Venue
We've moved to St. John's University in Queens, New York, which is easily accessed from public transportation and easily navigable — in striking contrast to last year's environment at Manhattan College. The venue is handicapped-accessible and can be reached from handicap-accessible public transportation. The terrain is primarily flat, with a few inclined areas and minimal stairs to climb along the walking paths. For those who prefer not to walk, we will be providing three 5-seater golf carts traveling regularly between bus stops, parking and convention areas.
These are the primary convention areas:
- St. Louise de Marillac Hall (Marillac): Hospitality and all classes.
- D'Angelo Center (DAC): Sales, Exhibition, Public Access and Teaching
- Montgoris Dining Hall: Meals for those who elect to dine at the school — must be pre-arranged during registration.
- Century Hall: Housing.
See the Travel page for more information about location and access. There you will see several versions of the campus maps, showing MTA bus stops, major walking paths between the primary convention areas, and the routes assigned to the golf carts.
Accommodations
Housing will be within a single dorm, Century Hall, which is right across the way from the dining hall. See the Accommodations page for more information.
Parking
There will be free parking on campus for both overnight and day attendees. More detailed information is available on our Parking page.
Meals
We will have information available about restaurants that you can reach with a long walk, a car or taxi ride or a short bus ride. We highly recommend, however, that you preorder meals from the St. John's University dining hall. Note that you cannot order meals on site. However, we will have coffee, decaf and tea available in the Hospitality Area before classes. See the Food page for more information.
Monday Night Banquet
This year, there will be an option to purchase dinner only or dinner plus drinks at an open bar. The banquet will include: garden salad, sliced steak with maple soy glaze , chicken piccata, penne primavera, sole francaise , roasted potato, string beans almondine, Tuscan rolls, dessert (mini italian pastries, seasonal fruit), beverages (coffee, tea, decaf, soda and water). The cost is $35 without alcohol, $45 with an open bar. In order to keep the prices reasonable, we've opted for a more casual atmosphere, replacing formal china and linens with less formal place settings — but the food will be good and the camaraderie as rich as ever.
Consent Form for Minors
Anyone under 18 years of age staying in the dorms at St. Johns must have a parent or legal guardian staying with him or her. Further, a consent form must be signed by the parent or legal guardian when checking in to housing, even though they are staying there with the minor.
Silent Auction — Remote Bidding
During each of our conventions we hold a Silent Auction where rare and unusual items are put out for attendees to bid on by adding their name and amount onto a bid sheet. This year we would like to give non-attending members the opportunity to bid remotely, via a proxy. You will need to let us know the maximum you are willing to spend. The proxy will keep adding a new bid on your behalf whenever someone else tops your prior bid, until the item reaches your maximum. If you win, we will contact you and you can pay by contacting the OrigamiUSA home office with your credit card number.
Dorm Access
If you are staying at St. John's, you will be required to carry a photo i.d. card (known as a "Storm Card") at all times. It will be included in the packet that you will pick up at housing registration. This card will get you into the dorm and also be your meal card to get you into the Montgoris Dining Hall.
Note that only those staying at the dorms will be permitted to enter them.
When you register for accommodations, you will be required to fill out a St. John's form and upload a photo i.d. as specified in the form. St. John's has very specific and detailed requirements for the format of the photo:
- JPG and JPEG files only
- shoulder to head shots only
- no headwear (hats, hoods, bandannas, etc. except for religious purposes)
- no prescription glasses, no sunglasses
- no scanned passport photos
- no black and white photos
- solid background (preferably blue)
Here is the link to the St. John's form.
Dining Hall Access
If you are staying at St. John's, your "Storm Card" will allow you access to the Montgoris Dining Hall for meals. The fee for the card is included in your housing registration fees.
If you are not staying overnight but elect to have your meals at Montgoris, you will receive a meal card (with no photo) during the onsite Convention registration period. There is a one-time $10 fee for the meal card, which you must pay on your Registration form if you choose to include meals.
Priority Ticketing for Volunteers
This is more of a clarification than a new feature. We want to ensure that all volunteers — not just teachers — are aware that they may qualify for Priority Ticketing. It is important to understand that Priority Ticketing is designed to compensate volunteers (including teachers) who have donated hours that could otherwise be used to attend classes. See the Priority Ticketing page for a more complete definition of requirements.
Although we will try to identify volunteers who qualify prior to convention so that their priority ticketing forms are ready in advance, it may not always be possible. If you think you have met the criteria but didn't receive a Priority Ticketing form, ask the people at the Information Desk to double check for you.