Dodged a Bullet

During the break between the first and second games of Match Game SF, Westercon site selection administrator Sharon Sbarsky came in and (with permission) read the unofficial results of Westercon 65 Site Selection balloting: Tonopah 31, Seattle 54, with a handful of No Preference and None of the Above that didn't affect the result. The results are unofficial until received by the Business Meeting on Saturday morning at 11:30, but the upshot is that Tonopah had a very respectable showing and Seattle will host Westercon 65 in 2012. That seems to be a good result all around. Kuma Bear is pleased at how well the bid did, and I'm pleased that I don't have to chair a Westercon, since I was going to have to do so if we won and the Business Meeting dropped it on me.

On a different subject, there appears to be a way around the "pay for internet in your room" issue here if you do things just right, but it may not always work and I'm not going to write what it is here. I'm just happy that I can compose this post in my room before going to bed, because I have another busy day on Saturday, with a 10 AM panel, the Business Meeting at 11:30, and Match Game SF second show at 3 PM (move in from 1:30).

Good Press

Mike Glyer has had some nice things to say about me and about the Tonopah in 2012 Westercon Bid, including this post about the unofficial announcement of site selection results and my reaction to it during Match Game SF last night.

Westercon Business

Saturday's Westercon Business Meeting took the following actions:

• Received the official results of site selection: Seattle WA 54, Tonopah NV 31, Inyokern CA 1, None of the Above 4, No Preference 4; Needed to elect: 45 (majority of 88 ballots with preference). Thanked the tellers for their work.


• Received the first official report from Westercon 65 in Seattle ("ConClusion")


• Ratified the pending constitutional amendment (see 2009 Bylaws and draft agenda) that removed the 75-mile exclusion zone around the administering site.

There was no new business submitted. However, the panel immediately before the Business Meeting and in the same room crammed about 45 people into a 35-person room to debate the proposition that we "retire" Westercon at 65. No actual proposal was generated or presented to the Business Meeting, and thus there is no business passed on to Westercon 64 in San Jose.

Seattle's chair Bobbie DuFault made a nice presentation about their convention, after which Kuma Bear and Lisa Hayes were invited to comment, while Bobbie offered the two of them positions with Westercon 65. Lisa assured everyone that Tonopah would throw all its support behind Seattle. I won't comment too much, but it was touching to see Lisa overcome with emotion at having the Tonopah bid taken as seriously as it was intended to be.

I will be presiding over the Business Meetings at both San Jose and Seattle, and Linda Deneroff, who was Secretary here at Pasadena, has agreed to continue as Secretary for the next two years as well. She has already written the minutes, and once I've reviewed them I will submit them for upload to the Westercon web site.

Lisa recorded the meeting. Once I've had a chance to review and put together the video, I plan to upload it to Vimeo. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes. No procedural fireworks were on display.