Worldcon 2011: Reno

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

morningsword,

You could always carry a Hugo replica instead of wearing a membership badge, it worked for the guy who came to our party when I was on the 'door', except his wasn't a replica :blushing:

Did he let other people hold it and take photos?

[Prince Lodey]

As a general rule the BwB has always encouraged everyone to support Worldcon with memberships whether that is supporting or attending, or getting a cheap one at the last minute and you will no doubt want to use one at some point. Glad to be coming as it has been a while.

Waiting to buy a day pass at the last minute can be very expensive.

[arantius]

morningsword,

Did he let other people hold it and take photos?

I'm sure he would have, he seemed a good sort, but I didn't notice as he went and mingled with all the other well-dressed special people who seemed to come to our party instead of the post-Hugo party, maybe they thought it WAS the post-Hugo party or maybe that had finished by then, or maybe our party was just better! Or possibly George paid them. I only thought hours later that I should have got a photo!!

It was just one of my con noob moments. Another one came the day before when I was selling raffle tickets, me: "I'm from the BWB, etc ...", random guy: "I know who you are". In my head I'm like 'OK no big deal I'm at a con of course people know who the BWB are'. Random guy rushes off but throws $10 at me first, so I ask his friends what his name is 'Barry Middlemiss', so I start writing it and they say no 'Perry Middlemiss', then I ask if they happen to know his phone number, I get an incredulous look and "He's the Con Chair!!". Oh, OK. I just hustled the con chair for raffle tickets, no wonder he knew who we were, he's probably only had about 100 conversations with Stubby and MG in the last 24 hours :blushing:

[theMountainGoat]

Never heard of him.

We were dealing with Stephen Boucher and Julian (can't remember his surname but Stubby will know) who were not quite that high up the chain of command, they were more hands on with organising events and coordinating stuff and we can't say enough about how good they were at accommodating the wishes of a tiny fangroup's desire to throw a party for their favourite author. Actually I think they were kind of embarrassed by just how grateful we were, buying them a gift of a good quality bottle of wine and a card saying thanks signed by the entire BWB in attendance, stopping them in hallways every time we saw them to say thanks again and again and again......

[Stubby]

We were dealing with Stephen Boucher and Julian......

....Warner.

He is a Good Bloke. :thumbsup:

[Maltaran]

....Warner.

He is a Good Bloke. :thumbsup:

And also a Donald Sutherland lookalike.

[MinDonner]

Well, sneaking in just under the wire, I have bought my attending memberships at September prices. Obviously attendance is still subject to me being able to afford flights and hotels nearer the time, but so far, the plan is on for arcticstoat and I to be there! :thumbsup:

[Kat]

Well, sneaking in just under the wire, I have bought my attending memberships at September prices. Obviously attendance is still subject to me being able to afford flights and hotels nearer the time, but so far, the plan is on for arcticstoat and I to be there! :thumbsup:

Yay! Hope you can make it. :thumbsup:

For people who missed the deadline, it looks as though the price is now $180 for attending until Feb 28. They also just announced an installment plan for memberships and you can get on that until December 31. Hoping what with the HBO show, next year we will have massive numbers of new BWB folks in Reno.

[Peadar]

I've bought an attending membership too, God help me. I hope I can make it. At the worst, though, there'll be a lot of free reads from the Hugo list to look forward to.

[Isis]

As I said a few times at the weekend, I'll see you in Reno. :)

I've not bought a membership yet but I'll definitely move it further up the to-do-list.

[LugaJetboyGirl]

I've bought an attending membership too, God help me. I hope I can make it. At the worst, though, there'll be a lot of free reads from the Hugo list to look forward to.

The free reads are awesome!

Just as a reminder to everyone who might want to attend Reno, not only does it help to get your membership early because of the funding it provides for the planning of the con, but it also enables you to both nominate and vote for the Hugo Awards.

While you may not really care about being involved in the Hugo process, it would be nice if everyone took note of the situation regarding the Best Graphic Story category of the Hugo awards. Basically, the award for comics is only on a trial basis - it seems that a lot of the book readers who go to Worldcon and vote for the Hugos don't read or know anything about comics (e.g., me), so there is a chance that there may be a comics award FAIL and the category may be entirely removed! Here's the official language:

"* The Best Graphic Story Hugo is currently undergoing a trial period. This award was ratified at Anticipation, the 2009 Worldcon, and will be awarded for the next three years. However, it must be re-ratified at the Business Meeting of the 2012 Worldcon or it will automatically "sunset" and be removed as a category."

So, if you plan on going to Reno, get your membership now and start asking your comics-reading-buddies about what you should nominate during the January-March nomination period.

Help us avoid HugoComicsFAIL 2012!!!

[Arlingzen Bill]

So, if you plan on going to Reno, get your membership now and start asking your comics-reading-buddies about what you should nominate during the January-March nomination period.

Help us avoid HugoComicsFAIL 2012!!!

For your consideration A Duel in the Somme story by Ben Bova, adapted by Rob Balder, and illustrated by Bill Holbrook. The entire GN is avaialble online for free, but you can donate towards the cost, or order a hardcopy. This isn't your typical GN.

[Parris]

Just got some new info from Renovation about how they will handle SIGs - that's us, by the way, the Bros are a SIG (special Interest group).

read this now:

http://www.renovationsf.org/program-sig.php

and someone should step up and fill out the form NOW, tell them we want a party suite for 2 nights, maybe do a SIG panel item to draw in newbies with tales of the wonders and delights of the Bros, and we'll sort out the details as the time draws closer.

In my experience, the sooner we get the attention of the committee, and the sooner we request party suites and panels, the more likely it is that we'll get them.

We should also be preparing a list of Bros who are going to volunteer to help not only with the Bros events, but as volunteers for the convention. The sooner we do this, the better the chances are of people ending up doing work that they are competent in doing, or in departments that they want to learn more about helping to run so they can use that experience at other conventions in the future. Of course, Janice Gelb, running Programming Ops will take us all if she could.

At this time, we have no idea how much the impact of the HBO show is going to have on the Bros events and parties, but in my long experience even a moderately sucessful show like Beauty & the Beast increased attendence at conventions George attended while the show was still on the air. So we need to start preparing now. Really.

[Parris]

As a general rule the BwB has always encouraged everyone to support Worldcon with memberships whether that is supporting or attending, or getting a cheap one at the last minute and you will no doubt want to use one at some point. Glad to be coming as it has been a while.

Waiting to buy a day pass at the last minute can be very expensive.

Lodey is absolutely correct - buying day passes can get expensive if you decide to stay and pay for another day. Buy a full membership now, you have full voting rights for nominating and voting on the Hugos etc, and if you discover you can't come to the con, you can sell and transfer your membership to someone else in the weeks/months before the convention.

[Parris]

I've bought an attending membership too, God help me. I hope I can make it. At the worst, though, there'll be a lot of free reads from the Hugo list to look forward to.

You make a good point Peadar, even if a person just buys a supporting membership, the amount of goodies you get is well worth the price.

The program book is usually a gorgeous item, with art by the Artist GoH, there's bios of the GoHs and lots of info about past and present WorldCons, the Hugo winners from the beginning of the award and much useful information about the convention. All the Pregress reports and the 'memory book' will be mailed to supoorting members after the covention is over.

As a supporting member, you do get voting privileges for nominating ballots and the final ballots for the Hugos and the other awards associated with the WorldCon, as well as site selection. If you decide later to convert to an attending membership, the cost of your supporting membership is deducted from whatever the current cost of an attending membership is at the time of conversion.

And now, thanks to the co-operation of many writers, publishers and a hard working sub-set of the committee, almost all of the finalist fiction will be available for download to members of the convention. That alone is worth more than the cost of the membership.

As I have discussed many times in the past, getting folks to participate in the nominating process is very important. In some professional categories, as few as 50 nominating ballots can get someone on the final Hugo ballot in many categories. (Somewhere out there is a pdf of the final tallies of the nominating ballots - go look for it and you'll be surprised at some of the low numbers of nominations in important categories. Maybe someone on this thread can provide a link in a post) So make notes now as you read, and there will links/lists at many sites in the early spring on what works, people and media - such as graphic novels and specific episodes of television shows, movies, etc., - will be eligible for nomination for the 2011 awards. I often use the "best of the year" lists from Locus magazine, the professional magazine of the genre as my 'cheat sheet'. Don't forget that now you can also nominate 'webzines' and writers, such as Clarkesworld, or reviewers like Pat and our own beloved Wert are eligible as fan writers/zines.

You also are supporting the operation of the WorldCon by becoming a member, supporting or attending. WorldCons are run by volunteers. Even the convention chairperson pays for a membership and a room. Only the GoHs get free memberships and rooms at a WorldCon. WorldCons are non-profit organizations, unlike many larger more media-oriented conventions that often have at least a core of paid staff operating year-round. If the WorldCon does make some money, they won't know that until months after the convention is over, and those funds are used to make grants to fannish orgs/charities and as 'pass-along' funds to the next WorldCon to help them with their startup costs. The operating budget is determined months before the convention starts, and frankly, most committees would rather have you buy a membership now at whatever the rate is, than hope you turn up and pay the 'at the door' membership fee which can be twice the cost of buying a membership the year before the convention is to be held. Many of the costs involved in holding a WorldCon are fixed, such as paying for X amount of convention function rooms, and those costs must be paid long before the opening ceremonies. Buying a membership early means the treasurer can tell the programming ops people they can have a green room with water bottles only, or that they can have coffee, sodas, maybe a few munchies, for all the panelists who come to the green room between programming items. For some panelists, they may not have much of a chance to get a real breakfast or lunch because their schedule is so crowded, and being able to grab a snack and some caffeine is a blessing for them, and keeps them from falling over due to lack of food and drink during the day. The budget determines how much space we have for the standing exhibits and the art show, even if we can have a fan lounge, a place where you can just sit and relax without having to 'rent' a chair in a cafe by buying a soda or coffee at inflated convention/hotel prices.

Renovation is offering installment plan memberships, reduced fees for children and teens. If you can't pay for a full membership right now, get one on the installment plan. Ask your friends and loved ones to bundle all your upcoming Yule gifts and birthday presents together to buy you a membership, be creative and figure out how to get that membership paid for. I know from my own experiences, once you get that membership, it's much more likely you'll figure out some way to get to the con, you'll find crash space somewhere, and you can bring your food supplies (discretely tucked away in the closet or luggage) even if that means you survive on apples and peanut butter sandwiches for the entire convention.

So what I'm trying to say here is pretty simple - get a membership, supporting or attending - for Renovation and/or Chicago 2012 as soon as you can, you won't regret it. I promise.

[Luzifer's right hand]

I just got an attending membership. :)

Now I just need to find some other place(or places) in the states to visit as flying over for just the Worldcon seems like a bit of a waste.

[Isis]

Yay!

There's a simple answer to this problem - go to Dragon*Con as well. :)

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Saw Parris's post up thread. I'd like to be of assistance in organizing if someone from the upper-ranks would like to give me a task I'd be happy to volunteer to complete it.

[Secret Tarth]

Hubby and I have decided that we will be attending Worldcon for our holiday next year. Can't wait!

[Parris]

I just got an attending membership. :)

Now I just need to find some other place(or places) in the states to visit as flying over for just the Worldcon seems like a bit of a waste.

If you can drive, and can afford a rental, the possibilites are endless in that part of the West. If you are restricted to some sort of public transport, go to San Francisco and indulge in some great experiences in that fine city by the Bay. San Francisco is filled with museums, gorgeous parks and walking trails, clubs where real musicians play real music right before your eyes, and a thousand other nifty things to do. Check out the web sites for San Francisco tourism, ask around here on the boards, there's bound to be people who can suggest places to visit. SF also has an excellent transport system that runs throughout most of the Bay area, and there's bus tours out to wine country, etc.

LA, while it does have those mythic amusement parks, is not good for public transport, the highways are gridlocked, and I'd rather spend a day in San Francisco than a month in LA. But that's just my personal opinion.

Glad to know you'll be joining us. Shall I put you down for the Bros co-ordinating committee?