Minn-StF Wiki - User contributions [en]

Minicon Parties

2009-05-14T00:24:17Z

Richpri: Initial Page

Minicon has often hosted parties at other Science Fiction conventions. This is traditional.

If you wish to host a Minicon party at your home town convention then read on.
But note that the purpose of any such party is to promote Minicon not to embarrass it!

== Running a Party ==

'''''Matthew Strait should be credited for most of this section.'''''

So, running a party. First, there are no regulations to follow or anything. (Minicon these days hardly has any official policies.) Just common sense stuff like "please don't get us in trouble".

Here's what we do:

Decorate the room with Peeps paraphernalia and things that say Minicon and/or Minn-stf. It's not necessary that all of our parties be Peeps-themed, but (unless you have a lot of other decorations) it's probably a good idea. Minicon has some bins of party stuff that they may let you use.

Cover the table/desk with a tablecloth to protect it, primarily from blog.

Put out some combination of cheese, meat (summer sausage, generally), crackers, candy, cookies, vegetables. Don't feel constrained by what you've seen at our parties in the past; the idea is just to have munchies.

Make blog. The recipe is [[Blog Recipe|here]].

The canonical recipe has vodka in it, but we always leave that out (making it "St Paul blog") and have vodka on the side for people to add or not add as suits them. The vodka can be a major fraction of the cost of the party if people like their blog very strong. I buy Smirnoff, which runs $25/1.5 liters around here, I think. I'm not sure if there's a cost effective way to buy one nights' worth. If you have no use for leftover vodka, it would be OK to skip it entirely.

The amount of blog that gets consumed is wildly unpredictable, even given previous experience at a particular convention. I can tell you only that between 1/2 and 3 batches will get drunk. But I don't think people get too sad if it runs out after the second batch, so I'd bring enough for that.

Occasionally we have also brought a cooler with cans of soda and/or beer, but we have found that people hardly take the soda (presumably they have gotten enough from the con suite) and having beer means we have to watch the beer *and* the vodka. Some people do really like getting beer, though.

You may sell memberships, but there's no expectation of it. we have found that very few people actually buy memberships in a party even if we actively pitch. (By "very few" I mean an average of perhaps one membership per 5 parties.) Please do have registration forms available (and easily visible), but if you don't want to handle Minicon money, just tell them to mail them in or use the on-line registration. If you do end up handling Minicon money, I think the easiest way to deal with it is for you to mail the registration and payment on to our PO box.

We put up 4-10 posters around the hotel to advertise the party. Sometimes these attempt to be clever, sometimes they just say "Minicon, Room XXX, Friday night". If your room ends up being in the middle of a row of parties, this is probably skippable, but if it's off down the end of a hall away from the action, it's important to do.

== Parties at Chicago conventions ==

Hi, I'm Rich Price. My wife, Sharon, and I intend to run Minicon 45 parties at at least two of the three regional conventions in the Chicago area. We would welcome your help in this effort!

To contact us, just drop a note on my [[User_talk:Richpri|talk page]] with your phone number or email address.

=== Duckon ===
The Minicon party at Duckon will be on Friday night, It will start around 9 PM. More details will be coming soon.

Main Page

2009-05-14T00:02:58Z

Richpri: Added Party page link.

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== Minnstf Links ==
*[http://www.mnstf.org Mnstf web page]
*[http://www.mnstf.org/records/ Minnstf Records Page] - Bylaws, older Board minutes, tax records

;Recent Minnstf Board Minutes in Wiki format
* [[minutes_oct26_2007]]
* [[minutes_dec15_2007]]

=== Minnstf History ===
[http://www.smithway.org/history/fathers1.html The Floundering Fathers Panel] - An interview with Minnstf founders Nate Bucklin, Ken Fletcher, Fred Haskell, Frank Stodolka, and Jim Young, circa 1977

== 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.]]

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== Minicon stuff ==
=== Current Minicon Webpages ===
* [[Minicon45_Programming|Programming ideas for Minicon 45]]
* [[Minicon_Parties|Hosting Minicon parties at other conventions]]

=== Previous Minicons ===
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon44/ Minicon 44] (2009)
* [[Programming ideas for Minicon 44]]
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon43/ Minicon 43] (2008)

=== 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!]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_past_Minicons Wikipedia list of past Minicons]- 3 lines for each con
*[[Minicon mini-history]] - quick summary of recent Minicons including name of chair and attendance
*[http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/history/ Minicons 1-30, detailed summary]
*[http://www.mnstf.org/minicon/history/minicon_history.html Fred's Minicon history, 1-39] - includes dates, hotel, GOH, and attendance

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=== Resources for con-running ===

==== Running a small convention or convention-related party ====
* [[Small_Convention ]] - Tips on planning and running a small SF convention
* [[Hosting the Minicon Pool Party]]

==== 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]].

====Programming====
* [[Minicon45_Programming|Programming ideas for Minicon 45]]

* [[Room requirements for Minicon]]
* [[Scheduling notes]]
* [[The seasons of programming]]
* [[Supplies needed for Programming]]
* [[Who's good for which programming]]
* [[Documents or database?]]
; Historical
* [[Programming ideas for Minicon 44]]
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon43/programming/ Minicon 43 Programming Notes]
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon43/programming_grid Minicon43 grid]
* [http://www.mnstf.org/minicon43/programbook/ Minicon43 Program Book]

===== 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.
*[http://dreamshark.com/Minicon/moderator.html Moderator Tip Sheet (HTML)]
*[http://dreamshark.com/Minicon/MODTIPS.TXT Moderator Tip Sheet (text)]

====Registration====
* [[General thoughts on Registration]]

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

User talk:Straitm

2009-05-08T01:47:52Z

Richpri: New page: Matt: If you still want help running the Minicon party at Duckon then email me at rich-at-gandalf.ws.

Matt:

If you still want help running the Minicon party at Duckon then email me at rich-at-gandalf.ws.

User:Richpri

2009-05-08T01:42:47Z

Richpri: New page: I am Richard Price. I live in a Chicago suburb and would like to help run the Minicon party at Duckon.

I am Richard Price.
I live in a Chicago suburb and would like
to help run the Minicon party at Duckon.