Don Kaiser first became a fan when he took a science fiction course in high school English in 1972 and read “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury (among other books). Throughout high school and college, he continued to read science fiction and fantasy books almost exclusively. He continues to read science fiction and fantasy books and is especially fond of short fiction and has been an active participant in the North Country Gaylaxians’ monthly book discussions for many years.

Don started being active in fandom in the mid-1980s, attending his first convention, Minicon 18, in 1984. Since then, he has attended numerous conventions in the Twin Cities. He sponsored Gaylaxian room parties at Minicon for several years in the early- and mid-1990s and helped organize (and moderate) panels of GLBT interest at that same time. He attended his first WorldCon (NoLaCon II) in 1988 and has attended five others since, volunteering at all them.

Don started playing D&D in college soon after the game was released and has been an avid gamer ever since, both role-playing and board games. In the late 1980s, Don ran Tékumel games, which published ancillary materials from Professor M.A.R. Barker’s Tékumel role-playing world. During that time, Don attended many large game conventions (including GenCon as both a dealer and a judge). Don is still an avid gamer, both role playing (D&D, Gamma World, and Tékumel) and board games (he hosts a monthly game night for the North Country Gaylaxians and other friends).

In 2001, Don started volunteering on the con committee of Diversicon. In 2002, he was deputy-programming head and in 2003 and 2004, he headed programming. Although a small con in numbers, Diversicon has three tracks of programming for an entire weekend (typically running between 65 and 75 programming items in the weekend) and is know for its high participation rate (30 -35% of attendees were on one or more panels). Don also regularly attends CONvergence, where he volunteers in the masquerade and as a panel moderator.

In 2004, Don attended his first Gaylaxicon in San Diego. He also attended in Boston in 2005, Washington DC in 2008, and Atlanta in 2011, volunteering significant hours at each convention. He also volunteered to be a reader/judge for the short fiction category of the Spectrum Awards in 2004 and 2005. He was the Con Chair at the first Minneapolis Gaylaxicon in 2009, which had 278 attendees. He also chaired Gaylaxicon 2012 (also in Minneapolis), which had over 300 attendees.

Professionally, Don has worked with small start-up companies for over 20 years and is highly experienced in organization, running meetings, and keeping projects on track.

Con Chair – Guest Liaison – Hotel Liaison – Programming – Advisory