun at fireopal.org ahead of time with your order. We expect the food to be at the con and ready to eat by 6:30.

Saturday Dinner

The optional Saturday dinner will be catered by Tandoor in Bloomington. It is $13/person, which includes tax and tip. Vegan and gluten free options will be available, along with a variety of spiciness levels.

Dinner will arrive around 6:30pm and will be ready to eat at about 7pm. Please keep in mind that it might start slightly earlier or later. It will be served "buffet style"; please do not submit individual orders. This will be our third year doing this type of thing. We have typically had a bit of extra, and we will repeat that experience, but not as excessively. There will be room for a few at-the-door people.

If you know you want to participate, please declare your intent to participate by doing the following:

1. Before Friday, Oct 7 at 5pm, email Emily at mle292 at gmail dot com saying that you'll participate. Please write "Saturday Fallcon Dinner" in the subject heading.
2. Payment in advance will be appreciated, but is not required. There will be someone designated to collect funds at MinnStF functions.

Menu to be determined, but currently expected to be similar to last time. Please feel free to look over their menu and make a suggestion to the same email address, or open a discussion on a MinnStF forum.

Sunday Dinner

Sunday we'll have a group outing to the Tea House in Plymouth. Sign up by 2pm in the consuite so we can make a reservation for the right number of people. Please indicate on the sign-up sheet whether you intend to meet us at the restaurant or meet in the lobby at 5:30pm to carpool, and whether you can provide transportation if needed.

Minnstf turns 50!

The first MinnStF meeting was Friday November 25, 1966 (not Nov 27, as previously listed here). That means Decongestant will be the closest MinnStF con to our 50th anniversary. There will be a cake… and a slide show… and more?

Videos

We will show videos Saturday and Sunday, including, at least, Thunderbirds.

Transportation

The Hilton is reasonably well served by buses. As usual, the problem is for commuters getting home at night. The last bus north is at 11:56pm. See the usual sources to double check that and for more details.

For drivers, there is free parking in the attached ramp.

Accessibility

Decongestant is a small con with minimal programming and minimal financial resources. Panels and other activities are expected to be reasonably accessible by virtue of being very small. With this in mind, if you anticipate needing accommodations in order to enjoy the con, please contact us and we will see what we can do.

Code of Conduct

You should read the code of conduct.

Join Us!

The pre-registration deadline has passed (it was Sept 25).

You can still register at the door. We accept cash and check. No credit cards. There is an ATM in the hotel lobby.

* If you are short on cash, instead pay $40 — no questions asked (nor will we publish who paid what). If you're shorter on cash, e-mail decongestant-aidNONOPNO@mnstf.org and let us know your situation.

† Similarly, you may instead pay $50, no questions asked, or less if approved by the chair. However, for practical reasons, confidentiality is not guaranteed at-the-door.

‡ Partial memberships can only be purchased at the door. Day memberships are good through 8am the following day. You can buy an hour membership if you will be here for closer to an hour than a day; we won't take it too literally.

For posterity, here is the paper registration form.