Minn-StF Wiki - User contributions [en]

Main Page

2022-06-15T23:23:32Z

Dd-b: Add 'xyzz' at bottom of page

Consult the [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents User's Guide] for information on using the wiki software.
== Minnstf Links ==
*[http://www.mnstf.org Mnstf web page]
*[http://www.mnstf.org/records/ Minn-stf Records Page] - Bylaws, board minutes, tax records

== For the Board ==

* So you're a [[New Board Member|new board member]]? You should read about it.
* [[Recurring Tasks]] for the board

== Minnstf Document Digitization Project ==

Otherwise known as MinDocDigPro. This is an ongoing effort to digitize Minnstf (and in particular Minicon) documents. [[MinDocDigPro|Here's the organizing page of the project.]]

== General-interest Minicon stuff ==

Minicon continues, but since Minicon 53, the programming folks have organized things elsewhere, not on the wiki (but future programming heads should feel free to use the wiki again if they like).

==== M53 (2018) ====

* [http://mnstf.org/minicon53/ Minicon 53 (2018)]
* [[M53_Programming_Brainstorm | M53 Programming Brainstorm]]

==== M52 (2017) ====
* [http://mnstf.org/minicon52/ Minicon 52]
* [[M52_Programming_Brainstorm | M52_Programming_Brainstorm]]

==== M51 (2016) ====
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon51/ Minicon 51]
* [[M51 Programming Brainstorm|Minicon 51 Programming Brainstorm]]

==== M50 (2015) ====
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon50/ Minicon 50]
* [[M50 Programming Brainstorm|Minicon 50 Programming Brainstorm]]
==== M49 (2014) ====
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon49/ Minicon 49]
* [[M49 Programming Brainstorm|Minicon 49 Programming Brainstorm]]
==== M48 (2013) ====
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon48/ Main website]
* [[M48 Programming Brainstorm|Programming Brainstorm]]
==== M47 (2012) ====
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/ Main website]
* [[M47 Programming Brainstorm|Programming Brainstorm]]
==== M46 (2011) ====
* [[M46 Post-Mortem Agenda|Post-Mortem Agenda]]
* [[M46 Programming|Programming]]
==== M45 (2010) ====
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon45/ Main website]
* [[M45 Chronological listing of programming items|Programming listing]]
==== M44 (2009) ====
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon44/ Main website]
* [[Programming ideas for Minicon 44|Programming]]

===Planning===
*[[Minicon 5-year Not-a-plan]] -- approved document covering Minicons 46-50
*[[2nd Minicon 5-year Not-a-plan]] -- unapproved draft document covering Minicons 51-55

=== Minicon History ===
*[http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/ Minicon Home Page] - contains links to all home pages for previous Minicons
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minicon Minicon is on Wikipedia!]
*[[Minicon mini-history]] - quick summary of recent Minicons including name of chair and attendance

== Resources for Minicon (and other con) running ==

=== Running a small convention or convention-related party ===
* [[Running a Small Con]] - Tips on planning and running a small SF convention
* [[Hosting the Minicon Pool Party]]
* [[Minicon_Parties|Hosting Minicon parties at other conventions]]
* [[What the Chair Does]]
* [[Recipes]]

===Programming===

Take a look at the [[M53 Programming Brainstorm|Minicon 53 Programming Brainstorm]].
* [[Programming Head - Job Description ]]
* [[The seasons of programming|A Programming Timeline]] (one way of doing programming through the year)
* [[Room requirements for Minicon]]
* [[Scheduling notes]]
* [[Supplies needed for Programming]]
* [[Who's good for which programming]]
* [[Documents or database?]]
; Historical
* [[M48 Programming Brainstorm]]
* [[M47 Programming Brainstorm]]
* [[M46 Programming]] listing
* [[M45 Chronological listing of programming items|Programming listing for Minicon 45]]
* [[Minicon45_Programming|Brainstorming list for Minicon 45]]
* [[Programming ideas for Minicon 44]]
* See also previous Minicons' webpages for old program books, [[pocket program]]s, and what we said to members on the web.

==== Moderator Tip Sheet ====
The [[Moderator Tip Sheet]] was developed by the Programming Committed for Minicon 24. Besides general tips on how to plan and run a panel at an SF convention, the Tip Sheet includes a handy dandy worksheet for the moderator to use before and during the panel. Now and then other cons ask if they can use it. We always say yes.

===Registration===
* [[General thoughts on Registration]]
* FAQs of sorts (there's some overlap between these two):
** [[RegistrationMembersQTMBA|Questions members might ask]]
** [[RegistrationHeadQTMBA|Questions the registration head might ask]]
* [[Interaction between GoH and Registration]]

===GoH Handling===

* [[GoH Department|Guest Department and Liaising]]
* [[Former GoH invitation]]

===Publications===
* The [[Pocket program]]

===Signs and At-Con Communications===
* [[How Many Easels]] we need at the con

===Accessibility===
*[[Making Minicon More Accessible]]

===Art Show===
* [[Art Show]] Information

===Volunteers===

* [[Badgers|Sensible instructions for badgers]]

=== Blog ===
Blog is the traditional drink of Minicon. It's a sweet fruit punch, typically spiked with liberal amounts of vodka. The nonalcoholic variant is referred to as "St. Paul blog" for historical reasons. See the [[Blog Recipe]].

=Account creation & editing privileges=
How do you register to be able to edit this wiki? The Mnstf wiki has been the victim of large numbers of spammers. Because of this, we've set it so that only people who are registered can edit the wiki, and that you need to email a sysop to register. Sysops are noted on the [[Special:ListUsers | user list]]. As of March 25, 2011, the sysops are [[User:Jiawen | Jiawen]], [[User:Laurel | Laurel]] and [[User:Straitm | Straitm]]. Note to sysops and people trying to edit the wiki: As of January 2015, people need to be in the "approved" group in order to edit pages (it's not good enough to just have an account, since lots of spambots have accounts already). xyzzy

General thoughts on Registration

2021-12-25T01:39:07Z

Dd-b: /* Are people who they say they are? */

== Treasury interface ==

Treasury interface is frequently an issue. DDB remembers years of fighting about whether all checks must be seen by the treasurer, and years where we photocopied every check. There is information on the check that helps registration get the right information into the database, it's important they have this information. DDB has run a number of conventions quite successfully using a system where registration directly makes the deposit, and turns over records to treasury showing how many registrations of what type were in it. At that time, the registration software he wrote produced those reports.

== Checks ==

Checks are presumably getting less common, but it's difficult to measure trends with our small numbers. We currently (Minicon 44/45) accept cash and checks at the con, whereas we accept checks and PayPal for pre-reg (well, and cash too, but rarely). Since three quarters of our members register either at-con a year ahead, or at-the-door, this leaves the pool of people who can use PayPal at only about 100. For Minicon 44, pre-registrations were about 2/3 PayPal, 1/3 checks, but with statistical variation alone (to say nothing of issues of how much we advertise each method, how friendly the website registration form is, etc.) means this is barely distinguishable from 50/50.

Speed in cashing checks is frequently a problem. People grouse about this nearly every single year. It confuses people, makes us look unorganized, and exposes the checks to opportunities for loss and theft. For Minicon 27 we set ourselves a goal for maximum time from PO Box to deposit, and essentially met it. For Minicons 44 and 45, Matt has been trying to check the PO box at least once a month and to cash checks within a week of pickup.

== Confirmations ==

Confirmations should be sent relatively promptly, not just in a big batch at the end. Again, it's a question of looking organized. Given people's usual organizational skills (our members' skills), it might be a good idea to ''also'' send everybody another confirmation right before the con.

Nevertheless, we haven't been sending confirmations in the last few years (as of Minicon 45) except on PR mailing labels and sometimes right before the con, and then only by e-mail (which doesn't reach everyone).

== Badge interface ==

Plan the interface from registration to badge-making! Test it before the last second!

Plan ahead on how to attach programming schedule labels.

== Registration packets ==

Plan ahead on whether there will be registration "packets" or not. This depends on how important you think it is that each member definitely get (1) a program book (2) a pocket program (3) whatever else we printed enough for every member to get one of and (4) if there are non-directly-convention-related materials that we have agreed to get into our members' hands, i.e. coupons to nearby restaurants. Matt comes down on the side that it's pretty important to get (1), (2) and (3) into everyone's hands, '''especially''' new members who don't know what to expect.

== Are people who they say they are? ==

Many cons these days are requiring photo ID on check-in for pre-registered members. Presumably this is meant to prevent someone from stealing someone else's pre-registration. In Matt's opinion, this is unnecessary while being also highly unfriendly. Minicon does not currently do it and he hopes that we continue in this manner.

Let's consider the problems with asking for photo ID:

* People in our society are not required to carry photo ID. In particular, minors often don't have any. And since our population is -- I'll say it -- ''odder'' than the average, we're more likely to encounter adults that don't fit the general mold of always-have-their-wallet-with-driver's-license. As soon as you let a single person check in without ID, you've reduced the effectiveness of the whole system to zero.
* Hardly any cons that claim to check photo ID actually do it consistently. Matt even checked into Anticipation (the 2009 Worldcon) without showing ID when they claimed to require it. Again, this reduces any possible benefit to zero.
* In all likelihood, nobody working at registration can tell a real ID apart from a fake one.
* Our subculture has a subculture that takes it as a challenge to break weak security systems such as this.
* It prevents any possibility of someone registering without divulging their legal name to us. (Matt, at least, doesn't think that we need to know people's legal names if they don't want to tell us.)

So there are two questions: What is the incidence of attempts to steal pre-registrations? How can we guard against it in a friendly manner?

To the first question, there's no clear answer. However, probably the smaller the con, the lower the rate (per capita, not just scaling down by size). At a huge 4000 person party con like CONvergence, you might reasonably think someone might try to steal a badge. At a 400 person relatively sedate convention like Minicon? Seems less likely. Matt hardly has extensive experience, but knows of no attempts in the last 5 years of Minicon.

To the second question, we currently do the most minimal thing, which is to have people sign the registration book when they pick up their badge. This is a common strategy among cons of our size and nature. So let's say that someone who is not Volstead Gridban comes to steal Volstead Gridban's badge. He signs Volstead's line. Later the real Volstead comes along to get his badge. He sees that his line is already signed. What now? First the person working registration has to decide which is the real Volstead. (Although it seems doubly unlikely, someone could theoretically try to steal a badge by loudly claiming that someone has stolen his badge.) We don't have a signature database and don't generally cart around last year's registration book, so we could at this point ask Volstead for photo ID. Or, alternatively, we could just take him at his word and issue him another badge. No doubt he will now go hunt down the person who stole his (who must be publicly displaying it, after all, or else it isn't worth stealing!). Badgers can be put on alert to aid him. Worst case -- if somehow the fake Volstead is never caught but manages to eat food and otherwise use con resources all weekend -- is that the con loses the marginal cost of supporting one non-paying person, which as of Minicon 44 was $15.

If this seems like too big of a risk, security can be dramatically stepped up without asking for ID. Instead of letting people find themselves in the sign in book, keep the the book out of sight. When someone comes to check in, ask them for their name, look them up in the book, and ''then'' give them the book to sign. This requires that someone trying to steal a badge know (1) a name of someone who is pre-registered, which isn't too difficult since we often publish the list, but also (2) that this person isn't well known to the person running registration or anyone standing nearby ''and'' (3) that this person hasn't yet checked in.

You can step it up again by asking the person to recite their street address, e-mail address, phone number and/or whatever other identifying information they registered with. This now raises the bar again so that a potential thief has to (4) have looked up someone's contact information, which we do ''not'' list publicly. This is particularly difficult if we ask for e-mail addresses.

While it won't apply to all members, it's actually fairly likely, at our current convention, that the member is personally known to the person at registration when they show up. In that case ID is definitely superfluous, as there's no doubt as to identity. And, if there's trouble, like a claimed stolen registration or something, just a little work to find somebody who knows the person can pay off. If we lay hands on somebody who knows Volstead Gridban, then we can quickly tell if the person standing there is the real one, whose membership has been stolen, or is a fake, trying to scam their way in. It's not good to count on this as our ''only'' identification procedure, but it can often be quick and painless in real situations.

Art Show

2014-01-14T04:23:17Z

Dd-b: Undo revision 6931 by Dd-b (talk)

== Minicon Art Show ==

There are several elements to running the Minicon Art Show. These can be broken down into pre-con preparation, at-con management, and post-convention wrap-up. This department '''requires''' at least one sub-head, unless the department head intends to spend the entire convention at the Art Show.

== Before the Convention ==

Obviously, if you want to have art in your art show, you must tell artists how to get it there. Minicon has a file that lists contact information for past participants in the show. About 3-4 months before the convention, past participants are contacted with information about the upcoming show's rules, paperwork requirements, and mailing address for mail-in art. If you cannot store mail-in art yourself, you will have to determined who can safely store the art until the convention.

There are electronic verions of prior art show rules and forms available on past years' Minicon websites.

== At the Convention ==

Art Show Setup is usually on the Thursday night prior to the convention. The past several years, Minicon has borrowed display panels from DreamHaven Books. These will need to be picked up in the afternoon. Contact Greg Ketter to arrange pickup and dropoff times. Setup typically takes 2-3 hours with the help of 5-10 volunteers. Artists who help with setup get first choice of where to put their art; the main exception to this is if there is an Artist GoH that year, in which case, the GoH is usually given prominent placement.

The department head and sub-head(s) should coordinate their schedule so that the Art Show is staffed at all times, either by heads or volunteers. If the Art Show is in the same space as the Dealers/Hucksters Room, opening hours will have to be coordinated and synchronized ahead of time.

There is often a voice auction, for items that have 3 or more bids. The rules for this vary from year to year.

Winning bidders typically pick up their items Sunday morning and early afternoon. Tear-down is usually on Sunday afternoon, and again takes about 2 hours with 5-10 volunteers.

== After the Convention ==

Ship unsold mail-in art back to the artists on Monday. Return the display panels to DreamHaven whenever Greg wants them back. Tally up your sales and cashflow information, and report it to the Bookkeeper and/or Treasurer so they can update Minicon's financial info.

Save your documentation, and pass along blank forms, addresses, and other information and supplies to the next convention's department head.

== Art Show Timeline ==

The timeline below gives a different perspective of the above information, including suggestions on when the steps should be accomplished.

'''Before the convention'''
*[6 months prior] - Identify at least one sub-head.
*[4 months] - Determine where mail-in art should be sent to for storage before the convention.
*[3 months] - Contact previous Art Show participants. Provide them with overview blurb about the Art Show, rules for participation, and copies of the control sheets.
*[1 month] - Coordinate with con chairs and Greg Ketter at DreamHaven to figure out pick-up and drop-off times for the Art Show display panels.

'''During the convention'''
*[Thursday afternoon] - Pick up the panels as scheduled/arranged
*[Thursday evening] - Erect the panels and prepare the tables for Print Shop items. Unpack and hang mail-in art.
*[Friday & Saturday] - Set up schedule with sub-head(s) and coordinate with Volunteer Wrangler to ensure coverage for Print Shop sales and general Art Show monitoring. Also balance your sales and cash till(s) at the end of both days, and report the results as preliminary numbers to Treasury.
*[Saturday evening] - Collect any art going to voice auction, and conduct the voice auction as scheduled (usually Saturday night).
*[Sunday morning] - Continue Print Shop sales. Winning bidders pick up their art. Artists check-out any unsold items.
*[Sunday afternoon] - Pack up any unsold mail-in art. Disassemble the display panels and prepare for return to DreamHaven.

'''After the convention'''
*[As scheduled] - Return the display panels to DreamHaven.
*[Monday] - Mail unsold mail-in art back to artists.
*[Tuesday] - Prepare sales reports and provide information to Treasury/Bookkeeper so they can write checks to artists for their portion of sales.
*[2 weeks post-con] - Mail payments to artists for their portion of sales.
*[1 month post-con] - Update the electronic-format file with current info based on forms submitted by participating artists. Have this ready to give to the department head for next year's con.

Art Show

2014-01-14T04:22:49Z

Dd-b: /* Minicon Art Show */

== Minicon Art Show ==

There are several elements to running the Minicon Art Show. These can be broken down into pre-con preparation, at-con management, and post-convention wrap-up. This department '''requires''' at least one sub-head, unless the department head intends to spend the entire convention at the Art Show.

xyzzy

== Before the Convention ==

Obviously, if you want to have art in your art show, you must tell artists how to get it there. Minicon has a file that lists contact information for past participants in the show. About 3-4 months before the convention, past participants are contacted with information about the upcoming show's rules, paperwork requirements, and mailing address for mail-in art. If you cannot store mail-in art yourself, you will have to determined who can safely store the art until the convention.

There are electronic verions of prior art show rules and forms available on past years' Minicon websites.

== At the Convention ==

Art Show Setup is usually on the Thursday night prior to the convention. The past several years, Minicon has borrowed display panels from DreamHaven Books. These will need to be picked up in the afternoon. Contact Greg Ketter to arrange pickup and dropoff times. Setup typically takes 2-3 hours with the help of 5-10 volunteers. Artists who help with setup get first choice of where to put their art; the main exception to this is if there is an Artist GoH that year, in which case, the GoH is usually given prominent placement.

The department head and sub-head(s) should coordinate their schedule so that the Art Show is staffed at all times, either by heads or volunteers. If the Art Show is in the same space as the Dealers/Hucksters Room, opening hours will have to be coordinated and synchronized ahead of time.

There is often a voice auction, for items that have 3 or more bids. The rules for this vary from year to year.

Winning bidders typically pick up their items Sunday morning and early afternoon. Tear-down is usually on Sunday afternoon, and again takes about 2 hours with 5-10 volunteers.

== After the Convention ==

Ship unsold mail-in art back to the artists on Monday. Return the display panels to DreamHaven whenever Greg wants them back. Tally up your sales and cashflow information, and report it to the Bookkeeper and/or Treasurer so they can update Minicon's financial info.

Save your documentation, and pass along blank forms, addresses, and other information and supplies to the next convention's department head.

== Art Show Timeline ==

The timeline below gives a different perspective of the above information, including suggestions on when the steps should be accomplished.

'''Before the convention'''
*[6 months prior] - Identify at least one sub-head.
*[4 months] - Determine where mail-in art should be sent to for storage before the convention.
*[3 months] - Contact previous Art Show participants. Provide them with overview blurb about the Art Show, rules for participation, and copies of the control sheets.
*[1 month] - Coordinate with con chairs and Greg Ketter at DreamHaven to figure out pick-up and drop-off times for the Art Show display panels.

'''During the convention'''
*[Thursday afternoon] - Pick up the panels as scheduled/arranged
*[Thursday evening] - Erect the panels and prepare the tables for Print Shop items. Unpack and hang mail-in art.
*[Friday & Saturday] - Set up schedule with sub-head(s) and coordinate with Volunteer Wrangler to ensure coverage for Print Shop sales and general Art Show monitoring. Also balance your sales and cash till(s) at the end of both days, and report the results as preliminary numbers to Treasury.
*[Saturday evening] - Collect any art going to voice auction, and conduct the voice auction as scheduled (usually Saturday night).
*[Sunday morning] - Continue Print Shop sales. Winning bidders pick up their art. Artists check-out any unsold items.
*[Sunday afternoon] - Pack up any unsold mail-in art. Disassemble the display panels and prepare for return to DreamHaven.

'''After the convention'''
*[As scheduled] - Return the display panels to DreamHaven.
*[Monday] - Mail unsold mail-in art back to artists.
*[Tuesday] - Prepare sales reports and provide information to Treasury/Bookkeeper so they can write checks to artists for their portion of sales.
*[2 weeks post-con] - Mail payments to artists for their portion of sales.
*[1 month post-con] - Update the electronic-format file with current info based on forms submitted by participating artists. Have this ready to give to the department head for next year's con.

Talk:Minicon mini-history

2013-07-09T03:12:05Z

Dd-b: Query amazon exec members

1991 was the year of the "Amazon Exec" (when the exec mostly accidentally ended up being all female). I don't however remember the names of all the people, and I think the formal table should give the actual names rather than the informal group names. Can somebody find those names and then attach them to 1991?

Minicon mini-history

2013-07-09T03:10:42Z

Dd-b: Add chair for 1992 (me)

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! year
! Minicon
! chair
! Guests of Honor
! Honored Guests
! venue
! members
(approx)
|-
|2010
|45
|Keith Malgren, Joel Phillips, Kevin G. Austin
|Brandon Sanderson (author), Dan Dos Santos (artist)
|Moshe Feder
|Sheraton Bloomington
|447 total members, 434 warm bodies.
|-
|2009
|44
|Keith Malgren, Matthew Strait
|Karl Schroeder (author), Stephan Martiniere (artist), Seth Shostak (scientist)
|
|Sheraton Bloomington
|422 total members, 395 warm bodies.
|-
|2008
|43
|Keith Malgren, Matthew Strait
|Alastair Reynolds (author), Wayne Barlowe (artist, in absentia), Shawna McCarthy (editor), Nate Bucklin (fan)
|
|Sheraton Bloomington
|432 total members, 385 warm bodies
|-
|2007
|42
|Mark Richards
|Charles de Lint (author), Charles Vess (artist)
|
|Sheraton Bloomington
|430
|-
|2006
|41
|Greg Ketter
|Harlan Ellison (author), John Picacio (artist), Doug Friauf (fan)
|
|Sheraton Bloomington
|540
|-
|2005
|40
|Greg Ketter
|Terry Pratchett (author), Fastner & Larson (artists), James Young (fan)
|
|Sheraton Bloomington
| 630
|-
|2004
|39
|Larry Sanderson, Laura Jean
|Walter Jon Williams (author), Sharyn November (editor), Deb Geisler (fan)
|
|Millennium
| 458
|-
|2003
|38
|Larry Sanderson, Laura Jean
|Robert J. Sawyer (author), Carolyn Clink (poet), Sue Mason (fan), Steve Macdonald (musician)
|
|Millennium
|550
|-
|2002
|37
|Erik Baker
|Emma Bull (author), Will Shetterly (author), Arthur Hlavaty (fan), Rick Berry (artist)
|
|Hilton Minneapolis
|640
|-
|2001
|36
|ddb?
|Ken MacLeod (author), Jo Walton (fan), Leslie Fish (musician)
|
|Hilton Mineapolis
|516
|-
|2000
|35
|Geri Sullivan
|Maureen F. McHugh (author), John Berkey (artist), Lenny Bailes (fan)
|
|Hilton Minneapolis
|850
|-
|1999
|34
|HiRes Committee
|Octavia E. Butler (author), Mark & Priscilla Olson (fans), David Nee (bookseller)
|
|Hilton Minneapolis
|1500
|-
| 1998
|33
|Erik Baker, Victor Raymond, Martin Schafer
|Gardner Dozois (publishing), David Langford (fan), John M. Ford (toastmaster)
|
|Radisson Hotel South, L’Hotel Sofitel, Holiday Inn Airport 2, Wyndham Garden Hotel (Bloomington)
| 3431
|-
| 1997
|32
|
|Algis Budrys (author), C. J. Cherryh (author), Tom Doherty (publisher), Tom Lopez (audio), Patrick Nielsen Hayden (fan), Teresa Nielsen Hayden (fan), Michael Swanwick
|
|Radisson Hotel South, L’Hotel Sofitel, Holiday Inn Airport 2 (Bloomington)
| ???
|-
| 1996
|31
|
|Suzette Haden Elgin (author), Ed Emshwiller (artist, posthumous), Joe Siclari & Edie Stern (fans), David Ossman (audio), James P Hogan (science)
| L.A. Taylor
| Radisson Hotel South, Wyndham Garden Hotel, L’Hotel Sofitel (Bloomington)
| 3564
|-
| 1995
| 30
|Don Bailey
|Vernor Vinge (author), Robert L. Forward (science), Jody Lee (artist), The Bhigg House (fan group)
| Glen Cook
| Radisson Hotel South, Wyndham Garden Hotel, L’Hotel Sofitel (Bloomington)
| 3500
|-
| 1994
| 29
|
|Tom Doherty (publisher), Jack Williamson (author), Rusty Hevelin (fan), Phil Foglio (artist)
|
| Radisson Hotel South, Wyndham Garden Hotel (Bloomington)
| 3300
|-
| 1993
| 28
|
|Susan Allison (editor), Diane Duane (author), Peter Morwood (author), Kathy Mar (music), Don Fitch (bless his sweet heart), John M. Ford (interesting person)
|
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| 3100
|-
| 1992
| 27
| David Dyer-Bennet
|Lois McMaster Bujold (author), Ctein (artist), Dave Van Ronk (music)
|
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| ???
|-
| 1991
| 26
|
|George Alec Effinger (author), David Cherry (artist), Al Kuhfeld, Ph.D. (science), Suzanne V. Tompkins and Jerry Kaufman (fans), Jon Singer (lunch)
|
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| ???
|-
| 1990
| 25
|
|Jane Yolen, Kim Stanley Robinson (author), Patrick Price ("arthur"), David Thayer a.k.a. Teddy Harvia (artist), DavE Romm (fan), Earl Joseph (science)
|Dave Clement, P. C. Hodgell, Dr. Joseph Romm, Art Widner
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| ???
|-
| 1989
| 24
|
|Harry Harrison, George "Lan" Laskowski, Fritz Leiber, Barry B. Longyear
|Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, P. C. Hodgell, Larry Niven, John Sladek
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| ???
|-
| 1988
| 23
|
|Eleanor Arnason (author), Eric Heideman (fan), Frederick Pohl (editor), Crystal Marvig (artist), Richard Feynman (science, posthumous)
|Jane Yolen, David Hartwell, Algis Budrys
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| ???
|-
| 1987
| 22
|
|David Brin (pro), Fred Haskell (fan), Erin McKee (artist), Jerry Stearns (music), Robert Bloch (toastmaster)
|Diane Duane, Jane Yolen, Ellen Kushner
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| 1950
|-
| 1986
| 21
|
|Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm (pro), Denny Lien (fan), Ken Fletcher (artist), Anne Passovoy (musician), Diane Duane (toastmaster)
|Phyllis Eisenstein, Terri Windling, John M. Ford, P. C. Hodgell
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| 1600
|-
| 1985
| 20
|
|James P. Hogan (pro), The Permanent Floating Riot Club (fan group), The White Women (musicians), Stu Shiffman (artist), Jerry Stearns and Kara Dalkey (toastmasters)
|
|Radisson Hotel South (Bloomington)
| 1525
|-
| 1984
| 18
|
|Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (pro), Dave Wixon (fan), Stephen Hickman (artist), S.P. Somtow (musician), Rusty Hevelin (toastmaster), Bob Tucker ("smooth")
|
|Leamington Hotel (Minneapolis)
| 1450
|-
| 1983
| 19
|
|Larry Niven (pro), Pamela Dean and David Dyer-Bennet (fans), Dave Sim (artist), Spider John Koerner (music), Steven Brust (toastmaster), Nostradamus (proxy)
|
| St. Paul Radisson
| ???
|-
| 1982
| 14
|
|John Varley (pro), Clifford D. Simak (fan), Spider Robinson (musician)
|
| St. Paul Radisson
| ???
|-
| 1981
| 17
|
|Jack Vance (pro), Jerry Boyajian (fan), Reed Waller (musician), Kathy Marschall (artist)
|
| Minneapolis Radisson
| ???
|-
| 1980
| 16
|
|C. J. Cherryh (pro), Jon Singer (fan), Ken Fletcher (artist), Nate Bucklin (musician), Bob Tucker (toastmaster)
|
|Minneapolis Radisson
| ???
|-
| 1979
| 15
|Carol Anndy, Don Bailey, Bev Elmshauser, Scott Imes, Dave Wixon
|Theodore Sturgeon (pro), Tom Digby (fan), Rick Sternbach (artist), Robert E. Vardeman (toastmaster)
|
|Minneapolis Radisson
| ???
|-
| 1978
| 13
|
|Samuel R. Delany (pro), Spider Robinson (fan), Bob Tucker (artist), Krissy (toastmaster)
|
|Leamington Hotel (Minneapolis)
| ???
|-
| 1977
| 12
|
|Ben Bova (pro), Buck Coulson and Juanita Coulson (fans), Joe Haldeman (toastmaster)
|
|Leamington Hotel (Minneapolis)
| ???
|-
| 1976
| 11
|
|Edmond Hamilton (pro), Leigh Brackett (pro), Leigh and Norb Couch (fans), Jackie Franke and Rusty Hevelin (toastmasters)
|
|Leamington Hotel (Minneapolis)
| 500
|-
| 1975
| 10
|Don Blyly, Jim Young
|Poul Anderson (pro), Gordon Dickson (fan), Lester del Rey (toastmaster)
|
| Holiday Inn (Minneapolis)
| 510
|-
| 1974
| 9
|Don Blyly, Jim Young
|Judy-Lynn del Rey and Lester del Rey
|
| Minneapolis Public Library, Dyckman Hotel (Minneapolis)
| 190
|-
| 1974
| 8
|Don Blyly, Jim Young
|Kelly Freas (pro), Bob Tucker (fan)
|
| Dyckman Hotel (Minneapolis)
| 350
|-
| 1973
| 7
|
|Larry Niven (pro), Rusty Hevelin (fan)
|
| Hyatt Lodge (Minneapolis)
| 220
|-
| 1972
| 6
|Louie Spooner
|Ruth Berman
|
| Hyatt Lodge (Minneapolis)
| 175
|-
| 1971
| 5
|Louis Fallert, Blue Petal
|Volsted Gridban (joke; not even mentioned in the program book)
|
| Andrews Hotel (Minneapolis)
| 100
|-
| 1971
| 4
|Jim Young
|Lin Carter
|
| Curtis Hotel (Minneapolis)
| 150
|-
| 1970
| 3
|Jim Young
|Poul Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson, Clifford Simak
|
| Dyckman Hotel (Minneapolis)
| 130
|-
| 1969
| 2
|Jim Young
|Gordon R. Dickson, Charles De Vet, Clifford Simak
|
| Andrews Hotel (Minneapolis)
| 102 (40 pre-reged)
|-
| 1968
| 1
|
|Gordon R. Dickson, Charles De Vet, Clifford Simak
|
| Coffman Union (Men's Lounge) at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)
| 60
|}

== More history pages ==
*[http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/history/ Minicons 1-30, detailed summary]
*[http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/history/minicon_history.html Minicons 1-39, Fred's table]

Email publications as we've done them

2013-02-19T18:35:35Z

Dd-b:

To date, David Dyer-Bennet has been sending out email publications via his ISPs mail server, or directly from his own server, using a Perl script customized for each year. So far we have not had serious problems with being perceived as spammers; but the war between spammers and anti-spammers is ongoing and the rules change constantly.

We should look into making sure mnstf.org has the proper spf records in our DNS for the source of those emails. (I'll bring this up elsewhere, but if it gets lost maybe this will remind someone.)

Possibly it would be safer to switch to using Dreamhost's "announce-only" mailing list feature. That meets modern standards for non-spam commercial email, in that users must confirm wanting to be on the list, and the list (and its confirmations) are handled by a third party. However, making that switch would nearly certainly lose us some of our current email connections. Also, it doesn't work for emails that need to be customized for each recipient as we have sometimes done (showing that they're registered already, for example).

Since I don't see an option to attach a file, here's the script I used most recently, so it's on record for anybody who might need it. As I say, it's customized for each publication sent; this one has Minicon 47 PR1 in it.

----

<pre>
#! /usr/bin/perl

# Send PR1

# stdin is database of reg info, fields:
#email

# If original is a DOS file, expand record separator.
#$/="\r\n";

while (<>) {
chomp;
$email = $_;

print "Email is \"$email\"\n";

# Now do something useful with it, like constructing the email
open (SM, "| sendmail -f empubs\@minicon47.mnstf.org $email") or die "Open failed: $!";

# open (SM, ">> out.txt") or die "Open failed: $!";

# ZZZ An email address with a "&" in the left part caused this to fail.
# I think individual print statements rather than the embedded variables
# would fix that.
print SM <<MSGHDRS;
To: <$email>
From: Minicon <request\@minicon47.mnstf.org>
Subject: Minicon 47 Progress Report 1
Organization: The Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc.

MSGHDRS

print SM <<'MSGPART3';
MINICON 47 PR1
April 6-8, 2012
Author Guest of Honor Ted Chiang
Artist guest Frank Wu
Fanzine Guest
Christopher J Garcia
Special guest Brianna Spacekat Wu

Hotel Rooms

We are in the same hotel as we have been for a number of years, although
the hotel has been sold and is now a DoubleTree by Hilton.

Room Rates:
Traditional Room $89
Cabana Rooms $89 (Check our website for instructions if
you wish to book a cabana room for sleeping and/or a room party)
Pool side Suites $139

Be sure to book your rooms before March 15, 2012; on that date, all room
rates will go up by $10 per night.

To book your room, please visit
<http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/hotel>, or call the DoubleTree
reservation line at 952-835-7800.

To book poolside Cabana rooms, please send your request to
<parties@minicon47.mnstf.org>. If you already have a room confirmation
number from the DoubleTree, please include that with your request.

Volunteers

"Minicon is run entirely by volunteers. Please join us. We greatly
appreciate the gift of your time. E-mail
<volunteers@minicon47.mnstf.org> to participate. We're all in this
together!

Programming

We recently wrapped up a very sucessful programming brainstorming
session, but it's still not too late to submit ideas. In 2012, Minicon
will have panel discussions, readings, demonstrations and other
events. The deadline for submission of programming ideas is December
1st. If you'd like to suggest a topic, or you'd like to find out about
how to volunteer, links are available at the Programming page on the
Minicon Website. <http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/programming>

Costumes

MiniCon will hold a costume contest in an informal setting, with
prizes for adults and children, including participation awards for
all. Skits are okay but not required. Our theme is, "The minions are
coming, the minions are coming!" You're encouraged to dress as your
favorite minion.

Registration

Pre-registration is open until March 15. It is $45 for adults, $30 for
students ages 13-20, $20 for kids ages 6-12. Children 5 and under
don't need to be registered, but if they are, they'll get a nice
pre-printed badge. Supporting memberships are available for $15 and
are convertable to a full membership for an additional $40 at the
door.

You can pre-register online at <http://mnstf.org/minicon47/> or you
can print a form off the website to mail in.

At the door rates will be $60 for adults, $32 for students (13-20),
$20 for kids (6-12) and still free for children 5 and under. We will
have day memberships for Friday ($30), Saturday ($40) and Sunday
($25).

At Minicon 47, you can pick up your badge, buy at-the-door
memberships, and pre-register for Minicon 48 at the
registration/volunteers/info desk Friday 10am-10pm, Saturday
9:30am-8pm and Sunday 9:30pm-4pm. We'll be in the same place as last
year: at the top of the escalator above the main lobby. Most likely
registration will also be available Thursday night in the consuite and
Sunday night in the bar.

Minicon memberships are transferable at no cost (but are not
refundable). If you need to transfer your membership, e-mail
<registration@minicon47.mnstf.org>.

We are embarking on a project to reconstruct older historical
registration data. Our database is fairly complete back to Minicon 40
or so, but gets rapidly spottier as you go back further. Can you help
us by filling out a survey? <http://mnstf.org/minicon47/regsurvey.php>

-- Minicon 47 Concom

To unsubscribe from this list please email
<registrationt@minicon47.mnstf.org>
MSGPART3

close SM or die "Closing sendmail failed: $!";
}
</pre>

Email publications as we've done them

2013-02-19T18:34:59Z

Dd-b:

To date, David Dyer-Bennet has been sending out email publications via his ISPs mail server, or directly from his own server, using a Perl script customized for each year. So far we have not had serious problems with being perceived as spammers; but the war between spammers and anti-spammers is ongoing and the rules change constantly.

We should look into making sure mnstf.org has the proper spf records in our DNS for the source of those emails. (I'll bring this up elsewhere, but if it gets lost maybe this will remind someone.)

Possibly it would be safer to switch to using Dreamhost's "announce-only" mailing list feature. That meets modern standards for non-spam commercial email, in that users must confirm wanting to be on the list, and the list (and its confirmations) are handled by a third party. However, making that switch would nearly certainly lose us some of our current email connections. Also, it doesn't work for emails that need to be customized for each recipient as we have sometimes done (showing that they're registered already, for example).

Since I don't see an option to attach a file, here's the script I used most recently, so it's on record for anybody who might need it. As I say, it's customized for each publication sent; this one has Minicon 47 PR1 in it.

----

<code>
#! /usr/bin/perl

# Send PR1

# stdin is database of reg info, fields:
#email

# If original is a DOS file, expand record separator.
#$/="\r\n";

while (<>) {
chomp;
$email = $_;

print "Email is \"$email\"\n";

# Now do something useful with it, like constructing the email
open (SM, "| sendmail -f empubs\@minicon47.mnstf.org $email") or die "Open failed: $!";

# open (SM, ">> out.txt") or die "Open failed: $!";

# ZZZ An email address with a "&" in the left part caused this to fail.
# I think individual print statements rather than the embedded variables
# would fix that.
print SM <<MSGHDRS;
To: <$email>
From: Minicon <request\@minicon47.mnstf.org>
Subject: Minicon 47 Progress Report 1
Organization: The Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc.

MSGHDRS

print SM <<'MSGPART3';
MINICON 47 PR1
April 6-8, 2012
Author Guest of Honor Ted Chiang
Artist guest Frank Wu
Fanzine Guest
Christopher J Garcia
Special guest Brianna Spacekat Wu

Hotel Rooms

We are in the same hotel as we have been for a number of years, although
the hotel has been sold and is now a DoubleTree by Hilton.

Room Rates:
Traditional Room $89
Cabana Rooms $89 (Check our website for instructions if
you wish to book a cabana room for sleeping and/or a room party)
Pool side Suites $139

Be sure to book your rooms before March 15, 2012; on that date, all room
rates will go up by $10 per night.

To book your room, please visit
<http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/hotel>, or call the DoubleTree
reservation line at 952-835-7800.

To book poolside Cabana rooms, please send your request to
<parties@minicon47.mnstf.org>. If you already have a room confirmation
number from the DoubleTree, please include that with your request.

Volunteers

"Minicon is run entirely by volunteers. Please join us. We greatly
appreciate the gift of your time. E-mail
<volunteers@minicon47.mnstf.org> to participate. We're all in this
together!

Programming

We recently wrapped up a very sucessful programming brainstorming
session, but it's still not too late to submit ideas. In 2012, Minicon
will have panel discussions, readings, demonstrations and other
events. The deadline for submission of programming ideas is December
1st. If you'd like to suggest a topic, or you'd like to find out about
how to volunteer, links are available at the Programming page on the
Minicon Website. <http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/programming>

Costumes

MiniCon will hold a costume contest in an informal setting, with
prizes for adults and children, including participation awards for
all. Skits are okay but not required. Our theme is, "The minions are
coming, the minions are coming!" You're encouraged to dress as your
favorite minion.

Registration

Pre-registration is open until March 15. It is $45 for adults, $30 for
students ages 13-20, $20 for kids ages 6-12. Children 5 and under
don't need to be registered, but if they are, they'll get a nice
pre-printed badge. Supporting memberships are available for $15 and
are convertable to a full membership for an additional $40 at the
door.

You can pre-register online at <http://mnstf.org/minicon47/> or you
can print a form off the website to mail in.

At the door rates will be $60 for adults, $32 for students (13-20),
$20 for kids (6-12) and still free for children 5 and under. We will
have day memberships for Friday ($30), Saturday ($40) and Sunday
($25).

At Minicon 47, you can pick up your badge, buy at-the-door
memberships, and pre-register for Minicon 48 at the
registration/volunteers/info desk Friday 10am-10pm, Saturday
9:30am-8pm and Sunday 9:30pm-4pm. We'll be in the same place as last
year: at the top of the escalator above the main lobby. Most likely
registration will also be available Thursday night in the consuite and
Sunday night in the bar.

Minicon memberships are transferable at no cost (but are not
refundable). If you need to transfer your membership, e-mail
<registration@minicon47.mnstf.org>.

We are embarking on a project to reconstruct older historical
registration data. Our database is fairly complete back to Minicon 40
or so, but gets rapidly spottier as you go back further. Can you help
us by filling out a survey? <http://mnstf.org/minicon47/regsurvey.php>

-- Minicon 47 Concom

To unsubscribe from this list please email
<registrationt@minicon47.mnstf.org>
MSGPART3

close SM or die "Closing sendmail failed: $!";
}
</code>

Email publications as we've done them

2013-02-19T18:34:35Z

Dd-b:

Email publications as we've done them

2013-02-19T18:33:53Z

Dd-b:

To date, David Dyer-Bennet has been sending out email publications via his ISPs mail server, or directly from his own server, using a Perl script customized for each year. So far we have not had serious problems with being perceived as spammers; but the war between spammers and anti-spammers is ongoing and the rules change constantly.

We should look into making sure mnstf.org has the proper spf records in our DNS for the source of those emails. (I'll bring this up elsewhere, but if it gets lost maybe this will remind someone.)

Possibly it would be safer to switch to using Dreamhost's "announce-only" mailing list feature. That meets modern standards for non-spam commercial email, in that users must confirm wanting to be on the list, and the list (and its confirmations) are handled by a third party. However, making that switch would nearly certainly lose us some of our current email connections. Also, it doesn't work for emails that need to be customized for each recipient as we have sometimes done (showing that they're registered already, for example).

Since I don't see an option to attach a file, here's the script I used most recently, so it's on record for anybody who might need it. As I say, it's customized for each publication sent; this one has Minicon 47 PR1 in it.

----

<code>
#! /usr/bin/perl

# Send PR1

# stdin is database of reg info, fields:
#email

# If original is a DOS file, expand record separator.
#$/="\r\n";

while (<>) {
chomp;
$email = $_;

print "Email is \"$email\"\n";

# Now do something useful with it, like constructing the email
open (SM, "| sendmail -f empubs\@minicon47.mnstf.org $email") or die "Open failed: $!";

# open (SM, ">> out.txt") or die "Open failed: $!";

# ZZZ An email address with a "&" in the left part caused this to fail.
# I think individual print statements rather than the embedded variables
# would fix that.
print SM <<MSGHDRS;
To: <$email>
From: Minicon <request\@minicon47.mnstf.org>
Subject: Minicon 47 Progress Report 1
Organization: The Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc.

MSGHDRS

print SM <<'MSGPART3';
MINICON 47 PR1
April 6-8, 2012
Author Guest of Honor Ted Chiang
Artist guest Frank Wu
Fanzine Guest
Christopher J Garcia
Special guest Brianna Spacekat Wu

Hotel Rooms

We are in the same hotel as we have been for a number of years, although
the hotel has been sold and is now a DoubleTree by Hilton.

Room Rates:
Traditional Room $89
Cabana Rooms $89 (Check our website for instructions if
you wish to book a cabana room for sleeping and/or a room party)
Pool side Suites $139

Be sure to book your rooms before March 15, 2012; on that date, all room
rates will go up by $10 per night.

To book your room, please visit
<http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/hotel>, or call the DoubleTree
reservation line at 952-835-7800.

To book poolside Cabana rooms, please send your request to
<parties@minicon47.mnstf.org>. If you already have a room confirmation
number from the DoubleTree, please include that with your request.

Volunteers

"Minicon is run entirely by volunteers. Please join us. We greatly
appreciate the gift of your time. E-mail
<volunteers@minicon47.mnstf.org> to participate. We're all in this
together!

Programming

We recently wrapped up a very sucessful programming brainstorming
session, but it's still not too late to submit ideas. In 2012, Minicon
will have panel discussions, readings, demonstrations and other
events. The deadline for submission of programming ideas is December
1st. If you'd like to suggest a topic, or you'd like to find out about
how to volunteer, links are available at the Programming page on the
Minicon Website. <http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/programming>

Costumes

MiniCon will hold a costume contest in an informal setting, with
prizes for adults and children, including participation awards for
all. Skits are okay but not required. Our theme is, "The minions are
coming, the minions are coming!" You're encouraged to dress as your
favorite minion.

Registration

Pre-registration is open until March 15. It is $45 for adults, $30 for
students ages 13-20, $20 for kids ages 6-12. Children 5 and under
don't need to be registered, but if they are, they'll get a nice
pre-printed badge. Supporting memberships are available for $15 and
are convertable to a full membership for an additional $40 at the
door.

You can pre-register online at <http://mnstf.org/minicon47/> or you
can print a form off the website to mail in.

At the door rates will be $60 for adults, $32 for students (13-20),
$20 for kids (6-12) and still free for children 5 and under. We will
have day memberships for Friday ($30), Saturday ($40) and Sunday
($25).

At Minicon 47, you can pick up your badge, buy at-the-door
memberships, and pre-register for Minicon 48 at the
registration/volunteers/info desk Friday 10am-10pm, Saturday
9:30am-8pm and Sunday 9:30pm-4pm. We'll be in the same place as last
year: at the top of the escalator above the main lobby. Most likely
registration will also be available Thursday night in the consuite and
Sunday night in the bar.

Minicon memberships are transferable at no cost (but are not
refundable). If you need to transfer your membership, e-mail
<registration@minicon47.mnstf.org>.

We are embarking on a project to reconstruct older historical
registration data. Our database is fairly complete back to Minicon 40
or so, but gets rapidly spottier as you go back further. Can you help
us by filling out a survey? <http://mnstf.org/minicon47/regsurvey.php>

-- Minicon 47 Concom

To unsubscribe from this list please email
<registrationt@minicon47.mnstf.org>
MSGPART3

close SM or die "Closing sendmail failed: $!";
}
</code>

Email publications as we've done them

2013-02-19T18:30:00Z

Dd-b: Describe what we've done, provide the script

To date, David Dyer-Bennet has been sending out email publications via his ISPs mail server, or directly from his own server, using a Perl script customized for each year. So far we have not had serious problems with being perceived as spammers; but the war between spammers and anti-spammers is ongoing and the rules change constantly.

We should look into making sure mnstf.org has the proper spf records in our DNS for the source of those emails. (I'll bring this up elsewhere, but if it gets lost maybe this will remind someone.)

Possibly it would be safer to switch to using Dreamhost's "announce-only" mailing list feature. That meets modern standards for non-spam commercial email, in that users must confirm wanting to be on the list, and the list (and its confirmations) are handled by a third party. However, making that switch would nearly certainly lose us some of our current email connections. Also, it doesn't work for emails that need to be customized for each recipient as we have sometimes done (showing that they're registered already, for example).

Since I don't see an option to attach a file, here's the script I used most recently, so it's on record for anybody who might need it. As I say, it's customized for each publication sent; this one has Minicon 47 PR1 in it.

----

#! /usr/bin/perl

# Send PR1

# stdin is database of reg info, fields:
#email

# If original is a DOS file, expand record separator.
#$/="\r\n";

while (<>) {
chomp;
$email = $_;

print "Email is \"$email\"\n";

# Now do something useful with it, like constructing the email
open (SM, "| sendmail -f empubs\@minicon47.mnstf.org $email") or die "Open failed: $!";

# open (SM, ">> out.txt") or die "Open failed: $!";

# ZZZ An email address with a "&" in the left part caused this to fail.
# I think individual print statements rather than the embedded variables
# would fix that.
print SM <<MSGHDRS;
To: <$email>
From: Minicon <request\@minicon47.mnstf.org>
Subject: Minicon 47 Progress Report 1
Organization: The Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Inc.

MSGHDRS

print SM <<'MSGPART3';
MINICON 47 PR1
April 6-8, 2012
Author Guest of Honor Ted Chiang
Artist guest Frank Wu
Fanzine Guest
Christopher J Garcia
Special guest Brianna Spacekat Wu

Hotel Rooms

We are in the same hotel as we have been for a number of years, although
the hotel has been sold and is now a DoubleTree by Hilton.

Room Rates:
Traditional Room $89
Cabana Rooms $89 (Check our website for instructions if
you wish to book a cabana room for sleeping and/or a room party)
Pool side Suites $139

Be sure to book your rooms before March 15, 2012; on that date, all room
rates will go up by $10 per night.

To book your room, please visit
<http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/hotel>, or call the DoubleTree
reservation line at 952-835-7800.

To book poolside Cabana rooms, please send your request to
<parties@minicon47.mnstf.org>. If you already have a room confirmation
number from the DoubleTree, please include that with your request.

Volunteers

"Minicon is run entirely by volunteers. Please join us. We greatly
appreciate the gift of your time. E-mail
<volunteers@minicon47.mnstf.org> to participate. We're all in this
together!

Programming

We recently wrapped up a very sucessful programming brainstorming
session, but it's still not too late to submit ideas. In 2012, Minicon
will have panel discussions, readings, demonstrations and other
events. The deadline for submission of programming ideas is December
1st. If you'd like to suggest a topic, or you'd like to find out about
how to volunteer, links are available at the Programming page on the
Minicon Website. <http://www.mnstf.org/minicon47/programming>

Costumes

MiniCon will hold a costume contest in an informal setting, with
prizes for adults and children, including participation awards for
all. Skits are okay but not required. Our theme is, "The minions are
coming, the minions are coming!" You're encouraged to dress as your
favorite minion.

Registration

Pre-registration is open until March 15. It is $45 for adults, $30 for
students ages 13-20, $20 for kids ages 6-12. Children 5 and under
don't need to be registered, but if they are, they'll get a nice
pre-printed badge. Supporting memberships are available for $15 and
are convertable to a full membership for an additional $40 at the
door.

You can pre-register online at <http://mnstf.org/minicon47/> or you
can print a form off the website to mail in.

At the door rates will be $60 for adults, $32 for students (13-20),
$20 for kids (6-12) and still free for children 5 and under. We will
have day memberships for Friday ($30), Saturday ($40) and Sunday
($25).

At Minicon 47, you can pick up your badge, buy at-the-door
memberships, and pre-register for Minicon 48 at the
registration/volunteers/info desk Friday 10am-10pm, Saturday
9:30am-8pm and Sunday 9:30pm-4pm. We'll be in the same place as last
year: at the top of the escalator above the main lobby. Most likely
registration will also be available Thursday night in the consuite and
Sunday night in the bar.

Minicon memberships are transferable at no cost (but are not
refundable). If you need to transfer your membership, e-mail
<registration@minicon47.mnstf.org>.

We are embarking on a project to reconstruct older historical
registration data. Our database is fairly complete back to Minicon 40
or so, but gets rapidly spottier as you go back further. Can you help
us by filling out a survey? <http://mnstf.org/minicon47/regsurvey.php>

-- Minicon 47 Concom

To unsubscribe from this list please email
<registrationt@minicon47.mnstf.org>
MSGPART3

close SM or die "Closing sendmail failed: $!";
}

MinDocDigPro

2009-09-16T13:01:29Z

Dd-b: Give permission for CC-BY-SA for Minicon publication contributions.

'''MinDocDigPro''' is The Minnstf Document Digitization Project. This project has two major goals:

# Preserve MNstf documents via digitization.
# Make MNstf documents widely available on the web.

There are two major challenges:

# Actually doing all the scanning
# Securing permission from copyright holders who contributed to the documents

And one minor challenge: Putting the documents up on the web in a reasonably organized and pleasing way.

== Converting paper to computer files ==

=== Scanning ===

Scans should be high enough resolution so that the smallest text is easily readable and artwork does not lose detail. As a rough guideline, use at least 300dpi. Or use whatever the highest resolution your scanner supports is as long as that does not make things excessively slow.

Scanning in color is a good idea, even with black and white content. This is because a lot of old printing technology has very poor contrast in blue, but much better in red and green. So you can get a better result by working with the red channel than with a greyscale scan where the three have been averaged.

Also make sure that your scanner is not saving images as JPEGs, since the lossy compression is very inappropriate for text and line drawings (the majority of our content). Any other image format should be fine.

=== Processing ===

Here is a complete set of recommendations for how to take raw scans and make them into a set of documents for the web. You could easily consider doing all of this to be too much work for the payoff. Pick the subset that makes you happy. Bonus if the result of your work can easily be used to do the remainder of what is suggested here.

There are, more or less, four useful quality/detail levels that you can end up with:

; Raw scans
: Advantage: A person seeing these has the most confidence that she is seeing the document as it originally looked.
: Disadvantage: Very large file sizes.
; Cleaned-up high-quality scans
: Advantage: Generally looks better than a raw scan.
: Disadvantages: Still fairly large files. Some detail may be inadvertently lost.
; Scans reduced to the smallest readable size
: Advantage: Small file size while still showing all layout.
: Disadvantages: Harder to read, artwork is washed out.
; Transcribed/OCR'd text
: Advantages: Very small file sizes, can be searched, indexed by search engines, read by blind people, etc.
: Disadvantage: Nearly all formatting is lost. Relatively large amount of work to produce.

==== Raw scans ====

By "raw", I mean that the scans have not been rotated, had any colors altered, etc. However, they can (and should) be cropped to remove extra borders due to your scanner being bigger that the document. It is also nice to replace any black areas outside the scanned page that remain with flat black to reduce the file size.

==== Cleaned-up high-quality scans ====

To produce these, I first rotate the image to straighten it out. Usually my scans are off-square by ~0.5 degrees. This sounds like a very small amount, but it is easily visible.

Then, assuming the document is not in color (two-tone or greyscale), I take the best color channel (generally red or green) and throw away the others. Defining the background color as "white" and the forground color as "black", I make all very light pixels white and all very dark pixels black. The goal of the first (white) part here is to avoid storing the grain of the paper, flecks of dust, and bleed through from the other side of the page. The second part makes the text look better while also making the file smaller. If the document is two-tone (i.e. no greyscale), I push this fairly hard, but I leave some gradient between black and white so that the edges of characters are not too sharp. If the document has greyscale art or photos, I just do enough to remove the noise. (Sometimes I even get obsessive and do different parts of the same page different ways.)

If there is a block of black (or similar) that extends all the way to the edge of the page in the original, I'll make sure this is duplicated in the image. Usually the scanning adds a border or chops a bit off in this case.

If the document was two-tone, but not black and white (e.g. yellow paper with bluish text), I convert back to these colors.

In the end, this version should have a ''much'' smaller file size than the raw scans, while also looking a lot better.

==== Scans reduced to the smallest readable size ====

To produce these, I reduce the size of the scans and convert them to 1-bit color (i.e. black and white, but it could also be yellow and blue at the same file size if you save it correctly).

To do this, I find the smallest text in the document (or the smallest text that deserves being saved; sometimes preserving every detail of advertisements gets silly) and see how small I can shrink it before it is unreadable when converted to 1-bit color. I ruthlessly destroy greyscale artwork in the process. People who want this should get the higher quality version. (Well, sometimes I apply a different threshold to the text and the art in order to get as good a quality as can be had, but it's not gonna be great.)

==== Transcribed/OCR'd text ====

''placeholder''

=== File Formats ===

==== Scans of book-type documents ====

PDF seems to be here to stay, at least for this decade or so. It is (nearly) universally readable with very few problems. It is probably the best format to offer on the web.

The images that make up a PDF are fairly easy to extract with no loss of quality if later someone wants to work on them or convert the document to a different format. Nevertheless, for long term archival, it may be useful to explicitly store the images as separate files so people stumbling on them in 30 years don't need to have a PDF reader. For really long term archival, it may be useful to store the images files in '''portable anymap''' (PNM) format, a trivial-to-read well-documented uncompressed file type. For extremely long term archival, please engrave on platinum tablets.

==== Scans of single-page documents ====

For these (flyers, perhaps), I'd be inclined to just offer the image itself.

==== Transcribed text ====

Plain ASCII text is the most universally readable format. It is also, generally, very easy to produce. I discourage trying to reproduce the format of each page with spaces and/or tabs. This often makes the document nonsensical to anything (person or program) that reads linearly through the file. If people want the formatting, they should go to the scans, I'd say.

As a slight variant, you could use plain Unicode text. This allows for things like long dashes (—) rather than approximations such as double hyphens (--). Encoded in UTF-8 or UTF-16, it is exactly the same as plain ASCII except for the non-ASCII characters. '''Please avoid''' saving in any extended-ASCII format such as Windows-1252 (or even ISO 8859-1), since to be interpreted correctly later, the set used needs to be explicitly stated or guessed heuristically. Failure to do this generates all sorts of garbage, such as accented vowels when you meant a closing double quote. If you don't know how to tell what text format you are using, please see the Internet or an expert.

With substantially more work, you could produce an HTML version, which would allow for formatting without breaking up the structure of the text. I don't feel this is worth the effort, but have at it if it amuses you.

With even more substantial work, you could produce a PDF version with actual text in it instead of images of text that approximates the look of the original document. Might be a fun challenge, but not really practical.

== Copyright ==

Most people who have contributed to MNstf publications probably did not intend to hold copyright on their contributions. However, some certainly did and we need to be careful about this. The Minnstf board in 2008 came up with clear guidelines on how to handle copyright for Mnstf (including Minicon) publications:

* Images credited to an artist require us to ask the artist for permission to republish (including web posting)
* Text credited to someone, ditto.
* Anything not credited is assumed to be property of Minn-stf. We will, in general, put this up on the web with some sort of permissive license.

I (Matt Strait) have found some corner cases and decided to rule on them unilaterally until and unless someone complains. To whit:

* I will take the "note from the chair" or similar to automatically be MNstf property even if directly credited to someone. I feel that we are on firm ground assuming ownership here in a way that we are not for things like GoH bios.
* Text explaining where and when some event is or other similar trivial text I consider to be automatically MNstf property even if attributed to a department head. Text explaining a department's policies, procedures, etc. I also consider in this category as long as it is pretty dry. Highly creative text that nevertheless fulfills the same role should probably be checked on.

=== What we'd like ===

In decreasing order of preference, we'd like copyright holders to:

# Grant Minn-stf all rights to their works. This is best because then the work '''is''' Mnstf's and we can do whatever we want with it.
# Grant Minn-stf the right to make their works available via some sort of permissive license, such as those from [http://creativecommons.org Creative Commons]. In this case, we need to know which sorts of restrictions the copyright holder is interested in, such as:
#* Requiring that the work cannot be used commercially
#* Requiring that the work cannot be modified
#* Requiring that attribution always be given when the work is shown
# Grant Minn-stf the right to display their works on the web while retaining full copyright restrictions.

And, orthogonally to that:

# Grant these rights to all of their works, past and future
# Grant these rights to all of their currently existing works
# Grant these rights to the one work that we just digitized

When contacting copyright holders, the ideal thing is to give them all of these options and see what the best we can get is. However, use your judgment. It's, for instance, not always a good idea to send someone a really long e-mail with lots of complicated copyright questions in it. We'd much rather get granted just web-publishing rights on a single document than never get a reply at all.

=== Copyright answers ===

List copyright holders' responses in alphabetical order by last name. Check this list before sending any queries about the document you are working on. Notes:

# Some people here may not actually have any of their works in any Mnstf publications, but have given us blanket permission just in case.
# Please distinguish between the case of a copyright holder answering a question (e.g. "can we distribute your stuff under a Creative Commons license?") with "no" and the case where they did not answer the question at all (possibly because they weren't asked).
# If relevant, give the approximate date that the person made their statement. It is not generally safe to assume that they apply to future works unless that was stated.

* Jennifer "Seven" Anderson: Grants us all rights for submitted works past and future.
* Karen Cooper (late 2008): Ok with web posting. No answer about CC licensing.
* DDB (late 2008): Ok with web posting. Answer pending about CC licensing. Late 2009: Okay with CC-CY-SA for stuff my stuff in Minicon publications.
* Ken Fletcher (late 2008): Ok with web posting. Answer pending about CC licensing.
* Deb Geisler (late 2008): Any Creative Commons license is ok, "no worries".
* Jeanne Gomoll (Wiscon 2009): Grants MNstf the rights to "anything else of [hers that] we run across" so long as we preserve attribution.
* Kathy (Marschall) Grantham (13 May 2009): "fine to post any old Minicon programs with my art".
* Eric Heideman (31 July 2009): We are free to republish his works as long as he is also free to republish them.
* Carol Kennedy (late 2008): Grants us all rights.
* Greg Ketter (late 2008): Grants us all rights.
* James Kuehl (late 2008): Ok with web posting. No answer about CC licensing.
* Jason Malgren (late 2008): Grants us all rights.
* Sue Mason (late 2008): For the Minicon 38 chapbook, Creative Commons is fine, as long as people aren't using her work for profit.
* Dave Romm (14 July 2009): Grants "Minicon and/or MN-StF the rights to use any of my work for Minicon and/or MN-StF purposes"; "A Creative Commons license would be okay", but it must require attribution and not allow commercial use.
* Laramie Sasseville (late 2008): Ok with web posting, ok with CC license. Would appreciate a link to dreamspell.net.
* Matthew Strait: Grants us all rights for submitted works past and future.
* Geri Sullivan (late 2008): Ok with web posting, ok with CC license.

== Web posting ==

To get a document on the web, you have to be some sort of Mnstf webmaster. Currently:

* Matt and Dorf can edit the Minicon 42-45 web sites as well as the document repository pages for Minicons 1-29.
* Kevin and Laurel have super powers and can edit any Minnstf page, including the above and the Minicon 30-41 web sites.

Currently here's where things are:

* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/ Main Minicon page], which links to:
** Each Minicon website that has ever existed, i.e. Minicon 30 through the present, for instance, the [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon40/ Minicon 40 site]
** [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/minicons1-29.html A page for all older Minicons], which links to:
*** Document repositories for each year, e.g. the [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/history/repository/minicon24/ Minicon 24 document repository]

The main Minicon page says, before its link to the page for all older Minicons, "We didn't have websites for Minicons prior to Minicon 30 or at least we can't seem to find the archives right now." It is possible and reasonable that Minicon 29 (1994) might have had a website. It is even vaguely possible that there was a web page for Minicon 28 (1993), although it would have had to be set up before CERN made the WWW officially free technology, or for Minicon 27 (1992), although it would have had to have been hosted at CERN or on one of the very first webservers in the US, or for Minicon 26 (1991), although Tim Berners-Lee would have had to have written it.

Minicons before 30 might also have had things analogous to websites for the time, such as Gopher sites or collections of documents available via FTP or on BBSes. This is true for all Minicons starting with Minicon 3, before which no packet-switched network existed (the first two nodes of ARPANET being connected on 21 November 1969).

Anyway, the point of all of this is to say that this project is also interested in any electronic-only publications or pseudo-publications that might turn up from Minicons before 30.

== Work reserved ==

Note here what you intend to work on. This prevents duplication of effort.

* Matt is working on scanning the Minicon 24 program book.

== Work completed ==

Say whether (1) the document is digitized (2) the document has cleared copyright hurdles and can be put on the web (3) the document is actually up on the web now.

=== Minicon program books ===

Here's a table for an overview, followed by details.

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
! #
! know of a copy
! scanned
! processed
! copyright ok
! posted
|-
|1
| ?
|
|
|
|
|-
|2
| {{no}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|3
| {{yes}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|4
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{partial}}
|{{partial}}
|-
|5
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{partial}}
|{{partial}}
|-
|6
|{{no}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|7
|{{no}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|8
|{{yes}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|9
|{{yes}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|10
|{{yes}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|11
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|12
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|13
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|15
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|16
|{{yes}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|17
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|14
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{partial}}
|{{partial}}
|-
|19
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|18
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|20
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{partial}}
|{{partial}}
|-
|21
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{partial}}
|{{partial}}
|-
|22
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|23
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|24
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|
|
|-
|25
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|26
|{{yes}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|27
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|28
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|29
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|30
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|31
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|32
|{{yes}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|33
|{{yes}}
|N/A
|N/A
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|-
|34
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|35
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|36
|{{yes}}
|
|
|
|
|-
|37
|{{yes}}
|N/A
|N/A
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|-
|38
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|
|-
|39
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|
|-
|40
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|
|-
|41
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|
|
|-
|42
|{{yes}}
|N/A
|N/A
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|-
|43
|{{yes}}
|N/A
|N/A
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|-
| 44
|{{yes}}
|N/A
|N/A
|{{yes}}
|{{yes}}
|}

==== 1-13 ====

* A flyer advertising '''Minicon 1''' has been digitized, transcribed and posted on the web. This may be the closest thing to a program book. We don't know of any other documents associated with Minicon 1, although it's possible there were others. It was a 4.5 hour con.
* '''Minicon 2''' probably had a program book since this was a full-weekend convention, but who knows? For now, a flyer advertising it is the closest thing we know of. It has been digitized and transcribed. The transcription has been posted to the web. We need to check with Jim Odbert about his art.
* The '''Minicon 3''' program book hasn't been scanned, but here's what it needs by way of copyright checks:
** Tom Foster for the cover art
* The '''Minicon 4''' program book is digitized, transcribed, and the text-version is posted on the web. To post complete scans, we need to copyright check art by:
** Jim Odbert
** Jack Gaughan
** Jim Schumeister
* The '''Minicon 5''' program book is digitized and posted on the web (although not yet linked to).
** The cover art is by Tom Foster and needs to be copyright checked. Until then, it is on the web with this removed.
* The '''Minicon 6''' program book is not in the archives. Do you have a copy?
* The '''Minicon 7''' program book is not in the archives. Do you have a copy?
* The '''Minicon 8''' program book is not scanned; here are the people who we would need consent from to post it on the web in its entirety:
** Kelly Freas (art)
** Jim Odbert (art)
* The '''Minicon 9''' program book is not scanned; here are the people who we would need consent from to post it on the web in its entirety:
** Waller (? going from the signature) (art)
* The '''Minicon 10''' program book is not scanned; here are the people who we would need consent from to post it on the web in its entirety:
** Gordon Dickson [a challenge]
** Denny Lien

==== 15-17, 14, 19, 18 ====

* The '''Minicon 16''' program book is not scanned, but here's a list of people who would need to consent for a full web posting:
**RayAllard [who might have a space in his name, but that's not how it appears]
**J.J. Mars (art)
**Lee Pelton (bio)
**Del Monie (? reading the signature) (art)
**Jim Young (bio)
**Dave Wixon (bio)
**Frank Stodolka (bio)
**Fred Haskell (bio)
* The '''Minicon 14''' program book is digitized and posted on the web (although not yet linked to).
** We do not have sufficient rights to allow Creative Commons licensing of the book in its entirety [DETAILS NEEDED]

==== 20-26 ====

* The '''Minicon 20''' program book is digitized and an incomplete version is posted on the web (although not yet linked to). Copyright answers are needed for:
** James P Hogan GoH text attributed to Gerri Balter and Herman Schouten
** Gafia text attributed to Jeanne Mealy
** Stu Shiffman art on page 21
** Foote the Hermit art on page 10
** "Exercizes you can do at Minicon" by Matthew B Tepper
** Kara Dalkey and Jerry Stearns on each other as toastmasters
** "Patronizing the Arts" by Kara Dalkey
** "A Modest Proposal" by Marianne Hageman
** '''Yike. We're never going to find all of those people. Maybe we should just post the cover and programming schedule...'''
* The '''Minicon 21''' program book is digitized and an incomplete version is posted on the web. We need copyright answers for:
** "Thrilling Wombat Stories" on page 13ff by Terry A Garey
** "I Have Always Counted on the Consuite of Strangers" by David Charles Cummer, page 18
** Diane Duane text by Pamela Dean on page 28
** Terri Windling text by Will Shetterly on page 30
** John M Ford text on page 30 by Emma Bull
** PC Hodgell text on page 31 by Eleanor Arnason
** Phyllis Eisenstein text on page 31 by Scott Imes (hrm...)
** Art on page 7 by Steve Fastner
** Art on page 13 by Kara Dalkey
** Art on page 17 by Reed Waller
** Art on page 35 by Foote the Hermit
** Art on page 37 by Jim Odbert
** Art on back cover by Rich Larson
** '''see comment on Minicon 20 book above...'''
* ''Minicons 22-23 go here''
* The '''Minicon 24''' program book is scanned, but not yet processed.
* The '''Minicon 26''' program book is not scanned, but here's the list of people that would still need to give their consent for a full web posting:
** Fred Levy Haskell (photo)
** Jeff Schalles (bio)
** Stu Shiffman (art)

==== 27-33 ====

* The '''Minicon 32''' program book is not scanned, but here's a list of contributers that would still need to be checked before a full web posting:
**Rob Berry
**Thomas Juntunen
**Loren Botner
**Phyllis Eisenstein
**Jerry Stearns
**Greg Johnson
**Kathy Routliffe
**Tappan King and/or Beth Meacham
**Jason Parker
* The '''Minicon 33''' program book (or souvenir book, really) is on the web. However, the ads are overlayed with "F.P.O.", the color cover is rendered in black and white, and it is generally low quality.

==== 34-44 ====

* The '''Minicon 36''' program book is not scanned, and it is absurdly large, but here's the list of copyright checks that it would need:
** Judie Cilcain (art and text)
** Todd Cameron Hamilton
** Katya Reimann (art and text)
** Glenn Tenhoff
** Arthur Thompson (ATom) [that is verbatim how the name appears in the credits]
** Charles Urbach
** Kip Williams
** Ken MacLeod
** David Owen-Cruise
** Jo Walton
** Neil Rest
** Leslie Fish
** Irene Raun
** Avram Grumer
** Laurel Winter
** Graydon Saunders
** Alison Scott
** Bruce Schneier
** James Nicol
** Bill Higgins
** Rachael Lininger
** Fred A Levy Haskell
** Gordon Dickson [going to be tough]
** Phyllis Eisenstein
** Mary Kay Kare
** John M Ford [going to be tough]
** Ben Bova
** Joel Rosenberg
** Dave Wixon
** Peter Hentges
* The '''Minicon 37''' program book is on the web.
* The '''Minicon 38''' program book is digitized, but held up by copyright.
* The '''Minicon 39''' program book is digitized, but held up by copyright.
* The '''Minicon 40''' program book is digitized, but held up by copyright.
* The '''Minicon 41''' program book is digitized, but held up by copyright.
* The '''Minicon 42''' program book is on the web.
* The '''Minicon 43''' program book is on the web.
* The '''Minicon 44''' program book is on the web.

=== Minicon pocket programs ===

* The Minicon 33 pocket program is on the web, but:
** The outer pages are in an oddly scrambled order, no doubt due to how it was printed (the inner pages are in reading order).
** The CONvergence ad is overlayed with "F.P.O.", which is not how it appears in print.
* ''No pocket programs from Minicons 34-37 are on the web''
* The Minicon 38 pocket program is digitized, but has art that needs a copyright query.
* The Minicon 39 pocket program is digitized and ready to be posted on the web.
* The Minicon 43 pocket program, minus Wayne Barlowe's art, is on the web.
* The Minicon 44 pocket program is on the web.

=== Minicon progress reports ===

* The Minicon 31 PR1 and PR2 are on the web, although only in text format and not as mailed.
* Five issues of Minicon 32's ''Minicon Monthly'', which I guess filled the PR niche, are on the web. They imply the existence of at least one more issue which is not on the web.
* ''No Minicon 33 PRs are on the web''
* The Minicon 34 PR2 and PR3 are on the web, although in text format and not as mailed, and most of the images are broken.
* The Minicon 35 PR1 and PR2 are on the web. PR2 is in 9 separate PDFs; it would be nice to merge them.
* The Minicon 36 PR is on the web. Also the Minicon 36 flyer, which seems rather PRish.
* The Minicon 37 PR1 and PR2 are on the web.
* The Minicon 38 PR2 and PR3 are on the web.
* The Minicon 39 PR2 is on the web. The pages are in print-and-fold order; it would be nice to have them in a view-it-on-the-web order.
* ''No Minicon 40 PRs are on the web.''
* ''No Minicon 41 PRs are on the web.''
* ''The Minicon 42 PR is not on the web.''
* The Minicon 43 PR1 is on the web, PR2 is '''not'''.
* The Minicon 44 PR1 is on the web, PR2 is '''not'''.

=== Bozo Bus Tribune (Minicon at-con newsletter) ===

* All 4 issues of the Minicon 43 Bozo Bus Tribune are on the web
* All 4 issues of the Minicon 44 Medallion Hunt Bulletin (with Bozo Bug Tribune) are on the web

=== Minicon chapbooks, etc. ===

* The Minicon 38 Sue Mason chapbook is on the web.
* The Minicon 39 Deb Geisler chapbook is on the web.

=== Rune ===

None so far.

General thoughts on Registration

2008-09-01T05:43:44Z

Dd-b: Mostly stuff I've seen being a problem repeatedly

=General Thoughts On Registration=

Treasury interface is frequently an issue. I remember years of fighting about whether all checks must be seen by the treasurer, and years where we photocopied every check. There is information on the check that helps registration get the right information into the database, it's important they have this information. I've run a number of conventions quite successfully using a system where registration directly makes the deposit, and turns over records to treasury showing how many registrations of what type were in it. At that time, the registration software I wrote produced those reports.

Checks are presumably getting less common. What are current proportions of checks vs. PayPal vs. any other payment forms?

Speed in cashing peoples checks is frequently a problem. I hear people grouse about this nearly every single year. It confuses people, makes us look unorganized, and exposes the checks to opportunities for loss and theft. For Minicon 27 we set ourselves a goal for maximum time from PO Box to deposit, and essentially met it.

Confirmations should be sent relatively promptly, not just in a big batch at the end. Again, it's a question of looking organized. Given people's usual organizational skills (our members' skills), it might be a good idea to ''also'' send everybody another confirmation right before the con.

Plan the interface from registration to badge-making! Test it before the last second!

Plan ahead on whether there will be registration "packets" or not. The question comes down to how much delivering of specialized stuff to members should registration support.

Plan ahead on how to attach programming schedule labels.

(Somebody whose experience is more current than mine should talk about what we think are best practices today.)

Main Page

2008-09-01T05:35:35Z

Dd-b: Add link to general thoughts on registration