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MarsCon is dedicated to providing a welcoming environment for all attendees, regardless of ability or special needs. To achieve this, we need your help. If at any time you notice a condition which may be unsafe or limit someone’s ability to participate and enjoy the convention, please let a staff member know or come to the Bridge (1st floor, near the hotel front desk). If you need help with accessing part of MarsCon, we will help. The MarsCon Safety Team are all volunteers who are here to help with accommodations whenever possible, to make everyone’s experience fun and entertaining.
The legal drinking age in Minnesota is 21. Alcohol is not permitted in any of the function spaces. Individuals and groups hosting parties are responsible for ensuring no alcohol is served to minors or served by minors. Party hosts are responsible for checking identification. Parties caught serving alcohol to minors will be shut down. Any MarsCon attendee caught serving alcohol to minors will be ejected from the convention, and any minor caught with alcohol will also be ejected. Anyone hosting a party needs to understand that it is Minnesota state law to check a person’s legal I.D. every single time you serve them a drink. We expect this law to be obeyed at our parties. Our MarsCon Safety Team will be checking for this, specifically.
Your convention badge is necessary for your participation in the convention, it allows you access to the convention and indicates that you are a member in good standing. However, MarsCon reserves the right to revoke the membership of any member.
It is strongly recommended, but not required, that all attendees be vaccinated for Covid. It is also recommended, but not required, that attendees wear a face mask. This is especially important if:
Additionally, please be aware of and respect the personal boundaries of your fellow attendees.
If you are not feeling well or are experiencing symptoms, please respect the safety of others and stay home and take care of yourself.
Please note that our Covid-19 policy is subject to change.
For additional information on how you can protect yourself against respiratory viruses, please visit the CDC’s Respiratory Virus guidance page.
Replacement badges are $5 plus the single day rate, but you get all but $5 refunded if you return the lost badge. If you want to change something on your badge, the cost is $5.
Please remember that whatever applies outside, still applies inside the hotel and convention.
We don’t want to censor your creativity, but please, no public nudity. There will be other groups in the hotel during MarsCon and we would like to maintain a good relationship with the Hilton Minneapolis/St Paul Aiport Mall of America. We are a family-friendly convention, so please plan your costumes with that in mind. Costume does not equal consent.
Hilton Minneapolis/St Paul Airport Mall of America is allowing signage on designated sign boards and inside sleeping rooms, party rooms and function rooms. If you post anything in the hotel, the only tape you may use is Scotch Safe Release Painter’s Masking Tape 2080. If you need tape, please see the Bridge (1st Floor, near the hotel front desk). Don’t break the Hotel, please.
The Fans Educational Network for Science Fiction (FENSF) is dedicated to providing a comfortable and harassment-free environment for everyone at MarsCon and other FENSF-sponsored events. In order to offer a welcoming and safe space for everyone, all attendees are required to be respectful of all others. Do not use slurs or derogatory comments about a person, group or category of people. This could include comments based on characteristics such as (but not limited to) actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, pronouns, physical appearance, age, religion, ability, family structure, or marital status, or socioeconomic class.
FENSF wants its events to be safe and enjoyable for everyone. By attending a FENSF event, all individuals are required to abide by FENSF anti-harassment rules.
Remember, by attending a FENSF event, including MarsCon, you are agreeing to create a space that feels as safe as possible. This is done by respecting others’ space—be it physical or social.
Do not physically harm or endanger other people.
Other people or their personal effects should not be touched—this includes hair, clothing, assistive devices, bags, and service animals—without an express invitation/permission. If physical contact is wished, express this verbally or with a friendly gesture, and do not proceed without a positive verbal or physical response. Holding a hand out for a handshake and waiting for the other person to reciprocate is a good example.
Sharing space with other people requires active demonstrations of respect and empathy. Good examples can be: leaving other people a clear path to an exit, moderating the volume of your voice, limiting the expansiveness of your gestures as well as maintaining an appropriate physical distance.
Please respect the desires of a person or persons who have expressed their wish for no further contact.
Even though FENSF and MarsCon welcome vigorous debate, do not verbally attack people.
Be aware of consent to continue interaction with another person, observing non-verbal and verbal clues. Pay attention if the other party wishes to end the interaction. If there is any question whether the other party wants to end the interaction, end the interaction yourself.
If a dispute regarding harassment arises at MarsCon, please inform MarsCon staff, who can contact the Bridge and the MarsCon Chair. The location of the Bridge is located in the pocket program, but staff can guide or accompany members who wish help. The incident will be documented by MarsCon staff and include one person to record the incident as well as a witness to the process.
The complainant can request a person of their choosing to serve as their own witness.
MarsCon Bridge Staff may temporarily revoke membership privileges pending review and action by the Con Chair in as timely a fashion as the Con Chair’s other duties allow. All details of the incident should be recorded and forwarded to the MarsCon Chair, who can require the offending party or parties to relinquish their membership badges for the remainder of the Convention or be banned permanently.
Any persons involved in a dispute at MarsCon should be aware that information will be kept on a need-to-know basis. This means the relevant information of the dispute will only be shared between pertinent parties, such as Bridge volunteers recording the information, the MarsCon Chair, the FENSF Board of Directors (up to and including the current President) as well as any outside authorities, as needed. FENSF and MarsCon cannot be responsible for the actions of other persons who may have witnessed the disputed act.
Anyone who is banned from the hotel or other facility where MarsCon is being held by the management of that facility must appeal the decision to the management of that hotel or facility, not to FENSF.
Membership badges are property of MarsCon, and if requested, must be surrendered to MarsCon staff. If a member feels relinquishing their badge is an issue, they can go to the Bridge (please refer to the pocket program for its location) and take the matter up with the MarsCon Chair in as timely a fashion as the Con Chair’s other duties allow.
Any decision of the MarsCon Con Chair can be appealed to the FENSF President, in writing, and the President will consider the appeal in as timely a fashion as other duties at the convention allow. The MarsCon Chair will inform the FENSF Board of Directors of revoked memberships as soon as possible after the close of MarsCon. The Board of Directors may take further action up to and including a permanent ban on all future FENSF-sponsored events, such as MarsCon.
Regular check in/out times will apply. Check-in is after 4 pm, checkout is by 11 am. Guests staying at the hotel have full access to the pool, sauna, exercise room, etc. The hotel is smoke-free.
We’ll have a Lost and Found box in the Bridge/Master Control (1st floor, near the hotel front desk), but we are not responsible for lost items. the Bridge will only hang on to found stuff briefly (half hour, give or take) then hand it over to the hotel front desk.
No pets are allowed in the convention areas. Pets are identified as animals that are not service or therapy animals. Proper registry and identification must be provided for service and/or therapy animals. If you want to keep a pet in your sleeping room, you must make arrangements with the hotel. For the comfort and safety of all MarsCon attendees, please leave your pet in your room. Working animals are not included in this policy.
Costume does not equal consent. No one should have to put up with stalkers, unwanted sexual attention, public displays of drunkenness, or other abusive behavior. We have Safety Team Volunteers roaming the halls (they can be identified by their brightly colored vests) to keep an eye on things and assist MarsCon attendees with security problems. Anyone subjected to unwanted attention should either contact the Bridge/Master Control, the Hotel Staff, or a Safety Tean Volunteer.
There is no smoking inside the Hotel. Also, no open flames (i.e., candles, lanterns, etc.).
We define weapons to include real weapons (they do what they look like), facsimile weapons (they look real), anything actually used as a weapon, and anything an otherwise ignorant being would surmise is a weapon. Please adhere to the following policy, or risk being ‘uninvited’ from the convention, without refund from the convention or the hotel.
Use good judgment. [If you don’t have any, check with the Bridge] Even if it complies with the remaining rules, if it is unsafe or would reduce the enjoyment of others, please don’t do it.
No projectile weapons. If it is capable of projecting a solid, liquid, gas, or energy with enough force to annoy or destroy, it is a projectile weapon.
All weapons must be carried in a sheath, sling, or other container of some kind at all times except during photo shoots, Masquerade, and programming events where used. Use good judgment.
Peace-bonding is required on all weapons. If you don’t have it, we will. A ‘peace-bonded’ weapon is one secured into its sheath or container with a functional, but decorative binding. It prevents someone else from taking your weapon without permission, and it is a visible sign to everyone that you are a responsible person.
Targeting anyone with a laser sighting device is annoying, and considered assault.
Remember, all Federal, State and local laws apply in convention space.
Standard rules of ejection apply.
We reserve the right to be arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable. In any dispute, the decision of MarsCon is final.