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kevin_standleeWorldcon is great, but five days of 20K steps and not enough sleep is about enough. Because of there being two more pieces of WSFS Business left, we had to once again haul our equipment down to the Gibson Hotel and set up for a final relatively short meeting. The meeting disposed of the final two items and prepared to adjourn. But I had other plans, and when the motion to adjourn sine die (without date; it means the series of meetings is over until next year) reached the floor, I rose to object to it being considered, but before I could do so, Kent Bloom raised a Point of Order that Chairperson Jesi Lipp sustained that under these particular circumstances the motion was not debatable. I countered by raising a Question of Privilege and begged the Chair to trust me, which they did.
I reminded people that this was Jesi's first time as the the full-time chair of the WSFS Business Meeting. (They presided for the first time at last year's meeting, deputizing for Tim Illingworth.) I said how I've taken a personal interest in Jesi's WSFS "career development," and as a token of my respect and thanks, I presented them with a gavel (from the same vendor as the WSFS gavel, but one size smaller), engraved thus:
Jesi Lipp, Chair
World Science Fiction Society
Dublin, Ireland, 2019
After the meeting adjourned, I gave Jesi a hug and told them how proud I was of them. And then said, "Now get out of here so you don't miss your flight!"
Today's WSFS Business Meeting recordings are relatively short (only two segments), but I simply did not have the time to go get them uploaded. They aren't hugely urgent (although they do contain the somewhat amusing (in a parliamentary way) cut-and-thrust of procedural motions deployed that eventually allowed me to present the gift to Jesi before adjournment. I do not know when I'll get those last two segments uploaded.
Making my way back to the Convention Center, I actually found myself in the Dealers Room/Exhibit Hall for the first time since Thursday, as I'd never been there during open hours. I did not have a huge amount of time, but managed to get Lisa and my 2021 (DC) Worldcon memberships upgraded to attending, get Lisa and my Volunteer hours recorded and our T-Shirts collected, collected my Dublin 2019 Staff polo shirt that I'd ordered but forgotten to collect, and redeemed Lisa and my volunteer "groats" (tokens worth two Euros each toward concessions or some convention dealers issued as a thank you token for each hour worked as a volunteer) for lunch. We sat at the now vacant DC Worldcon bid table (because they'd moved over to the Site Selection table to sell memberships) next to the Luna Society table.
While Lisa and I ate our lunch, Feòrag Nicbhrìde came by with Fluff the Plush Cthulhu, who compared notes with Kuma Bear. As it happens, Feòrag seems to have certain tourism plans that might mesh with ours, so we need to see if we can coordinate and travel together.
I also got my photo on this "Throne of Games" in the Exhibit hall.
After lunch, Lisa and I went back to the hotel and then back to the Convention Centre Dublin as fast as our feet and the Luas would allow. Alas, I ended up needing to do more computer work that I wanted to do, and that held us back, but we did manage to get back to the CCD with a little bit of time before closing time.
As the last hour of the Dealers' Room counted down, I got the chance to stop by the Studio Foglio table and chat with Phil and Kaja Foglio, which I enjoyed. And my goodness has Victor Foglio grown! He's nearly as tall as I am! I do wish that my schedule at the convention has allowed me to come to their radio play, as it's a new one, and I'd love to have been able to take a part if they had allowed me to do so. But I was off sweating over a laptop uploading video when they were performing.
At 16:30, it was time for the Closing Ceremony, and I found a seat very closet to the front. I won't give a full description, but here's the key ceremonial moment: the point where Dublin 2019's chair James Bacon formally closed the 2019 Worldcon by using the Gavel of WSFS on a sounder being held by CoNZealand's co-chairs Kelly Buehler and Norman Cates before presenting them with the gavel, representing the handover of the Worldcon to the 2020 committee. This is in fact the same Gavel of WSFS used at the Business Meeting.
After the Closing Ceremony, a group of us — coincidentally including most of the members of the Westercon 74 Tonopah committee — walked over to Mayor Square and had dinner at the Japanese restaurant there. Lisa sat with us at dinner, but did not eat as the menu looked like it might be hard on her; she's had some challenges with digestion this week. (As have many people; it's not just her.) After dinner, she went over to the Marks & Spencer Simply Food market across the street and bought some milder food.
Then it was on to the Former Worldcon Chairs party back at the CCD. This is the only party at the whole convention I usually can attend under any circumstances than rushing through trying to find specific people. I actually did not go in until moderately late, as I was having much more fun sitting outside the door chatting with Kate Secor, Cliff Dunn, and others hanging around. Really, when there's no press of urgent business, I can unwind and relax, too.
James Bacon made his appearance at the Worldcon Chairs Party, and proceeded to talk for a while, possibly trying to put off the inevitable. While it's a relief to set aside chairing a Worldcon, it's also something of a letdown, as I know personally very well. (Good grief, has it really been seventeen years?) But eventually Dave McCarty persuaded James to accept his Former Worldcon Chair ribbon, presented to him by René Walling, co-chair of the 2009 Worldcon, Anticipation. What I did not know until Dave announced it was that René has been since 2009 the youngest members of the Society of Former Worldcon Chairs, but that James now joins the club as our youngest member.
Tired as I was, I hated to leave. But the Luas shuts down at Midnight, so I had to either go and use my unlimited-ride tourist pass, or else stay a little longer and end up paying for a taxi back downtown, as I really didn't feel like walking clear back to the Holiday Inn Express.
That's more or less a wrap on the 77th World Science Fiction Convention, although there will of course be more clean up, and I still need to somehow find a way to upload the final two segments of the Business Meeting and the Worldcon Chairs Video. To show you how useless the upload speed is here at my hotel, when I first tried to upload the Chairs Video (which runs only about one minute), YouTube predicted that it would take nearly three hours to upload!
Tuesday we have no commitments. By Lisa's instruction, I'm not to worry about whether we miss the included breakfast that comes with our hotel room. The alarm is turned off and we need sleep!
I reminded people that this was Jesi's first time as the the full-time chair of the WSFS Business Meeting. (They presided for the first time at last year's meeting, deputizing for Tim Illingworth.) I said how I've taken a personal interest in Jesi's WSFS "career development," and as a token of my respect and thanks, I presented them with a gavel (from the same vendor as the WSFS gavel, but one size smaller), engraved thus:
Jesi Lipp, Chair
World Science Fiction Society
Dublin, Ireland, 2019
After the meeting adjourned, I gave Jesi a hug and told them how proud I was of them. And then said, "Now get out of here so you don't miss your flight!"
Today's WSFS Business Meeting recordings are relatively short (only two segments), but I simply did not have the time to go get them uploaded. They aren't hugely urgent (although they do contain the somewhat amusing (in a parliamentary way) cut-and-thrust of procedural motions deployed that eventually allowed me to present the gift to Jesi before adjournment. I do not know when I'll get those last two segments uploaded.
Making my way back to the Convention Center, I actually found myself in the Dealers Room/Exhibit Hall for the first time since Thursday, as I'd never been there during open hours. I did not have a huge amount of time, but managed to get Lisa and my 2021 (DC) Worldcon memberships upgraded to attending, get Lisa and my Volunteer hours recorded and our T-Shirts collected, collected my Dublin 2019 Staff polo shirt that I'd ordered but forgotten to collect, and redeemed Lisa and my volunteer "groats" (tokens worth two Euros each toward concessions or some convention dealers issued as a thank you token for each hour worked as a volunteer) for lunch. We sat at the now vacant DC Worldcon bid table (because they'd moved over to the Site Selection table to sell memberships) next to the Luna Society table.
While Lisa and I ate our lunch, Feòrag Nicbhrìde came by with Fluff the Plush Cthulhu, who compared notes with Kuma Bear. As it happens, Feòrag seems to have certain tourism plans that might mesh with ours, so we need to see if we can coordinate and travel together.
I also got my photo on this "Throne of Games" in the Exhibit hall.
After lunch, Lisa and I went back to the hotel and then back to the Convention Centre Dublin as fast as our feet and the Luas would allow. Alas, I ended up needing to do more computer work that I wanted to do, and that held us back, but we did manage to get back to the CCD with a little bit of time before closing time.
As the last hour of the Dealers' Room counted down, I got the chance to stop by the Studio Foglio table and chat with Phil and Kaja Foglio, which I enjoyed. And my goodness has Victor Foglio grown! He's nearly as tall as I am! I do wish that my schedule at the convention has allowed me to come to their radio play, as it's a new one, and I'd love to have been able to take a part if they had allowed me to do so. But I was off sweating over a laptop uploading video when they were performing.
At 16:30, it was time for the Closing Ceremony, and I found a seat very closet to the front. I won't give a full description, but here's the key ceremonial moment: the point where Dublin 2019's chair James Bacon formally closed the 2019 Worldcon by using the Gavel of WSFS on a sounder being held by CoNZealand's co-chairs Kelly Buehler and Norman Cates before presenting them with the gavel, representing the handover of the Worldcon to the 2020 committee. This is in fact the same Gavel of WSFS used at the Business Meeting.
After the Closing Ceremony, a group of us — coincidentally including most of the members of the Westercon 74 Tonopah committee — walked over to Mayor Square and had dinner at the Japanese restaurant there. Lisa sat with us at dinner, but did not eat as the menu looked like it might be hard on her; she's had some challenges with digestion this week. (As have many people; it's not just her.) After dinner, she went over to the Marks & Spencer Simply Food market across the street and bought some milder food.
Then it was on to the Former Worldcon Chairs party back at the CCD. This is the only party at the whole convention I usually can attend under any circumstances than rushing through trying to find specific people. I actually did not go in until moderately late, as I was having much more fun sitting outside the door chatting with Kate Secor, Cliff Dunn, and others hanging around. Really, when there's no press of urgent business, I can unwind and relax, too.
James Bacon made his appearance at the Worldcon Chairs Party, and proceeded to talk for a while, possibly trying to put off the inevitable. While it's a relief to set aside chairing a Worldcon, it's also something of a letdown, as I know personally very well. (Good grief, has it really been seventeen years?) But eventually Dave McCarty persuaded James to accept his Former Worldcon Chair ribbon, presented to him by René Walling, co-chair of the 2009 Worldcon, Anticipation. What I did not know until Dave announced it was that René has been since 2009 the youngest members of the Society of Former Worldcon Chairs, but that James now joins the club as our youngest member.
Tired as I was, I hated to leave. But the Luas shuts down at Midnight, so I had to either go and use my unlimited-ride tourist pass, or else stay a little longer and end up paying for a taxi back downtown, as I really didn't feel like walking clear back to the Holiday Inn Express.
That's more or less a wrap on the 77th World Science Fiction Convention, although there will of course be more clean up, and I still need to somehow find a way to upload the final two segments of the Business Meeting and the Worldcon Chairs Video. To show you how useless the upload speed is here at my hotel, when I first tried to upload the Chairs Video (which runs only about one minute), YouTube predicted that it would take nearly three hours to upload!
Tuesday we have no commitments. By Lisa's instruction, I'm not to worry about whether we miss the included breakfast that comes with our hotel room. The alarm is turned off and we need sleep!
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Date: 2019-08-20 03:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
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