kevin_standlee: (Manga Kevin)
[personal profile] 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.

Date: 2011-04-01 11:45 pm (UTC)
totient: (Default)
From: [personal profile] totient
Ah, I found a list. I missed the Sheraton Dallas and the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. I missed that the two Gaylord convention centers (in Nashville and DC) are both technically also hotels (both of them are too large for a Worldcon). And I undercounted the number of Las Vegas hotels with 100,000+ square feet of function space.

Date: 2011-04-01 11:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kevin-standlee.livejournal.com
It's vaguely possible that we might find a hungry enough hotel in Las Vegas, but we'd have the same issue as we're going to have in Reno. Also, the room rates won't be any good — look what the Atlantis/Peppermill did to Renovation. (For details, go to the Atlantis hotel's web site and quote room rates for the week before and after Worldcon.)

I'm not saying it can't be done; I'm saying it's not as easy as you are suggesting it is. I'd admire anyone capable of talking these hotels into deals that don't end up costing as much as any given convention center and wouldn't change the nature of the convention entirely (say by prohibiting costumes and parties).

May 2025

S M T W T F S
     1 2 3
4 5 6 78 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 2223 24
25 26 2728293031

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated May. 28th, 2025 02:12 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios