Worldcon 2022 Day 3: First Main Business Meeting Report

Today was the first Main Business Meeting, but not the last. We did get some substantive business done, with some decent debate, and we did accomplish some things, although probably not as much as we would have liked. For the summary, see my report to Chicon's online newsletter.

Watch on YouTube

You can also watch the meeting here. Once again Lisa was able to make the recording work by swapping battery packs around and shuttling used batteries out into the lobby of the Crystal Ballroom and recharging them enough to (barely) manage to be usable again by the time they were needed. This would probably not work if the meeting lasted much more than three hours, but we got it to work.

( To the Meeting We Go )

Once again, if you want to follow along with my report of the details, you need a copy of the 2022 WSFS Business Meeting Agenda, because I'm going to refer to the item numbers in the agenda.

( The Details )

The resolutions and standing-rule debates used up the first half of the Main Meeting. We did not get to consideration of any Constitutional amendments until about 11:40.

( Finally, Constitutional Amendments )

So aside from the matter of clarifying E.2 (which as I mentioned above will come back tomorrow), we have now completed consideration of all of the constitutional amendments pending ratification. We have not, however, even started to address the eight new constitutional amendments that were submitted to this year's meeting. If we do try to consider all of them, it seems very clear to me that we will not be able to get everything done by the end of the meeting on Sunday. After all, we have to do Site Selection business for both the 2024 Worldcon and the 2023 NASFiC at the start of Sunday's meeting. This probably means that we will need an "overflow" session on Monday morning.

Now once the meeting deals with Site Selection business and E.2 (the last constitutional amendment pending a ratification vote), the meeting can adjourn sine die ("without date," which ends the session for this Worldcon) at any time. If the meeting so adjourns, all matters not otherwise passed or sent to committees "fall to the floor," i.e. they die. So the meeting does not have to consider everything.

There's one other factor in play here. Due to the convention facility schedule, there is a hard stop on the meeting at 1 PM on Monday. In other words, if the meeting futzes around long enough, it may be forced to adjourn sine die even if members still want to keep talking. I really hope it doesn't get to that point. We still have a lot of work do do with WSFS this year.

Worldcon 2022 Day 3: Other Than That, How Did the Day Go?

Between transporting stuff to the Business Meeting, attending and participating in it, then participating in post-meeting committee meetings to work out next steps, then packing up and carrying stuff back to the hotel room, then writing the short report for the convention online newsletter, compiling and then uploading the Business Meeting video, and then later writing the long form report, I did not have much additional time to do much of anything today.

Lisa and I did make it down to the Exhibit Hall once, so we could cast our NASFiC and Worldcon ballots. Despite my initial hopes, I was unable to do any shifts either at the Winnipeg table or at Site Selection. I feel bad about letting down the other members of our bid team. During that time, I found out from Dave McCarty that the Worldcon Chairs Photo Session had to be rescheduled from 1 PM Sunday to 9:30 AM Sunday. That is, it moved from right after the Business Meeting to just before it. The later time conflicted with the division-heads meeting including Chicon 8's chair and several other past chairs. This photo session isn't that long, but the logistics are challenging. Fortunately, Lisa and I have to be down there early anyway. There hasn't been an issue of getting into the room like there has been at some other convention facilities.

After voting, we went back to the hotel room. Lisa took a nap while I worked on the Business Meeting video. After compiling the video, I set it to uploading, which would take more than an hour. I had a personal errand: I wanted more Gold Bond powder, and because Chipotle had sent me a 2-for-1 offer, I also ordered a couple of burritos from the store near the CVS on Michigan Avenue near the hotel.

I got back to the hotel and ate one of my burritos (I put the other in the room 'fridge for later). Then I actually got to do something other than WSFS business. I had brought two of Charles Stross' books with me to get his autograph, but I'd missed his official autograph session yesterday. I had checked with him, and he invited me to join him in the BIG Bar on the hotel's second floor and bring my books, which was kind of him. I had a whole twenty minutes before my next commitment. We chatted a bit and Charlie signed the books. I would have been happy (and I know welcome) to stick around a little longer, but Worldcon, or in this case NASFiC business called.

I was part of the team from the Winnipeg NASFiC committee who helped count the NASFiC Site Selection ballots. Voting had closed at 6 PM. We started at 7 PM. It did not take long to count the ballots. There were no surprises. The official results will be certified at tomorrow morning's WSFS Business Meeting. Oh, and Lisa and I were equally surprised by the one write-in vote for Tonopah. 'Twernt us!

With the ballots counted, I checked in with Lisa, and we went for a grocery run to Bockwinkles. (We have to do this each day because the 'fridge is small so there's not a lot of perishables we can keep here, although more than you might expect.) There are parties all around us, including the CoNZealand party in Winnipeg's suite around the corner from our room. I would have liked to have gone out and socialized more, but besides the obvious concerns in this time of COVID, these reports won't write themselves, and if I don't do them now, they'll never get done.