CONvergence 2023: All Dressed Up

By Ben Blanchard

CONvergence is coming up soon, and Minnesota Atheists is once again hosting the Magic School Party Room. This annual multi-genre convention has thousands of dedicated attendees every year and is a great opportunity for us to interact with a broader audience who are still generally aligned with our mission and values.

Over the past six years, we have found a good balance of programming and are prepared to have another great year, but we are missing one thing: more volunteers. As is often the case, this program has been run almost entirely by a small group of volunteers, which has been a joy, but is not very sustainable. Beyond the fact that if one of our six dedicated staff were unable to attend, we would have major difficulties, we want to spread our responsibilities so that it is an easier and more enjoyable role for everyone involved.

The Magic School Party Room is an exploration of the natural world allowing children and adults alike to revel in the experience of our favorite School Bus. Free family-friendly experiments during the day, and scientific joy and discussions over refreshments in the evening make the Magic School Party Room a fantastic way for Minnesota Atheists to interface with the greater public in a positive way while promoting science education.

We are currently looking for help in finishing the development of our programming (creating guides for the volunteers who will be hosting at the room), as well as volunteers to help curate our decorations and room design. Beyond that, during the convention, we will be looking for volunteers to help set up the room (including hauling supplies across the venue), hosting the room (especially
volunteers with STEM outreach experience or crowd management), and help in dismantling the room.

If you are interested in helping with this event, email us at Convergence@mnatheists.org or me at Ben@ MNAtheists.org.