Traditionally, con filks started at midnight and ran 'til dawn or beyond - that was the only time filkers could find a place to sing from which they wouldn't immediately be thrown out. These days, many conventions schedule hotel function rooms for filking, starting at 10 p.m. or so, and include filk concerts in their main programming. Just between you and me, you can sample an evening's filking without buying a membership, but consider yourself honor-bound to get one if you stay more than briefly. Most SF cons are shoestring operations run entirely by volunteers. Since the early 80's, filkers have put on their very own cons.
Most filk cons are in the U.S., but there are annual Canadian and British ones as well.
There are also local filk organizations that hold periodic filk parties, usually at a member's house. Some conventions and filk organizations are listed in the sidebar to this article. Shortly thereafter, the first dedicated filk publisher, Off Centaur Publications, began publishing more songbooks and the first filk cassette tapes. Unfortunately, Off Centaur went out of business in 1987, and many early tapes and books are out of print. Off Centaur did, however, spawn a small but lively filk publishing industry, and there are now several companies producing both live and studio recordings.