Most convention-centre events (and I know this to be true for PAX and Sakuracon) count valid issued passes per day. So if someone had a four-day pass for PAX, that would be four, regardless of who used it, or even if they used it. This is standard for gate-style events; I just point that out because some membership-style people go "That's cheating!" and no, it's just a different count method.
For PAX in particular, they specifically do not care if you hand off your badge or trade it around. They're just fine with it. So some passes almost certainly do mean multiple people per day. I doubt that's a very large number, but that's just by guessing, not knowing.
Anyway, it's relevant, because Norwecon's "membership" is around 3,300/year, but our "gate" - if we counted one, which we don't, so this is unofficial - would be around 10,000ish? Maybe more.
Using gate - even an estimated gate - makes a meaningful difference in conversation and like it or not, increases interest overall - at least, in my experience. This is because the most common frame of reference for people not already in organised F&SF fandom is gate, not "membership," and they have no idea what "membership" means here. So they see 3,300 and think "tiny," and were that our gate for a four-day, they'd be right. (3300/4 = 825. We'd rattle around in that hotel and it'd be like a ghost town.)
So a 4,000-member "Worldcon" across five days to them means the crowd you would think of when somebody says "800 members." Smallish. Rattling around.
I do genuinely wonder whether Worldcon would suddenly look a lot more attractive if it announced "gate" numbers. To oversimplify, 4,000*5 = 20,000, and suddenly, Worldcon stops looking like a pretender in these eyes.
eta: For example, Worldcon could announce membership as "20,000 at gate, with 4,000 members." It does make it sound like two groups, which some would say is deceptive. But what it's communicating is more accurate, not less, to all the people who only know event sizes by gate counts.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 04:23 pm (UTC)For PAX in particular, they specifically do not care if you hand off your badge or trade it around. They're just fine with it. So some passes almost certainly do mean multiple people per day. I doubt that's a very large number, but that's just by guessing, not knowing.
Anyway, it's relevant, because Norwecon's "membership" is around 3,300/year, but our "gate" - if we counted one, which we don't, so this is unofficial - would be around 10,000ish? Maybe more.
Using gate - even an estimated gate - makes a meaningful difference in conversation and like it or not, increases interest overall - at least, in my experience. This is because the most common frame of reference for people not already in organised F&SF fandom is gate, not "membership," and they have no idea what "membership" means here. So they see 3,300 and think "tiny," and were that our gate for a four-day, they'd be right. (3300/4 = 825. We'd rattle around in that hotel and it'd be like a ghost town.)
So a 4,000-member "Worldcon" across five days to them means the crowd you would think of when somebody says "800 members." Smallish. Rattling around.
I do genuinely wonder whether Worldcon would suddenly look a lot more attractive if it announced "gate" numbers. To oversimplify, 4,000*5 = 20,000, and suddenly, Worldcon stops looking like a pretender in these eyes.
eta: For example, Worldcon could announce membership as "20,000 at gate, with 4,000 members." It does make it sound like two groups, which some would say is deceptive. But what it's communicating is more accurate, not less, to all the people who only know event sizes by gate counts.