Are you interested in running a game at WisCon either in person or online? Let us know at gaming@wiscon.net or fill out this form to help us get you set up! If you’re not sure about your schedule yet, no worries! Gaming this year will be organized similarly to Spontaneous Programming, and we’ll have sign-ups during the con at the Gathering (for in person games) or on the WisCon Discord (for online games).
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Want to take part in the Gathering?
We’re still on the lookout for masked activities for this year’s Friday afternoon Gathering!
Previous years’ activities have included tarot readings, a galley sale, and all kinds of crafts.
If you’d like to host an activity table (including supplying whatever materials you’ll need), email gathering@wiscon.net or fill out the form at http://wiscon.net/events/the-gathering/ and let us know your idea and any space and setup requirements.
Volunteer during WisCon!
WisCon runs on volunteers! Not only are our organizing committee and programming entirely volunteer-based, every department is staffed by volunteers during the convention itself. From helping to make online programming possible as a Production Assistant, to ensuring coffee is fresh in the Con Suite, to helping with the Art Show, you can be part of what makes WisCon possible.
Whether this is your first WisCon or you’ve been attending for years, volunteering during the convention is a great way to get a sense of how things work behind the scenes, and to meet new people. Volunteering during the convention involves signing up for shifts (usually 1-3 hours) with specific departments.
For descriptions of volunteer roles in specific departments, visit wiscon.net/volunteers.
If you are interested in volunteering during WisCon this year, fill out this Google form, and departments will be in touch once their volunteer schedule goes live.Update: Shifts for volunteering during WisCon are now available at program.wiscon.net! To sign up for shifts, log in at program.wiscon.net, select the “Volunteer” tab, and click “Add shifts” on the right. This will bring up a list of all Volunteer shifts, organized by time; you can filter available shifts by role or by day.
We are particularly recruiting people willing to serve as Production Assistants or Discord Moderators for the virtual con! If we fully staff our virtual panels, we can consider streaming in-person panels to online members. If you are comfortable holding a Zoom call, you have the technical skills to be a Production Assistant!
All volunteers are eligible for a volunteer gift (usually a small item such as a pin or waterbottle with the WisCon logo); gifts will be mailed to any remote volunteers. In the past we have had a rebate program for volunteers (refunding a portion of the cost of membership); this program is currently under review and may not be offered for 2022.
Draft WisCon schedule now available
A draft of the WisCon ’22 schedule is now available at WisCon.net! If you filled out the interest survey to participate on panels, please log into the app, view your personal schedule, and accept or reject your assignments by April 9th.
Even if you did not fill out the survey, there are still panels that are understaffed. If you see a panel with three or less people assigned and it’s something you’re passionate about, please volunteer by emailing panels@wiscon.net. And tell your friends!
Volunteers Needed
We are still seeking a number of volunteers for this year’s con; please fill in this form if you can help. Several of these roles can be done fully remotely if you’re planning to attend only the online con.
COVID Safety
3-4 roles
Organize COVID information: Continue to research and organize information related to COVID 19 safety, including event best practices, failures/successes from other cons, and updates from WHO, CDC, and local municipalities.
Contingency planning: Strategize plan to pivot from hybrid to fully online con if conditions dictate (e.g., if Dane County bans large gatherings). If pivot needed, coordinate with hotel, online, and physical location teams.
Convention safety: Take reports of illness at the convention and send them out. Coordinate with other WisCon departments to make sure the convention runs as safely as possible. Plan with Accessibility, Hotel, Panels. Advise departments, make sure enough spacing in rooms, create safe seating charts, etc.
Con Suite Lead
1-2 roles
Logistics: Organize materials, food ordering,
and distributing food.
People: Manage volunteers and assign tasks at con to make con suite happen.
Gathering:
Organize people who want to offer activities at the Gathering, coordinate when/where it will take place, assign tables, and set up (or organize setup of) room.
Readings:
Contact people who want to do readings, check with hotel/panels for space and time blocks, and schedule readings.
Again, if you think you might be able to help with any of these, please fill in this form.
WisCon Member Assistance Fund reminder
If you’re interested in attending WisCon in person but need a little financial help to get there, you have until March 31 to apply to the WisCon Members Assistance Fund!
Please apply at: https://bit.ly/WMAFrequest
WisCon Member Assistance Fund now taking applications
The WisCon Member Assistance Fund (WMAF) provides financial assistance to people who would like to attend WisCon but for whom the costs of con attendance are a barrier. Anyone can apply to request funds that can be used to cover airfare or other travel costs, hotel costs, childcare, or any other prohibitive expense. Members may also nominate friends or others who they know would like to attend WisCon but who may need a bit of help to do so. You can find more information on the WMAF here.
Applications are now open and the form is here: https://bit.ly/WMAFrequest. You can nominate yourself or a friend, and people who have received funds in the past can request them again. The deadline for applying is March 31st. If you have questions or trouble using the form, e-mail fund@wiscon.net.
If you would like to donate to help someone else attend WisCon, THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. You can donate to the WMAF via PayPal, here. (SF3, WisCon’s parent organization, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, so contributions are tax-deductible.) You can also donate via the Registration Page! If you’re not registering, you can simply add “Donate to WMAF” to your cart and add whatever amount you’d like to donate, and pay by the means of your choice. Finally, if you would like to send a paper check, make it out to SF3 with WMAF in the memo line and mail to: SF3 / Attn: WMAFund / P.O. Box 1624 / Madison, WI 53701.
If you request funds, you should hear by mid-April whether we will be able to meet your request.
Call for Academic Papers! (Deadline Extended)
Wiscon approaches! The deadline for submission of proposals for Wiscon’s academic track has been extended to March 15th. We welcome a wide variety of passionate, thoughtful voices about the genres that bring us joy, hope, enlightenment, and reflection about the complex worlds of which we are all part.
Given our current political moment, we invite papers and panels that explore themes echoing the American Studies Association’s 2022 Annual Meeting, “The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire” as well as the National Women’s Studies Association’s 2021 Annual Conference: “killing rage: resistance on the other side of freedom”. With these themes in mind, we encourage proposals to consider science fiction as a site of connection, survival, and protest. For example, how can feminist speculative fiction help us fight for a more just world? What lessons can be learned from Indigenous, Black, POC, and diasporic speculative fiction, to advance decolonial and anti-racist change? How can we use speculative fiction genres to respond to the threats of white supremacy, dispossession, militarization, and extractive capitalism? How might speculative fiction help us come together amidst collapsing structures to enable better futures?
These themes offer opportunity both for work that deals specifically with social and cultural questions about the radical politics of futures as they relate to feminist speculative fiction and for work on the histories and dream making of freedom-oriented fan communities.
Further, we invite proposals from anyone with a scholarly interest in the intersections of gender, gender identity, sexuality, race, class, and disability with speculative fiction—broadly defined—in literature, media, and culture. We encourage contributions that emphasize WisCon’s focus on how speculative fiction has played an important role in the exploration and creation of socially just futures: futures where people of all colors and backgrounds flourish, where women’s rights and women’s contributions are valued, where gender is not limited to one of two options, where no one is erased out of convenience, hidden by discrimination, or experiences bigotry.
Art Show Deadline extended to March 15
The WisCon Art Show deadline is being extended to March 15! Artists can apply using the form at http://wiscon.net/events/art-show/. If you’ve applied and not received a reply from us, please email artshow@wiscon.net.
#SaveWisCon Updates
Thank you to everyone who responded to our call for help in November! We’ve made some AMAZING progress:
- We’ve raised over $21,000 in donations out of the potential $30,000 we have in matches. If we can raise $9,000 more, that will mean $30k donated + $30k matched = a total of $60k for WisCon! You can donate via PayPal or make a contribution to the General Fund when you register for WisCon.
- We have over 180 registrations for WisCon 2022 (in person plus online). We’d love to get to 1,000 total memberships! If you’re able to register now, either for in person or online, that’s a big help. If you know you want to do WisCon but aren’t sure whether you’ll be able to make it in person, please consider registering for an online membership now — it’s easy to upgrade to an in person membership later.
- We’ve had over 50 people complete our volunteer interest survey. The Personnel Committee is hard at work reaching out to everyone who’s expressed interest in helping out (thanks, Personnel folks!). We’ll keep you posted about additional volunteering opportunities, including at-con opportunities, in the coming weeks.
- We have over 175 new email subscribers towards our goal of 200 new subscribers. Welcome!
Again, thank you to everyone who’s registered, donated, volunteered, signed up for this newsletter, and helped us spread the word: together, we can #SaveWisCon!
Feminists of the Future Book Discussion Series with the Madison Public Library
The Madison Public Library is running a four-part book discussion series featuring titles by the four WisCon 2022 Guests of Honor. These book discussions will happen virtually and are open to interested participants from any location. The first one is coming up on February 28th from 7-8 p.m. CST and will be a discussion of Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. You can register to get the Zoom link on the Madison Public Library site.
Register for the February 28 discussion of Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.
Register for the March 28 discussion of Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee.
Register for the April 25th discussion of Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renée Thomas.
Register for the May 23rd discussion of Black Water Sister by Zen Cho.
WisCon 2022 Panel Interest Survey now live
The Panel Interest Survey is Now Live!
It’s that matchmaking time of year. The panel interest survey is live, which means you can dive in and tell us what panels you want to attend or participate in for WisCon 2022. The results of this survey are especially important this year as it tells us not only what panels to schedule, but whether they will be in person or online. The survey will be open until the end of February. Panel suggestions from both this year and suggestions for the pivoted 2020 Con have been included for consideration. Once the survey closes, the con staff will begin matching requests with scheduling and doing the exciting work of putting together the con schedule. Check out the survey here. You will need to log in, but you do not need to be registered for the con to indicate your interest.
If you’re still mulling over whether you’d like to come to the con in person, our Health and Safety plans for WisCon 2022 are also now available.