Levels of Membership
You MUST have a membership to attend ICON programming events. Children who attend the convention must be accompanied by a paid adult and be supervised at all times.
- Admission to ICON
- Listed in program book
- Access to the Art Show, Dealers’ Room, Con Suite and other convention programming
- Preferred seating in front row at Opening Ceremonies Friday evening
- Preferred seating in front row at Guests of Honor panel on Saturday
- Invitation to the Sunday morning brunch with the Guests Of Honor
- Preferred seating in front row at Closing Ceremonies on Sunday
- Admission to ICON
- Access to the Art Show, Dealers’ Room, Con Suite and other convention programming
- Admission to ICON
- Access to the Art Show, Dealers’ Room, Con Suite and other convention programming
- Must be accompanied by a paid Adult at all times.
Health and Safety
Yes, we have a COVID Convention Health Initiative Policy for ICON 47. Click here to read the full policy.
ICON Membership Questions
An ICON membership is essentially your “ticket” to attend the convention. At the convention, you will get a badge to wear showing that you have paid.
If they are of age 13 or older, yes. If not, they are welcome to come free of charge, but will still be required to have a badge. For all individuals under the age of 18, emergency contact information will need to be provided on the back of the badge.
Dealer’s Room Questions
Hours will be Friday 2-6, Saturday 10-6, Sunday 10-2.
Yes, the public is welcome to come and peruse and purchase a membership.
Registration
You can register online here.
If you need to register by mail or any other method beside online, please reach out to registration@iowa-icon.com and we will work with you to get registered.
You may register at the door, but the cost is higher.
One day memberships may only be purchased at the door. Saturday single-day memberships cost the same as pre-registration. A limited Explorer badge is also available for a 4-hour window, limited to only certain amenities to check out the convention. For more information about these and any other types of memberships, please reach out to iowaiconreg@gmail.com.
ICON provides complimentary membership for qualifing industry professionals. We anticipate that any professional who is granted complimentary membership participate in programming; the intent of these memberships is to facilitate the interaction of pros and fans, for their mutual benefit.
If you wish to receive a complimentary membership, please complete our contact form to confirm that you qualify well before the pre-registration dealine so we can include you in our programming and have badge(s) available.
Sorry, no walk-in complementary memberships will be provided.
Industry professionals are defined as follows:
- Authors/writers should meet the requirements for Active membership in the Science Fiction Writers Association (SFWA). (Current membership is not required.)
- Published authors who do not meet the above qualifications, but who would like to be considered for complimentary membership, may contact the address above with a brief summary of their publications and any professional writers’ society memberships.
- Professional artists, editors, gaming pros, comic pros, actors, etc., will be considered on an individual basis and should contact the address above with a brief summary of their qualifications. (Links to your webpage are also helpful.)
- Any artist or author guest of honor from a previous ICON.
- The original six founders of ICON.
Benefactors provide additional monetary support for ICON. For pledging additional funds for ICON, benefactors may received additional gifts, have seats up front reserved for programming including but not limited to opening ceremonies and special events such as concerts. They may also be invited to a special Sunday brunch with the guests of honor.
Volunteering for 20 hours during the convention will get you a free membership to the next convention. There are a few areas where you can earn double hours, including setup, teardown and Friday registration desk. Note that if you expect to get to 20 hours after teardown, you should let the registration head and/or the volunteer coordinator know before clean-up begins, and remind them afterward to make sure you get credit for clean-up.
Many attendees like to go by fun or unique names at conventions, this is their badge name. It is also useful if you go by a shortened version of your given name (i.e. Andy for Andrew). Please note that your full name will also be on the badge. Badge names are limited to 24 characters including spaces and should be “family friendly”. Should the name you choose is not, the registration department will get creative with the badge name we give you.
The default is your first name only.
Yes, we have a COVID Convention Health Initiative Policy for ICON 47. Click here to read the full policy.
Yes. On the back of every badge is emergency contact information that must be filled out for all attendees under 18. If you would like a printed badge for them to pick up at the door, you can email iowaiconreg@gmail.com with your child’s name, birthdate and badge name. Otherwise, you may pick up a blank badge for them at the door.
Industry Professionals
Artists, Authors, Dealers, and many other professional creative individuals.
- Register for ICON.
- Think you might qualify for a complementary membership? Read our requirements.
- Want more exposure as a professional? Be a panelist. Let us know what your favorite topics are and we’ll do our best to slot you into a panel or two that fits your interests. Even if you can’t participate in a panel, Give us your ideas for programming.
If you are vending in the Dealer’s Room, we can find a volunteer to watch your table during your scheduled panel(s). Just stop by the Volunteer table by registration.
There are two ways you can help us.
- Give us your ideas for programming. You don’t have to participate in the panel if you submit an idea!
- Be a panelist. Let us know what your favorite topics are and we’ll see if we have a panel fits your interests.
If you are a dealer, we can find a volunteer to watch your table during your scheduled panel(s). Just stop by the Volunteer table by registration.
Dealers
If you are not going to anything at ICON, other than vend in the Dealers’ Room, you do not have to buy an ICON membership. If you want to take advantage of all that ICON has to offer, then yes you will need a membership. Memberships include programming (including any concert[s]), Con Suite, room parties, video gaming and Non video gaming.
Tables available are 6’ long and are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. The number of tables per dealer may be limited if needed.
Electricity may be purchased at the same time as your tables. For the entire weekend the cost is $105.00. We do our best to accommodate wall space, corners, etc. However, like most mortals, we are bound by the laws of physics. Please list these requests on your application in the section where you describe your merchandise.
- Thursday from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM
- Friday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
- Saturday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
- Sunday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Yes! One of our volunteers would love to assist you. Please speak with the staff at the Volunteer table near registration to get assistance.
Other Questions
Reach out to ConCom or Staff to express interest in joining our staff for this or next year!
There are three age levels for the badges. And each is a different color to be able to quickly identify the age group.
First is ages 0 – 12 and signifies the child must be with a registered adult to attend the convention. They have emergency contact information on the back of their badge in case we would need to contact the adult by phone. If you find a child in this age group wandering around alone, stay with them and contact the staff so we can help find the child’s family.
The next age group is from 13 to 17 years of age. Although still consider a child (just a larger version) attendees in this age group do not require an adult to be with them at all times the badge still has emergency contact information listed on the back.
The last group is 18 and over. Although 18- to 20-year-olds are considered adults in the state of Iowa, they are not old enough to drink alcoholic beverages.
So, when having a room party where alcohol will be served, the ICON name badge is not a state or federal issued ID. It is your responsibility and you must card your guests before they enter your party. Should law enforcement be called to check on your party and find underage guests in the room you could be subject to arrest, fines, and imprisonment. Not a great end to an otherwise fantastic weekend.
We do not give refunds. However, you may either transfer your membership to another person, or forward it to next year. Except in cases of emergency (as determined by the current ConCom), this must be done before the pre-registration deadline.
If you earned your membership doing volunteer work, you may not transfer it to another person, but you may forward it to the next convention.
You only need a picture ID. (We need confirmation if covid vaccination proof is required as well).
Please send us a message via our Contact page and our staff will follow up with you