WorldCon 09 MR Contingent

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

From Massachusetts?!?

I guess you'd better let Worldcon know, you won't be attending until they host it across the street from you!

Attending Worldcon is a considerable commitment. I see comments from various folks complaining about the high cost of an attending membership and chuckle. The membership is the least of the expenses. Once you count up travel expenses, a week in a hotel, and food and drink for the duration, not to mention miscellany like like purchases in the Dealer's Room or Art Show, you're looking at a several thousand dollar outlay. Most folks plan and budget for it well in advance. Plane tickets, for example, are not things you want to book last minute.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by tompe

I was at Boskone 34 (1997) which was in Frammingham. It was an OK con with a literary bent. The funny thing was that I took the bus from the airport and totally missed seeing Boston and the hotel was very isolated if you did not have a car.

I made some of the Framingham cons. I don't recall offhand whether I made that one.

The con I want to visit in the US is Readercon but I really can usually not afford the money and time to go to both Readercon and Worldcon.

I go more often than not. It's a dedicated literary convention, with only books. No Art Show, no Masquerade, no film program (though one year did have a showing of the BBC's Gormenghast adaptation), no Anime... The dealer's room is only book dealers. They tend to get a good pro guest turnout.

Programming tends to be quite good, but it's not a party con.
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Dennis

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Attending Worldcon is a considerable commitment. I see comments from various folks complaining about the high cost of an attending membership and chuckle. The membership is the least of the expenses. Once you count up travel expenses, a week in a hotel, and food and drink for the duration, not to mention miscellany like like purchases in the Dealer's Room or Art Show, you're looking at a several thousand dollar outlay. Most folks plan and budget for it well in advance. Plane tickets, for example, are not things you want to book last minute.
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Dennis

Which is why we are planning this group gather more than a year in advance. Join the social group!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Which is why we are planning this group gather more than a year in advance.

Right! If I knock off a few Starbucks trips per week, that'll get me planefare... then a few less restaurant dinners a month for the hotel...

Seriously, that's the way to do it, if you want to go... you can plan and start saving for it now, instead of looking at it a month from then and realizing it's too late.

I like the idea of an effort to promote e-books at the con, if something could be arranged. Possibly an "FAQ" booth, tied into various sources for e-books, readers, formats, etc. I, for instance, could answer questions on e-book production for independent sales... maybe a visiting print-published author could discuss e-book penetration in print publishing... an MR member could discuss the community, availability of books, public domain... we could all argue on copyright issues (maybe that could be a paneled/private room discussion... or just set up in a mud-wrestling pit!...).

Or, thinking smaller, make sure e-books get some exposure in programs, ads, posters, etc... and make sure MR is a visible contingent for those who want more information. (T-shirts, anyone?)

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Right! If I knock off a few Starbucks trips per week, that'll get me planefare... then a few less restaurant dinners a month for the hotel...

Seriously, that's the way to do it, if you want to go... you can plan and start saving for it now, instead of looking at it a month from then and realizing it's too late.

Unless the Worldcon is local to you, deciding to go at the last moment is unlikely. Plane fares will have risen from exorbitant to astronomical, hotel bookings at any of the close by con affiliated hotels at con rates will be sold out, and at the door membership prices will be a lot higher.

The San Jose Worldcon, ConJose, had an interesting problem. A week or so before the con, Paramount Studios called them. A new Star Trek movie was coming out, and they wanted to have Patrick Stewart appear at the con to promote it. They'd pick up Stewart's fee and expenses. The con said yes, though some fast reshuffling was needed to clear the program space needed for the event. But the con faced the question of "How do we budget for this? There will be people who will come strictly to see Patrick Stewart, but how many?" Having no better option, they made a WAG ($5K, I believe) and plugged in it as projected attending membership revenue increase.

And they got a much higher than expected walk-in trade. The economy wasn't robust, but while folks in the San Jose area or a reasonable drive distance were scaling back on major purchases, they were willing to drop $200 to attend the Worldcon on a commuting basis.

I like the idea of an effort to promote e-books at the con, if something could be arranged. Possibly an "FAQ" booth, tied into various sources for e-books, readers, formats, etc. I, for instance, could answer questions on e-book production for independent sales... maybe a visiting print-published author could discuss e-book penetration in print publishing... an MR member could discuss the community, availability of books, public domain... we could all argue on copyright issues (maybe that could be a paneled/private room discussion... or just set up in a mud-wrestling pit!...).

Or, thinking smaller, make sure e-books get some exposure in programs, ads, posters, etc... and make sure MR is a visible contingent for those who want more information. (T-shirts, anyone?)

For the first, you would want to arrange for what is called a "fan table". Fan tables are set up in public areas, and are places for fans to promote thier clubs, conventions and the like. There is no charge for them, but you do need to book well in advance, as there are a limited number available.

To go with that, you would want to suggest ebook related programming to the con programming staff. Precision is better: suggest panels with a catchy title, a paragraph description for the pocket program, and a list of folks you think might be good to be on it. There's no guarantee the suggestion will get implemented, but it will be easier for programming to evaluate and say yes or no to.

Fan tables have the critical issue of scheduling. If you have one, someone needs to man it, so you'll need to get commitments from folks tossing their hats into this ring on hours they are willing to be available.

You would also need stuff you could hand out to people. It doesn't need to be fancy. Simple sheets with lists of ebook resources and URLs, and perhaps buttons with the MR logo if anyone wants to spring for the cost of producing them and MR has no objection to the use of the trademark.
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Dennis

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Well, obviously I can't speak for MR on a lot of those points... I was mainly pointing them out. However, if MR decided to go for any of these promotional ideas, I'm going on record as willing to participate in any way I can.

At the very least, I'll be looking into an ad addition to their program for my e-books site, and if MR cannot do anything more involved, I'd suggest something like that to MR as well.

[pshrynk]

I think that getting the t-shirts in addtion to showing up would be good. Buttons, also.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Not to mention anything else we can hand out!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I go more often than not. It's a dedicated literary convention, with only books. No Art Show, no Masquerade, no film program (though one year did have a showing of the BBC's Gormenghast adaptation), no Anime... The dealer's room is only book dealers. They tend to get a good pro guest turnout.

Programming tends to be quite good, but it's not a party con.
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Dennis

Yes, I know. That is the reason i want to go. I really like good literary programming. One of the best Worldcon I have been to was the Millenium Philcon and that was because of the good program.

[Greg Anos]

Does anybody know the US stance of passports to/from Canada?

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Does anybody know the US stance of passports to/from Canada?

If you fly, you need a passport. If you drive, a birth certificate and a valid government ID.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

If you fly, you need a passport. If you drive, a birth certificate and a valid government ID.

For those of us who don't have passports, get the ball rolling now! You know how long it takes bureaucrats to accomplish things....

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

The London MR meetup mentioned rounding up reporters for their meet (although it looks like they didn't manage it--darn!). If we schedule something for Worldcon, especially an MR e-book-related party or something, we should keep the same idea in mind. Make it a PR event as well as a... well... PR event.