Best fantasy convention on the block
[This was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008.]
Dead Dog Party tonight in rooms 1117 & 1118.
Smoking Room will be 1206 (same as last night).
Music Party tonight at 9pm in the room formerly known as the Dealer’s Room (the Fuji Room on the second floor).
The traditional post-con sushi outing (also known as Fish) will be on Monday at 12:30pm at Sakura in Saint Paul (350 Saint Peter Street in St. Paul, MN 55102 | 651-224-0185). [Directions/Map]
[This was posted on Friday of the convention.]
Tonight’s party is located in the Fireside/Cortland rooms; the registration table is outside of those rooms. If you enter the hotel from the lobby, go up the stairs and you’ll find the rooms near the top of the stairs (to the left). If you enter the hotel from the ramp, you’ll want to walk down the hallway, past the elevators, and just keep on going ’til you go past the stairs– the room is on your right. From the elevators, the room is to the right on the right, past the top of the stairs. There is another group having a shindig of some sort right nearby, one hopes you can figure out which group is which!
On Saturday and Sunday, programming will be in the rooms they call “The Grove” (which is what happens when you combine the rooms known separately as Beacon, Duchess, Regent, and Waldorf). From the parking ramp, you walk past the pool area and the rooms will be on your left (before you get to the elevators, if you get to them, you’ve gone too far). From the elevator area, you go left down the hall toward the pool, the rooms are on the right. Registration will be outside of those rooms on Saturday and Sunday. From the stairs, you’ll go right, past the elevators, down the hall and they’ll be on your right. The Dealer’s Room is in the Fuji Room which is across the hall from programming.
The consuite is on the 13th floor in the Presidential Suite (a.k.a. 1321). There’ll be a sign near the elevators pointing the way. Despite what it says in the elevators, you shouldn’t need a room key to get to the 13th floor this weekend.
Descriptions and panelists have been added to the Programming Schedule page. I think these are fairly close to being final, but of course things can change at the con and I suspect such changes will be announced and/or posted somewhere.
If you have suggested corrections or additions for the website, please comment on entries on the website or post to the Fourth Street Livejournal.
The Fourth Street Livejournal is a great place to post if you have questions or comments or are looking to connect with other folks who are going to the convention. I see there’s a “Roll Call” post there already, a good place for out-of-towners in particular to check in when they arrive in town (assuming you want people to know you’re here!). The LJ community is a good place to post if you’re looking to hook up with people to go out to eat or see Serenity or check out the nature preserve or the Mall of America or anything like that.
When looking for the latest info about the convention or people at the con, check our website and the LJ community.
Fourth Street is at the Holiday Inn Select in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Please don’t confuse it with the Holiday Inn Express in Bloomington, Minnesota which is on American Blvd less than two miles from the convention hotel.
The Holiday Inn Select (con hotel) is taller and closer to the airport and nature preserve; the Holiday Inn Express is shorter and closer to the Mall of America.
The Holiday Inn Select (Fourth Street hotel) has an attached parking ramp, the Holiday Inn Express just has a parking lot.
On this map, the convention hotel (Holiday Inn Select) is point A and the Holiday Inn Express is point B.
I’ve created a page that covers Directions and Parking and stuff like that. Have updated it and updated it some more and I imagine I’ll update it another time before the convention starts. Hope this is in time to be useful.
The page has directions to the hotel, parking info, links to bus and light rail info, hotel shuttle schedule, links to Department of Transportation sites where you can find info on road closures, and so on.
I still need to confirm the hotel shuttle schedule with the hotel, I’ll do that on Thursday. Will note it in the shuttle section once I’ve confirmed it.
If you have info on road closures or detours that would be helpful, please note them in comments on this post or send them in via the web form. If you’re driving to the convention and will be traveling through areas affected by flooding, I recommend checking with the appropriate Department of Transportation website to see which roads and bridges are closed or restricted.
Temperatures this week in Minneapolis have been in the 70s, mostly. Forecast calls for highs of 80-83 this weekend. Fahrenheit, that is.
For weather info, check out: StarTribune Weather page, KARE 11 Weather, KSTP Weather, WCCO Weather, and/or the Weather Underground MSP page.
There’s a really excellent nature preserve within walking distance or a short drive of the hotel. If you find yourself with spare time and want to spend it outdoors, check out the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The Long Meadow Lake Unit is the trail closest to the hotel. (If you don’t find time to check it out now or want to see it again later, we’ll be going on a nature walk there in the Fall during Convivial 3.)
Friday
Registration: Noon - 6:30 p.m. (possibly running later if there’s demand)
Programming: 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. (with a party starting at 9 p.m. with readings at 9:30 p.m.)
Dealer’s Room: 3 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Consuite: Opens at 5 p.m. and stays open all night or until the last person crashes.
Saturday
Registration: Opens at 9 a.m. and stays open as long as it’s needed
Programming: 9:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Dealer’s Room: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Consuite: It’s pretty much open all convention (except when it’s not)
Sunday
Registration: Won’t be open.
Programming: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Dealer’s Room: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Consuite: Closes at 4 p.m.
A note about Registration
The Registration table will be located outside the room we’re using for programming on the second floor. On Friday, the room we’re using is the Fireside/Cortland Room; on Saturday and Sunday programming will be in the Grove room. There should be signs directing a person to where things are.
When Registration isn’t officially open, you’ll still be able to register; we’ll put a note or sign on the table indicating where to go or who to find to do so.
A note about the Consuite
The consuite will be located in the Presidential Suite on the 13th floor of the hotel. It officially opens at 5 p.m. on Friday, if you wander up there earlier than that you’ll be expected to help set things up, though I don’t think we actually get the room ’til 3 p.m. on Friday.
Once the consuite opens, it will stay open for the whole convention, more or less. The consuite may close late at night or early in the morning if there’s no one around to mind it.
I’m guessing that help could be used closing down the consuite on Sunday before it closes at 4 p.m.
There will be a Dead Dog Party at the hotel on Sunday night, but it won’t be in the consuite– it will be in two rooms yet to be determined. We’ll have info at the convention. (If you’re new to conventions and haven’t heard the term “Dead Dog Party” before, it’s just the party that happens after the convention is officially over; a time to wind down and consume leftover food and drink.)
Programming Notes
It’s possible panels may run long, the announced end time for programming each day is an educated guess.
While panels conclude at 6 p.m. on Friday, there’s a party on Friday night starting at 9 p.m. in the same room which will include readings by Guest of Honor Elizabeth Bear and other nifty people.
I have just now emailed registration confirmations to those that we had an email address for. You are not required to print and bring these with you or anything, but receiving one can sometimes feel nice, and like you’re not forgotten.
I’ve been making all sorts of updates to the website this week, will be making more all the time.
A preliminary Programming Schedule is online. So far it has the titles and times for program items– I believe Steve is still working on finalizing who is on each panel. The Programming page has also been updated with a list of panelists and some other details.
There’s now a page about the Dealer’s Room; it includes a list of the folks who’ll be selling stuff at the convention (and links to their websites when known); that page also now includes the hours and location of the Dealer’s Room.
This is all still somewhat subject to change, but the general hours likely won’t change much at this point.
Friday
It looks like Opening Ceremonies will be at 3 p.m. on Friday with programming running on Friday from 3 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. The big party on Friday night starts at 9pm with readings starting at 9:30 p.m.
Seems safe to assume that registration will open at least a couple hours before Opening Ceremonies; will let you know time and place as soon as they’re confirmed.
Consuite opens at 5 p.m.
Saturday
On Saturday, programming will run from 9:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. or so with a lunch break from 12:15 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. and a dinner break from 6 p.m. ’til 8 p.m.
Sunday
Programming will likely run from 10 a.m. ’til 4 p.m. or so with a break from 11:30 a.m. ’til 12:30 p.m. for lunch. Closing Ceremonies are set for 3:30 p.m.
The consuite will close at 4 p.m. though we will have a room or suite for a Dead Dog Party at the hotel on Sunday night.
Elise Matthesen is hosting a special event on Friday night of the convention. You should really click on the link and read all about the event if you haven’t yet (or haven’t lately); the bit that Elise wanted me to remind you of is:
There will be an invitation in your convention packet, but I’m telling you now so you can plan ahead and bring any shinies you have to our documentation project to be photographed for my portfolio. (See below.)
And here’s the “below” part:
Heather Corinna will be photographing those who wish, because part of the goodness will be documenting people and their shinies for my portfolio. If you will be wearing a named necklace or other named piece, please contact Elise before the event in order to reserve a photo time. Heather will also be available on-site earlier that day and possibly on Saturday for a limited number of author photos and other work; please ask Elise for Heather’s contact information if you wish to arrange a session.
So when packing for Fourth Street, don’t forget to bring any fabulous Lioness jewelry you may own; you may also want to get in touch with Elise before the convention.
Elise is also now accepting pre-orders for a chapbook inspired by her jewelry, to be delivered during Fourth Street. The chapbook includes work by by all sorts of cool people, including Fourth Street Guest of Honor Elizabeth Bear.
We surely don’t want to lure people away from all the fun at Fourth Street, but we figure out-of-towners might want to hear about some of the other things going on in the Twin Cities while they’re here.
Here’s a list of just a few of the cool things we know about that are going on in the Twin Cities before, during, and after the convention:
There’ll be three showings of Serenity at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis as part of Can’t Stop The Serenity. The screenings are on Thursday at 9:30 at night, and Friday and Saturday nights at 11:30 p.m.
The special exhibit “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination” will be at the Science Museum of Minnesota from June 13th through August 24th.
Paul Score and the Fabulous Lorraine will be playing shows on the nights of June 20th and 21st at Charlie’s Pub in Stillwater, Minnesota. You can find out more in their blog. Please note that Stillwater is more than 35 miles away from the convention hotel and it may take longer than you think to move between the two locations due to fun road repair stuff.
The Tim Malloys (Adam Stemple, Johnny Sjogren, and friends) play at Kieran’s Irish Pub in downtown Minneapolis on Friday and Saturday, June 20th and 21st.
Bedlam has a regular Tuesday gig in the Twin Cities. These days Bedlam is: John Sjogren, Paul Regge, and Mark Sterling.
The Minnesota Twins play two series at the Metrodome from June 17th through June 22nd; they’ll be playing the Nationals and the Diamondbacks. If anyone decides to go to a game and wants info or advice (and possibly even tickets), get in touch with season ticket holder Laurel Krahn.
These are just a few items we know about, feel free to pass along more suggestions and additional data. Most locals are happy to answer questions about where things are, best ways to get to them, and that sort of thing.
[Yes, we’ll have more information about the convention itself up here soon. Your humble webmaster is pestering people for information about the program schedule, registration location/hours, and all that good stuff.]
