General

1. What is Mysterium?
2. Where is Mysterium held?
3. When is Mysterium being held?
4. Who runs Mysterium?
5. Who is welcome at Mysterium? Is it okay to bring my children?
6. Are any Cyan employees going to be attending Mysterium this year?
7. What’s a Local Emissary?

Registration

1. Why is there a registration fee this year?
2. What does the registration fee go towards?
3. How much is the registration fee this year?
4. How do I register for this year’s Mysterium?
5. I’m having a problem with the registration form. Who do I contact?

Location

1. Where is Mysterium being held this year?
2. How do I get around this year’s location?
3. How did this year’s location get chosen?

Hotel

1. Is there an official hotel?
2. What is the official hotel?
3. I’d like to share a room with someone to cut costs, but I don’t who. Is there any easy way to find someone to share a room with?
4. I tried to make hotel reservations, and I couldn’t get the group Mysterium rate. What’s going on?
5. I tried to make hotel reservations, and the reservation system wasn’t working. Who do I contact?
6. I tried to make hotel reservations, and there were no rooms available. Help!

Events

1. What types of events are planned for this year’s Mysterium?
2. Do I have to attend the official events?
3. Will there be presentations this year?
4. How do I sign up for a presentation spot? What are the rules?

Polls

1. How do you conduct your surveys and polls?
2. I accidently voted twice! What do I do?

Donations

1. Can I donate money to the Mysterium Committee?
2. Where does donated money go?
3. I represent a corperation or company, how can I donate to the Mysterium Commitee?

Contact Us

1. How do I contact the Mysterium Committee?

Website

1. I see an error on your website, who do I contact?

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General

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   What is Mysterium?

   Mysterium is a yearly gathering of fans of Cyan’s Myst series. It’s billed as a convention, but it’s more like a family gathering, where friends from all over the world come to hang out with each other. There has been a Mysterium every year since 2000, the largest one being in 2000 with 200 attendees. Mysterium generally attracts between 30-130 attendees, depending on location. Mysterium is financially supported by donations, merchandise proceeds and registration fees.

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   Where is Mysterium held?

   The location for Mysterium changes every year. In 2009, Mysterium will be held in Spokane, Washington. The dates of the convention are undecided at this time.

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   When is Mysterium being held?

   The date for Mysterium changes every year. The dates for Mysterium 2009 have not yet been selected. Please stay tuned, this information will be available soon!

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   Who runs Mysterium?

   Mysterium is planned and organized by a group of volunteers known as the Mysterium Committee. The members of the Committee have volunteered to be on the committee for one reason or another, but their positions are not paid. If you would like to help us out as a volunteer at Mysterium itself, or you’d like to talk to us about joining the Committee, please contact us using our Contact page.

   We are committed to being open with the community, and as such, we maintain a section just with information about the committee, including who’s on it, how we run it, what we talked about at meetings, etc. Please see our Committee page for more information.

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   Who is welcome at Mysterium? Is it okay to bring my children?

   Everyone is welcome! We are a very family-friendly get-together, and it is not uncommon to have couples bring their children. We do ask however that you supervise your children, as the Mysterium committee does not accept liability for your ward.

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   Are any Cyan employees going to be attending Mysterium this year?

   Cyan’s involvement in Spokane-based Mysteriums has traditionally been very high, however, due to Cyan’s current operational status, it is unknown at this time to what extent Cyan will participate in Mysterium 2009. We will provide more information about their involvement as it becomes available.

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   What’s a Local Emissary?

   A Local Emissary is an individual in the community who has suggested a location for Mysterium and has agreed to be the coordinator for location-specific events for that year. Since the location for Mysterium changes every year, so do the Local Emissaries! Once their location is chosen by popular vote, they become part of the Committee, and bring inside knowledge of the city so that we can plan a better Mysterium.

Registration

1. Rating: +0

   
   
   
   
   
   

   Why is there a registration fee this year?

   Simply because we do not have enough money to run Mysterium. The previous committee payed for past Mysteria out-of-pocket, a fact which most people don’t realize. With the cost of prizes, hotel fees, event costs, it can add up. We would also like to see Mysterium become self-sustaining, so that any Mysterium Committee, no matter their financial resources, can plan a fun event.

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   What does the registration fee go towards?

   Your registration fee will go towards any rented A/V equipment, hotel fees, prizes, registration goodies, etc. We also have a few ideas on the back burner that we would like to implement with any left-over money. The Mysterium Committee Treasurer will post quarterly financial statements to our website; we will let you know how much money we have, where it’s going, and how much more we need. To contact the Treasurer, please use our Contact page.

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   How much is the registration fee this year?

   The registration fee for this year has not yet been determined, but we do not anticipate it being much different from the cost in 2008, which was $15 for adults who pre-registered, and $20 for adults at the door.

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   How do I register for this year’s Mysterium?

   Once registration has opened, visit the registration page for registration information and the registration form.

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   I’m having a problem with the registration form. Who do I contact?

   Please contact our Communications Lead; they will direct your questions to the appropriate member of the committee.

Location

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   Where is Mysterium being held this year?

   Mysterium 2009 is being held in Spokane, Washington! For more details, visit the Mysterium 2009 page.

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   How do I get around this year’s location?

   Details regarding transportation will be made available once a final hotel selection has been made. Previous Mysteriums have featured car pooling efforts on the part of the attendees, organized by the on-site Committee Members, to transport large groups of people to specific Mysterium events.

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   How did this year’s location get chosen?

   Spokane was selected largely out of tradition; every 3 years since 2000 the event has returned to Spokane at Cyan’s invitation, and it was decided that we would continue that tradition this year. However, we are not set on being locked to traditions that are unfavorable to the community we serve, and going forward, Spokane will likely be on an every-4-years rotation.

   In other years, the Mysterium Committee asks the Community for suggestions about where to hold Mysterium. If you volunteer a location, then you agree to become a Local Emissary if your location is chosen. The Local Emissary is someone who is willing to join the Committee for at least the planning period leading up to Mysterium to work with the Committee and provide location-specific information to help the Committee better plan this year’s Mysterium.

   We then hold a community survey to allow the community choose this year’s location from the pool of suggestions we received. With this survey, we include the approximate cost of travel to each location, as well as the location’s local taxes.

   For more information on how we conduct the survey, and the results themselves, please see the Polls page!

Hotel

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   Is there an official hotel?

   Yep, there’s an official hotel! Having an official hotel makes it easier to congregate, hang out, have presentations, etc. The official Mysterium hotel will have a conference room which we’ll be reserving for the weekend. Do note, though, that you don’t have to stay at the official hotel; if you’d like to stay at another, you are welcome to do so!

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   What is the official hotel?

   This year’s hotel has not yet been selected. Stay tuned!

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   I’d like to share a room with someone to cut costs, but I don’t who. Is there any easy way to find someone to share a room with?

   Yes. Once registration is open, we will be providing a forum for this specific purpose.

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   I tried to make hotel reservations, and I couldn’t get the group Mysterium rate. What’s going on?

   The group Mysterium rate is only available for Friday and Saturday night. All other days fall under the regular hotel rates. If you are staying extra days, please make your reservation for the entire length of your stay, and then contact the hotel over the phone to fix your reservation price to reflect the group Mysterium rate for Friday and Saturday night. It is also possible that the hotel has run out of rooms blocked out under the group Mysterium rate, even if they still have rooms left available in the hotel. Please contact the hotel over the phone to ask if it is still possible to obtain the group Mysterium rate for the length of your stay.

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   I tried to make hotel reservations, and the reservation system wasn’t working. Who do I contact?

   Please contact the hotel over the phone to make your reservations if this happens.

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   I tried to make hotel reservations, and there were no rooms available. Help!

   Don’t despair! You can check out one of our roomshare options once we have our Roomshare Registration system on our website. If you need your own hotel room, then it is possible to stay at another hotel nearby and walk to Mysterium from there. As of now, there are still plenty of hotel rooms in the official hotel; however, if they run out, please contact the Committee. A list of available alternative hotels will be published on the website in the event that the official hotel runs out of rooms.

Events

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   What types of events are planned for this year’s Mysterium?

   Due to its overwhelming popularity, What Would Atrus Do is definitely making an encore appearance at this year’s Mysterium. In addition, we would also like to have another Marker Hunt, and as always, fan presentations are more than welcome as well. Traditionally, Mysterium in Spokane has included EDGE and Laser Tag, but our decisions for the year have not yet been finalized, and attendees may decide what they’d like to do in this year’s city in addition to the official events.

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   Do I have to attend the official events?

   Nope! Event attendance is in no way mandatory. In fact, many people find attractions in the city and go to them in their free time or in lieu of an official event. Additionally, many Myst fans split into their own groups and do what they wish. However, we would hope that everyone attends at least one event, because we’d like to see everyone together! The official events are so that everyone has a chance to see everyone.

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   Will there be presentations this year?

   Yes, there will be presentations. Fans are invited to sign up for a presentation spot and present whatever they’d like to Mysterium attendees. Traditionally, this has been a batch lecture-hall format, with fans presenting to the entire Mysterium population, interspersed with prize giveaways. Last year, in Boston, presentations were slim, and largely informal. This year we are looking into ways to make the presentation setup more flexible, and we’re looking forward to plenty of presentations to fill out the available space!

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   How do I sign up for a presentation spot? What are the rules?

   If you are interested in signing up for a presentation slot right now, please contact the Committee’s Communications Lead. Once we get closer to the convention date, we’ll be putting together a more streamlined sign-up method. Please keep an eye on our site for more information about signing up, and what the rules are for presentations.

Polls

1. Rating: +0

   
   
   
   
   
   

   How do you conduct your surveys and polls?

   For more information on how we conduct our surveys and polls, please see our Polls page.

2. Rating: +0

   
   
   
   
   
   

   I accidently voted twice! What do I do?

   Don’t worry! When we tabulate the results, we discard duplicate votes as determined by your IP address.

Donations

1. Rating: +0

   
   
   
   
   
   

   Can I donate money to the Mysterium Committee?

   Yes! We gladly accept donations. Mysterium is a fan-run event, and as such, the only funding we get is from registration fees, donations, and merchandise purchases. To donate, just use our nifty little donation button on the right side of our website. Also, please see our Donations page for more information!

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   Where does donated money go?

   Any money donated to the Mysterium Committee goes to pay for any expenses incurred organizing Mysterium, including hotel conference room fees, prizes, event costs, registration goodies, etc.

   Our Treasurer will be posting statements to the Donations page as we start receiving donations. We soon hope to have a donations bar that shows how much money we’ve gotten, and how much money we need. We will also post a list of expenses to help track where exactly money has gone.

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   I represent a corperation or company, how can I donate to the Mysterium Commitee?

   We gladly accept donations from companies. You first need to contact us before donating any money. Please contact our Treasurer using our Contact page!

Contact Us

1. Rating: +0

   
   
   
   
   
   

   How do I contact the Mysterium Committee?

   You can contact us by using our handy contact form on the Contact page! We will reply to you as soon as possible.

Website

1. Rating: +0

   
   
   
   
   
   

   I see an error on your website, who do I contact?

   Please contact our Communications Lead; they will pass the issue along to our web development team.