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SkepchickCon Needs Virtual and Local (Twin Cities) Volunteers!

If you are planning to come to CONvergence, thinking about coming, not planning to come but live in the Twin Cities area, or are not going to be anywhere near the Twin Cities ever for any reason, we could really use your help!

CONvergence is a sci-fi/fantasy con run annually in the Minneapolis area over July 4th weekend. If you have never been, I highly recommend it. It is unlike any con out there in many ways, including the culture of a small con even though attendance is well over 5,000; nightly themed party rooms; a range of events, from panels and hands-on activities to movie screenings, gaming, and even cricket lessons; and free food and drink because the volunteers running the con care that much about the well-being of attendees.

At this con, the Skepchick Network hosts several panels, hour-long activities (called Sandboxes), short activities in the Skepchick Space Lab as well as salons on focused topics and a nightly party. All of this is part of SkepchickCon at CONvergence, and it is such a huge undertaking in and of itself that we need our own volunteers to help run it.

Virtual Volunteering
For those who aren’t local and can’t make it to the con but who still want to pitch in, we need volunteers to help with video editing now and after the con as well as transcription of these videos.

Sandbox kids
Photo by Jamie Bernstein
Local Volunteering
If you live in or near the Twin Cities area and want to help out, whether you’re attending the con or not, we need volunteers for the following:

  • Setting up the Skepchick Space Lab: Loading and unloading. setting up and decorating the room–Wed., July 1, late morning through the evening (help at any time is appreciated).
  • Breaking down the Skepchick Space Lab: Cleanup, loading, unloading–Sun., July 5, morning
  • Hanging fliers in the con hotel–evening, Wed., July 1
  • Shuttling people from airport to hotel and vice versa–July 1-6 (mostly on Wed., Thurs., and Sun.)
  • Picking up and delivering ice in the evenings, Thurs.-Sat., July 2-4
  • Help with prep for activities and designs (such as signs, art) for Space Lab–June, dates TBD
Party room at night
Photo by Adam Isaak
Volunteering at the Con
Any of the above, plus:

  • Leading or helping with Space Lab science and art activities during the day–Thurs.-Sat., July 2-4
  • Help with Space Lab room transitions between activities and salons and between salons and nighttime parties (moving tables and chairs and supplies, mainly)–Thurs.-Sat., July 2-4
  • Greeting and traffic control during the day in the Space Lab
  • Bartending, test tube washing, ID checking, trash runs, cleanup, etc., during the nighttime parties–early evening higher accessibility party and later party, Thurs.-Sat., July 2-4
  • Videography and photography throughout the con–Thurs.-Sun., July 2-5
  • General runners, such as to get something for our guests on panels, etc., throughout the con–Thurs.-Sun., July 2-5

If you are interested in helping out with any of this, even a small part, every bit of help is really appreciated. Please contact me at SkepchickEvents [at] gmail.com.

If you can’t volunteer or simply do not want to but would like to contribute, every dollar helps! Please see our weekly Auctions for Science or donate via Paypal:

Click here to donate to SkepchickCon!

Thank you for your support! I’ll post videos and transcriptions of last year’s panels as well as more details about our specific panels, activities, and more in the coming days and weeks.

Melanie Mallon

Melanie is a freelance editor and writer living in a small town outside Minneapolis with her husband, two kids, dog, and two cats. When not making fun of bad charts or running the Uncensorship Project, she spends her time wrangling commas, making colon jokes, and putting out random dumpster fires. You can find her on Twitter as @MelMall, on Facebook, and on Instagram.

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