Michael Lee
Candidate for Director of Activities
Incumbent, board member since 2008
Candidate Statement: CONvergence is one of the largest fan-run, non-profit, Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention in the world. We’re also increasingly being recognized as one of the best science fiction & fantasy conventions as well. I’ve got a lot of experience on the convention committee, and over the four years I’ve been on the board I feel like I’ve grown in my capabilities and wish to continue to serve the organization as a member of the board of directors, both with CONvergence as a convention and as the other activities that Convergence Events can promote and create in our community.
1. Why do you want to be on the Board of Directors?
I believe that Convergence Events is an exciting organization, and the CONvergence convention is the cornerstone of that.
I’m also excited to see CONvergence have an expanded role in the community beyond just the convention – I’m excited to see that GPS has flourished since we were spun off from them, as well as our organizational and community commitment to enhance the community with new events both directly through our organization as well as through our partner relationships.
Being on the board of directors for Convergence Events helps me connect what we do on a day to day basis with the convention with the long-term vision of having a large, diverse CONvergence that can serve as a regular center of the upper midwest geek cultural calendar for the forseeable future.
2. What would you like to do as a Board member?
I believe that many of the things that historically been given to the “Activities Director” are now delegated to the steering committee representatives, and most activities are tied to individual events. That said, I believe that Convergence Events Directors need to be actively and directly involved with our primary event, and my role as a steering committee member has been in support of that belief.
Part of my goal as a director, then, has been to explore other events and activities as an ambassador for CONvergence and Convergence Events. In particular, in the last two years I have attended Dragon*Con, the Worldcon in Reno, and SMOFCon in San Jose to see how other organizations and events around the country deal with similar challenges to those that face CONvergence. I’ve had direct face-to-face conversations with people from around the world, and have regularly reported back to the board and individual departments about what I like – and what I don’t like – as I go to the other conventions.
It’s my current plan to continue that by attending Arisia (which will mean I miss the election meeting), Capricon, Gallifrey One, and the Chicago Worldcon, among other conventions, to increase the visibility of CONvergence in the broader SF community.
CONvergence is one of that largest, fan-run, non-profit Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions in the world, and I don’t believe there is a convention like it anywhere! We’re very unique – there isn’t a convention that has a film room like Cinema Rex; or spaces like Harmonic CONvergence or Connie’s Quantum Sandbox.
People tell us that we can’t possibly do what we do every year. I want to continue to prove them wrong.
3. What excites you about being a Board member?
It’s an honor to be a part of what I believe is one of the best science fiction conventions in the world. But as a board member, it isn’t just what everyone else does around the convention. It’s both what we can do for one weekend a year, as well as our commitment to the community year-around. Seeing the various things happen at the Event Horizon community center through our partners is very much something that I see as an achievement for our organization. These achievements are even more rewarding when I’m not a directly a part of what is going on, and as I see people who have grown up with CONvergence helping us continue to shape the community.
4. What is your understanding of the duties for this position?
It is important for any director to care as a guardian of the organization and convention. Also, a director need to be loyal to the organization, and make sure that they aren’t using it for personal gain. A Convergence director should also be faithful to the mission and values of the organization.
We have responsibility to promote and serve as ambassadors of the organization.
Directors have a legal responsibility to keep things like the 501(c)3 non-profit status going, making sure that we have a strong mission and values that we promote.
As I’ve suggested earlier, the nature of my hands-on involvement with CONvergence isn’t a part of my duty as being on the board of directors, however I think it is a duty of a director of Convergence Events to be hands-on involved with our biggest event.
Directors have a responsibility to be ambassadors for the organization – like discussing with potential partners at the other Minnesota SF organizations about how we can best celebrate together at Worldcon in Chicago this year, or learning from conventions like Arisia or Capricon.
5. What, if anything, would you change about how the organization is run?
I think it’s extremely positive and exciting that we’re bringing in additional leaders to help us grow, and that responsibility is being increasingly shared amongst the organization. But as the organization grows and develops, we have the challenge of improving how we communicate and make sure that decisions are made in an efficient, effective, and fair manner that leads to the best results for the organization. We also need to do a better job of transitioning as leaders move from one position to another, and as people join our organization as new convention committee and other volunteer roles.
I want to maintain an organization unafraid to make mistakes – I want us to continue to try new things, and there are a lot of approaches to doing that. I want us to continue to be a launching pad for community activities in the sciences and arts, engaging in the culture in a participatory fashion. That means that Convergence should continue to experiment with things beyond Convergence, and support people in our community that want to give to our community.
6. How do you propose addressing a key challenge facing the organization?
Organizationally we need to do be much better at communicating. That’s explaining better why things are the way they are, and how they’re going to change when they do. It’s striving to communicate better amongst those of us most actively involved in the activities of the organization, as well as to the people that attend our events, and to the community at large.
Effectively, I believe that we must ALL be communications directors.
This isn’t something that any one of us can do alone – certainly I’m not a master communicator. But we need to listen more, have more patience, and always try to improve ourselves.
Some of this is also making it clear what the modern Board Member role actually is — as I’ve been sitting both on the Steering Committee and the Board of Directors, I’ve increasingly felt that many of the “traditional” roles of the (formerly) Events Director properly belong at the Steering Committee level. Managing programming, movies, mainstage, gaming, and so on is really the event specific items of the convention, so connect to my role as a steering committee member, and not as part of my director responsibilities.
7. How do you propose build upon a key strength of the organization?
I’m a big believer in a widescreen CONvergence – that means that that our events should cover a lot of different topics and areas.
I’m interested in a multi-generational event as well – a convention and an organization that I would want to be a part of if I was a teenager or kid, as well as a college student, all the way through middle age to old age.
I want a diverse event in many other ways; I interact with people from different backgrounds and beliefs through the convention that I think it’s a definite virtue and something I want to encourage – and that’s not by becoming more insular. One of the reasons why people attend CONvergence is that they feel like they are “among their people”, but I think what is just as important is that through CONvergence we discover that “our people” don’t and shouldn’t just have the same background or lifestyles as ourselves. We connect, enrich and expand our diverse community though our events and activities.
I want Convergence Events to continue to serve as a launching pad for other activities — those that are done under Convergence Events’s banner, those that are done through our partners, but even as important are the costumes, the regular gatherings of friends, the relationships, the books, the films, the theatrical productions, the crafters, the networking, and anything else that has even a little bit of a connection to what we do.
8. What skills/strengths do you have that make you well-suited for this position?
I believe that I’m analytical, fair, and honest. I attempt to solve problems quickly, and am strongly devoted to making the organization the world-class organization it deserves to be, and something that everyone volunteering, participating, and attending our events can be proud of. But I’m also a strong believer that this is something that we do for FUN.
I’ve worked on both conventions as well as other fan organizations, and have experiences and contacts that I hope enhance the organization and the convention. I think that means that I can both appreciate what makes CONvergence unique and special, but can also take from the experiences of other SF conventions and events.
9. If you aren’t elected, what are your future plans? Are there any other divisional roles you might be interested in and why?
I would continue on the CONvergence steering committee through the 2012 convention, and may continue in that role, though that would require me to be re-elected for that committee during the next Steering Committee elections. I’d also like to continue to participate the theme and guest search committees and make them more accessible to the organization. Beyond that, I’d see where best my talents and interest could be used at the time.
10. How do you handle disagreement, especially when you feel you are right?
Generally, I think you make the appropriate argument for your positions, but then also it’s important to move on when a decision is made – even if there are times where you don’t agree with the decision the group made as a whole, you need to move forward as well.
11. A volunteer reporting to you has not been doing the job – how would you go about making a change in the staff?
This is one of the major challenges in a volunteer organization, but actually, I think this is the wrong question.
Management is hard. Managing volunteers is especially hard. So you want to find ways to make all of our volunteers, events, and activities as successful and rewarding as possible.
So the question is what can we do to make everyone successful if they want to be a part of CONvergence? If they aren’t going to be successful in their current role, how can they be successful and stay a part of the CONvergence volunteering community? How can you help them be more successful? We aren’t paid to work on Convergence Events, after all, and the rewards we get aren’t the same financial ones that we get in our day jobs.
It’s a matter of finding ways to be supportive – and also try to be direct about the challenges people are having, and trying to recruit additional talent and get additional information so people can better do what they volunteer to do.
See also:
Christin “LeXi” Davies, Communications
Cynthia Lettermann,Community Relations
Daniel “Stitch” Mohr, Activities