Are you interested in meeting people and welcoming new folks to WisCon? Do you eat dinner? Sometimes in restaurants? 

We have JUST THE JOB FOR YOU! 

Every WisCon, on Friday night after the Gathering closes down and the first round of panels is complete, we hold an informal meet & greet over a meal at one of Madison’s nearby restaurants. 

We specifically invite everyone who is new to the convention to join us in the Concourse Hotel Lobby between 5:15 and 5:30pm. That’s where you (someone who knows the ropes) come in: we’ll provide you with a sign that you will write the name and/or description of a restaurant on, and you can raise that to attract a group of 6 or more people who you will then lead away for dinner and conversation. You’ll be like the pied piper, but MUCH LESS MALEVOLENT. (Seriously, malevolence is against our code of conduct, please avoid it.) 

How do you pick a restaurant? A hint: if you volunteer now you can call dibs on your favorite. 🙂 We can’t ALL go to Short Stack. And we won’t all fit at Himal Chuli. (NB: I’m not leading a group, so those two are still up for grabs.) Everyone is responsible for the price of their own meal, so we want to be sure that we have at least one place that’s very affordable, at least one that’s vegan-friendly, at least one that has plentiful gluten-free options…you get the idea. 

While the First WisCon Dinner is aimed at people who are new to the con, it’s best when there are people other than the leaders who have been coming for a few years in each group as well. Everyone can expand their circle of WisCon friends by participating! Also I hear a lot of new restaurants have opened in Madison in the past year. It’s the perfect excuse to check them out.