CONfabulation

CONfab 2023

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 12:21:22 GMT

Posted by: confab_mod

Happy 2023, CONfab friends!

We’re very excited to announce that after 3 years, we’ll be moving back to an IRL con this October! (Yes, definitely for real this time!) We’re headed back to our old home, the Springhill Suites Chicago O’Hare, on October 19-22. Registration, rooms, and COVID policies will be coming soon!

However, as much as we want to see your faces in October, we know that an IRL con is not possible for many of you for a multitude of reasons. That’s why we’ve decided to still continue putting on Virtual CONfab! Instead of occurring in October like the past few years, Virtual CONfab will be April 29-30. Registration opens January 16th, so start thinking about what programming you’d like to see!

Thank you for your support over the last few chaotic years. We as a con would not continue to exist today without the time, energy, and feedback that you have put into our virtual cons. If you have enjoyed your time at Virtual CONfab (or the IRL cons before!), we would greatly appreciate you spreading the word about us to a friend. With two cons, 2023 is shaping up to be our biggest year yet, and we can’t wait to have you all along for the ride!

Love,
CONfabulation Con Comm 2023

EDIT: We've adjusted the registration date for the con as Conline is doing some upgrading this weekend.

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Registration is Open for CONfab 2021

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 15:47:41 GMT

Posted by: countessmry

We’re happy to announce that registration for CONfabulation 2021 is open! As much as we would love to see your shining faces in person again, we’ve decided to stay online this year utilizing platforms like Conline, Discord, and Zoom. However, that means that anyone from around the world is welcome to join us this October 22-24!

Our registration price this year is $20 to help cover costs for things like pro Zoom accounts and web hosting. Anything leftover will be rolled over into our 2022 con, which will once again be in person at our home at the Springhill Suites Chicago O’Hare on October 20-23, 2022.

We will soon be opening up programming submissions, so start thinking about what you’d like to discuss! Found a new fandom in the past year? What new trends in relationships and tropes would you like to discuss? Are you willing to help teach attendees about making different fanworks other than fic? We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Registration Conline Link

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Auction postponed

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 01:15:34 GMT

Posted by: countessmry

Hello friends! Due to recent world events we are going to postpone the auction for CONfab. We should have more information for you later this week. Thank you so much to all of the people offered up stuff. We will be contacting you with updates as soon as we have them! ❤️❤️❤️

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Auction dates extended

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 01:56:27 GMT

Posted by: countessmry

Hello fandom friends!
Due to some requests from our fellow fan peeps we’ve extended the time period for people to submit their fannish offerings. You can still go here to submit your entries until March 14th!! Thank you so much for helping out our small convention! You have our deepest love!

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Brainstorming for Auction Items

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 22:05:22 GMT

Posted by: popfly

As we wait for the auction sign ups to open on February 15th, let’s talk about all the stuff that we’re hoping people will offer in the auction.

Now’s the time to speak up about whatever specific fannish wish you’ve been holding in your heart. Have a fic you’ve been hoping someone will write just for you? Or maybe you’ve been yelling for a decade about how perfect a Draco Malfoy character study fanvid set to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” would be and need someone to make it for you. Is there a blank wall in your bedroom or office crying out for some great fanart?

Comment on this post with your idea, and as creators are figuring out what to offer when they sign up they can scroll through and maybe one of them will go, “Oh! I totally want to make a perfect Draco Malfoy character study fanvid set to Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Crazy Train,’ I shall go offer that!”*

*Your idea can be more vague than that, we won’t hold it against you.

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Auction FAQ and Dates

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 04:51:53 GMT

Posted by: countessmry

Dates

Feb 15 - March 14: Sign ups are open for offering items for the auction
March 15-31: Bidding is live

March 31: Bid winners contacted to donate

April 30: Donations to CONfab due

May 1st: Winner is chosen and announced

All creations due by CONfab 2020 (Dates TBA SOON!!)

How does the CONfab Auction work?

Creators will offer items for bidding and then people who want those items will bid on them. We’ll be making separate offer posts for each media type/category. Creators will comment on those posts with the item(s) they’re offering from February 15th to March 14th. People will then be able to bid within the comment thread starting on March 15th until March 31st. Further instructions on bidding will be included in the offer posts.

What items can be offered in the CONfab Auction?

Art (Digital, painting, sculpture, etc)

Crafts (knitting, cross-stitch, collages, etc.)

Fan Labor (Beta, editors, link wrangling, Brit-picking etc.)

Fic

Podfic

Vids

How and when is the winner of the free badge chosen?

We’ll use a random number generator to choose the winner, and will announce on April 1st.

How many things can I offer at auction?

Three total, across all categories. If you’re offering something small we can have some wiggle room on this, but we want to be sure that all items are finished and delivered by CONfab 2020.

How will the money be spent?

All of the money from the auction will go to pay for the adjusted cost of the meeting rooms at the hotel, as that cost has nearly doubled from previous years. We’ll also be paying for the winner’s badge out of the proceeds.

What if I win and I already paid to register/can’t attend the con?

You can either choose a friend to transfer the prize badge to, or you can refuse it and let us draw a new winner. You will also have the option to apply your registration to CONfab 2021 and use the prize badge for yourself for CONfab 2020.

I have questions!

Email our team at info@confabcon.com or comment on this post.

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CONfab Auction

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 07:15:50 GMT

Posted by: countessmry

Every year we try to put together the best convention for the lowest price we can possibly offer. Year over year the prices change, but this year we’ve had a big jump in hotel costs that would be difficult to offset at our current attendee numbers. Rather than passing off all of the cost changes to our attendees, we thought we’d raise money to help deal with the increase. As it stands, the badge price is going up to $150, and we didn’t want to take it any higher.

Hence the auction was born!! You get to find new treasures and help the convention continue on. Anyone who donates to the auction will be entered into a drawing for a free badge for CONfab 2020. (Unable to attend the con? You can still donate!) EDIT: This is a pre-con auction.

Not only will this auction help us run a great convention, but it will also allow one person to attend the convention for free and help us to spread the word about CONfab and hopefully grow our little fandom family.

Submissions of items for bid, provided by any willing member of the fannish community, will begin posting Feb 15, 2020, and additional dates and information will be posted shortly.

If you have any questions please comment below or email us at info@confabcon.com!

FYI - The auction is going to be changing this year. Due to COVID-19 we are adjusting both the timing and the scope of the auction. Please go to our website for more information.

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CONfab 2018 Programming Submissions Are Open!!

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 18:28:55 GMT

Posted by: chaneen

Submissions for programming for our second annual CONfabulation are officially open! They will stay open for a little over a month (June 1st through July 15th). Submit your ideas for the programming you want to see at the con. We can't wait to hear them! If you need help fleshing out ideas or want to find other fans to be part of your panel or group discussion, or help run your workshop, head on over to our brainstorming post! You don't need a Dreamwidth account to comment.

Our submission form can be found here. You can submit a maximum of four topics in total (multi-session or multi-hour workshops on the same topic count as one submission)! You and up to 3 other fans can be on a panel together (this includes a moderator, as panels cap out at 4 panelists), and if you would like CONfab to help you find a moderator, let us know on the form! We'd be happy to help.

If you're wondering if you have to be registered to submit programming, the answer is no. If you haven't had time to purchase your ticket, don't worry, you can still fill out the submission form.

You can find a list of all the programming that has been submitted here. We will try to keep this list updated daily. If your submission has not appeared on this list and you haven't received a confirmation email within 48 hours of submitting, please contact us.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment on this post, or email the Programming team at programming@confabcon.com.

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CONfab 2018 Brainstorming Post for Programming Submissions!

Wed, 30 May 2018 18:57:44 GMT

Posted by: chaneen

Hello fellow fanpersons, your Programming Team here with some announcements!

Programming submission time is here! We will be running submissions starting on Friday, June 1st and closing on Sunday, July 15th. We will be accepting submissions for any of our three tracks of programming: one track of panels, one of group discussions, and one of workshops. After the submission period ends, programming will be voted on and chosen by you, the attendees.

Here's a handy guide to the types of programming we have to get you started:

Panels — Programming about a topic that applies to multiple fandoms (AUs, tropes, kink, horror TV, the representation of women in canon, etc.) or a more general fandom universe that has multiple smaller fandoms that fall under its umbrella (Comics, Sports RPF, Video Games, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The CW's DC verse, etc.). Panels run for one hour, and can have up to 4 panelists, including a moderator, whose job is to keep discussion moving, and ensure that the panel stays within established time limits. If you don't want to mod your own panel, we can find someone to help you.
Group Discussions — Programming about a single fandom (Yuri on Ice, Check Please!, Critical Role, Overwatch, Stranger Things, D&D, etc.), or a niche topic within fandom. Group Discussions can be run by one person, but can have up to 2 panelists. They run for one hour and are in a round table format.
Workshops — Programming where attendees get a chance to learn something new or hone their skills. Workshop topics could include things like live beta reading, art tips and tricks, or making fannish plushies. If you submit a proposal for a workshop, you must be willing to run it. Workshop sessions run for one hour, but you may offer more than one session of your workshop across multiple days, or request a single day session of longer than one hour (in one hour blocks, only).

We look forward to hearing your amazing ideas for programming! Help make CONfab an awesome experience! We will be accepting submissions for all types of programming from everyone, whether you have registered for the con yet or not. This is your chance to get the programming you want by submitting your ideas. What are you excited about? Share it with the group!

Comment on this post with your programming ideas and questions. Find friends and strangers to help you out, and get ready to submit your proposals starting on June 1st! A new post will go up with submission instructions and a link to the submission form on Friday, June 1st.

The comments on this post will be open throughout the submission period, so feel free to use it as a resource and a sounding board for new ideas that you want a second opinion on before submitting. We can't wait to see what you come up with.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment on this post, or email the Programming team at programming@confabcon.com.

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Do you want to build a Con Com?

Fri, 18 May 2018 18:22:39 GMT

Posted by: countessmry

Hi everyone! CONfabulation is looking for a few volunteers to join our team! If you're enthusiastic about fan cons in general, or this fan con specifically, we'd love to have you. We have all of the details of each position posted on our website, here, but here's what we're looking for:

Social Media Coordinator: In order to effectively run a con, we need to have an active and lively social media presence, and we need your help to do that. If you enjoy spending your time on social media and want to help us get the word out about the con and any upcoming announcements, please apply!

Special Events Coordinator: We're looking for someone to work on our special events. You get to plan the Saturday Night Dance, Meet & Greet, Badfic Idol, and more. And yes, you get to choose the prize the winner with the "best" badfic will receive. :D If you like event planning and are cool with working with our volunteers to execute those events, send us your details!

Registration Coordinator: If organization and keeping track of deadlines is your thing, please consider applying for registration. You'd be tracking incoming registrations and payments and answering any questions that people might have about registering for CONfab. If you love keeping track of data in spreadsheets as much as I do (yes, I am a nerd :D), this is totally the position for you!

If any of these sound like something you'd be interested in doing, please send an email to dcoropin@confabcon.com. If you want to help, but aren't sure these positions are for you, send us an email anyway, and we can chat. If you want to volunteer on the ground at the con, stay tuned, because we'll have more info this summer.

We would love for you to join our all-volunteer team to help make this con in our new home of Chicago as awesome as cons past have been, and we can't wait to see you all in October! <3

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