I’m in another one of those SF Signal Mind Meld things. This one is all about what Worldcon and Conic-Con can learn from each other. The responses are interesting, but perhaps not as useful as they might be because most of the people responding haven’t actually run a Worldcon, or indeed any convention. Almost some of them have little idea about WSFS politics and don’t know what would get howled down.
So Diana Gill’s idea that Worldcon should learn to stay in one place is basically silly. I don’t think it would even be that good for major publishers to have Worldcon just try to ape Comic-Con or Dragon*Con.
Several respondents talked about widening the net to bring in more people who have an interest in SF&F but are currently not well catered for by Worldcon. Lou Anders made the mistake of calling for more special-interest “Guests of Honor”, which is bound to irritate traditionalists, but lots of people commented on how good having Paul Krugman at Anticipation was, and he wasn’t even billed as a Guest. Admittedly the con should have done more to promote his presence, but no one is suggesting, I think that he should have been made a GoH. He was just a high profile panelist. We need more of those, and we need to advertise their presence (and the presence of the very many we already have).
My favorite response was from John Picacio who had some simple, concrete ideas about how to make better use of your headline artist guest. This is something that Imaginales does very well. Every year their chosen artist does a picture for them, and picture is everywhere, from the web site to publications to banners around the town. I’ll just quote a little bit of John’s response, because it makes a huge point. He’s talking about last year in Denver:
The con shared a cavernous convention facility with two other gatherings — a John Deere convention and a statisticians’ convention — and both had signage that was bigger, more graphically compelling, and just more visible than Worldcon’s. Let that sink in for a moment: science fiction art is some of the most compelling, evocative imagery anywhere. Who could believe then that a farm equipment con and a statisticians’ con would visually own THE World Science Fiction Convention in a side-by-side comparison?
We can, and we should, do better.
I didn’t make it to the Krugman & Stross conversation (the under-publicized time change didn’t help), but I did get to the Krugman solo talk. It was beyond standing room only (people were sprawled all over the floor — in fact, it was probably verging on dangerous), so I’m not sure publicizing him more would have been a good thing.
That talk was a real highlight of the con for me. I would love to see more guests like this, outside the usual sphere but with a related interest.
Off to go read the Mind Meld….
“This one is all about what Worldcon and Conic-Con can learn from each other.”
Conic-con sounds like it might be interesting. There are likely lots of geometry-based conventions I am unaware of.
I bet the degenerate programming is particularly fun, and they must have lots of eccentric functions.
Lou Anders made the mistake of calling for more special-interest ‘Guests of Honor’, which is bound to irritate traditionalists,”
I’ll jump in front of that bullet.
Speaking of math, each additional GOH divides, and lessens, the individual honor paid that much more.
Two GOHs meant that you could have no counter-programming against the two GOHs. The primary focus of the con was divided either, depending on your outlook, into only two parts, or, as was practically the case for many attendees, mostly just the Professional GOH, and fewer attendees paid attention to the Fan GOH.
But you could avoid counter-programming against two events, and have two exhibits that everyone focused on, and you’d be doing two people a huge honor.
Adding a third divided the focus into three, and it became harder to stop the con three times.
Adding a fourth, etc.
By the time you have five or six GOHs, it’s impossible to not have counter-programming, because you can’t stop all programming six times, and you’re now insulting your GOHs by programming against them.
So, yeah, there’s not much “honoring” left going on, relatively speaking.
But that’s a long-lost battle.
It’s probably difficult, if impossible, for people who have only known a Worldcon, or other conventions, with five-plus (or more!) Guests of Honor to understand what conventions were like when you had only one or two Guests of Honor, and you actually spent the con honoring them by having the primary (not sole, of course) focus of the formal convention be honoring one or two people.
It used to really mean something to do this.
If individual members weren’t interested in the GOH, or GOHs, fine, there are always other things to do at a con. There’s always plenty of other programming than the one or two GOH speeches/events, and Art Show, and huckster room/dealer’s room, and exhibits, and particularly the parties and just hanging out talking with all your fellow attendees and friends, old and instant.
Adding yet more “Guests of Honor”?: well, you’d still have the term, but there’d be no meaning left to it at all. All you’d have is a lot of divided attention, and no honoring left.
Giving people one eighth the honor a convention used to give is giving people one eighth the honor a convention used to give.
So put me in the trad column on this one.
“…but lots of people commented on how good having Paul Krugman at Anticipation was, and he wasn’t even billed as a Guest. Admittedly the con should have done more to promote his presence, but no one is suggesting, I think that he should have been made a GoH. He was just a high profile panelist. We need more of those, and we need to advertise their presence (and the presence of the very many we already have).”
Yes, that. Give lots of publicity to your well-known program participants: that’s entirely sane and fine and what should always be done, of course.
Sometimes traditions have a good reason. Sometimes they don’t. It’s important to distinguish between the two types of tradition.
Amy:
I don’t know which room the solo talk was in, but I suspect it could have been moved. We were not even using the whole convention center.
Gary:
I like your vision of “conic-con” so much I’m going to leave the typo in place.