SMOF News, volume 1, issue 27
Basic volunteering, and news in brief.
How to Convention: Basic Volunteering
COVID-19 has not only killed or disabled millions of people worldwide, it has increased the amount of stress on nearly everyone else. Many fan-run conventions are facing a dramatic loss of volunteers as people burn out from the collective pressure of everything going on in the world.
If you have a little energy to spare to help your local con keep going, here are a couple of ways to apply it.
Spontaneous volunteering
At many conventions you will find a volunteers desk where you can walk up and be assigned to something on the spur of the moment. And there almost always is something that needs doing: wrangling autograph lines, taking the “10 minutes” sign around to panel rooms, moving some boxes, et cetera.
Scheduled volunteering
If you’re willing to schedule time to do something in advance, write in to the volunteers contact for the con and say you want to help, and when you’ll be available.
If there’s a specific area you want to help with, mention that up front. If not, some things to mention that can help match you up with appropriate work are:
Can you spend a long time on your feet, or do you need to be mostly seated?
How much social interaction can you handle? Can you spend hours on end being polite to an endless stream of strangers, or would you be better off in the back office, interacting with just a few staff members?
What time of day are you at your best?
Do you have any unusual skills or certifications?
Make an estimate of how much time you can commit before writing in. Make it a pessimistic estimate. The amount of energy you have at the ideal con in your head may not match the actual amount of energy you have on day 3 or the con when you’re short on sleep from too much fun.
Once you’ve made that estimate, stick to it no matter how bad you feel about turning down the opportunity to commit more time. Saying “no” is perhaps the most important skill in volunteering. Being pushed beyond your limits does neither you nor the convention any good.
In Brief
Jeff Smith, co-founder of JustUs Productions, past chair of several StellarCons, and co-winner of the 2019 Rebel Award for services to southern US fandom, died February 28. The next con from JustUs Productions, MACE West 2022, coming up March 11-13, will go ahead as planned.
Origins Game Fair (June 8-12, Colmbus, Ohio, USA) has added Cat Rambo as a special guest.
Sakura-Con (April 15-17, Seattle, Washington, USA) has added ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D as musical guests.
Chris Barkley is looking for people to interview about the Hugo Awards at Pacificon II.
Event Calendar
Weekend of March 4-6
CoastCon 44, Biloxi, Mississippi, USA
Cleveland ConCoction 8, Aurora, Ohio, USA
Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention 10: Over the Rainbow, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Llamedos Holiday Camp 2022 – Dragon Trials (Discworld), Llanelli, UK
VancouFur 2022: EvfurQuest (anthropomorphic), Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Fur the ‘More 2022 (anthropomorphic), Arlington, Virginia, USA
Cardboard*Con (cardboard sf costuming), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
BashCon 36 (gaming), Toledo, Ohio, USA
Tennessee Game Days XV, Franklin, Tennessee, USA
Gary Con XIV (gaming), Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA
Dice Tower West (gaming), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
SaltCON Spring (gaming), Layton, Utah, USA
1d4Con 2022 (gaming), online (usually Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA)
Evercon 2022 (gaming), Rothschild, Wisconsin, USA
Prolog (LARPs), online (usually Västerås, Sweden)
Animeverse Fest (anime), Pasadena, California, USA
PeoriaCon (media), Peoria, Illinois, USA
Hill Country Comicon, New Braunfels, Texas, USA
Middle East Film & Comic Con, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Hall of Heroes Comic Con 2022, Elkhart, Indiana, USA
Weekend of March 11-13
MarsCon 2022, Bloomington, Minnesota, USA
Foolscap, online (usually Seattle, Washington, USA)
MACE West (gaming), Asheville, North Carolina, USA
ChillerCon UK (horror), Scarborough, UK
Pulp Fiction Central, Dania, Florida, USA
Blue Ridge Furfare (anthropomorphic), Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Fur Out West 5: FoWassic Park (anthropomorphic), Scarborough, Western Australia, Australia
Marmalade Dog 25 (gaming), Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
AireCon (gaming), Harrogate, UK
Granite Game Summit, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA
Stumptown Game Summit, virtual
Arizona Game Fair, Mesa, Arizona, USA
Fargo GameFest, Fargo, North Dakota, USA
GADCon 2022 (gaming), Aberdeen, Maryland, USA
MidWinter ‘22 (gaming), Haugesund, Norway
Protospiel Knoxville (games in development), Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Louisville Arcade Expo, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
MinamiCon 27 (anime), Southampton, UK
All-Con (media), Dallas, Texas, USA
Wintercon (media), Jamaica, New York, USA
TFcon (Transformers), Burbank, California, USA
Weekend of March 18-20
MarsCon 2022, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
Clockwork Alchemy (steampunk), Burlingame, California, USA
Furnal Equinox (anthropomorphic), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Texas Furry Fiesta (anthropomorphic), Dallas, TX
Furnexion (anthropomorphic), Monterrey, Mexico
Token Con (gaming), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Zuiderspel (gaming), Veldhoven, Netherlands
Southern Board Game Festival, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
GOBweb (boardgames), virtual
Meeple Peak (boardgames), Carson City, Nevada, USA
COSCON XXXII (RPGs), Lyndora, Pennsylvania, USA
Concrete Cow (RPGs), Milton Keynes, UK
Hotlead (miniatures gaming), Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Playthrough (video games), Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Triad Anime Convention, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
Anime Detour, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Sausomecon (anime), Independence, Missouri, USA
EvilleCon 2022 (anime), Evansville, Indiana, USA
Tora-Con 2022 (anime), Rochester, New York, USA
Toronto Comicon, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Paris Manga Sci-Fi Show (media), Paris, France
CarrierCon 2022 (media), Alameda, California, USA
MondoCon 2022 Spring (media), Budapest, Hungary
DarkLight Convention 4 (Supernatural), Paris, France
Weekend of March 25-27
AggieCon 51, College Station, Texas, USA
MidSouthCon 38, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
HELIOsphere, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
FantaSci 2022: Time Warp Edition, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, USA
Consonance 2022 (music), Milpitas, California, USA
Motor City Furry Con, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA
Plattecon XXXV: The Redemption Arc (gaming), Platteville, Wisconsin, USA
GameStorm 22, Portland, Oregon, USA
Terminal City Tabletop Convention (gaming), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
WashingCon (gaming), Washington, DC, USA
Ludinord (gaming), Lille, France
Game On Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
SIMCON 43 (boardgames), Rochester, New York, USA
Adepticon 2022 (wargaming), Schaumburg, Illinois, USA
FreeCon 18 (anime), Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Nadeshicon (anime), Québec City, Québec, Canada
Banzaicon (anime), Columbia, South Carolina, USA
SwampCon 1v1 (anime), Gainesville, Florida, USA
AnimeJapan 2022, Tokyo, Japan
Zenkaikon 2022 (anime), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Anime Recharge 2022, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
ExpOtaku Almería 2022 (anime), Almería, Spain
Fluke 2022 (independent comics and zines), Athens, Georgia, USA
Revelcon 32 (media relaxacon), Houston, Texas, USA
Weekend of April 1-3
CyPhaCon 2022, Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA
Roscon-2022, Moscow, Russia
Costume-Con 40: Rogues, Royals, Renegades, Rockville, Maryland, USA
Atlanta Game Fest 37, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
LeiriaCon (gaming), Leiria, Portugal
LexiCon 2022 (gaming), Lexington, Kentucky, USA
LexiCon-IL (RPGs), Lexington, Illinois, USA
Animarathon (anime), Bowling Green, Ohio, USA
Cape Anime, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA
KokoroCon (anime), Nottingham, UK
Tokyo Alley (anime), Perth, Australia
AniFest 2022 (anime), Torrance, California, USA
FACTS (media), Ghent, Belgium
Angers Geekfest: La Culture Geek Au Féminin (media), Angers, France
Quad Cities Comic Con, Davenport, Iowa, USA
Vaca-Con (media), Vacaville, California, USA
WonderCon 2022 (media), Anaheim, California, USA
Coda
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