Ro-Con on a Ro-Cation

Southeast Connecticut is a very difficult place to find a venue for a small con. There are great venues for large cons, but not much for a con of this size. This could be overcome by a great deal of staff time or an infusion of money, but in 2018, we lack both of these options.

As such, we'll be holding off on a 2018 Ro-Con and will take a run at in 2019 when certain anticipated changes in Michael and Amy's personal and professional life should liberate some additional resources of time and money.

We may still have a Ro-Laxicon in July. That is to be determined.

If you have thoughts or would like to help out with any of our events, please email us at michael@ro-con.org

Thank you for your interest, and stay tuned!

A Lost Venue, Cancelling Ro-Con, and the Ro-Laxicon

It is with deepest regret that we must announce that we are cancelling Ro-Con 3. For the full background, you can read the explanation that Amy Whitehouse wrote here.

In short, due to issues with our intended venue Upward Hartford (formerly Innovate Hartford) that occurred too late to move the convention, we will not be able to run a the full convention that we had planned to run.

Fortunately, Foundry 66, a wonderful innovation center run by the Norwich Community Development Corporation, has agreed to host a 1-day "Ro-Laxicon" on Saturday, July 22nd. Unlike Upward Hartford, they are fully engaged in this event, offering to promote it for us, and believing that it will be an excellent addition to their programming and community.

Due to the nature of the smaller event, we lack the budget for guests, so Daniel Kimmel and V. Nigel Taylor will not be appearing at the Ro-Laxicon, although we will be inviting them for Ro-Con 4 if they are available, because we were excited to see them.

We are, however, still inviting all the panelists to attend and we are waiting to hear who will be able to attend. From that will build a panel track.

For any attendees who have already paid for Ro-Con 3, you will have the option of a full refund or rolling over your admission to Ro-Con 4, which will be July 20-22, 2018 at a hotel which is already built and has air conditioning to be determined. If you roll over your admission, you will be able to attend the Ro-Laxicon at no additional charge.

For anyone else admission to the Ro-Laxicon, which will run from 10 AM until late night, is $10 pre-registration and $15 at the door.

On behalf of the entire Ro-Con staff, we apologize for the necessity to do this, but we felt very strongly that it would not be possible to restructure the event at this late date and still have an event worthy of the Ro-Con name.

Regarding the Venue
Foundry66 is located at 66 Franklin Street, Norwich, CT in downtown Norwich. There is plenty of free on-street parking and a small parking lot. We will be making arrangements with a local hotel for a special Ro-Laxicon rate, but unfortunately, there are no hotels in walking distance of the facility.

For any questions, you may email Michael Whitehouse.

You may pre-register through our Ticket Leap Page.

Musical Guest V. Nigel Taylor

Ro-Con is proud to announce that Nigel Taylor, lead singer of Platform One, will be doing an acoustic set for us on Saturday of Ro-Con. While you may know Platform One for their synthpop music, Nigel brings a delightful combination of storytelling and unplugged music that you won't want to miss.

You still have time to get the $25 pre-registration rate, so be sure to join us.

Ro-Con 3 Planning Underway

The planning for Ro-Con 3 is well underway!

Media Critic Guest of Honor
Dan Kimmel

Ro-Con is excited to announce that we will be the first ever scifi convention to have a Media Critic Guest of Honor with Dan Kimmel! Dan brings fun and humor to discussion of media and literature past and present and we are excited to have him.

Do you want to be involved in Ro-Con? Click the tabs above to sign up as a panelist or vendor. We are also accepting applications for performers through the same programming form as panelists.

An Awesome Con Gone By!

That was an awesome first Ro-Con. Thank you to everyone who came and helped make it awesome. We'll have a more comprehensive thank you after we recover a bit. It was wonderful to have you all help us run the hottest con around!

Ro-Con 3 will be July 21-23, 2017, tentatively at the same hotel, but after they have had a year to remodel, renovate, and install the AC. There will also be air conditioning.

We are still working on all the details, but we have selected a Guest of Awesome whom we will announce shortly. We will also have an Historical Inventor of Awesome: Willis Carrier, the inventor of the air conditioner.

Come back next year for the coolest con around.

If you like to get a jump on things like we do, the panelist application for Ro-Con 3 is ready. Click here for it.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, we'll have air conditioning in the hotel next year.

Ro-Con will be hosting two PokeHunts during the convention. The hours are due to the expected popularity. We don't want to draw attendance away from all the other great programming.

There are two ways to win: Most total Pokemon caught and Most different Pokemon caught.

Here's the rules:
1) All players must start at the Ro Desk at 9:00. No prior sign up necessary.
2) Must be registered for Ro-Con to participate.
3) Players must be back at the Ro Desk for counting by 11:30 for their captures to qualify.
4) Captures will be counted based on the Journal in the Pokemon Go app, and only captures between 9:00 and 11:00 will qualify.
5) In the event of a tie, winner will be based on highest CP captured.
6) Breaking any laws or otherwise making a nuisance of yourself will be grounds for disqualification from the Hunt.
7) Cheating, hacking the app, or interfering with other competitors will be grounds for disqualification from the Hunt.

There will be prizes. They will be awesome. We haven't confirmed what they are yet.

The Schedule is Here!

While there may be minor modifications, the schedule is final enough to share with the masses!

The schedule is organized as one track of panels (multiple participants), one track of presentations (focused single presenter), plus some round tables and an outdoor demo or two that may involve swords. Additionally, we have a game/food/consuite room and a vendor room with 12 awesome vendors.

See the schedule grid