World Fantasy Convention 2013
From Thursday, October 31st to Sunday, November 3rd I will be attending the 2013 World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.
There has been a lot of noise lately about the con, and I have to say that I’m neither pleased nor impressed with certain aspects of it. I’m confident the vast majority of the people running it are quietly excelling, in the usual ( Read more... )
I actually backed out of being a GoH of a (non-literary) con for not-dissimilar reasons -- I needed to deal with my adult daughter's unexpected heart issues (we have the same genetic disorder, unfortunately), but I probably could have gotten someone to stay with her for a weekend, if I felt like the con itself was going to be run competently . . .
. . . but since, a month before, they didn't have a panel schedule, they were using my name to raise funds without running it by me, staffers were dropping like flies, and there was the very real possibility that the promised assistance that I was going to *need* to get around wasn't going to materialize, I didn't feel like I could commit to traveling and spending my already-scarce funds on airfare, when I might wind up stranded at the airport or inside the venue, if my helper got called away for an emergency or flaked out.
(Yes, I am still fairly annoyed about this, and definitely feel like I made the right decision, under the circumstances -- not saying anything about what *you* should be doing, this is a professional appearance for you, and a different set of circumstances . . . but I *very* much understand the conflict between wanting to support a fan-run convention and to contribute by appearing on panels/etc., and not being happy about the way that the con itself is being organized and the way that communication is being handled.)
I'm glad you're speaking up about this, I'm glad other people are speaking up about this, and I wish that WFC wasn't handling this in such a tone-deaf fashion!!
-- A <3
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