Steam Century is pleased to be presenting the Sixth Annual Steampunk Fashion Expo! And for the first time, we will be venturing outside the realm of steampunk and welcoming anyone whose attire goes with the CONvergence theme, British Invasion! No skits or dialog are required—it’s purely a fashion show, so don’t miss your chance to do your turn on the catwalk! We are also delighted to announce that CONvergence Guest of Honor Caitlin Blackwood will be this year’s special guest judge! Returning as our halftime entertainment will be the amazing Rana—you won’t want to miss her signature Tea Service Belly Dance!

Details on how to sign up will be available at the CON. Participants should plan to report to the Green Room at 4:00 PM for judging and rehearsal. Show starts at 5:30 PM on Friday.

We hope to see you in the audience, or better yet, on stage with us!

We are forwarding room requests to the Double Tree. You will receive a confirmation email from the Double Tree for your actual room reservation. Once you receive that confirmation, please be sure to contact the Double Tree and guarantee your room. You can do so via credit card and nothing will be charged to your credit card until you check out.

NOTE: If you do not guarantee your room, your reservation may be cancelled without notice. This is standard hotel practice.

If you use a debit card, the hotel will pre-authorize the amount of your stay when you check in, and those funds will not be available to you. This is also standard hotel procedure. Please note that if you guarantee the room via credit or debit card, and abandon your reservation without calling to cancel, the hotel will charge the first night’s stay.

Two more things of note – please call the Double Tree directly at (952) 835 – 7800 and ask for IN-HOUSE reservations in order to guarantee your room. Please do not call the 800 number and please do not follow the prompt when calling the Double Tree. Please go directly to the Operator and ask for IN-HOUSE reservations to guarantee your room, after of course you have received your confirmation.

Also, if you need to make any changes or cancel your reservation, please contact the CONvergence Hotel Team at hotel@convergence-con.org. Doing so helps us monitor our commitment to the hotel for number of nights reserved and occupancy.

And again and lastly, if you do not guarantee your room, your reservation may be cancelled. This too is standard hotel procedure.

The deadline for submissions to the Midwest Sci-Fi Short Film Festival is fast approaching. Get your entries in now!

Are you a filmmaker who lives in one of the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin?

If so, the 5th Annual Midwest Sci-Fi Short Film Festival is now accepting entries for live action or animated films under 20 minutes in the following genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Action/Adventure and Supernatural.

Submission Deadline: May 10th, 2013

Click here for details on how to submit your film.

We had hoped to have had all reservation confirmations from the hotel out by this date, but as has been the course for this year there were snags. However confirmations ARE being sent and the hotel is processing them as quickly as possible. We ask for a little more patience and we will advise once all of the confirmations have been sent.

Two more things of note – please call the Double Tree directly at (952) 835 – 7800 and ask for IN-HOUSE reservations in order to guarantee your room. Please do not call the 800 number and please do not follow the prompt when calling the Double Tree. Please go directly to the Operator and ask for IN-HOUSE reservations to guarantee your room, after of course you have received your confirmation.

Also, if you need to make any changes or cancel your reservation, please contact the CONvergence Hotel Team at hotel@convergence-con.org. Doing so helps us monitor our commitment to the hotel for number of nights reserved and occupancy.

As always if you have other questions, please contact us at hotel@convergence-con.org.

Greetings from CONvergence Programming. We’ll be invaded by the British (ahem) in just a few weeks! Here’s some good information for you:

• The programming panel schedule is being pushed out to our http://schedule.convergence-con.org site. This site will be the official schedule throughout CON, so keep it handy. Note that not all panels will be up right away.
• We are looking for moderators for panels. If you’re interested, please tell us at programming@convergence-con.org. We will only assign you to at most two panels (unless you tell us you want more). Just like panels, these count for volunteer hours.
• We are REALLY going to need programming general hosts this year. If you want to volunteer, please tell us at programming@convergence-con.org and include when you are available (our Programming FAQ page lists the shifts) Just like panels, these count for volunteer hours.

More information on programming is available at the Programming FAQ page.

We look forward to seeing all of you at the convention and we genuinely wish we could attend every panel! Thanks for helping to make CONvergence a great experience.

Your Programming Team: Amanda, Craig, Doug, and Tim.

CONvergence members! Fill out the form below for a chance to win 2 Tickets to see…

Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Best of Both Worlds

Location: AMC Arbor Lakes Theatre

Date: Thursday, April 25th

Time: 7:30 PM local time

Special Fathom Features: The Best of Both Worlds – the two-part storyline comprising the third season finale and the fourth season premiere of the beloved series Star Trek: The Next Generation®- will, for the first time ever, be seamlessly tied together as one continuous and uninterrupted story digitally restored with new CGI effects… on the big screen! Audiences will also see special clips from “Regeneration: Engaging the Borg”, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of The Best of Both Worlds.

Expected Run Time: 120 minutes
Fathom Events and CBS Home Entertainment are coming together again to celebrate Season 3 of the iconic series Star Trek: The Next Generation® in a special one night big screen event. For the first time ever,The Best of Both Worlds will be shown bigger and better as a full-length presentation only on Thursday, April 25th at 7:00 PM (local time) in select cinemas nationwide.

This not to be missed movie theater event will feature one of the most memorable moments in TV history and exclusive clips about the making of The Best of Both Worlds and Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3.

Tickets can be purchased at participating local theaters or online at: http://www.fathomevents.com/#!star-trek-best-of-both-worlds

Set in the 24th century, The Next Generation was created by Gene Roddenberry over 20 years after the original Star Trek series. The Next Generation became the longest running series of the Star Trek franchise, consisting of 178 episodes over 7 seasons. Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Best of Both Worlds is the first opportunity to see The Best of Both Worlds, one of the greatest TV episodes of all time, as a gloriously remastered full-length feature in select movie theaters nationwide.

The contest is now closed.

The Hotel Department Announces that the shuttle service for Convergence 2013 is now official.

The service, provided by the DoubleTree will be available:

Thursday July 4th – Saturday July 6th

24 Hours on an Hourly Basis

&

Sunday July 7th

12:00am – 10:00pm

The schedule is currently set to leave every hour from the DoubleTree and will include stops at The Sofitel, Crowne Plaza, Days Inn, Country Inn & Suites , Staybridge, Hampton Inn, LaQuinta and include the Dairy Queen Int’l.and Lifetouch building parking overflow lots.

We have experienced a number of unfortunate delays in processing room requests with the Double Tree, so nothing has gone out as yet to anyone. The major delay has been in the hotel needing to place a new reservationist. They now have one and so we should be able to start processing requests within the next week and hopefully be finished by the end of April. We are glad the delay is finally over!

In the next few weeks, those with Double Tree requests will receive a confirmation email from the Double Tree for your actual room reservation. Once you receive that confirmation, please be sure to contact the Double Tree and guarantee your room. You can do so via credit card and nothing will be charged to your credit card until you check out. NOTE: If you do not guarantee your room, your reservation may be cancelled without notice.

If you use a debit card, the hotel will pre-authorize the amount of your stay when you check in, and those funds will not be available to you. This is standard hotel procedure. Also note that if you guarantee the room via credit or debit card, and abandon your reservation without calling to cancel, the hotel will charge the first night’s stay. This too is standard hotel procedure.

If you have not heard from the Double Tree by May 5, 2013 contact us and we will investigate for you.

For any questions regarding your reservation, or if you need to cancel or make changes, please feel free to contact the CONvergence Hotel Team between now and 11:59 p.m. June 28, 2013. You can reach us at hotel@convergence-con.org.

Thanks again, and we look forward to seeing you this summer!

Are you a filmmaker who lives in one of the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin?

If so, the 5th Annual Midwest Sci-Fi Short Film Festival is now accepting entries for live action or animated films under 20 minutes in the following genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Action/Adventure and Supernatural.

Submission Deadline: May 10th, 2013

Click here for details on how to submit your film.