So sometimes we can be a little slow to notice obvious solutions. It happens when you are 42, okay?

Over the past few years, a lot of folks coming to WisCon for the first time had a choice to make:

• Attend Opening Ceremonies, which we strongly recommend to anyone who is new, since you learn all about the convention there!

OR

• Attend the First Timers’ Dinner, which we strongly recommend to anyone who is new, since you learn all about the convention there!

BECAUSE

…those two things happened at the same time.

No more! Opening Ceremonies was once a combination of entertainments and information, but as more and more of our members found themselves being pulled in different directions Friday evening, we found that the core purposes were to emphasize our policies and to invite the Tiptree Motherboard to crown this year’s winner. In fact, the last several years, that’s been the whole of Opening Ceremonies.

This year, we believe we have found a better way: we’ve combined the Opening Ceremonies with the Gathering. In practice, that means that we’ll be talking with people about WisCon, our policies, and tips & tricks to get the most out of your convention at the Gathering itself! We’ll have folks answering questions and welcoming you at the table with the coffee, tea, and punch. You know, the place at the Gathering that everyone visits!

The Gathering activities will wrap up around 3:50pm, and we’ll close the Gathering and open WisCon 42 by paying tribute to the late Ursula K Le Guin, and then crowning the winner of the Tiptree Award! (Then cake on the sixth floor, but that’s a different topic.)

Voila! Now you can attend both the Opening Ceremonies AND the First WisCon Dinner — or the POC Dinner — or just dinner with your pals — without strife!

If only we could solve all of WisCon’s schedule conflicts so easily…