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Worldcon 2019 Day 1: Retro-Hugo Ceremony
Aug. 15th, 2019 11:59 pmThursday, the first day of Dublin 2019, was, as is often the case, one of the busiest days of the Worldcon for me. Slightly complicating things, but not in a bad way, was a work-related meeting. A co-worker (actually, a great-grand-boss) works in a regional office across the river from the convention center. Although I see him online regularly, we haven't met in person in about three years, and when I mentioned I was here in Dublin, he invited me to lunch. There wasn't enough work-related stuff to justify asking for a day of time off back, but I did get lunch paid for, which isn't nothing.
( Captain's In the House )
After the About-the-Business-Meeting panel, I checked in with the Stratocaster Room, where the actual Business Meeting will be held, found the tube with the Small Banner of WSFS, took it with me so it wouldn't get lost, and walked with Kate Secor back to the Convention Center and found Lisa, who was sitting with Christopher Carson at the Luna Society table.
At 4 PM, I presided over my last full WSFS Mark Protection Committee meeting as Chair. I'll be stepping down as Chair for the next term, although I've agreed to continue to serve as a regular member if re-elected. We spent an hour discussing matters of WSFS mark protection that I expect my successor to have to work upon in the next year.
At 5 PM there was a meeting of some of the WSFS Business Meeting team, including my boss, Jesi Lipp, this year's chair. Jesi just arrived today, and I'd been doing some of their tasks pre-con. I handed over to them the rest of the WSFS department staff ribbons to give to the business meeting staff I hadn't caught up with yet. I also gave Linda Deneroff the WSFS Business Meeting attendee ribbons.
At 6 PM, the exhibit hall closed, and I sent Lisa and Christopher off to meet up with as many other members of the Business Meeting team as could to have a dinner together. I could not join the, because Cheryl Morgan, Susan de Guardiola, and I were working preparation for the Hugo Awards web site coverage of the Opening Ceremonies/Retro-Hugo Ceremony. We did not cover the Retro-Hugos last year, but because we're using different live-text-coverage software for the Hugo Awards this year, we decided to cover the Retro-Hugos in order to get some live practice.
It's a good thing we got together long before the actual ceremony start at 8 PM. We needed all of that time. The wi-fi bandwidth in the Convention Centre is awful, and Cheryl could only barely get a cell phone signal, so that wasn't an option. We had a lot of trouble even getting the event started, and photo uploads were right out.
A good part about this coverage is that we have a separate booth (not out in the hall, but looking out over the auditorium). The bad news is the terrible bandwidth. We struggled our way through the coverage, but we have to see if there is any possible alternative to get more bandwidth by Sunday night and the main Hugo Award ceremony.
As the ceremony wrapped up, I popped backstage and found the Gavel of WSFS (which I delivered before the ceremony for James Bacon to use as part as the formal opening of the convention) and retrieved it from him for use at the Business Meeting, then went back up to our booth and packed out our gear. Cheryl and I bade goodnight to Susan.
Although our live coverage was finished, we still needed to update the Hugo Awards web site. The bandwidth is too awful in the CCD (Convention Centre Dublin) and my own hotel room isn't much better, so we took the Luas back to Cheryl's rented apartment. She and her roommate have a nice two-bedroom apartment with loads of room. (Envy!) Anyway, she has loads of bandwidth, so the two of us worked to get the WSFS web site updated with the Retro-Hugo results.
By the time this was all done, the trams had stopped running, so I had to walk the 1500 m or so back to my hotel. I'd had no dinner myself, other than a food bar, so I grabbed a sandwich on the way back.
Lisa went back to the hotel after dinner and got cleaned up and tried to get to bed early, which is more than I can get. Tomorrow is going to be on short rest, because we have to be back at the Gibson around 9 AM to set up for the 10 AM WSFS Business Meeting.
( Captain's In the House )
After the About-the-Business-Meeting panel, I checked in with the Stratocaster Room, where the actual Business Meeting will be held, found the tube with the Small Banner of WSFS, took it with me so it wouldn't get lost, and walked with Kate Secor back to the Convention Center and found Lisa, who was sitting with Christopher Carson at the Luna Society table.
At 4 PM, I presided over my last full WSFS Mark Protection Committee meeting as Chair. I'll be stepping down as Chair for the next term, although I've agreed to continue to serve as a regular member if re-elected. We spent an hour discussing matters of WSFS mark protection that I expect my successor to have to work upon in the next year.
At 5 PM there was a meeting of some of the WSFS Business Meeting team, including my boss, Jesi Lipp, this year's chair. Jesi just arrived today, and I'd been doing some of their tasks pre-con. I handed over to them the rest of the WSFS department staff ribbons to give to the business meeting staff I hadn't caught up with yet. I also gave Linda Deneroff the WSFS Business Meeting attendee ribbons.
At 6 PM, the exhibit hall closed, and I sent Lisa and Christopher off to meet up with as many other members of the Business Meeting team as could to have a dinner together. I could not join the, because Cheryl Morgan, Susan de Guardiola, and I were working preparation for the Hugo Awards web site coverage of the Opening Ceremonies/Retro-Hugo Ceremony. We did not cover the Retro-Hugos last year, but because we're using different live-text-coverage software for the Hugo Awards this year, we decided to cover the Retro-Hugos in order to get some live practice.
It's a good thing we got together long before the actual ceremony start at 8 PM. We needed all of that time. The wi-fi bandwidth in the Convention Centre is awful, and Cheryl could only barely get a cell phone signal, so that wasn't an option. We had a lot of trouble even getting the event started, and photo uploads were right out.
A good part about this coverage is that we have a separate booth (not out in the hall, but looking out over the auditorium). The bad news is the terrible bandwidth. We struggled our way through the coverage, but we have to see if there is any possible alternative to get more bandwidth by Sunday night and the main Hugo Award ceremony.
As the ceremony wrapped up, I popped backstage and found the Gavel of WSFS (which I delivered before the ceremony for James Bacon to use as part as the formal opening of the convention) and retrieved it from him for use at the Business Meeting, then went back up to our booth and packed out our gear. Cheryl and I bade goodnight to Susan.
Although our live coverage was finished, we still needed to update the Hugo Awards web site. The bandwidth is too awful in the CCD (Convention Centre Dublin) and my own hotel room isn't much better, so we took the Luas back to Cheryl's rented apartment. She and her roommate have a nice two-bedroom apartment with loads of room. (Envy!) Anyway, she has loads of bandwidth, so the two of us worked to get the WSFS web site updated with the Retro-Hugo results.
By the time this was all done, the trams had stopped running, so I had to walk the 1500 m or so back to my hotel. I'd had no dinner myself, other than a food bar, so I grabbed a sandwich on the way back.
Lisa went back to the hotel after dinner and got cleaned up and tried to get to bed early, which is more than I can get. Tomorrow is going to be on short rest, because we have to be back at the Gibson around 9 AM to set up for the 10 AM WSFS Business Meeting.
