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OUR WEBSITE: CON-GREGATE.COM

**** The temperature in the con spaces varies greatly from room to room. Bring layers! ****
Venue: Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites) clear filter
Friday, July 11
 

2:30pm EDT

Con Survivalism 101
Friday July 11, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Let’s face it: conventions are a truly unique experience. In fact, there’s not really anything else you’ll ever do that’s
quite like it! Never been to a convention before? Maybe this is your first time at this con? Or maybe you’re a
veteran of dozens (if not hundreds) of cons? Either way, come join our roundtable discussion on how to best enjoy
the convention experience, including practical advice, tips and tricks, the UN-spoken rules, and ALL the dos and
don’ts of con survival.

Speakers
avatar for Chris Oakley

Chris Oakley

Fan Guest
Chris Oakley owned and operated Oakley’s Gently Used Books, a bricks & mortar used bookshop with a specialty in Sci Fi/Fantasy, for more than 20 years (1995-2016) in Charlottesville, VA. She has been a bookseller at Madicon, MarsCon, MystiCon, RavenCon, Libertycon DSC50, DSC60 and... Read More →
avatar for Molly Ann McDonough

Molly Ann McDonough

Science Guest
Molly Ann McDonough is an author, poet, and multidisciplinary engineer with short stories featured in science fiction and fantasy anthologies. Jumpmaster Press has scheduled her debut fantasy novel, A World Apart, for release in 2026. When Molly isn’t reading, writing, or coding... Read More →
avatar for Tom Hutchens

Tom Hutchens

Costuming Guest
For the founder of the Mando Mercs Costume Club, being a Mandalorian fan goes all the way back to 1983, a five year old sitting in the theater watching Boba Fett fall into the Sarlacc Pit in “STAR WARS: Return of the Jedi.In 2007, Tom Hutchens founded the Mando Mercs Costume Club... Read More →
Friday July 11, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Fandom

4:00pm EDT

LARP SET UP - ROOM CLOSED
Friday July 11, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Friday July 11, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Room Closed

5:00pm EDT

World of Darkness LARP
Friday July 11, 2025 5:00pm - 10:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)

Dark Arts and Blood Money: A World of Darkness LARP at ConGregate 11! Join us for an immersive Live Action Roleplay where the Changelings and Kindred clash in a brutal struggle for power and influence. The old rules are broken, the truce is crumbling, and the streets of Winston-Salem are ripe for conquest. Will you fight for the Fae or rise with the Vampires?
- No experience necessary! Our storytellers will guide you through character creation or help you choose a pre-gen sheet.
- Sign-ups: At the By Night Studios table in the Garden Terrace, Embassy Suites
- Fee: $20 (includes World of Darkness swag!)
- Space is limited, so sign up early to guarantee your spot in the Eternal Struggle.

More info: https://con-gregate.com/by-night-larp
Speakers
avatar for Daphne Reeder

Daphne Reeder

Costuming Guest
Daphne Reeder has always been a creative force and a proverbial "Jack of many trades". As an accomplished cosplayer, she enjoys working with worbla and leather the most, creating outfits, armor, and props. She also belongs to several costuming grouos, including the 501st, the Southern... Read More →
Friday July 11, 2025 5:00pm - 10:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Gaming
 
Saturday, July 12
 

9:30am EDT

Mutant Mayhem - 25 Years of Fox's X-Men
Saturday July 12, 2025 9:30am - 10:30am EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Storm! Cyclops! Jean Grey! Rogue! Logan! Wheels! They may be about to finally enter the MCU, but before they do, let's put on some black leather and celebrate the franchise that brought Marvel's Merry Mutants to pop culture prominence!

requests:
Speakers
avatar for Chuck Parker

Chuck Parker

Performance Guest
A performer for more than 35 years, Chuck Parker has filled many musical roles: heavy metal guitarist, singer/songwriter, jazz sideman, open mic host, filk circle regular, session player, and World’s Okayest Bassist™.Chuck has been a regular on the con circuit for more than a... Read More →
avatar for Gary Mitchel

Gary Mitchel

Fan Guest
Gary Mitchel is a writer, reviewer, gamer, podcaster, and general geek living near Atlanta.Gary is the Co-Director, with Joe Crowe, of the American Sci-Fi Classics Track at Dragon Con. Together, they plot panels on various geeky topics, from 80s vampires, to cats in space, to the... Read More →
Saturday July 12, 2025 9:30am - 10:30am EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Film/TV/Media Arts

11:00am EDT

Fictional Fashion
Saturday July 12, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Years of book covers showing warrior women in chain mail bikinis and barbarian men in fur loincloths tricked generations of readers into thinking the clothes don't matter. But they do! On this panel, we'll explore the ways clothing defines social roles in fantasy worlds, and the uses of different garments

Saturday July 12, 2025 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Literary/Writing

12:30pm EDT

Communicating Science - Part 1 (The Panel)
Saturday July 12, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Jenn Whitworth (if topic appropriate)
Speakers
avatar for Jim Beall

Jim Beall

Science Guest
Jim Beall (BS-Math, MBA, PE) has been a nuclear engineer for 50 years, beginning as a nuclear engineering officer in the US Navy. Civilian experience includes design, construction, inspection, enforcement, and assessment with a nuclear utility, an architect engineering firm, and the... Read More →
avatar for Robert Hampson

Robert Hampson

Science Guest
Dr. Robert E. Hampson is a neuroscientist, professor, and science fiction author who spends his days decoding how memories work and his nights trying to remember where he left his keys. With a Ph.D. in Physiology & Pharmacology, he’s been on a lifelong quest to figure out what’s... Read More →
Saturday July 12, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Science

1:30pm EDT

Communicating Science - Part 2 (The Presentations)
Saturday July 12, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Speakers
avatar for Jim Beall

Jim Beall

Science Guest
Jim Beall (BS-Math, MBA, PE) has been a nuclear engineer for 50 years, beginning as a nuclear engineering officer in the US Navy. Civilian experience includes design, construction, inspection, enforcement, and assessment with a nuclear utility, an architect engineering firm, and the... Read More →
avatar for Robert Hampson

Robert Hampson

Science Guest
Dr. Robert E. Hampson is a neuroscientist, professor, and science fiction author who spends his days decoding how memories work and his nights trying to remember where he left his keys. With a Ph.D. in Physiology & Pharmacology, he’s been on a lifelong quest to figure out what’s... Read More →
Saturday July 12, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Science

3:00pm EDT

I'm Gonna Pop Some Tags - Thrift Shop Magic
Saturday July 12, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Speakers
avatar for Tinker Tank

Tinker Tank

Costuming Guest
Miriam, also known as Tink, is a UNC Chapel Hill graduate with a degree in Studio Art. Though art has been a life-long passion, ​her introduction to costuming and leather work was through her post collegiate pursuit of replicating the outfit of her childhood hero -- Xena. She has... Read More →
avatar for Tom Hutchens

Tom Hutchens

Costuming Guest
For the founder of the Mando Mercs Costume Club, being a Mandalorian fan goes all the way back to 1983, a five year old sitting in the theater watching Boba Fett fall into the Sarlacc Pit in “STAR WARS: Return of the Jedi.In 2007, Tom Hutchens founded the Mando Mercs Costume Club... Read More →
Saturday July 12, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Costuming/Cosplay

4:00pm EDT

LARP SET UP - ROOM CLOSED
Saturday July 12, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Saturday July 12, 2025 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Room Closed

5:00pm EDT

World of Darkness LARP:
Saturday July 12, 2025 5:00pm - 10:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Dark Arts and Blood Money: A World of Darkness LARP at ConGregate 11! Join us for an immersive Live Action Roleplay where the Changelings and Kindred clash in a brutal struggle for power and influence. The old rules are broken, the truce is crumbling, and the streets of Winston-Salem are ripe for conquest. Will you fight for the Fae or rise with the Vampires?
- No experience necessary! Our storytellers will guide you through character creation or help you choose a pre-gen sheet.
- Sign-ups: At the By Night Studios table in the Garden Terrace, Embassy Suites
- Fee: $20 (includes World of Darkness swag!)
- Space is limited, so sign up early to guarantee your spot in the Eternal Struggle.
More info: https://con-gregate.com/by-night-larp
Speakers
avatar for Daphne Reeder

Daphne Reeder

Costuming Guest
Daphne Reeder has always been a creative force and a proverbial "Jack of many trades". As an accomplished cosplayer, she enjoys working with worbla and leather the most, creating outfits, armor, and props. She also belongs to several costuming grouos, including the 501st, the Southern... Read More →
Saturday July 12, 2025 5:00pm - 10:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Special Events
 
Sunday, July 13
 

10:00am EDT

Aliens and Hurtful Stereotypes
Sunday July 13, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Aliens are so tired of hurtful stereotypes! Many sci-fi alien species are defined by a single dominant characteristic: Warlike or peaceful, hot-tempered or zen, wise or foolish. What makes an alien culture "alien," and how can you create a rich alien culture that defies stereotyping based on a single trait?

requests:
Speakers
avatar for Dennis M Myers

Dennis M Myers

Literary Guest
Born and raised in central Minnesota, Dennis M. Myers developed a serious reading habit early in life due to the influence of his grandmother. In late high school he read one particularly "awful" book and, with all that teenage hubris, decided that he could do better.After spending... Read More →
avatar for Jim Beall

Jim Beall

Science Guest
Jim Beall (BS-Math, MBA, PE) has been a nuclear engineer for 50 years, beginning as a nuclear engineering officer in the US Navy. Civilian experience includes design, construction, inspection, enforcement, and assessment with a nuclear utility, an architect engineering firm, and the... Read More →
avatar for Jo Boone

Jo Boone

Literary Guest
Jo Boone is the author of the Combined Service series: The Magnetar, Elaninae, and The Celestial Sea, published by Chris Kennedy Publishing/Theogony Press. Jo’s science fiction and fantasy stories have appeared in Remnants of Empire and (under the byline Jennifer Busick) in the... Read More →
Sunday July 13, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Film/TV/Media Arts

11:30am EDT

Writing for the Body: Engaging the Readers' Senses
Sunday July 13, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
Speakers
avatar for Randal Hayes

Randal Hayes

Science Guest
Randall grew up on a working farm in Kentucky before studying biology at UK and then doing a PhD in neuroscience at a medical school in Rochester, NY. He did research there and in Texas before teaching at the high school and college levels. Now he runs the biology department's internship... Read More →
avatar for Michael G. Williams

Michael G. Williams

Online Media Guest
Michael G. Williams writes queer-themed horror and science fiction celebrating the monstrous and the macabre. His books include the award-winning vampire series The Withrow Chronicles (Laine Cunningham Award); the thrilling urban fantasy time travel series Servant Sovereign; the sci-fi... Read More →
avatar for William C. Tracy

William C. Tracy

Literary Guest
William C. Tracy (he/him) writes and publishes queer science fiction and fantasy through his indie press Space Wizard Science Fantasy. His largest work is the Dissolutionverse: a space opera with music-based magic including nine books and a TTRPG. He’s also published Fruits of the... Read More →
Sunday July 13, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Literary/Writing

1:00pm EDT

Crazy Online Media Mistakes to Avoid
Sunday July 13, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
From connecting your bluetooth to your partner's car or just plain forgetting to turn on the camera, what are those so embarrassing moments that you want to hide your face while livestreaming?
Sunday July 13, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Terrace 1 (Embassy Suites)
  Online Media
 
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Bethabara (Marriott) - Room can get COLD!!!
Corpening (Marriott)
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