Thoughts on World Fantasy Con

[jimhines]

I’ve been hearing a fair amount of frustration with this year’s World Fantasy Convention over various issues.

WFC was the first “world-level” convention I attended, more than a decade ago now. It was intimidating and overwhelming, but also fun and rewarding. Sadly, I won’t be at WFC in Brighton this month. Which could raise the question, “Why am I

Comments

[3rdragon]

For what it's worth, on the other end of the spectrum, when I was on concouncil for a shoestring-budget college con, we *always* charged an additional fee for the Breakfast with the Guests session, partly because it was actual breakfast and we needed to pay for it somehow (and, let's be honest, many college students don't want to pay for their own breakfast, much less someone else's), and also because we wanted the smaller, conversational feel, rather than the mob of 50 or 100 people that we might get with a subset of those guests later in the day.

But I recognize that the finances of the organizations involved are on a completely different scale, and the nature of the event may be slightly different, too.

[julieandrews]

I could see having a donation jar near the coffee and cookies. Heck, I could even see not having cookies! It's just an opportunity to sit down with a small group of people and one author/guest in an informal setting. And people like drinking something when they're having a chat.

People aren't signing up to attend because of the free food!

[mme_hardy]

This has been discussed in other forums, and it seems that the coffee and biscuit fee is imposed by the hotel; in the U.K. they don't have con suites, because the hotel doesn't allow, or charges corkage for, food you bring yourself.

[julieandrews]

I'm sure other cons pay the hotel for catering for the kaffeeklatsches. Usually it's in the contract that the con has to buy catering for certain things. Green room, or a bar at an awards ceremony, a banquet, dead-dog party, whatever. But, like how participants don't have to pay for the food in the green room, attendees of a kaffeeklatsch shouldn't have to pay for coffee.

[julieandrews]

Which is probably because of the contract the hotel has with the restaurant/bar, I'm sure.

[la_marquise_de_]

The con hotel is a Hilton. Over here, they're expensive. My guess is that the con may be tight on budget.

[naath]

Other cons I've been to in the UK don't charge; but also don't offer free snacks and coffee; the snacks are hardly the point.