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CONvergence: TAM 7 North?

Chebutykin

Student
Chebutykin
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
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As several of you may already know, I help run a convention named CONvergence, which occurs every 4th of July weekend in Minneapolis, MN. CONvergence just had it's 10th convention, with attendees numbering 3,200+. As the name implies, CONvergence is a sci-fi/fantasy/genre convention that offers a little bit of everything; it's where the lines of fandom converge in the Midwest.

It's my understanding that it will conflict with TAM 7 next year (though I can't find TAM 7 dates on the web site to back me up on that). This, of course, makes me very sad, as this means I won't be able to attend TAM.

However, whether or not I'm correct about the conflict of dates, I've already heard some folks talking about putting together some skeptic panels for CONvergence. Such panels would certainly be a great addition to our Science track.

My questions are:

* Am I correct in thinking that TAM 7 will conflict with CONvergence's dates? (July 3-5, 2009)

* Is there anyone on the forum in the Midwestern US who would be attending CONvergence instead of TAM (for cost reasons or otherwise)?

* Is there anyone on the forum who would be interested in helping sculpt some skeptic programming for CONvergence?

* Any other ideas?

Basically, I'm envious of Dragon*Con's Science and Skeptics tracks, and I'd like help to boost CONvergence's hard science programming. Plus, I think the crowd we get at CONvergence would really enjoy some of the subjects presented at Dragon*Con this year.

Thoughts?
 
If that's the case... awesome!

Still, I don't know if I can personally make it, even though it's one week later. I'm also running a convention in Chicago the week after that (yikes!), but at least that's a one-time-only event. I also imagine that a mere one-week gap would prevent others from attending both events, as CONvergence is fairly energy-intensive.

Either way, I still want to do skeptic programming at CONvergence. Woohoo!
 
Chebutykin said:
If that's the case... awesome!

Still, I don't know if I can personally make it, even though it's one week later. I also imagine that a mere one-week gap would prevent others from attending both events, as CONvergence is fairly energy-intensive.
Click to expand...

The evidence from TAA3-Galapagos is fairly compelling: you are impervious to the demands of sleep. So go ahead and book your MSP-LAS flights today.

And Scrut... "July 9"... Good to know some things never change. ;)
 
phyz said:
The evidence from TAA3-Galapagos is fairly compelling: you are impervious to the demands of sleep. So go ahead and book your MSP-LAS flights today.
Click to expand...

I'm now tempted to do it just for the sheer madness of the plan. Of course, this could get ugly fast:

July 3-5, 2008 (and the surrounding days): Run CONvergence in Minneapolis
July 7th or 8th: Fly to Vegas
July 9-12: Attend TAM 7 in Las Vegas
July 13th: Fly to Chicago
July 14th-17th: Run HR conference in Chicago
July 18th: Fly to Los Angeles for meetings at Warner Brothers and/or Wildstorm
July 22nd: Drive to San Diego
July 23-26: Attend San Diego Comic Con
July 27: Fly to Minneapolis
July 31-August 2: Attend Diversicon in Minneapolis as former Guest of Honor
August 5: Drive/bus to Chicago
August 6-9: Work Wizard World Chicago

...and somewhere in there I also need to shoehorn the Toronto Comics Expo, whose 2009 dates haven't been announced yet.

8 cities and 7 conventions in 6 weeks. Somehow, I suspect that might be... a little bit much. Even for me.

(At least I'm pretty sure I'll drop San Diego for next year's calendar, but that's dependent upon what is happening in my career and/or Mr. Jones' career in 2009.)
 
Well, part of the problem is that I'm both a professional geek and a 9-to-5er. (I prefer a life with things like money and health insurance, so that's the sacrifice I make.) But really, being a professional geek is like any other job in most ways. It just involves more action figures. Otherwise, most of the normal stuff still applies: you have to pay the bills, meet deadlines, network, chase new customers, be nice to your collaborators, etc.

I find the hardest part of the pro-geek thing to be the fact that I work out of my home. It's easy to slip into a lifestyle where you just work constantly, because you can't escape from it. There is no "leave it at the office and go home for the night". If you're home, if you have a shred of free time, there is always something in the back of your head telling you that you should be working. One of the biggest reasons I keep a 9-to-5 gig is to get me the hell out of the house and away from comics every day.
 
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