what we'll do differently
We had an SFContario meeting on Sunday. Other than the hotels we're talking to all being stupid lately, the meeting went well.
At one point, we talked about a possible guest, and we talked about an incident that happened at LACon IV. I explained my perspective of the event and people involved. A couple other people shared their perspectives about the situation and people involved.
The story itself doesn't matter; it was just fannish gossip and I don't want to cast anyone in a bad light in writing. But I realized that several of us were either on the LACon committee or close friends with someone who had been. Everyone at the table had attended at least one US Worldcon, and most of us have been staff at one or more of these Worldcons.
It's hard to put into words, but that's exactly the intangible difference between this committee and many other concoms I've been on. Not that we all agree; my flavors of fandom are different from other people on the committee. But we all share the vocabulary. In other groups, my non-local experience has made me kind of an outsider, but here it just means I have things to contribute. It's not quite like fandom in, say, Chicago or Seattle or Baltimore, where the spectrum of experience is wider. But we have a collective background that lets us talk about what has worked and what hasn't, locally and elsewhere, so we'll be able to avoid the groupthink that constricts decision-making in other groups. If I want to accomplish one thing, that's pretty much it.
Still tons of work to do, but I feel good about the direction we're taking.
At one point, we talked about a possible guest, and we talked about an incident that happened at LACon IV. I explained my perspective of the event and people involved. A couple other people shared their perspectives about the situation and people involved.
The story itself doesn't matter; it was just fannish gossip and I don't want to cast anyone in a bad light in writing. But I realized that several of us were either on the LACon committee or close friends with someone who had been. Everyone at the table had attended at least one US Worldcon, and most of us have been staff at one or more of these Worldcons.
It's hard to put into words, but that's exactly the intangible difference between this committee and many other concoms I've been on. Not that we all agree; my flavors of fandom are different from other people on the committee. But we all share the vocabulary. In other groups, my non-local experience has made me kind of an outsider, but here it just means I have things to contribute. It's not quite like fandom in, say, Chicago or Seattle or Baltimore, where the spectrum of experience is wider. But we have a collective background that lets us talk about what has worked and what hasn't, locally and elsewhere, so we'll be able to avoid the groupthink that constricts decision-making in other groups. If I want to accomplish one thing, that's pretty much it.
Still tons of work to do, but I feel good about the direction we're taking.