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So, Where You Wanna Go for WorldCon '09?


Parris

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I mean, really, it's up to you.

The deadline for voting in WorldCon site selection is not just looming, we're almost out of time to make our choice known where we want the WorldCon to be held in 2009.

Some of you might ask:

'why should I spend good money now on voting for something that won't happen for 2 more years?'

Well, You Have the Power.

Yup, if you are a member of Nippon07 or are willing to spend the $50 to become a supporting member today, you get to pick where 4-7 thousand SF pros, fans and smofs spend their 2009 summer vacation. How cool is that?

If you vote, your $45 voting fee goes to whatever bid wins the selection. This is important for the long-term financial health of any WorldCon committee. Budgets are the trickiest part of running a WorldCon. By paying for your membership as early as possible you not only save money, but the ConCom will be able to get more chocolate and champagne fountains for the Green Room! (Just kidding about the fountains, dang it. But the upfront money is crucial to the budget planning process).

Your voting fee will be deducted from the membership fees announced by the winning bid. The voting fee will be converted to an automatic supporting membership for the 2009 WorldCon, no matter which bid wins. Some committees also deduct certain monies you have donated to the bid. If you donated to a bid, became a 'pre-supporter' and got your name on their rolls, it is likely that some portion of that $ donated to the bid will also be deducted from the attending membership fee if that committee wins the bid. (Every ConCom makes their own choices and decisions about what their fee structure will be, so I'm just giving you a few scenarios I've seen played out over many years).

Bidding for a WorldCon is such hard work. People take years to create and run bids, they sacrifice vacation time and spend thousands of their own dollars/yen/pounds/euros to send people to conventions to promote the bid and host parties. All for the unpaid pleasure of spending several more years of their life preparing to run a WorldCon. An event that lasts 5 days, for which they will work 36 hours a day before, during and after the actual WorldCon. Oh, and do it all on their own dimes. That's right, not even the Chairperson gets a free membership or hotel room. People bid for WorldCons, just for the sheer pleasure of bringing to WorldCon to their city and hosting the annual family reunion which is the heart of SF fandom.

So if you want to take the destiny of the 2009 WorldCon in your own hands, please, take the time to vote and do it today.

A brief recap for those who may not be fully up to speed on the details of how WorldCons are chosen and who does the choosing:

The annual World Science Fiction Convention, (www.wsfs.org), is a moveable feast, going from city to city, continent to continent, depending on what committee bid wins a majority of votes for the eligible year.

This year, WorldCon is being held in Japan:

http://www.nippon2007.org/

Next year, WorldCon is being held in Denver

http://www.denver2008.com/

Only the members of this year's WorldCon, Nippon07 get to decide where we'll be holding our WorldCon in 2009.

Two committees, Kansas City

and Montreal

are bidding for that honor.

If you are already a member of Nippon '07 and are not attending the convention, you have only a couple of days left in which to cast your vote for site selection because the ballot must be in the hands of the relevant agent by July 31st. The only ways to vote in site selection is to send in a mail ballot, vote in person at Nippon, or have someone carry your ballot to Nippon '07 for you.

You can check and see if you a member of Nippon '07 HERE

the actual site selection ballot can be found HERE.

If you are not at least a supporting member, you can't vote for site selection, but there is still time to get that supporting membership so you can vote. You can purchase a membership online:

Nippon 07 membership information and form.

here's the link for printing out the membership forms if you want to include a separate form and check and mail it in with your site selection ballot:

http://www.nippon2007.us/registration.php

You will find more information about how to vote in site selection on the Nippon website, including where to mail your ballot depending on where you live. JULY 31 is the deadline for Nippon agents to receive your ballot. That's only a few days away, so take the time today to vote and get your ballot in the mail or into the hands of a friend who is attending Nippon '07.

Remember, by voting for site selection you have the power to decide where we'll be spending our summer vacation with several thousand of our friends. You'll save money on your membership for the 2009 WorldCon. You'll make the committees who have worked so hard and so long happy, especially the committee who wins the bid. All in all, a good deal for everyone involved. Without your participation, the selection process is incomplete, lacking your input and vote. Please, go vote for your choice of Kansas City or Montreal for the 2009 Science Fiction WorldCon. You'll be glad you did.

PS: my personal endorsement is over at my LJ: http://parrismcb.livejournal.com/ and I'll do my best to answer any questions you have over the next day or so here and on my LJ.

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Is it too late to vote for something besides KC or Montreal? Like Vegas or San Diego, etc...

well, none of those cities had a bid in for 2009. Only KC and Montreal bid, and without an organizing committee, it's not likely that a WorldCon would magically appear in Las Vegas or San Diego. You can write in a bid, which is an escape valve in case the announced bids blow out before the election and also to have a little fun, such as voting for "Minneapolis '73" or the infamous Bermuda Triangle bid. You can also vote for 'none of the above' or 'no preference' and your voting fee will still convert to a supporting membership in the 2009 WorldCon.

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Although I probably wont be casting any votes myself, I would urge y'all to vote for the Kansas bid, simply because the fed me good food :) and were very good to the BWB in LA (and have been before).

That is all.

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You'll save money on your membership for the 2009 WorldCon.

I have a really silly question:

Is it safe to assume that you'll save money on the membership for the 2009 Con regardless of which site actually wins? I'd hate to pay to support a bid, and then lose out if that site lost.

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I have a really silly question:

Is it safe to assume that you'll save money on the membership for the 2009 Con regardless of which site actually wins? I'd hate to pay to support a bid, and then lose out if that site lost.

Pretty sure that's how it works Regina .

I also want to big up KC - the BBQ rules and the folks are grrreat . The first proper big girl con I went to was in Kansas and it was a good start . IIRC - we ended up dressing some poor unfortunate freak in the floral and lighting display from the foyer . Nice :ninja: The hotel was great - food was easy to get and the rooms and suites were great .

These folks are very good friends of the BWB , remember Jim , the dude in paisley in Glasgow , or the inimitable Jeff from LA ? Margene and Paula have sorted us right out at points - read given us all their left over booze more than once .

So come on folks - and remember a vote for KC is a vote for motorscooter jousting :thumbsup:

There's no place like home ...there's no place like home ... there's no place like home ...

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I have a really silly question:

Is it safe to assume that you'll save money on the membership for the 2009 Con regardless of which site actually wins? I'd hate to pay to support a bid, and then lose out if that site lost.

Not a silly question at all - the intricacies of the voting system take a while to learn.

First, there's a big difference between supporting a bid and voting for site selection.

Supporting a bid by buying what is often called a 'pre-support' is something that can happen years before the voting for site selection. The money you give a bid as presupport enables the bid to keep going to cons, keep throwing parties and underwrites other costs associated with bidding. That money is just for the specific bid to use, and will usually get you a discount on the membership fees if, and only if, that specific bid wins site selection. I urge people to give $20 to bids just to encourage the bid to keep going. Remember that no one makes money off a bid. The members of a bid put up their own money to get the bid started, and hope that enough people will support their bid that they can keep the bid going. All those bid parties you can go to at worldcons are paid for by selling presupporting bid memberships, merch, and the pockets of the bid committee.

Your site selection fee is entirely different. You pay a fee to vote, and your fee and every one else's who votes goes to the winning bid as part of their starting budget. If you were at worldcon and voted in site selection there, any checks you wrote for site selection would be to 'The XXth WorldCon', not, say, 'KC in 2009'.

Then, once the votes were counted, your voting fee would convert to a supporting membership in that WorldCon. Supporting membership in a WorldCon gives you nominating and voting rights for the Hugos and the next round of site selection voting. You get all the PRs, the program book and other goodies mailed to you. If you decide to go to that WorldCon, your supporting membership cost is deducted from the attending membership fee.

Since the lowest price for a full membership are in the first couple of months after a bid wins, you'll often see many folks on Sunday at a WorldCon lining up to convert and pay their attending membership fees immediately.

So, to recap:

'Presupporting' a specific bid is a Good Thing. If that bid wins, you'll get a discount on the attending membership fees. Even if they don't win, you did good by putting your money down to help out a bid that you like.

'Site Selection' voting fees are not bid specific. You pay the voting fee, vote, and no matter which bid wins, you'll get a supporting membership in that year's WorldCon.

Does that help?

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So come on folks - and remember a vote for KC is a vote for motorscooter jousting :thumbsup:

I swear if you all go vote for KC in 2009 and KC wins, I will personally arrange for a mobie jousting tournament and will get Margene to participate.

Hell, I'll even get our mobies some flame decals.

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Pretty sure that's how it works Regina .

So, to recap:

'Presupporting' a specific bid is a Good Thing. If that bid wins, you'll get a discount on the attending membership fees. Even if they don't win, you did good by putting your money down to help out a bid that you like.

'Site Selection' voting fees are not bid specific. You pay the voting fee, vote, and no matter which bid wins, you'll get a supporting membership in that year's WorldCon.

Does that help?

That's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure before my money and I parted ways, lol. Thanls, ladies! :thumbsup:

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I became a patron for the KC bid. So I really really want them to win. Of course only living 2 1/2 hours away is a very important thing to me. Anyway Gates is there!

Gate, and Jake Edward's, and KC Masterpiece and Jack Stack's and....

yup, can hardly spit in the KC area without hitting a great BBQ joint.

Glad to hear you're a patron of the KC bid, I hope you will take the time and the $ to vote for KC in the site selection today.

I've publicly supported other bids, I've even helped out at parties for bids, but the KC bid is special for me, KC fandom is where my fannish heart dwells, and the people on the KC bid are dear friends. I am the 'Director of Special Operations' for the KC bid, so you can say that I'm part of the bid outer committee. I help out, I offer ideas, but have no vote in major decisions like who they have asked to be their GoHs. Heck, I don't even know who the committee has asked to be the GoHs!

Is there a smiley that indicates I'm getting down on my knees and begging all the Bros to take the time and make the effort to vote for KC in 2009 today?

It really means that much to me.

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...

but not one that is open at 2 AM.

LOL, yeah, KC does roll up the sidewalks early.

But we'll be at WorldCon, and WorldCon runs 24hrs a day. Ask any person who's held department level jobs at a WorldCon.

Wonder if we can talk a local to the con BBQ joint to stay open a bit later, or do delivery...

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We were just discussing this last night (prompted by your LJ, Parris). We can register and vote via the web, yes?

Can't vote on line for site selection.

You can purchase a supporting membership online - see my original post because I suck at html and had to do way too much of it yesterday - but the only way to vote for site selection is by paper ballot mailed to the appropriate administrator.

Yeah. I know. You can vote for the Hugos online. But you can't vote for site selection online. Don't make much sense.

You can get your nippon supporting membership online, or by including the membership form with the site selection ballot with separate checks for both fees.

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Parris - your post is going out to the BWB database - more KC worldcon, more BBQ, and more red-heads!

thanks Lodey! I can send you the copy of my personal endorsement post as well, or you can add a link to send folks to my LJ for that.

miss ya, when you coming to visit?

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Happy Birthday, welcome back, and I am up for a visit any time! Will call/e-mail soon - I can't wait to have a Worldcon in .... (I am not going to jinx it)

thanks Lodey! I can send you the copy of my personal endorsement post as well, or you can add a link to send folks to my LJ for that.

miss ya, when you coming to visit?

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  • 1 month later...
Parris - your post is going out to the BWB database - more KC worldcon, more BBQ, and more red-heads!

More redheads, Lodey? You mean that Parris and I aren't sufficient? Them's fightin' words, boy!

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