This page is part of an archive and is available for historical reference only; for information on recent and upcoming Minicons, please visit www.mnstf.org/minicon/ Information on these pages may not reflect current Minicon and Minn-StF policies, functions, contact info, etc. For information about the Minnesota Science Fiction Society, the organization that has been putting on Minicon since 1968, please visit www.mnstf.org. |
Minicon 33
Minicon is an annual gathering of science fiction and fantasy fans. The convention is held each year over Easter weekend, and for the last decade the main venue has been the Radisson South Hotel in Bloomington, MN.
Minicon is sponsored by the Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc. (Minn-StF). It's one of the largest fan-run conventions in the U.S.; in 1996 and 1997 we had over 3500 members (but not in 1998).
Latest News
19-April-98
The Minicon 33 postmortem will be held on Sunday, 26-April-1998, starting at 2pm, at the Radisson South hotel (we figure most of you know where that is by now).
The souvenir book and the pocket program are now available in pdf form, largely for historical interest.
12-April-98
Minicon 33 is OVER. You can all GO HOME now.
6-April-98
the programming schedule has been updated to draft 5.
A link to a map showing the location of the Radisson has been added to the bottom of the hotel page.
5-April-98
Some childcare information has been added to the web site.4-April-98
The children's programming schedule has arrived and been put up separately (it'll be rolled in with the others in Draft 5, due Monday). I also tweaked the big schedule page a bit, to waste less space and put in yet more warnings about how big it is.2-Apr-98
Anne Gay has kindly provided a version of Draft 4 of the programming schedule which can be viewed in time order, searched by participant, and is generlly spiffy. It's here. (also linked from the programming page and the schedule page).31-Mar-98
Draft 4 of the programming schedule is now online.15-Mar-98
The list of confirmed dealers is now available.1-Mar-1998
You've missed the last pre-registration deadline; it's at-the-door for you now.When
April 10-12, 1998 (Easter weekend). How long until then? (Javascript). Even without the countdown, you can tell it's close!Guests of Honor
Minicon has invited a number of people to be guests of honor at Minicon 33. Those who have accepted so far, in order of their acceptance:
- Fan Guest of Honor: Dave Langford. From his
web page: "Who the hell is David Langford anyway? A little-known
British freelance writer living in Reading, England, who has won
inexplicably many science fiction awards and publishes an sf
newsletter called Ansible."
[bibliography] - Publishing Guest of Honor: Gardner Dozois. Editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, nominee for the 1997 Best Editor Hugo (and winner in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, and 1996), and editor of 14 years (so far) of The Year's Best Science Fiction, and winner of two Nebulas. [bibliography]
- Toastmaster: John M. Ford. He has won the Rhysling Award for SF poetry, the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel AND Best Short Story (this last for a long poem), the Philip K. Dick award, and has twice been a finalist for the Nebula award. He's also done game design, comics, Star Trek novels, and of course Ask Dr. Mike. [bibliography]
Important Dates
Registration rates increased on 30-Apr-97, 27-Nov-97, and 1-Mar-98. Those are all in the past, okay? Too late to register at the pre-registration rates now.
Room request forms must be postmarked by 27-Nov-97 for priority consideration.
Registration
The final rate increase was March 1. Any registrations not postmarked by March 1 cost $70. You can mail this in or pay it at-the-door. More info.
Hotel
We're using the same three hotels as in recent years. Most events take place in the Radisson South, some in the Hotel Sofitel, and many people are staying at the Holiday Inn Airport #2.
Minicon is again handling reservations. Rates, forms, procedures, and further information are in the hotel pages.
Gaming
Gaming has an off-site web page, here.
Childcare
Childcare does need to hear from you if you're going to be needing
their services at Minicon 33. Professional care givers will be
providing most of the care, but there's room for some volunteers,
especially at swimming time, too. Please email
Who Are We?
The Minicon 33 executive committee consists of Martin Schafer, Victor Raymond, and Erik Baker.Running Minicon
A lot of work goes into making Minicon happen, and it's essentially all done by volunteers. The executive committee buys memberships to attend. The department heads buy memberships to attend. And we spend from dozens to many hundreds of hours in the 18 months before the convention working to make it happen. Then, at Minicon, hundreds more (we documented over 500 people volunteering formally at Minicon 32, and many people do important work that isn't formally logged) people show up from around the city, the state, the midwest, and in fact throughout the US and Canada, and volunteer their time to put in the thousands of hours (the volunteers department logged over 6000 hours of work, teamsters more than 2000, and again a lot of work is not logged at all) more work needed at the convention to make it all happen.
Want to know more about how Minicon happens? Check this out.
Reaching Us
US Mail
Minicon 33PO Box 8297
Lake Street Station
Minneapolis, MN 55408
Voicemail
+1-612-333-7533-Handled by a human and directed through email, phone, snail mail, or personal contact to the appropriate places(s).
E-mail autoresponder
info@minicon33.mnstf.org-Will send you a file we hope you will find useful.
Mailing List
There is an open mailing list for people interested in discussing Minicon; to subscribe, send email to minicon-l-request@mnstf.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.The list is also available in a digest version, the administrative address is minicon-d-request@mnstf.org.
Web
The official Minicon 33 page is at http://www.mnstf.org/minicon33.
This page has been accessed times. David Dyer-Bennet <ddb@ddb.com>