Another Memo I Didn't Get

[kevin_standlee]

Not every mention of Worldcon turns up in my daily Google Alert. I stumbled across this Worldcon/Japan trip report this morning. I enjoy reading trip reports like these, but I did hit a bit of a bump in the road on this:

The most senior committee members may receive some compensation since for them it is very much a full time job....

Say what? There was monetary compensation of some sort for this job? First time I've heard of it.

In complete fairness, the rest of what he says about how Worldcon is complete fan-run and so forth is quite true, and I appreciate people noticing it. I left him a comment asking what he means by "compensation." I don't deny that there are minor perks of the job. In 2002, I got a somewhat reduced-price room ($99/night), and was eventually reimbursed for room nights before or after the nights we would expect a regular Worldcon attendee to take anyway (and that meant the night before the convention wasn't reimbursed -- we assumed the night before the convention through the night after it ended, or Wednesday through Monday nights for a "traditional dates" Worldcon), and some other expenses, but I certainly was never paid a salary or stipend of any sort.

Comments

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

And not everyone gets even a reduced-rate room. My cash outlay and lost wages (no "overtime" -- no summer teaching for a year, etc.) for chairing a Worldcon doesn't even bear thinking about it. But my real compensation was measured in skills, knowledge, friends, and stories for a lifetime.

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

Every convention I go to is a loss monetarily (even when I have everything covered except for train fare). The memories from helping out conventions and attending them are priceless. I am hoping to take a traditional approach to Worldcon staying for 2008 (from Tuesday-Monday), but that depends on the 2008 convention schedule which I will lay out by January 1st.