'Science fiction conventions' are gatherings of the community of fans (called
science fiction fandom) of various forms of
speculative fiction including
science fiction and
fantasy. Historically the focus has been on the written form rather than audiovisual media representations, but this has broadened to include all forms of storytelling. People in attendance at a science fiction convention are traditionally known as ''members'' of the convention; invited celebrities including authors are commonly known as ''guests'' of the convention, though many professionals including authors will simply attend as members.
Anatomy of a typical science fiction convention
Many conventions have ''Guest(s) of Honor (GoH)''. These guests are the headliners of the convention. A convention can have as many Guests of Honor as the convention committee wishes. Often conventions will also honor Fan Guests who are not celebrities but have made a significant contribution to the fan community.
Along with the author and perhaps fan Guests of Honor, a convention can have an Artist GoH, Editor GoH, Fan GoH,
Filk or Music GoH, a Toastmaster, and Special Guests.
Getting Started
Fans registering for Minicon 41
Hanging out in the lobby
Harlan Ellison speaking
Fans talk after panel
Pamela Dean reading
Informal music session (AKA
filk circle)
Although wide variations exist between different conventions, there is a general pattern that most adhere to. Nearly every weekend of the year now has at least two conventions somewhere on the planet. Some conventions are held on holiday weekends where four or more days can be devoted to events.
Program
Panel-led discussions, or ''Panels'', usually fill up the daytime hours of most conventions with typically one-hour discussions of topics related to
Science Fiction,
Fantasy, and
Fandom in general. Some conventions have well-attended, scheduled panels starting as late as midnight. Panel members (even professionals) are not customarily paid for their appearance, although many conventions rebate the membership fees of program participants after the convention.
Some program items are set presentations by experts. Science speakers are among the most popular program items at many conventions. Slides (either photographic or PowerPoint), video clips, sometimes even handouts might be used for such presentations.
Readings and "kaffeeklatsches" are program items where a single author either reads from their work or has an informal discussion with their fans.
Special Events
The first night of the convention "Opening Ceremonies" are often held, where organizers and marquee guests are introduced and speeches might be made. Sometimes, conventions will have a skits, musical performances, video clips, or other samples of the convention as part of the Opening Ceremonies.
A costume contest called a
masquerade is often held where persons go on stage and compete for nominal prizes based on their skill in assembling and presenting genre-inspired outfits. This is truly more a "talent show" rather than the "fancy dress ball" that the term suggests (although British fandom sometimes uses the term "fancy dress").
Anime fans might refer to the masquerade as
cosplay, but there are notable and subtle distinctions between the terms.
Some conventions feature award ceremonies, in which the best works and most notable individuals are recognized for their contributions to the field.
Worldcon has several award ceremonies, most importantly the
Hugo Awards, but also the
Sidewise Award for Alternate History and other awards.
Just as art shows display the visual aspect of science fiction, many conventions include concerts or other music-oriented events as part of the convention. Often these are performances by
filkers, though other musicians may also appear at a con.
A convention may have one or more auctions. The ''Art Auction'' is an event where the most popular items from the art show are sold to the most interested buyers at the convention. Many conventions also have auctions for charities, either formal or fannish; the latter would include auctions on behalf of TAFF (
TransAtlantic Fan Fund) or DUFF (
Down Under Fan Fund).
Evening entertainment often includes a combination of official and unofficial events, including concerts, dances, formal invitational dinners, and fandom-themed room parties. Additionally, other convention committees hold room parties in order to promote their own convention and to sell memberships. A ''bid party'' is a room party held to influence the choice of the location of a future convention (such as Worldcon) by advertising its advantages.
Some conventions have a ''Closing Ceremony'' to formally mark the end of the convention. Depending on the convention, this can be a major gathering of most of the membership, or it may be lightly attended or dispensed with entirely as members are occupied with packing up and checking out of the hotel.
Exhibits and Fixed Functions
A ''Dealer's'' or ''Huckster's Room'' is available, where merchants sell wares of interest to fans. These include books,
action figures, prop replicas and t-shirts. Similarly, there is often an ''Art Show'' where genre-inspired art is displayed and usually made available for auction or purchase. Smaller conventions may simply have an informal ''Dealer's Row'', a section of hotel rooms from which dealers sell goods, while larger conventions may have both an official dealer's room and an unofficial dealer's row.
The ''Art Show'' is generally an
open art exhibition; that is, it is open to all comers and all art submitted is exhibited for sale. This naturally leads to a wide variety of types of artwork, from professional illustrations to
outsider art, with many amateur works. The subject matter is tailored to the interests of fandom, i. e. many
spaceships,
dragons,
unicorns,
vampires,
cat girls etc. Art shows often permit sales by artists, which is a significant source of income for some artists.
Many conventions have ''video rooms'' in which genre-related audiovisual presentations take place, typically commercial
Hollywood movies, genre
television show episodes, and
anime. If there are multiple media rooms, each one may have themed content.
''Game Rooms'' are also available at some conventions for attendees to play a variety of genre games, including
collectible card games like ,
role-playing games like
Dungeons and Dragons,
miniatures games like
Warhammer 40,000, and
board games like
Settlers of Catan. Easy, fast-playing card games, e.g.
Apples to Apples, are popular as they don't require a large time commitment or deep knowledge of rules, allowing casual gamers to join.
Con Suite
The Convention Hospitality Suite or ''Consuite'' is often provided as a room reserved for light refreshments, a quiet conversation, and a place to briefly rest. The refreshments typically include coffee, tea, juice or soda, and light meals appropriate for the time of day. Depending on local liquor distribution and
liability laws, the suite may serve alcohol. At conventions in the
United Kingdom, the provision of
cask ale is generally considered essential.
Many conventions have a ''dead dog party'' in the evening of the last day of the convention, after closing ceremonies, usually in the con suite. This is the traditional winding-down party where few of the attendees are likely to have huge amounts of energy. This party is an attempt to ease people back into the real world outside of the convention and can be an effective method of warding off the depression, which is often associated with the end of a major event. A dead dog party can last until the following morning. Analogies can be drawn to the
decompression parties following large events such as
Burning Man.
Types of conventions
:''See ''
:
Since the first
Philcon in Philadelphia in 1936, local conventions have been organized in many cities around the world, either as one-time or annual events. Some cities have a number of science fiction conventions, as well as a number of special interest conventions for anime, media, or other related groups. Some conventions move from city to city, serving a particular country, region, or special interest across.
Regional conventions
Before the age of inexpensive travel, regional conventions arose to attract fans from broad geographical areas. The oldest of these is
Westercon, which rotates among regions in the western
United States and
Canada.
Eurocon is held each year somewhere in Europe, often in eastern European countries where fandom is a new phenomenon. DeepSouthCon is held in the
Southern United States, with a focus on Southern culture in science fiction.
Media conventions
Some conventions are focused on "media", that is, science fiction on film and television. There are general media conventions covering a broad range of science fiction in media, such as
Toronto Trek, and then there are conventions focused on a single body of work, such as "
Celebration," the official
Star Wars convention, "Galaxyfest," the yearly event in
Vulcan, Alberta dedicated to
Star Trek, and
BotCon, the official
Transformers convention. Most media conventions are commercial shows run for profit, though some are organized by fan groups similar to general science fiction conventions.
Comic and "Popular Culture" conventions
From comics and media fandom, a category of "popular culture" conventions has emerged, such as
Comic-Con International, the
Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention and
Dragon
★ Con, featuring a wide range of "pop culture" events ranging from
animation, drive-in movie theaters, old-time radio, horror movies, and cowboy
celebrities.. These events have become much larger than traditional SF conventions; nearly a hundred thousand people attend Comic-Con in San Diego each year. Although not all of them are commercial ventures, they tend to suffer the same drawbacks as commercial shows (long lines, overcrowding, etc.) due to the sheer size of the events.
Special interest conventions
There are many conventions focused on particular special interests within science fiction. For example,
Wiscon (in addition to being the
Wisconsin Science Fiction Convention) is focused on feminist SF/fantasy and gender & class issues/studies; and
Diversicon is focused on human diversity of all kinds. Filking conventions such as
Ohio Valley Filk Fest, FilkOntario, and GAFilk gather those interested in
science fiction-related music.
Costume-Con gathers people from around the world interested in mainly science fiction costuming.
Penguicon combines science fiction with technology, particularly
Linux and
open source software. The term "
relaxacon" is used for conventions which tend to be less about programming, and more about socializing within the fan community, as opposed to "sercon" [SERious CONstructive discussion of science fiction topics] conventions.
Commercial shows vs. volunteer conventions
An important distinction can be made between commercial cons (often called "shows") -- those run by dedicated companies who specialize in con organization -- and volunteer-run cons. Usually run for profit, commercial cons tend to charge for "tickets" or "admission" rather than having "memberships". A primary focus of commercial cons is meeting celebrities, such as stars of science fiction TV show and movies, anime voice actors, etc. There are frequently very long lines of people waiting for autographs at commercial cons. Commercial cons also tend to have less small-scale programming; panels will more often be composed of famous actors, directors, etc. on press junkets, where the panels are held in very large rooms with very high attendance. The largest cons (in terms of attendance) tend to be commercial ones. Commercial cons tend to be more likely to be about comics, manga and anime, and popular media than volunteer cons, and they also tend to have a younger demographic, but this is not absolute by any means.
Volunteer cons, on the other hand, tend to be smaller in scope and more intimate in character. Panels may be more lightly attended, but fans themselves tend to take part in the panels more often. Although there are often autograph sessions, they tend to be less a focus of volunteer cons. Admission to volunteer cons is usually called "membership", emphasizing that the fans themselves are the ones who make up the con, rather than the staff who run commercial cons.
Global award conventions
World Science Fiction Convention
Main articles: Worldcon
One of the major activities of the members of the Worldcon is nominating and voting for what works and individuals will receive the
Hugo awards that year. The awards are presented at the convention.
With the success of Worldcon, hundreds of local and regional science fiction conventions have sprung up around the world. At these conventions, fans of science fiction come together with the professional writers, artists, and filmmakers in the genre to discuss its many aspects.
Since most such conventions are entirely volunteer run, a breed of fan known as
Smofs has developed its own community and knowledge share to keep convention-running traditions alive.
World Fantasy Convention
Main articles: World Fantasy Convention
Fantasy is usually considered alongside science fiction at conventions (the terms were used interchangeably for most of the period from
1926-
1966). Conventions that are nominally science fiction conventions such as
Worldcon are also fantasy conventions in all but name.
World Fantasy Convention was begun in
1975, held yearly thereafter. The World Fantasy Convention, however, is less oriented toward the
fan community, and is primarily a professional gathering (for writers, editors, publishers, etc.). Many of those who attend "World Fantasy" also attend Worldcon. However, this convention is more focused on authors and publishing, with a much higher proportion of authors in attendance; as such it does not usually include the broad range of events (masquerade, dances, video room, etc.) that one will find at a general-interest convention.
History
The precise time and place of the first science fiction convention is a matter of some dispute. Sometime in
1936, a group of British fans made plans to have an organized get-together, with a planned program of events, in a public function space, in early
1937. On
October 22,
1936, however, a group of six or seven fans from
New York City, including
David Kyle and
Frederik Pohl, travelled by train down to
Philadelphia, where they visited for several hours with a similar number of local fans at the house of
Milton A. Rothman, declaring the event the first science fiction convention.
On
January 3,
1937, the British fans held their long-planned event at the Theosophical Hall in
Leeds. Around twenty fans, including
Eric Frank Russell and
Arthur C. Clarke, were in attendance. To this day, many fan historians — especially those in the
United Kingdom — complain that the Philadelphia meeting was a convention in name only; while other fan historians point out that many similar gatherings since then have been called "conventions" without eliciting any disagreement.
Nevertheless, by
1939, American fans had organized sufficiently to hold, in conjunction with the
1939 World's Fair, the first "
World Science Fiction Convention," in
New York City. Subsequent conventions were held in
Chicago in
1940 and
Denver in
1941. Like many cultural events, it was suspended during
World War II. Conventions resumed in
1946 with the hosting of the World Science Fiction Convention in
Los Angeles, California. The first Worldcon held outside the United States was Torcon I in
Toronto; since then, Worldcons have been held in
Britain,
Germany,
the Netherlands,
Canada,
Australia, and in 2007,
Japan, although the majority of Worldcons are still held each year within the
United States.
Pros at Conventions
Conventions provide a forum for fans to see first-hand and meet their favorite authors and artists. They also serve the interests of authors, editors, and other publishing professionals, providing opportunities for networking, promotion, and a convenient location for contract negotiations and other business meetings. It should be noted that at traditional science fiction conventions, there is little or no distinction made between the "pros" and the "fans." Many professionals in the field began as fans, and may still consider themselves fans; and more than a few fans have also worked professionally or semi-professionally in the field.
Idiosyncrasy
It is important to note that many con-goers take pride in being interesting and unusual, and naturally many cons are highly idiosyncratic. Cons often have activities, running jokes, organizational methods and other things that not only differentiate them from other cons but are often a point of pride. Most cons vary from the above outline in one or more important ways, and many have their own unique cultural characteristics.
For example, here are some of the idiosyncratic features of some conventions:
★
Capricon in
Arlington Heights, Illinois, always includes an entire track (The Phineas T. Track) of spoof programming, traditionally slated for the Lake Wobegone room.
★ At an early
Minicon, the President of
Mnstf (the con's sponsoring organization) declared himself to be President for Life. This was resolved by play-assassinating the President. Ever since then, the President has been "assassinated" by various humorous means at Closing Ceremonies.
Most cons will tend to evolve many of their own idiosyncrasies along these lines. To fans, these are often part of the charm each convention offers.
See Also
★
Science Fiction
★
Voodoo board
External links
★
A list of convention rules / guidelines
★
The Conrunner's Wiki
★
SciFiConventions.com A list of science fiction and fantasy Conventions
★
Science fiction and fantasy convention calendar at The Thunder Child
★
concatenation.org/conls.html Science Fiction Conventions & Films Diary 2007/8
★
homepage.ntlworld.com/wilf.james/i_conlist.htm Wilf's International Con Listings
★
Southern Fandom Resource Guide - a comprehensive listing of conventions held in the Southeastern United States.
★
SciFiCons.co.uk - list of science fiction conventions held in the UK
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