Fannish Inquisition Videos from SMOFCon
Dec. 26th, 2013 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeI gave up on trying to edit the Fannish Inquisition videos from the Toronto SMOFCon. (I'd hoped to be able to edit out the waffling around with tech and similar wasted time.) It not only was going to take so much time that I would never get around to it, but MovieMaker crashed (twice) while trying to digest the two halves of the Future SMOFCons material. Note to future moderators: It would help me a great deal if you would give me some sort of high sign meaning "I'm ready to start the next segment," then wait three seconds to let me turn the camera on, then actually start. As it was, I was left guessing a lot, and as a consequence you have stretched where nothing is actually happening.
Anyway, here are the videos:
Seated Worldcons and NASFiC Presentations and Q&A
Future SMOFCons
Future Worldcons
All of these videos have creative-commons licenses on them. You are free to link to, redistribute, repost, or otherwise reuse these videos. They are not secret. (Remember, the real secret of the Secret Masters of Fandom is that they aren't actually secret.)
I'm sorry the video quality is so poor. The room was kept deliberately dark for the benefit of people making presentations on the projector. I was given few cues as to when things were starting, which means that some of these videos start a few seconds after the sections in question started. I had no control over how people used (or misused) the microphone. Hint: Anyone who says, "I don't need the microphone" needs the microphone.
For anyone coming across this posting without much context:
"SMOF" means "Secret Masters of Fandom," a self-deprecating term for those people who organize science fiction and fantasy genre conventions. They aren't really secret. If you think they are, you're not paying very close attention.
"SMOFCon" is an annual convention about organizing SF/F genre conventions, usually with an emphasis on the World Science Fiction Convention due to the most common experience of most of the attendees. (A significant proportion if not the majority of the attendees are involved with running Worldcons.) The convention is hosted by different groups of fans in different cities each year; this year it was in Toronto. It usually is held the first or second weekend of December, and in recent years attendance has been between 100-150 people or so. It is not actually a science fiction convention; I usually describe it as a specialized meeting-planner conference.
The "Fannish Inquisition" is the traditional centerpiece of SMOFCon, held after dinner on the middle night of the conference, where seated Worldcons and NASFiCs, and bids for future such conventions, make presentations and take questions. (Sometimes, like this year, presentations and the selection of the following year's SMOFCon is included.) Conrunners facing the Fannish Inquisition had better bring their "A" game, because the audience in that room consists of around 100 or so of the most important fannish opinion-leaders when it comes to getting elected to host a Worldcon or NASFiC. It's not that they're the ones actually making the decisions; it's that most of them are voters themselves (which means a really large percentage of the total electorate is in one place) and that other likely voters tend to listen to them.
Anyway, here are the videos:
Seated Worldcons and NASFiC Presentations and Q&A
- LoneStarCon 3 (2013 Worldcon, San Antonio)
- Loncon 3 (2014 Worldcon, London)
- Sasquan (2015 Worldcon, Spokane)
- Detcon 1 (2014 NASFiC, Detroit)
Future SMOFCons
Future Worldcons
- 2016 Worldcon Bid Presentations
- 2017 Worldcon Bid Presentations
- 2018 Worldcon Bid Presentations
- 2019 Worldcon Bid Presentations
- 2020 Worldcon Bid Presentations
- Worldcon Bid Expressions of Interest for Years after 2020
- Combined Worldcon Bids Q&A Panel
All of these videos have creative-commons licenses on them. You are free to link to, redistribute, repost, or otherwise reuse these videos. They are not secret. (Remember, the real secret of the Secret Masters of Fandom is that they aren't actually secret.)
I'm sorry the video quality is so poor. The room was kept deliberately dark for the benefit of people making presentations on the projector. I was given few cues as to when things were starting, which means that some of these videos start a few seconds after the sections in question started. I had no control over how people used (or misused) the microphone. Hint: Anyone who says, "I don't need the microphone" needs the microphone.
For anyone coming across this posting without much context:
"SMOF" means "Secret Masters of Fandom," a self-deprecating term for those people who organize science fiction and fantasy genre conventions. They aren't really secret. If you think they are, you're not paying very close attention.
"SMOFCon" is an annual convention about organizing SF/F genre conventions, usually with an emphasis on the World Science Fiction Convention due to the most common experience of most of the attendees. (A significant proportion if not the majority of the attendees are involved with running Worldcons.) The convention is hosted by different groups of fans in different cities each year; this year it was in Toronto. It usually is held the first or second weekend of December, and in recent years attendance has been between 100-150 people or so. It is not actually a science fiction convention; I usually describe it as a specialized meeting-planner conference.
The "Fannish Inquisition" is the traditional centerpiece of SMOFCon, held after dinner on the middle night of the conference, where seated Worldcons and NASFiCs, and bids for future such conventions, make presentations and take questions. (Sometimes, like this year, presentations and the selection of the following year's SMOFCon is included.) Conrunners facing the Fannish Inquisition had better bring their "A" game, because the audience in that room consists of around 100 or so of the most important fannish opinion-leaders when it comes to getting elected to host a Worldcon or NASFiC. It's not that they're the ones actually making the decisions; it's that most of them are voters themselves (which means a really large percentage of the total electorate is in one place) and that other likely voters tend to listen to them.
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no subject
Date: 2013-12-26 07:59 pm (UTC)Needless to say, there are exceptions .... at the 1978 World Fantasy Con, Friitz Leiber was in a largeish room with a non-functioning microphone. He cheated ... he had been trained as a Shakespearian actor and could project his voice. Impressive.
Anyway, back to videos: Thanks! As someone who couldn't make it, it was interesting viewing.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-26 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-27 08:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-27 06:37 pm (UTC)despite the tech troubles with low lighting and sound, it's great to hear the discussions and presentations.
I appreciate the time and effort you gave to make these available to anyone who wants to listen/watch.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-27 06:57 pm (UTC)