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Email Newsletter, Official Announcements, WisCon 45 in 2022

Let’s Save WisCon!

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This update is written by me, Kit Stubbs (they/them), both in my role as Treasurer for SF3, WisCon’s parent not-for-profit organization, and in my role as WisCon 2022 co-chair. Thanks to Ira Alexandre (WisCon 2022 co-chair, acting Personnel chair) and Aileen Wall (WisCon 2022 co-chair, Hotel) for their help.

First of all: Thank you to everyone who participated in our recent Town Hall, as panelists and attendees! Special thanks to our Board members Arley, for organizing and moderating, and Annalee and Charlie Jane, for organizing and helping with logistics.

WisCon’s roots are grounded in white feminism, and WisCon continues to struggle with racism and with finding ways to center attendees of color who have been harmed. The Town Hall marks a key point in our antiracist work to bring WisCon, particularly as experienced by our attendees and volunteers of color, into better alignment with our values—even if this means that white attendees will have to sit with discomfort.

Working towards a more antiracist con is just one of the major challenges that we face. Unless we, the WisCon community, also take significant action this year in terms of finances and our volunteer pool, within the next few years we will no longer be able to run WisCon.

Why? What’s going on?

Right now, in addition to pushing harder on antiracism, WisCon is facing big challenges on two other fronts: money and labor.

TLDR:

  • We don’t have enough funds to pay for what happens if we don’t fill our contracted block of hotel rooms, and we can’t afford to cancel the hotel contract. We need about $76k in additional income to our general fund by the end of WisCon 2022 to put the con back on solid financial footing.  Thanks to a generous donor, the first $5k we raise will be matched. Donate now to double the power of your donation!
  • We are in a volunteer shortage crisis. It takes a LOT of people to make WisCon happen, and we lack dozens of volunteers in key positions.
  • The Board of SF3 (WisCon’s parent nonprofit) and WisCon organizers are already starting to work on these challenges. There are many things, both large and small, that you can do to help!

What are the financial challenges?

Ideally, when we finish running one WisCon, we should have enough money to cover our expenses for the con that’s happening in two years. Why? Because shortly after each WisCon, typically, is when we sign a contract with the hotel for the con that’s happening in two years. As a ConCom member, I remember hearing “WisCon is very slowly losing money” for several years now. But it didn’t really seem urgent, somehow.

In an ongoing-pandemic world, this has become urgent because of the way our hotel contract works. Right now, we only have a contract signed with our host hotel for May 2022. We have committed to the hotel that WisCon attendees will reserve a certain number of rooms over a certain number of nights. This contract was signed pre-pandemic and assumed normal pre-pandemic WisCon attendance. We pay the hotel some extra rental fees, but most of the hotel space the con uses we get at steeply discounted rates, assuming that we fill those hotel rooms. We’re allowed to reduce our commitment before the deadline by 20% at no penalty, but if we have more unsold rooms than that, WisCon has to pay the hotel for them.

The budget that was approved by the previous Board assumed that we would have fewer in-person attendees this year, but it assumed we would still book our entire block of hotel rooms—the same size hotel block that we would normally book pre-pandemic.

But if we’re expecting fewer in-person attendees, we should also expect fewer hotel rooms to be booked, and that is a cost that WisCon is really not able to absorb.

Couldn’t we just cancel the hotel contract?

We can’t afford the cancellation fee. If we cancelled now, according to our contract, we would owe the hotel $158,000, which we absolutely do not have the resources to cover.

I’ve run some new, conservative budget projections since becoming Treasurer in October. These projections account for online memberships, which our current budget doesn’t (yay!) but also accounts for attrition in hotel rooms, which our current budget also doesn’t (oh no!). I assume that we will take a big hit on hotel rooms in 2022 and that we’ll gradually recover in 2023 and 2024.

If we take no action to change our current trajectory and only book half of our contracted hotel rooms in 2022, SF3 will go broke: We will have spent about $7,000 that the organization does not have.

If we want to get WisCon to a healthy place—meaning we’re at best fiscal practice and have enough money for the con that’s two years out in the bank—we need about $76,000 more in income for 2022 to our general fund. (This $76k doesn’t include funds for any new initiatives, this is just basically keeping the lights on. And this is separate from any WisCon Member Assistance Fund fundraising we do, since WMAF dollars legally can’t be used to pay for anything except grants to members for travel assistance.)

The good news: I’m not saying that we need to suddenly raise $76k in donations alone. This income that we need could come from selling more memberships (online or in-person), booking lots of hotel rooms (so we don’t have to pay the hotel for unused rooms), selling Dessert Salon tickets, grants, or donations. An additional $76k of income to our general fund would help keep us afloat through 2022 and 2023 and help ensure that we would have the funds to run in 2024 and 2025.

If someone were to magically appear and donate $76k to us right now, though, we’d still be in trouble because of our other current challenge: a lack of volunteers.

What’s going on with volunteers?

We’re in a volunteering crisis right now. It takes about 70 pre-con volunteers to make WisCon happen, and we have barely half that.

SF3 is WisCon’s parent not-for-profit organization. WisCon happens because there are a bunch of committees of people within SF3 who do the work, and right now, we have a record number of vacancies.

SF3 has a Board of Directors. Under the Board there are four committees: Personnel (helping to recruit, onboard, and offboard volunteers); Communications (taking care of the newsletter, website, and social media); Strategic Planning (looking at our vision and mission); and the ConCom (the Convention Committee, which handles the logistics of running WisCon). Of those committees, only the ConCom has chairs right now—Personnel, Communications, and Strategic Planning have a few volunteers, but none of these three committees has a leader.

The ConCom itself is made up of the three co-chairs and 28 departments of varying sizes. Currently we have 8 departments that are completely empty and at least 8 that are critically understaffed.

In general, the ConCom has been dwindling for the past several years. We had 71 members in 2017, but only 56 members in 2019. (Here is a graph showing Concom participation by the numbers over the past several years.)

If you’re reading this now, and you’re already a WisCon volunteer: Thank you. I’m not writing this expecting you to suddenly start putting more work on your plate. (If you have the extra capacity, great! But I’m not expecting that of anyone.)

The State of WisCon

We are definitely having a WisCon in 2022. Without more volunteers, we won’t be able to offer nearly as good an experience as we have in the past. Without more financial resources, WisCon 2022 may be the last one.

I believe these challenges are surmountable, but as members of the WisCon community, we have to act quickly to make change.

What are WisCon organizers already working on?

  • The SF3 Board is applying for grants on behalf of WisCon.
  • I (Kit, as Treasurer) am starting to recruit large donors for a matching funds campaign that will help double the power of small donations to WisCon. We already have a match pledged for our first $5k raised!
  • Our Personnel Committee continues to onboard new volunteers as quickly as they can.
  • While the Dessert Salon may work a little differently this year due to health concerns, the ConCom is still organizing a Dessert Salon for 2022! The Dessert Salon is a fundraiser for WisCon in general, and any funds raised through Dessert Salon ticket sales will absolutely help.

What can I do to help?

  • Please sign up for our email newsletter! One of the biggest challenges we have is reaching out to our own community. Sign up and encourage your WisCon-going or potentially-WisCon-going friends to sign up, too.
  • Register as soon as you possibly can when Registration opens this week. The more people who register in advance, the better idea we’ll have of how much additional income we need to bring in. For in-person attendees, consider supporting the con by buying a ticket to our Dessert Salon fundraiser when you register!
  • Book your hotel room as soon as you possibly can. The more hotel rooms we have booked, the less additional funding we’ll need to raise, and the sooner we know how many people will be staying at the hotel, the better.
  • Help spread the word about WisCon. We’re struggling to reach new people, especially younger speculative fiction fans, who might be interested in joining us and who may not know that you don’t need to be an academic or big name to attend WisCon and be on panels!
  • Tell us you’re interested in possibly volunteering, and/or register to attend our Volunteer Info Session on 12/12 at 3pm Central. We’ve previously posted some of our needs from Communications and Personnel and the ConCom. You don’t need to be in Madison to volunteer, and we have many positions open that don’t require you to attend WisCon in person.  If you’ve volunteered for the ConCom in the past and have the time and energy, please consider joining us again. We could really use your expertise!
  • Can you give $5k or more to help save WisCon? Write me (Kit) at treasurer@sf3.org to join our matching funds drive.
  • Have a smaller amount you might be able to contribute? Thanks to a generous donor, the first $5k we raise will be matched. Donate now to double the power of your donation!

Yes, we recognize the pandemic is still going on—if you’re able to book your hotel room and/or register early, great! If you’re able to chip in financially, great! But if not, no worries.

We need to address our issues with money and labor within a larger antiracist framework.  And I think we need to be honest that we’re in a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation: We’re short on money and volunteers to implement new antiracist policies and practices, which we need in order to attract and retain volunteers, especially volunteers of color.

If you’ve made it this far: Thank you. Posting this feels like the scariest thing I have ever done as a WisCon/SF3 organizer, and I really appreciate your time and energy in reading it.

WisCon 45 in 2022

Call for Volunteers: WisCon 2022

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WisCon 2022 planning season is upon us! It’s been a tough couple of years for us all, so we’re hoping we can put together an event in 2022 that is cathartic, engaging, intellectually stimulating, fun — and, above all, safe. To make that happen, we need to start early– and we need your help.

To make a WisCon happen in 2022 that’s in keeping with the SF3 mission and the shared values of our members, we need a fully staffed Convention Committee (ConCom). That means enough members in every department to reasonably and equitably spread the work around so that no one gets burnt out. This is even more important as we move through the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have to be honest: ConCom participation has been trending downward. The ConCom had 71 members in 2017 and participation had declined to 56 members in 2019. (Here is a graph showing ConCom participation by the numbers over the past several years.) In a year when putting on a successful WisCon will face many challenges, we turn to our smart, talented, resourceful membership to help make it happen. There are going to be some tough calls to make: If we can’t staff a department or event in a viable and sustainable way this year, the chairs may have to cut it entirely. So if you’re passionate about a particular part of WisCon, please do whatever you can to help. If you can’t sign up, then spread the word on social media platforms, or even offline.

This year we are recruiting for the following specific positions. We have listed a brief description of the duties, any required experience, and the expected time commitment in the year before the con and at the con itself. Please note that applying is neither a commitment nor a promise: If you change your mind, please feel free to let us know and bow out of the process; if you apply, you may not be guaranteed a position. But the more people apply, the better chance we have of achieving a sustainable level of staffing for this year. If you’re interested in any of these positions or in pre-con volunteering with any other department, please email personnel@sf3.org.

Thank you so much, and here’s hoping we’ll be back together in May of 2022!

Convention Committee (ConCom) Positions

Anti-Abuse Team Co-Lead (1)
Anti-Abuse Team Member (3)

The Anti-Abuse Team keeps records of Safety incidents and other violations, and participates in vetting all SF3 volunteers. Anti-Abuse Team Members must be able to recognize problematic behavior, hear out cases, and take actions and render judgments that protect the rights of our attendees, including the needs of marginalized and multiply marginalized attendees. The Anti-Abuse Team Co-Leads have the authority to ban people from con spaces or to veto Guests of Honor. The Anti-Abuse Co-Leads need to be reachable during the con to verify incident history and render bans or penalties. The Anti-Abuse Co-Leads interact with the Safety Co-Leads and the ConCom Chairs. Utmost confidentiality is a must.
Pre-Con Commitment: 1 hour a week
At-Con Commitment: Leads should be reachable during the con but in-person attendance not required

Bake Sale Lead

The Bake Sale Lead accepts and documents volunteered baked goods prior to the con and arranges for appropriate allergen signage. At the con, the Bake Sale Lead receives the baked goods and arranges for their display and distribution. The Bake Sale Lead manages the at-con volunteers who handle the sales. At the end of the Bake Sale, the Lead documents and collates the proceedings and passes them to the Otherwise Liaison.
Pre-Con Commitment: 1 hour a week
At-Con Commitment: 5 hours

Dealer’s Room Team Member

Dealer’s Room Team Members assist in going through vendor submissions, vetting potential vendors, and dealing with the physical logistics of the Dealer’s Room at the con. At the con, the Dealer’s Room Team Member will assist the Dealer’s Room Lead in ensuring the Concourse Hotel staff set up the space according to the plan the department has agreed on.
Pre-Con Commitment: 1 hour/week
At-Con Commitment: 1 hour at the start and end of the con for setup and breakdown

Gaming Team Member (preferably open to being trained to be next Lead in 2023)

The Gaming Team Member assists in collecting, vetting, and collating game submissions and scheduling gaming sessions prior to the con. The Gaming Lead will provide a signup binder to be used at the con to sign up for the scheduled games, which the Gaming Team Member may take shifts watching over.
Pre-Con Commitment: 2 hours/week
At-Con Commitment: 3 hours

Guest of Honor Liaisons (4)

A Guest of Honor (GOH) Liaison interfaces with their specific GOH, making sure their travel and accommodations are taken care of and that they are familiar and comfortable with their schedule, as well as addressing or conveying any additional concerns or requests they may have. At the con, GOH liaisons introduce the GOH at the reading on Thursday and make sure the GOH has everything they need while at the con. We would like our GOH liaisons to share as much background as possible with their GOH, or to know them already. Our GOHs for 2022 are Zen Cho, Sheree Renée Thomas, Rebecca Roanhorse, and Yoon Ha Lee.
Pre-Con Commitment: 1 hours/week
At-Con Commitment: 1-3 hours/day

Kids’ Programs Lead

The Kids’ Program Lead oversees program items for children and teens. Teen programming at WisCon is by teens and for teens, but the Kids’ Program Lead will provide spaces and means to schedule, and will be advised by the departing Lead. Must be able to attend at-con in 2022.
Pre-Con Commitment: 1 hour/week
At-Con Commitment: light duty 8 hours a day

Online Con Team Members (5-6)

With the success of WisCONline in 2020 and the uncertain situation looking ahead to May 2022, we need to be prepared to provide a robust online component for the con. Roles in this department will be shaped by our resources and circumstances as the year leading up to WisCon 2022 unfolds. We welcome anyone with experience in running online events or building successfully moderated online spaces, or anyone who has video production expertise to apply to this department. In particular, previous experience with OBS (open broadcast software) and familiarity with Zoom, MS Teams, Jitsi, and/or administrating Discord are most welcome.  As we learn more about what we’ll need in May 2022, we will separately recruit for an appropriate number and type of online moderators.
Pre-Con Commitment: 3 hours/week
At-Con Commitment: dependent on role and evolving needs; in 2020 the entire Online Con traded off panel production duty during the 3-4 hours a day panel programming was run

Panel Programming Team Member

The Panel Programming department collates panel idea submissions, checking for problematic ideas or language and combining panels that are sufficiently similar. This is done with the aid of panel programming software. Once the list of panels has been edited, Panel Programming administers the interest survey where WisCon members vote. Once the votes are in, Panel Programming draws up the actual panel schedule, taking into account expected attendance and accessibility needs. At the con, Panels Programming puts up the ad-hoc programming chart but does not administer anything on it.
Pre-Con Commitment: 3 hours/week
At-Con Commitment: none other than putting up the chart, so we’re happy to have remote volunteers

Registration: At-Con Leads (2)

As part of the Registration department, At-Con Leads coordinate setting up and tearing down the Registration & Information Desk area, manage scheduling and training of Registration volunteers, and are on-call during the convention in case of any escalated membership or payment issues. At-Con Registration Leads also handle cash reporting at the beginning and end of each day, and before the con they coordinate with the Pre-Con Registration Lead about any outstanding payment or membership issues. (Our existing Registration staff are flexible in their roles, so if you would prefer to help out Pre-Con, get in touch to learn more about what that involves!)
Pre-Con Commitment: 3-6 pre-convention (planning)
At-Con Commitment: In addition to opening and closing the registration desk (approx. 30 minutes at start and end of day), the leads trade off being on-call for escalated issues throughout Registration Desk hours, usually cover at least one 1.5-3 hour shift per day, and may need to cover additional unstaffed shifts. 

Safer Spaces: Disability Safer Space Volunteer

We are looking for BIPOC members who would like to volunteer with the Disability Safer Space. Disability Safer Space volunteers participate in preparing the space prior to the con and volunteer inside or at the space during the con. They report any incidents to Safety.
Pre-Con Commitment: 1 hour/week
At-Con Commitment: Shifts inside the Safer Space as possible, healthy, and safe

Safer Spaces: Trans and Genderqueer (TGQ) Safer Space

We are looking for TGQ members who would like to volunteer with the TGQ Safer Space. TGQ Safer Space volunteers participate in preparing the space prior to the con and volunteer inside or at the space during the con. They report any incidents to Safety. Multiply marginalized TGQ members encouraged to apply.
Pre-Con Commitment: 1 hour/week
At-Con Commitment: Shifts inside the Safer Space as possible, healthy, and safe

Safety Co-Leads (2-3)

The Safety Co-Leads are in charge of making sure there are enough Safety volunteers to cover the entire weekend, scheduling shifts, and responding to any incidents. There must be at least one Safety Lead available at all times during the con. Safety Leads often take turns being “on-call” over the weekend to manage at-con and on-the-spot volunteers and to respond to incidents. Often interfaces with Anti-Abuse Team to record incidents and with ConCom Chairs to give updates or request assistance. Experience in de-escalation and crisis management or Safety or ombudsman at other cons a plus.
Pre-Con Commitment: 1 hour a week
At-Con Commitment: At least half a day for every day of the con

If you’re interested in any of these positions or in pre-con volunteering with any other department, please email personnel@sf3.org.
WisCon 42

Join the Communications Team!

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Hi! I’m Levi, chair of the Communications Committee. We keep the information flowing—before con, we make sure eCubes go out, blog posts get updated and social media comments get responded to. We also publish the printed materials that allow members to get around at WisCon. I’ve been on the team for three years now. Volunteering for WisCon has brought me interesting challenges, daily small joys (and occasional frustrations!) and given me the opportunity to make friends with and work with truly excellent people. It has also given me fantastic skills and experience that helped me land my dream job in July – no, really!

If you enjoy writing, graphic design, social media, advertising, or video editing, we would love to have you join the team! All the work can be done from your own home, and most positions require just an hour or two a week. Like all WisCon positions over 20 hours annually, Communications Committee members are eligible for the WisCon membership rebate, as well as volunteer gifts! Please email personnel@sf3.org with questions or to express interest.

Positions available:

  • Social media volunteer

What you’ll do: Work with our chair to keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter, and other outward facing accounts, posting posts and answering questions, being positive, professional, and awesome. Forward questions to chairs or departments. Make sure things like deadlines are advertised. These can be checked on one or twice a day!

Time commitment: 1-2 hours/week

  • Blog post writer

What you’ll do: Work with other departments to get their words out there on the WisCon blog! If you like to write, edit, and work collaboratively, and you work well to deadlines, this is a great job for you. You’ll also get to learn more about the moving parts of WisCon and meet some of the folks who make it happen!

Time commitment: Project-based. Each blog post may take 3-5 hours of writing, collaborating, and editing.

  • Print publications

What you’ll do: Do you love creating in InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop? We’re looking for someone to take over making our printing happen. We need someone to make and design our postcard-sized mailings and dessert tickets, and update designs from previous year’s cons. Additionally, you’ll need to work with our designer to finalize the Souvenir Program Book, work with printers to make sure printed items are to-spec and ready to go, etc.

Time commitment: 1–2 hours/week December-March, 5-10 hours/week in April

  • Advertising coordinator

What you’ll do: We sell sponsorship and advertising space in our Souvenir Program Book and would love someone with a knack for sales to take on this project. Advertising is a very concrete way you can help make WisCon a success, because the proceeds help us keep WisCon affordable! Our con chairs and committee chair can help produce a rate sheet, the SF3 treasurer takes care of billing, and the actual advertisements go on to our designer, so you’ll just need to go out and get them!

Time commitment: 1-2 hours/week, September through April

  • Video Archivist:

What you’ll do: Do you have some spare time now that the Festivids deadline is past? We’re looking for someone with awesome video editing skills to help us preserve WisCon history! We are in the process of digitizing video tapes of convention material—mostly Guest of Honor speeches from WisCons past. We have a bunch already digitally stored and waiting to be edited, polished, and uploaded to YouTube.

Time commitment: Flexible

WisCon 42

Get Into the Guts of Convention Planning on Our Hotel Team

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Have you ever thought about how crucial WisCon’s Hotel team is to the convention? Maybe you haven’t. Maybe you don’t know what the Hotel Department is or what they do. Would you like to learn? It just so happens we’re looking for a few understudies!

You might have already guessed that they interact with our hotel—it’s right there in the name. The Hotel team keeps in touch with the Madison Concourse Hotel, our venue, throughout the year (and not just because they get to be friends during the convention, though that’s true, too).

Details? The members of our Hotel team get the updates on remodeling and other changes happening at the Concourse, keep tabs on reservations in WisCon’s room block, and double-check that our programming will fit into the available space. They confirm which rooms will hold the Safer Spaces, the Quiet Space, the parties, papers, panels, and workshops, and sort out which rooms need what audio/visual equipment when. They work closely with the Concourse to put together the diagrams of how each program room will be set up, when those setups need to change, and whether or not we need to rent more chairs, tables, or microphones. They tell the hotel when to expect our deliveries, meet our moving truck, and make sure that everyone involved—volunteers, convention members, contractors, and hotel staff—is able to have a great time throughout Memorial Day weekend.

How crucial is the Hotel team? Without them we wouldn’t have rooms to sleep in during the convention. Or anywhere to have panels. And no one would be able to hear the panelists, since they wouldn’t have microphones. Or chairs. Or tables. And we couldn’t all chill in the Con Suite because all of our kitchen equipment would still be in storage.

Want to be part of making all of these practical details happen? We’re currently looking for at least two additional Hotel team members, no prior experience needed. We will teach you all of the mysteries of who gets a “lanyard of power,” what our contracts say, how to read BEOs, and, incidentally, what BEO stands for.

Members of the Hotel team do not need to be local to Madison, since we work via email, chatrooms, shared documents, and conference calls. Folks on the team are automatically eligible to opt for a WisCon membership rebate of 40% of your registration fee, meaning that if you register for WisCon as an adult, you can opt to receive $22 of your $55 membership back after the con ends.
To apply to join the Hotel team, please email personnel@sf3.org.

WisCon 41

WisCon 41 Concom Opportunity — PWD Safer Space lead

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WisCon Chairs
SF3 Personnel Committee

We’re looking for someone to run our Safer Space for people with disabilities as the prior lead may not be able to make it to WisCon this year. This is, of course, a role that’s reserved for a person with a disability.

The lead is responsible for the key to the room and determines the setup for the room. They will also have control over a small budget that they are free to use for refreshments, supplies, or whatever they determine is necessary for the space.

To fill this role you do not need to be local to Madison, but should be planning to attend WisCon 41. We particularly welcome volunteers from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized identities.

The PWD Safer Space lead is part of the WisCon Concom and is automatically eligible to opt for a WisCon membership rebate of 40% of the registration fee, meaning that if you register for WisCon as an adult, you can opt to receive $20 of your $50 membership back after the con ends.

If you are interested in joining our Registration team, please email: recruitment@wiscon.net

WisCon 41

WisCon 41 Concom Opportunity — Registration co-lead and table captains

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WisCon Chairs
SF3 Personnel Committee

WisCon’s Registration desk is the information hub of the convention, greeting every member as they arrive, selling and handing out name tags and dessert tickets, and answering questions. Registration is a vital space that’s open every day of the convention — it’s where lost & found is, where you can sign up to volunteer at the Art Show or Con Suite or anywhere else that needs a hand at the last minute, and where members go when they have questions.

Registration is a great place to contribute time to help WisCon go smoothly, especially if you love knowing things and meeting people.

We are looking for someone to join the Registration team as co-lead for WisCon 41 — a role that’s part of the Concom.  We’re also looking for folks willing to learn the Registration interface (it’s easy, don’t worry!) who can serve as table captains during short shifts throughout the convention.

To fill these roles you do not need to be local to Madison, but should be planning to attend WisCon 41. We particularly welcome volunteers from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized identities.

The Registration co-lead is part of the WisCon Concom and is automatically eligible to opt for a WisCon membership rebate of 40% of the registration fee, meaning that if you register for WisCon as an adult, you can opt to receive $20 of your $50 membership back after the con ends.  The table captains are not part of the Concom, but as volunteers are of course eligible for the membership rebate.

If you are interested in joining our Registration team, please email: recruitment@wiscon.net

WisCon 41

WisCon 41 Concom Opportunity — Hotel Liaison team

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WisCon Chairs
SF3 Personnel Committee

WisCon’s Hotel Liaison team works throughout the convention with the amazing staff of the Madison Concourse Hotel to ensure that every one of the ballrooms, conference rooms, and meeting rooms in the hotel is correctly set up for each of the 240+ programming sessions throughout the weekend, coordinates banquet orders for any events that include food or beverage service, responds to member inquiries about hotel availability, and monitors the status of WisCon’s room block to ensure that sufficient rooms are available in the hotel.

The Hotel Liaison team gets a crash course in the nuts and bolts of large-scale events, but with the safety net of working within a 41-year-old convention with a relationship with the hotel that’s lasted more than three decades.

To fill this role you do not need to be local to Madison, but should be planning to attend WisCon 41. We particularly welcome volunteers from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized identities.

The Hotel Liaison team is part of the WisCon Concom and is automatically eligible to opt for a WisCon membership rebate of 40% of the registration fee, meaning that if you register for WisCon as an adult, you can opt to receive $20 of your $50 membership back after the con ends.

If you are interested in joining our Hotel Liaison team, please email: recruitment@wiscon.net

WisCon 41

WisCon 41 Con Suite — Seeking staff & at-con volunteers

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WisCon Co-Chairs

Did you visit the Con Suite last year? Do you want to see WisCon’s Con Suite continue to be a place where people choose to eat and spend time?

Then we need you!

But there’s a catch.

Our intent is to specifically address the racist and misogynist abuse toward Con Suite staff and volunteers that we saw at last year’s con, so we are putting emphasis on recruiting Con Suite staff and volunteers who are white and male identified.*

What’s the difference between being Con Suite staff and a Con Suite volunteer?

Just a matter of scope and commitment.

Staff become part of our Concom prior to the convention, comprise a team under our Con Suite leads, are required to go through ServSafe training and certification (fees paid by WisCon) and to help to guide the work of volunteers, and will be asked to commit to a minimum of two three-hour shifts during the convention. Tasks will include setting and resetting the Con Suite space, preparing and portioning foods, maintaining and monitoring inventory, helping to order supplies, and unpacking and repacking equipment, among other things.

Volunteers are encouraged to go through ServSafe training and certification (fees paid by WisCon) though it isn’t required, must follow guidance from Con Suite staff and leads, don’t need to commit to any minimum number of hours, and are not part of the Concom. You can let us know that you intend to volunteer to help out in the Con Suite now or at any point before or during the convention. Tasks will include keeping the Con Suite clean and ready for visitors, directing foot traffic, assuring that everyone in the space is wearing shoes, helping staff to portion and set out food, helping staff to reset the space between mealtimes, and other things.

What will you get out of stepping up to become Con Suite staff, or volunteering?

The most crucial reward will be that we will continue to have a Con Suite where you will enjoy spending time and eating! We’ve had wonderful feedback — and very very high demand — for the Con Suite over the past two years. That means that the WisCon community loved what our Con Suite lead, Julia, created so much that she is no longer able to keep up with it. As a community we need to make sure that she and her successors lead a team that is both large enough that no one has to spend the entire convention working and capable enough that they can all rely on each other.

If pride in a popular Con Suite isn’t the reward you’re looking for, we’ve got more! All staff are automatically eligible to opt for a WisCon membership rebate of 40% of your registration fee, meaning that if you register for WisCon as an adult, you can opt to receive $20 of your $50 membership back after the con ends. Volunteering? You can get the same rebate deal as long as you volunteer at least six hours and ask the Con Suite lead to confirm those hours (ask how at the Registration Desk!).

To apply to join Con Suite staff, contact: recruitment@wiscon.net

To let us know you plan to volunteer in the Con Suite, contact: volunteers@wiscon.net

*Wait! You aren’t male identified, or you aren’t white, and you want to join the Con Suite team? Fantastic! We want to have you on the team as well, and we’ll work with you to make sure that your Con Suite experience is a good one. We are optimistic that we will not see a repeat of the poor behavior toward the Con Suite team last year, but we also assure you that behavior is a violation of our Code of Conduct, and will not be tolerated if we see it again.

WisCon 41

WisCon 41 Concom opportunity — Dealers’ Room lead

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WisCon Co-Chairs

The WisCon Dealers’ Room is a marketplace of books, toys, posters, artwork, magazines, cards, jewelry, and all sorts of other science fiction and fantasy related merchandise as well as items relevant to explorations of feminism, gender, race, class, and disability.

We are looking for someone to step into the role of lead for the Dealers’ Room for WisCon 41, as part of the Concom. To fill this role you do not need to be local to Madison, but should be planning to attend WisCon 41. We particularly welcome volunteers from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized identities.

The Dealers’ Room Lead role involves some planning prior to the convention, doable in a few hours a month during March, April, and May. During that time, you would review applications from vendors as they come in, determine the final list of vendors from the applications you receive, and maintain a waitlist if necessary. The Dealers’ Room lead is also responsible for answering questions from potential vendors, assigning them tables, and confirming that all table fees and memberships have been processed by the payment deadline.

During the convention, the lead also needs to be on hand while vendors are loading in to the space (Friday 10am-2pm), as well as for opening and closing the Dealers’ Room space every day, for checking in throughout opening hours, and for being on hand as vendors load out from the space on Monday (after 2pm).

The Dealers’ Room lead is part of the WisCon Concom and is automatically eligible to opt for a WisCon membership rebate of 40% of the registration fee, meaning that if you register for WisCon as an adult, you can opt to receive $20 of your $50 membership back after the con ends.

If you are interested in joining the concom as the Dealers’ Room lead, please contact recruitment@wiscon.net

WisCon 41

WisCon 41 Concom opportunity — Gathering lead

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WisCon Co-Chairs

For people new to WisCon, the Gathering is their very first look at what WisCon is like — and for folks who have been to WisCon before, it’s a welcome time to find people they haven’t seen in a year, to catch up, and to relax with one of the diversions that the Gathering has to offer!

Those experiences make the Gathering, the official start of the convention, an important event at every WisCon. A defining event, just as much as our Opening Ceremonies.

WisCon is a feminist convention, and we believe that means not just “diversity,” but inclusion and centering marginalized identities, including identities around race, gender, class, and ability. The Gathering must reflect that as well.

We are currently seeking a lead for the WisCon 41 Gathering. The Gathering lead is part of the WisCon Concom and is automatically eligible to opt for a WisCon membership rebate of 40% of the registration fee, meaning that if you register for WisCon as an adult, you can opt to receive $20 of your $50 membership back after the con ends.

You need not be local to Madison, but should be planning to attend WisCon 41. In particular, we are seeking applicants from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized identities.

Your role will include some planning prior to the convention, doable in a few hours a month during March, April, and May. You will determine what activities will be held from the applications you receive, communicate with the people running those activities, and solicit other activities as necessary. During the convention you will be on hand when the Gathering space is set up Friday morning and will be present during the event itself.

To apply to be Gathering lead, contact recruitment@wiscon.net

WisCon 39

Recruitment drive: Con Suite coordinators

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Alexandra Erin
Media & Communications

Let’s face it: WisCon just wouldn’t be WisCon without the Con Suite. It also wouldn’t be as affordable for those dining on a budget, or as accessible for those who can’t readily leave the building, or as fun and friendly for everyone. WisCon’s unique Con Suite does more than just lay out some snacks, it provides hot food and hospitality throughout the convention.

A first-rate Con Suite doesn’t just spring into being. We need volunteers to head up the Con Suite for WisCon. This year we are looking for a team of people to divide the responsibility, so that everyone involved has a chance to fully enjoy the convention in addition to their duties. They say too many cooks will spoil the broth. We say many hands makes for a great con all around.

Our ideal volunteers for Con Suite head have experience in food handling and ServSafe certification, or be willing to complete it — our treat! The ServSafe program is just a simple online course followed by a test. The heads may assist with planning, purchasing and preparing food, supervising Con Suite volunteers, ensuring food safety, and the set-up and tear-down of the Con Suite.

Traditionally the Con Suite has been open Friday, 6 p.m. –
3 a.m., Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. – 3 a.m. , and Monday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., when it closes for good. The Con Suite closes during opening ceremonies, the Guest of Honor Speeches, and the award ceremonies. These hours may be changed to meet the availability of our head volunteers.

To help out or request more information about ServSafe certification or other details, please contact WisCon’s Recruitment department at recruitment@wiscon.net.

Official Announcements

Update from Anti-Abuse

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Jacquelyn Gill, chair
Anti-Abuse Team

Since last year, members of the concom have been hard at work developing new policies and procedures for handling harassment reports and for improving member safety and well-being at WisCon in general. Our guiding principles have been to make harassment and abuse rare, reporting easy, and follow-through timely, respectful, and reporter-centered.

One of our first steps was to implement a new Anti-Abuse Team model.  The AAT will be a permanent, year-round concom department that will include a Safety representative and a historian/archivist — a model which we hope will help prevent past issues with institutional memory, mishandling of reports, and lack of follow-through.  The policies that the AAT will operate under will afford improved flexibility to handle both individual reports and to address general concerns.  The AAT will also strive to maintain a diverse team that reflects the diversity of WisCon’s membership.

Here are a few of the things we have been working on:

  • We completely rebuilt our anti-harassment policy, working off of the Ada Initiative policy for conventions. Our draft policy is currently under review by the concom.  We will also be sharing it with our membership for public comment.
  • We have developed a new policy to address member conduct outside of WisCon that may threaten member safety at the convention, including doxing, outing, stalking, assault, and online harassment.
  • We have been working very closely with Safety, Registration, Programming, and Volunteering so that decisions on reports (e.g., bans, programming restrictions) are communicated to and enforced by relevant departments.
  • We have been working with Safety and AppDev to design a secure database for incident reports.  We have also adapted our policy to include informal communications or general concerns raised about individuals or the climate at WisCon in general.
  • We are re-evaluating the formal member advocate position (implemented just before WisCon 38) and have drafted some alternative policies.
  • We are investigating training opportunities in advocacy, bystander intervention, and other relevant skill sets for members of the concom.

A draft document of our new policies will be available for public review in the next few weeks, so that we will have our new policy implemented in advance of WisCon 39. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me and the Anti-Abuse Team (antiabuse@wiscon.net) or Safety (safety@wiscon.net) with any concerns or questions.

[Footnote:  The policy and procedure revision is a separate process from the work of the subcommittee convened to consider Rose Lemberg’s report of harassment by F.J. Bergmann.  That subcommittee should soon be asking the concom for the final vote.  We will announce when that vote happens.]