One day in early 1992, Rob Furr, Tina Lewis and Jason Brannen scheduled a meeting with Connie in the University Scheduling department. You see, Rob was from Blacksburg and had been weaned on Technicon. He had finally gotten the gumption to do something about it by his junior year. Jason starting his second semester at JMU as a freshman. He had attended several cons in the Virginia Beach area and was very interested being on the staff of a con. He was quite surprised that JMU did not already have a con up and running because of the active and enthusiastic nature of SFFG. Tina was the SFFG treasurer and could write checks.

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The three of them walked into Connie’s office, prepared to fall flat on their faces. They instead walked out singing like warriors from Valhalla. Having secured rooms, times, and a spiffy conjunction of events with UPB, Madicon was on it’s way. Rob used his vast artistic skills to design a flyer. Jason got it copied and approved and proceeded to hang it up around campus. Jason also posted to all the list serves he was on at the time in hopes of attracting people from outside JMU.

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Madicon 1 went well. It was a one day event with just under 50 members. It featured heavy amounts of gaming, featuring active an active computer room and a nifty mini-movie theater. It concluded at midnight when everyone who had a membership was granted admission to Grafton-Stoval theater to see the 2nd Annual Animation Festival.

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Jason took over the reigns for Madicon 2 and used the same design on the first flyer but added a second sword to the first. It was still a one day event, but much better attended with about 100 members. Highlights included gaming, computers, movies, anime, art, and clay-o-rama.

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Jason passed on Madicon's control to Dave Seletyn, who had served as his Director of Advertising. As President of SFFG, he expanded the convention to three days and appointed Jen Grob (the SFFG Treasurer) as his second-in-command. Fully utilizing SFFG’s resources, he paid for SFFG members to go to cons and recruit more con-type people to JMU. It worked! This three day con attracted more people than ever before and had an awesome art show, dance party, and as usual, great gaming and computers and Clay-O-Rama (always a favorite!).

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In the great tradition of passing things on, Jen Grob became the ConChair for Madicon 4. She was ably assisted by Brian Glass who did an outstanding job coordinating the gaming that year.

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Brian Glass lead the team for Madicon 5. This con will be remembered for the outstanding party of Saturday night that took place off premises of the university. It inspired the White Wolf (W.W.) guys to introduce “Beer Pong” to the staff and also the “Zlogar the Unrepentant” Wyrm Rage card, named after the host/location/reputation of the party in the Swamp. Needless to say, a good time was had by all. Madicon 5 also saw the birth of Pimp: the Backhanding, now a popular card game published by Arthaus Games!

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Madicon 5 has been the most successful Madicon, though Madicon 9 did come close. Madicon 6 was run by CC Bidwell, No. 7 by Nicole Fauquet, and No. 8 by Joshua Leake. The aforementioned Madicon 9 was jointly run by Michael Morrison and Sally Pritchett.

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Madicons 10 and 11 were very successful under the direction of Mike and Lora Timonin, marking the first time since Madicon 2 that someone has been crazy enough to head up this convention twice.

With Madicon 12 came the reign of the ConMistresses: Sarah Pantke, Chris Rogers, Lucy Street, and Verity Caron, who also ran Madicon 13.

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For Madicon 14 we left Taylor Hall and moved across I81 to the new College Center. The conmistresses that year were Verity Caron, Lucy Street, Emi Qualls, and Christine Neidley. By Madicon 15, changes in the convention and JMU’s new policies made it necessary to remain in the College Center. Christine Neidley and Graham Beaber marked the return of the ConChairs.

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Madicon 16, 2007, Christine Neidley and Graham Beaber were again ConChairs, joined by Nicole Reeve. The College Center was also renamed to the “Festival” Center that year.

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Madicon 17 was led successfully by Suzanne Tice as ConMistress, again in the Festival Center. She taught an inexperienced ConApprentice, Lauren Avjean, the ins and outs of convention running to prep for Madicon 18.

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For Madicon 18 the Co-ConChairs were Lauren Avjean and Ryan Patterson. It was once again held in the Festival Center, which steadily became Madicon’s annual location.

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Madicons 19-26 have unfortunately been lost to the annals history, waiting to be discovered again. 

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Things picked back up with Madicon 26 with the reigns of ConChair having fallen upon Max Beller. Madicon had remained relatively the same since Madicon 18, with Festival remaining Madicon’s annual location.

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Now for Madicon 27, Jackie, a previous conchair, takes up the task of being conchair again with the added challenge of being in graduate school at the same time. Along with Jackie is the apperentice conchair, Bradley Sampson, who is in the running to become conchair for Madicon 28.

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Madicon 28 was initially chaired by Bradley, after having been apprentice chair the previous year. Unfortunately due to time constraints, Bradley had to step so he could focus on other things. In his place, Madicon once again has Co-Conchairs in the form of Zach Zilinskas and Cypress Dawn, with Bradley serving in an advisory role. Madicon 28 was a success, despite smaller numbers than previous years. One of the most acclaimed aspects was the LAN room, which was run by SFFG Webmaster John Archibald. Madicon 28 also featured several engaging panels, such as "The Most Optimal Date". It featured former SFFG President Nicholas Oliveira in a dating game show to find the love of his life (turns out, Nick's most optimal date is none other than former SFFG Secretary Lucas Strigel!).

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Madicon 29 was spearheaded by the Madicon 28 Conchair Cypress Dawn, but unfortunately was cancelled last minute due to the 2020 pandemic, only to return the next year in the form of a charity livestream.

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Madicon 30 was run as a charity livestream organized by Conchair Maddie Birchett and managed to raise $1433 for the Wildlife Center of Virginia, hitting the goal of $1200 necessary for the former SFFG President Andrew Clark to shave his head.

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Madicon 31 was run as a charity livestream as well, organized by Conchair Bee Swatosh, which broke the previous year's record by totalling $1600 raise for the Wildlife Center of Virginia. In keeping with the tradition from last year, Andrew Clark shaved his head once more.

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Madicon 32 is gearing up to be the first in-person Madicon since since Madicon 28, headed by Conchair May Relihan!!!