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kevin_standleeAfter way too little sleep last night, this morning at 9 AM the WSFS Mark Protection Committee/Worldcon Intellectual Property Board of Directors met with the cooperation of SMOFCon 40, as they let us use one of their meeting rooms. The meeting was open to both in-person and virtual attendance from SMOFCon 40 members, although aside from the long-suffering technical support volunteers, only MPC members attending, including several attending online.
I sat at the head table with the Secretary sitting next to me. On the screens in front of me I could see the MPC members attending online, and in the room were the members who attended in person.
We had only an hour and several things to discuss, but this more or less kept us focused. We typically can't focus that well during our meetings at Worldcon because so many of us are busy with Worldcon itself. Today we managed to make some progress on issues that have been kicking around for quite a while. I'm not going to say more just yet, but it will be in the minutes posted on the wsfs.org website on the MPC committee page.
On my way to the meeting I walked down the steps on which Filthy Pierre slipped and fell on Friday. Today we learned that he'd been taken to Rhode Island Hospital, and that he'd broken his wrist in the fall. They still had him in the hospital, but friends would come collect him when the hospital was ready to discharge him.
After the MPC Meeting, I had to skip the rest of programming because I really, really needed some sleep. I did get a sandwich from the make-your-own setup in the Con Suite, which I took back to my room and ate, also appreciating the excellent flavored (but sugar free) seltzers that the con had on offer. I was very happy to have lots of fizzy water drinks that weren't cola or similar. Then I slept for a bit over two hours. It wasn't really enough, but it was enough to keep from from fading out entirely.
I did manage to attend the Feedback Session at the end of the convention. Running a fully hybrid convention is quite difficult: I suggest that an all-online or all-in-person convention is always going to be easier than a hybrid version that included the online members being included. There were also various facility specific issues. However, I complimented the Programming and Technical teams for persevering in pulling off what I think is a difficult task.
After the end of convention programming, I joined Don and Jill Eastlake and others for an early dinner. We lingered over it for a long time, and I enjoyed both the food and the company. I though the food from the hotel restaurant was good, although the service was slow. I had the same dinners both times I ate here: clam chowder and seafood scampi. I was also a bad person and had their nice key lime pie.
After 8 PM, the Con Suite upstairs reopened for the final night. Tammy Coxen was serving mixed drinks and is here preparing one for Glasgow 2025 Chair Esther MacCallum-Stewart. I don't enjoy alcohol myself, but certainly don't begrudge others the pleasure and I admire the skill involved in making mixed drinks.
I spent a couple of hours socializing and SMOFfing in the Con Suite. I was particularly happy to talk with Jesi Lipp. We discussed matters both of relevance to next year's Worldcon business meeting, over which they are presiding, and also less weighty matters that don't seem worth discussing.
On the other hand, I will here cycle back to last night where I stopped in just before heading off to bed (I wanted to take a couple of the seltzers with me), where Jesi and other members of the "Cool Kids" of SMOFCon (trust me, this is a compliment!) were talking about things and just as I came in, they apparently had mentioned WSFS Inc. They then all collapsed in laughter at the timing of my entrance. I let them all wind down and said, in my best Ted Cassidy impression, "YOU RANG?" which set them off again, as I intended.
Around 10 PM, I counted the few hours before my alarm would go off and concluded that as much as the socializing at SMOFCon, particularly in its most relaxed form, is the most fun I have at this event, I really had to get off to bed. I said my goodbyes to everyone and returned to the room to start packing what I could. Shortly after I post this, I need to get to bed as my alarm is set for 2 AM (with a backup alarm after that). My hard deadline is to be at Providence Station, roughly 1 km from the hotel, for the 4:15 AM train to Boston, where I will catch the bus to the airport for my 8 AM flight to San Francisco. At SFO I hope to use my remaining United Club pass before continuing home to Reno later tomorrow afternoon. This train trip will be local commuter train, not the speedy Acela trip, but it costs much less and runs when I need it to do so.
I had an excellent time here in Providence, lack of sleep notwithstanding. Next year's SMOFCon will be in Seattle, run by SWOC (not the 2025 Worldcon organization, but the group that ran the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane). I plan to be there.
I sat at the head table with the Secretary sitting next to me. On the screens in front of me I could see the MPC members attending online, and in the room were the members who attended in person.
We had only an hour and several things to discuss, but this more or less kept us focused. We typically can't focus that well during our meetings at Worldcon because so many of us are busy with Worldcon itself. Today we managed to make some progress on issues that have been kicking around for quite a while. I'm not going to say more just yet, but it will be in the minutes posted on the wsfs.org website on the MPC committee page.
On my way to the meeting I walked down the steps on which Filthy Pierre slipped and fell on Friday. Today we learned that he'd been taken to Rhode Island Hospital, and that he'd broken his wrist in the fall. They still had him in the hospital, but friends would come collect him when the hospital was ready to discharge him.
After the MPC Meeting, I had to skip the rest of programming because I really, really needed some sleep. I did get a sandwich from the make-your-own setup in the Con Suite, which I took back to my room and ate, also appreciating the excellent flavored (but sugar free) seltzers that the con had on offer. I was very happy to have lots of fizzy water drinks that weren't cola or similar. Then I slept for a bit over two hours. It wasn't really enough, but it was enough to keep from from fading out entirely.
I did manage to attend the Feedback Session at the end of the convention. Running a fully hybrid convention is quite difficult: I suggest that an all-online or all-in-person convention is always going to be easier than a hybrid version that included the online members being included. There were also various facility specific issues. However, I complimented the Programming and Technical teams for persevering in pulling off what I think is a difficult task.
After the end of convention programming, I joined Don and Jill Eastlake and others for an early dinner. We lingered over it for a long time, and I enjoyed both the food and the company. I though the food from the hotel restaurant was good, although the service was slow. I had the same dinners both times I ate here: clam chowder and seafood scampi. I was also a bad person and had their nice key lime pie.
After 8 PM, the Con Suite upstairs reopened for the final night. Tammy Coxen was serving mixed drinks and is here preparing one for Glasgow 2025 Chair Esther MacCallum-Stewart. I don't enjoy alcohol myself, but certainly don't begrudge others the pleasure and I admire the skill involved in making mixed drinks.
I spent a couple of hours socializing and SMOFfing in the Con Suite. I was particularly happy to talk with Jesi Lipp. We discussed matters both of relevance to next year's Worldcon business meeting, over which they are presiding, and also less weighty matters that don't seem worth discussing.
On the other hand, I will here cycle back to last night where I stopped in just before heading off to bed (I wanted to take a couple of the seltzers with me), where Jesi and other members of the "Cool Kids" of SMOFCon (trust me, this is a compliment!) were talking about things and just as I came in, they apparently had mentioned WSFS Inc. They then all collapsed in laughter at the timing of my entrance. I let them all wind down and said, in my best Ted Cassidy impression, "YOU RANG?" which set them off again, as I intended.
Around 10 PM, I counted the few hours before my alarm would go off and concluded that as much as the socializing at SMOFCon, particularly in its most relaxed form, is the most fun I have at this event, I really had to get off to bed. I said my goodbyes to everyone and returned to the room to start packing what I could. Shortly after I post this, I need to get to bed as my alarm is set for 2 AM (with a backup alarm after that). My hard deadline is to be at Providence Station, roughly 1 km from the hotel, for the 4:15 AM train to Boston, where I will catch the bus to the airport for my 8 AM flight to San Francisco. At SFO I hope to use my remaining United Club pass before continuing home to Reno later tomorrow afternoon. This train trip will be local commuter train, not the speedy Acela trip, but it costs much less and runs when I need it to do so.
I had an excellent time here in Providence, lack of sleep notwithstanding. Next year's SMOFCon will be in Seattle, run by SWOC (not the 2025 Worldcon organization, but the group that ran the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane). I plan to be there.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-04 11:44 am (UTC)