Minicon Monthly

Volume 1 Issue 4, September, 1996

September Open Meeting Summary

Business section:

Victor Raymond announced that Shannon Leslie would be co-Head of the Hotel Division with him, as he is now on the Executive Committee of Minicon 33 (1998) along with Martin Schaeffer and Erik Baker. Victor also noted that as of the last mail pick-up there were approximately 370 room request forms for the Radisson, 40 for the Sofitel, four for the Holiday Inn and four that had no preference.

Loren Botner announced that Rhonda Danielson would be a Chief Officer of Operations along with himself, Linda Paul, and Thomas Keely. Operations Sub-Heads will be Peter Larsen, Jim Danielson, Ted Meissner, Laura Lochen, David Potter and Nadim Khalidi. Loren requested that any former volunteers for Life Support please contact him. There have been major changes in that department, and he'd like to let those people who had previously volunteered know about them. In addition, anyone interested in volunteering as a Life Guard, please let him know. Departments should draft positions / schedules for ther volunteer needs; submit as soon as possible to Ops - Volunteers.

Anna Bliss, co-Chair of Programming, announced that Bill Lochen had accepted the Mainstage coordinator position. Shannon Fairbanks will be heading the amenities area (Minneapolis in '73, Krushenko's, etc.). Lynn Litterer will be heading up the Science and Technology area. Hilary Posner will be helping out again with Children's Programming and Katie Clapham and Nancy McClure will be helping out with some of the administrative duties.

Parties head, Erik Baker announced that Sigrid Ellis is his head in training for Parties. Charmane Parnell, Sigrid Ellis, Martin Schafer and Timothy Julin are doing brain trust for Parties. Other Parties volunteers are Susan Weber, Mike Matheney, Kurt Griesmer and Gypsy. Charmane Parnell and Mike Matheney will be working on Dark Star (the coffee parts) and Gypsy is running the bar for the Con Suite.

Discussion : "Adult Issues"

The exec stated that they would be making no decisions on these issues at this meeting. They explained that they had gotten complaints from Minicon attendees and the Radisson hotel staff about some of the bondage-type and adult costuming at Minicon last year and that they wanted input and opinions on the issue. They pointed out that Minicon needed to comply with Federal, State and local laws. In addition, the Radisson and the Sofitel expect Minicon to police its own members. The Exec stressed that they had a responsibility to all Minicon members, not just those in the room, and, due to many complaints saying 'you don't listen to us,' were trying to be more open about making decisions for Minicon.

Several people expressed concern that if Minicon made a policy, it could cause ill will and a backlash effect among members of the convention. Several suggestions were to set guidelines and request people to comply. Everyone agreed that Minicon has to comply with the law. Several suggestions for guidelines were to ask people to not wear costumes that might be considered offensive to children before 10 PM at night and to wear a cover-up in public areas if a costume did not conform to law.

Concern was raised about adult issues being used as a criterion for getting a room, Cabana or suite. Hotel stated that the published guidelines were being used. There was a complaint about the statement at the bottom of the cabana request form "What else would you be willing to do for Minicon in consideration of your request" appearing on the form without any sort of clarification or examples of type of information. Several people commented that they did not realize that this question was anything other than the usual request for volunteers.

One person commented that they had watched many of the people wearing bondage-type costumes at Minicon 31, and they felt that those people were rude, aggressive, uncooperative and generally nasty. They did not 'play well' with others. One person asked about an incident where a friend was 'assaulted' because of his costume by someone who thought that since the person was wearing the costume, he was into what the costume implied. Several people said that any incidents like that should be reported to the bridge. Other people pointed out that bondage/fetish costuming was actually a mainstream/edge fashion now, and could be seen in public in bars and at parties.

A question about children and curfew was raised. It was pointed out that since the children's parents 'supposedly' rented rooms in the Radisson, the hotel was their 'legal domicile' and curfew did not apply.

A final consensus seemed to be that Minicon should comply with the Federal, State and local ordinances regarding 'obscenity.' Operations will be getting copies of the applicable ordinances/laws and enforcing them. Guidelines were preferred over policy statements. People agreed that the problem seemed to be with attitude more than the actual costuming, and if people had problems with someone's costume, dialogue with that person should be attempted or a call to the bridge made to see if there was a policy regarding it.

The Discussion section for the October 6th meeting will be a Question and Answer session with the Con Com. Come if you have any questions or concerns that you'd like addressed.

Registration for Minicon 32

Looking for a few good people! We are going to try to expand the hours that registration is open slightly to enable more people to get their badges earlier and fewer people to have to wait in line for an inordinate amount of time. However, we can't do this without our fabulous band of registration volunteers to man the tables, meet and greet convention members and provide them with their badges and program books. Consider volunteering for a shift at registration, it is a great chance to meet people early and it is a lot of fun! If you have a group of people who you would like to work with consider blocking out a shift for your group and filling all of the positions for that time.

If you are receiving this newsletter, the chances are good that you have already registered for the convention. So far we have almost 1,000 people preregistered. However, you probably have friends who have not, so here is the registration schedule:

Now through October 31 1996 (Halloween)

Adult drinking - $25.
Over 12 and under 21 - $25
Children - $12
A reminder that children must be registered to participate in children's programming.

November 1 through February 14

Adult drinking - $30
Over 12 and under 21 - $30
Children - $12

After February 14, memberships are only available at the door at the $60.00 rate. Because the convention is so early this year, we are going to need to be firm about the deadlines to allow time to produce nifty registration badges among other things. If you have any questions regarding your registration status, please e-mail them to registration@minicon32.mnstf.org or write to the Minicon PO Box.

Address changes should be sent to the P.O. Box or via e-mail to: registration@minicon32.mnstf.org

Operations Notes

All convention volunteers who are not current with First Aid and CPR, and who are interested in attending training, please contact operations. Use the P.O. Box, Voice Mail or e-mail ops@minicon32.mnstf.org. Thank you for your interest and cooperation.

Minicon Meetings

Minicon general meetings are open to all interested parties. The meetings are held at 2:00 p.m. and will take place at the Radisson South unless otherwise announced. Upcoming 1996 dates are: Oct. 6, Nov. 3 (will be held at the Sofitel), and Dec. 1. In 1997, the meetings will be held Jan. 19, Feb. 2, Feb. 16, March 2, & March 16.

Minicon can be reached at:

US Mail:

Minicon
PO Box 8297
Lake Street Station
Minneapolis, MN 55408

MNStf Hotline:

612-824-5559

Minicon Voicemail:

612-333-7533

E-mail (general):

request@minicon32.mnstf.org

E-mail (Minicon Monthly):

updates@minicon32.mnstf.org

E-mail (Hotel):

hotel@minicon32.mnstf.org

Minicon FAQ:

info@minicon32.mnstf.org