Nobody Cares About Worldcon

[kevin_standlee]

One of the program items here this afternoon at ConStruction was "What Is This Thing Called Worldcon?" on which I was scheduled along with the other two SFSFC Worldcon chairs (Tom Whitmore and David W. Clark). However, when 4 PM rolled around, the only people in the room with us were people who already what I would call "usual suspects." Most of the attendees were clearly more interested in "Talent! Your Event Is As Good As your Totally Awesome Staff!" We therefore decided that holding the panel as such was pointless. Some of the attendees (and one of the panelists) went next door to the other event. The rest of us sat around plotting fannish mayhem smoffing about various topics, including convention guests of honor, fan funds, fanzines, and sundry other fannish topics.

Comments

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

One, two, three, four, I declare a smoff war, five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your rumors straight, nine, ten, let's begin!

[johnnyeponymous.livejournal.com]

I just wanted it noted that though I was around SMoFs while they SMoFed, I am in no way a SMoF myself.

Chris

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks

[ceemage.livejournal.com]

...despite the fact that, a week from now, you could be subscribed to the ultimate SMOFfish e-mail list? {grin}

No Audience better than Small Audience

[ceemage.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose having no audience at all is marginally better than having an audience of the size that you still feel the need to go through the motions.

And, if the rumours of a new Bay Area Worldcon bid are true, you can brush off any appeals for help by saying, "Well, I was all ready to pass on the benefit of my experience at ConStruction, but nobody turned up..."

Okay, I'm curious

[barry-short.livejournal.com]

Is it possible to be enough of a SMOF to attend a smoffish con, even one that isn't officially SMOFcon, and not know what Worldcon is? Can one even become a SMOF without ever attending a Worldcon?

Maybe a panel featuring three Worldcon chairs might be better titled "The Glory of Masochism". You know there are at least a few people who wouldn't be able to resist attending that.

Re: Okay, I'm curious

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Is it possible to be enough of a SMOF to attend a smoffish con, even one that isn't officially SMOFcon, and not know what Worldcon is?

Absolutely. I'd say at least one-third to one-half of the attendees at ConStruction wouldn't know the term "SMOF" and were only vague about what a Worldcon was. And these are people who are organizing and running a convention that's roughly twice the size of a typical North American Worldcon. I'm talking about FanimeCon, which is held in the downtown San Jose facilities where we held ConJose in 2002. FanimeCon was a huge supporter of ConStruction; indeed, I think it's safe to say that we probably could not have run the conference without their support and the members they fed into ConStruction.

I was talking with one of the people from FanimeCon during the Friday night social, and he asked me what my involvement was in conventions. He wasn't being sarcastic and I took no offense. I explained that I had co-chaired the World Science Fiction Convention in downtown San Jose in 2002. He'd never heard of it. He's not the only one.

Now, by the end of the con, almost everyone knew what a Worldcon was because If I Ran the Zoo...Con uses Worldcon as its model for the game, but not everyone coming to the conference is so immersed in special-interest, narrow-focused literary conventions (yes, that's how a lot of people see them) that they automatically know what a Worldcon is.

[howeird]

The title, I think, was your downfall. Pretty much anyone attending this con would know the answer to the question, or be pretty sure they knew the answer, so why show up?

"Worldcon Secrets Revealed" might have done the trick.