The Gathering

The Gathering is a great place to meet new people — or reconnect with folks you’ve met at prior WisCons — while learning or helping others to learn a new game or skill. We’ve got ten activities this year, all happening 1-4pm in the Wisconsin Ballroom on the second floor.

Looking for a way to strike up conversations with some of your fellow con attendees? We’ll have an Icebreaker Scavenger Hunt, where you can search for characteristics and experiences. To participate, put stickers from the Icebreaker table on a badge card marking which broad categories apply to you, then start conversations with other people with stickered cards in order to fill out your own scavenger list.

Continuing this year are two well-loved swaps: Clothing and Nail Polish. Calling them “swaps” is a little misleading, everyone is welcome to peruse and take home anything that strikes your fancy — there’s no need to bring things in exchange, though we love it when you bring items to donate!

Our Clothing Swap is a great place to bring those treasured pieces of clothing that you can’t quite bear to donate without assurance that they will be loved by their next owner. The formal gown that no longer fits, the perfect waistcoat that you just can’t justify keeping, or parts of that well-crafted cosplay for a fandom you’ve lost interest in — they can all find new homes! Any clothing is welcome, but we do ask that you don’t just clean out your closet. Rather, bring a few things that you think other WisCon members will love.

New this year for the Clothing Swap:  Please mark whether you’re clothes have been washed with scented laundry products or if you’ve used scent-free.  The scents from laundry products can linger for years in garments, so please only mark your donations as “scent-free laundry products” if you’ve never used scented products!  Our valiant Clothing Swap volunteers will be working to keep scented and scent-free items separate this year.

This is the third year of the Nail Polish Swap. Is your nail polish stash overflowing with colors that looked promising in the store but not quite right on your nails? Come trade for something more your style! Bring some unloved bottles and your enthusiasm for sparkly fingers and find some new colors to experiment with. Even if you don’t have polish to swap, come pick up a bottle to take home. We know you’re eager to swap your neglected polishes for some new pretties, but remember to make sure they haven’t dried out before you pack them up!

When do you drop off your donations for the Clothing and Nail Polish swaps?  You can stop by the ballroom on the 2nd floor of the Concourse on Friday starting at 11am.

In addition to swaps, the Fiber Circle returns for those who knit, spin, crochet, embroider, and more. Just bring your yarn, needles, thread, scissors, and beads.

The Gadget and Device Petting Zoo isn’t a swap, but it is a way to share any neat devices you own, and to try out some of the neat devices belonging to other folks in the WisCon community. The table will be staffed throughout the Gathering, but nonetheless we strongly recommend that if you don’t want to lose it, don’t leave it unattended.

Returning this year is the ever-popular Fancy Hair Braiding, with a braiding expert in attendance to teach techniques and demonstrate rope, round, French, Dutch, and crown braids, shapes like hearts and spirals, and other advanced ideas like 5- and 7-strand fingering techniques. Unfortunately, our second braider, with expertise in kinky, coily hair, is no longer able to attend.

Local makerspace the Bodgery is running a simple e-textiles activity where participants can learn how to combine fiber arts with electronics. As part of this activity, they’ll teach people how to sew a simple circuit using some felt, an LED, a coin-cell battery, and some conductive thread.

We’ll have Tabletop Games, too. You can join the WisCon Gaming team for some light and accessible games while you learn about the variety of gaming offered at WisCon 41. Browse our board game selection, meet GMs and fellow players, and sign up for role-playing games running this year!

Have you ever wished you knew how to pick locks? You can learn at the Gathering this year! Locks and picks will be provided; you just need to bring a steady hand and a sense of curiosity.

As always, the Tiptree Auction Preview will be happening at the Gathering so you can you can view and write bids in advance of the auction on Saturday, where all proceeds support the James Tiptree Jr. Award for thought-provoking SF&F that expands and and explores gender roles.