What? The first irregular Chrisamaconf 40 is a one day celebration of the strange and wonderful people in the life of Chris Martens. It light-heartedly and very approximately borrows the structure of an academic workshop, and attendees have the (optional!) opportunity to bring the gift of a presentation or performance, with topics in scope including anything of interest to Chris and/or their friends, including but not limited to:
The specific structure of the event will be somewhat up to the attendees and what gifts people propose to bring! The call for talks open, with a deadline of April 22. (The call for talks is separate from the Partiful RSVP.)
Where? At the City Museum in St. Louis. Chris and Rob are planning on staying at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel, but aren’t doing a block reservation anywhere.
When? Saturday May 30, 2026, between 10am and 5pm, but probably not taking all that time — we also want to leave lots of time to explore the museum! We’ll probably organize an informal dinner the night before and brunch meetup the day after.
Who? Uh, you know Chris, right? If you don’t you’re probably in the wrong place.
Why? Chris is turning 40 this year and this is a birthday party.
Am I expected to give a talk?
No! Just RSVP on the Partiful invitation.
What kind of room is this? What’s the size of the room?
The conference will be in the 10th Floor Corner Office at City Museum
About how many people are going to be there?
The room maxes out at 50 people seated, but we expect probably… 10-30?
What’s the AV setup?
From City Museum: “We have two large TVs that work really well for presentations and are very easy to connect to via a USB transmitter. We also have a wooden podium you are welcome to use. For audio amplification, we have a basic PA system, with a mic and two speakers.” There are options to rent additional sound equipment from local vendors, and so if you have needs that would go beyond this, especially in terms of sound, please let us know!
How many talks?
Between two and a dozen or more! This is really dependent on interest.
Can I submit more than one talk?
Sure! Submit ONE form entry per talk. We might only pick one. If you have a preference, feel free to state it.
Can I propose something with multiple presenters?
Yes. You could absolutely also propose a panel discussion, that sounds like it could be funny.
What’s the ideal tone, reference points, topics in scope?
Chris’s mood board of talk-giving reference points includes SIGBOVIK, Smartypants, !!Con, and Strange Loop