Nova Albion and the Future of Fandom

[kevin_standlee]

I didn't hang around after the main convention ended around 5 PM. Too tired, too hungry again. Going to try to get to sleep early.

I had someone ask me yesterday, "How can we inject the energy and spirit at this steampunk convention back into Worldcons?" He's right about the issue. I remember Worldcons, when I started attending in them in 1984, as high-energy, high-excitement events. Now they're much less so.

I gave the person as long-winded answer to his question, but I think it boils down to a single, cold-hearted answer: "Some significant Worldcon SMOFS are going to have to die." Or at least retire from the field of active convention running and participation in Worldcon organization.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not wishing death on anyone, neither literally nor figuratively. But to a great extent our collective conrunning brains at the Worldcon level are suffering from calcification of the neurons as we continue to keep things frozen into the form that we consider ideal, and in some individual cases, effectively working toward mummification, with a stated opinion that amounts to, "I want Worldcon and fandom to die when I do, and it must not change in the slightest until then, either."

It's not that we don't need experience. We do. What we need to do is not be straightjacketed by it. We need people who have the energy and drive to make events like Nova Albion and the other steampunk events and like the anime conventions want to work on general-SF/F events rather than getting discouraged by the entrenched interests who are more concerned with making sure that the Wrong Sort of Fan doesn't actually get involved. We certainly don't need the people making the decisions passing rules that effectively preclude those who actually are willing and able to get things done from even participating. (And that's not an academic, theoretical statement, as the WSFS Mark Protection Committee did exactly that this past year, even in the face of evidence that the members of the WSFS Business Meeting wanted something different.

Comments

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

San Francisco Marriott: The last time we dealt with them (for 2002), they made it incredibly clear that they didn't really want our business, but if we'd give them at least half a million dollars, hold a bunch of food functions, prohibit costumes in all areas, and forbid room parties (except parties catered by the convention in their space with the $5 cans of soda and $1 per chip costs), they might consider us. Maybe.

New York would be worse, by all accounts. There's a reason we haven't been back to New York since 1969. The costs are out of the stratosphere.

Even Chicon 7's memberships aren't going to be perceived as cheap, and they're not in a convention center.

I'd rather have 10,000 people in the space we've currently been taking than limiting attendance to 2,000 so we can cram them into smaller, cheaper space.

But maybe I'm all wet. Someone who is convinced that the members won't complain about crowding should try it. I expect, based on the queue-tolerance of anime cons, that maybe younger fans don't think overcrowding is a bad thing.

[totient]

New York would be worse

As I mentioned above, I thought this too until I got a very interesting phone call from a salesman for one of the big New York hotels.

[totient]

San Francisco Marriott: The last time we dealt with them (for 2002), they made it incredibly clear that they didn't really want our business

Nine years is a long time. It was only six years from when the Sheraton told MCFI they weren't welcome to bid for the '98 Worldcon there to when MCFI won their bid (and negotiated quite favorable rates, forkage policies, and so on) for 2004.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I admit that I could be wrong, but I suspect that they — like your contact in New York — would initially say, "great!" and then when they got into what we actually wanted, say, "Uh, maybe not," or "Sure, but it will cost you a million dollars," and I mean that literally, not figuratively.

The $250K it cost to rent/decorate the San Jose Convention Center is actually a bargain, it appears. Not as much as the relative pittance that Winnipeg was charged in 1994, but still a very good deal.

[totient]

I understand that Anticipation's rental and decorator expense came to under CA$150,000. Yet another reason to hope for Vancouver in 2015, I suppose.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I also thought Calgary had some very nice facilities.

Winnipeg was among the five best Worldcons I've attended, and I'm not saying that just because I was Deputy Chairman. It's pretty much the only Worldcon where I got to Day 5 thinking, "I could stand a couple more days just like this."

Alas, all Canadian sites share a common problem: vast numbers of Americans who are allergic to border crossings. Montreal and Toronto, both major metropolitan areas within an easy one-day's driving distances of a large portion of the US population, had lower attendance than would an equivalent US city in the same general area. That's probably not something that can be fixed; it's American isolationism in action, and the actions of the US government in demonizing everyone isn't helping.