See my earlier post about the recap of the Fannish Inqusition.
Steven Boucher represented Australia in 2010 bid.
Q. Why do you want to bid?
A. We were drafted. It's been about enough time.
Q. Did the locals forgive you for telling them there was a bid when you got home from ConJose?
A. I told them it was the Evil Americans fault.
Q. What special experience for people coming to Australia?
A. It won't be hot and humid! It will be a different experience, with attendance in the 1800-2200 range.
Q. Dates?
A. First weekend of September.
[Missed a question]
Q. Chair?
A. Still discussing it; not decided.
Q. Experience with North American conventions?
A. [Lost]
Q. Is it accurate to say that Australians aren't interested in conrunning?
A. That's changed. Aussiecon Three reawakened interest. [Janice] There were Australian volunteers who went to Glasgow.
Q. How will you staff it?
A. We start importing war brides. [Laughter] [Serious answer I did not catch]
Q. Facilities?
A. New convention center on the opposite side of the river from 1999, plus a new hotel (Hilton) anchored to it. Three hotels (Hilton, Grand, Crowne Plaza (ex-Centra).)
At 10:25, we moved on
Because there is a high probability that the 2010 Worldcon will be outside of North America, there will be an opportunity for a 2010 NASFiC. Warren Buff and Dan Caldwell represented Raleigh NC. A couple of questions I missed while taking photo.
Q. Will this also be DeepSouthCon?
A. No.
Q. Committee
A. [Discussion of specific names I didn't take down.]
Q. Involvement with Charlotte in 2005 Committee?
A. Not much.
Q. Will you try to get your committee to vote?
A. Yes. If you want to be on the Board, you'll have to be a member of Anticipation.
Q. Why Raleigh-Durham?
A. Southern Fandom has drifted away from the rest of fandom. We'd like to reconnect.
Q. Experience?
A. Several have worked on that 800 lb gorilla in Atlanta; also NASFiC.
Q. Dates?
A. End of July/Early August; not Labor Day, staying away from Worldcon and DragonCon.
Q. Facilities?
A. Looking at new R-D Convention Center, nearing completion. There will be a Marriott attached (400 rooms; under construction), Sheraton (355; completed), Lafayette (2009 completion)
Q. Attendance?
A. Hard to predict; historically 1200-3000. Initially planning 1500, but we could take the high end.
Bobbie DuFault represented Seattle in 2011.
Q. Why?
A. It will have been 50 years since the last Seattle Worldcon. [Additional material I didn't try to summarize.]
Q. Dates?
A. Traditional Labor Day; it's all that's available.
Q. People?
A. [Again, I had difficulty taking down names as they were tossed around.] There's a list on the web site.
Q. Experience with Worldcons?
A. Several of the committee have been working on Worldcons and other large conventions like Norwescon; many worked on CascadiaCon. [More specifics that I didn't record.]
Q. Where did these people work?
A. We'll need to recruit other people, not just rely on locals. [But then, don't most of us?]
Q. The last Worldcon bid collapsed. What should we expect this time?
A. We don't have any hotel problems downtown. The specific person who was behind the issues afflicting last Seattle bid has moved on. We have a great relationship with the Convention Center and hotels.
Q. What would you like to tell us in general?
A. We're still early on. We have a lot to share from the Pacific Northwest culture and heritage, including Native American groups. We're using a steampunk, alternate-universe bidding motif/theme. [Elaboration followed.]
Q. Current hotel rates in area?
A. Current downtown rates are $150-$200; we'll negotiate, of course. [Audience] Room rates at the big 10K anime con held in same space earlier in year has decent rates.
Q. When to bid parties and table start?
A. We've been doing so, and are now shifting into a higher gear. [Listed cons at which they expect to be in the near future.]
At 10:40, we sped through the following years
2012:
Dave McCarty of Chicago made a brief statement: "We are rebidding for 2012, as announce last year." Official start of campaign in Denvention.
2013:
Bill Parker for Texas briefly presented. We're still discussing the specific city.
2014:
Vince Docherty for the "Next European bid." There are some European conrunning conventions planned for the near future. There are no bids, but you could expect to see something in the 2014-2015 period. [Janice Gelb presented him with a EUR20 note] [Things got very silly with money being tossed at Vince.]
Eemeli: I'm not officially standing here for anything. [Vince came up and made a show of handing the money thrown at him to Eemeli.] [Waffle about Finland and conventions there.] The main local objection in Finland to Worldcon is the amount of "baggage" it seems to have. If we actually ran one there, we'd be aiming for a EUR50 membership fee, which would involve stripping it down considerably and going at it in the Finncon model.
Q. Do you have a year?
A. I'm not going to touch that one, or the money, either!
2015-6:
Jim Briggs and Sandra Childress: We're looking at bidding for 2015 or 2016 in San Diego. There are two facilities in SD area capable of holding a Worldcon; it may be three by then. We're currently penciled in for the entire month of August right now with the Town & Country. Update, 10 Dec 22:15: See comments from
jbriggs below clarification and aplifications.And that brings the current roster to an end. Now it was time to choose a SMOFCon for 2008.
Update, 01:22: Fortunately, I was still awake when that first correction arrived.
Update, 10 Dec 22:45: Fixed more minor errors, clarified that NASFiC bid is for Raleigh.