Convention Comp Policies

[jimhines]

Most of the time, when I attend a convention and do programming, membership is comped (i.e., I don’t have to pay for a convention badge). This makes sense to me. Generally you have to do a minimum of 3 or so panels, but at that point you’re considered to be contributing to the con, just like someone who volunteers for X hours in exchange for a

Comments

[twilight2000]

Foolscap is another one that (except for GOHs) is an "everyone pays" community - there it's more about the idea that everyone at the con is contributing something. Most everyone is on paneling, those not doing traditional programming are likely on the Artist's Alley, doing readings, in the dealers room or art show, on concom or staffing something - that everyone is contributing in someway and that everyone contributes financially as well.

It's been interesting over the years - the con seems to work fairly well that way - but it might contribute to the "size" of the con in that without comped members there's a certain number of folks who might never show up.

[jimhines]

I'm not familiar with Foolscap. From your comments, is this a smaller con?

[twilight2000]

Yes - under 150 at this point in it's history - small con in PacNW - but it's had it share of interesting GOHs from Octavia Butler to Fred Pohl to Greg Bear.

[jimhines]

Isn't Foolscap the one that had Penny Arcade vs. Harlan Ellison a while back, or am I misremembering?

[filkertom]

I have a problem with a small number of conventions who Simply Do Not Get It: Conventions advertise using our names to gain memberships and get bodies in the door. Authors, creators of all stripes, musicians, etc., anybody like that on the schedule -- they're providing the convention's content. That is, the reason to be there besides hanging around with friends and using the pool.

Think about it. You can order most of the Dealers' Room merch and Art Show works online. Streaming video and extensive importing of anime has made film/video rooms almost obsolete. Some creators do video chats, liveblogging, etc. The one thing conventions offer that cannot be done online is actual face time between creators and fans.

If a convention want mes to work, I get comp'd. Period. No offense to panelists, but doing a full concert, let alone two or three or five, is work. For that matter, doing panels is work -- the cons are benefiting from your intelligence and expertise

[sylvanstargazer]

The cons I most enjoy are also about fans themselves. I'm mostly going to talk about broader themes ("hey, has anyone else been thinking about the implications of the way various utopias approach race?") and hang out with interesting people.

There are media conventions that are explicitly about meeting content creators, but the atmosphere in those places is very different. It's the difference between PAX (fans-meet-content-creators) and GDC (creators-meet-other-creators) and game panels somewhere like Aresia (fans-meet-other-fans-to-discuss-works-they-consume). If GDC comped pros they'd comp everyone, whereas Aresia is likely to comp anyone who puts significant time and energy into the con, regardless of who they are or what role they play.

[snapes_angel]

Do they at least provide meals, or some sort of fodder?

IMO, if you'd go to the convention anyway, it would give you something to do there, aside from the panels you'd normally attend. If it's out of your way-if it's not a convention you'd normally attend, and you'd have to pay your travel and feeding expenses and volunteer, without compensation, to be a panelist, a barbecue at home might be more profitable.

You're a family man, Jim, as well as a writer. You also have a day job. Those factors need to be taken into consideration, too.

If you'd have fun at Penguicon anyway, then go, by all means. Fun is worth it, isn't it? But I'd also ask your family, too. You're the writer, but all of you are a unit, too, so to speak.

[jimhines]

Some cons have a green room with snackage, and there's always the consuite (which varies in terms of both quality and quantity).

I do have fun, and that's a big part of why I do these -- getting to see and hang out with friends and peers and readers and such. But like you say, it also costs money and time away from family, and fun or not, it's also work.

[snapes_angel]

It's a balance, really.Conventions are good exposure, but you also have to take everything into account, including family and budget. And budget is more than finances here. It's also time you spend with your family, and time you spend writing, and helping with shopping, and the things that count as personal and interpersonal support. Both budget-wise and health-wise, I haven't been to a convention in years. Then, again, I've never been either a guest or a panelist. I haven't volunteered at I-Con (a local convention) in years, haven't gone either, really, because transportation, budget, health... all these things need to be taken into consideration. Public exposure may be nice, but a lot of times, it's not feasible.

[jimhines]

I know the RT convention is huge. Do you know the average size of the mystery cons you mentioned? I wonder if those are the equivalent of World Fantasy, where there are just too many authors attending. (Also, are these fan-oriented or business-oriented cons?)

[apis_mellifera]

Er. I'm technically in charge of the SF/F section of RT and I get no input into the SF/F panels they have at the convention. I've never proposed a panel, though, in part because the kinds of panels I find most interesting are not a good fit for the audience--and it would be difficult to find panelists, too.

RT is a very expensive con but it does include meals, so that's definitely something to keep in mind. I know staff and senior reviewers get comped memberships, I do not know about author-participants (although I could make inquiries).

[ex_rolanni]

WorldCons typically ask everyone to pay upfront. Then, after the con, if it made money, if X has done X much (panelling, concert, gophering, whathaveyou) a reimbursement check arrives in the mail. Sometimes, in my experience, it has been the entire membership cost, sometimes, it's been a portion. A couple of times, reimbursements never came -- from which one assumes that the con didn't make its nut.

The reason given for this is that WorldCons are expensive and start-up money is needed. Therefore, everyone who wants a WorldCon has to pitch in.

For small cons, if I'm expected to work (do panels), then I expect that my membership will be comped. As Tom says, I'm providing content, and hopefully some people are showing up because I'm there. If my contribution isn't worth twenty-five bucks to the con in terms of other memberships gained, then they're right not to invite me. "Inviting" me and expecting me to work *and* buy a membership just makes me cranky.

[jimhines]

The WorldCon model makes sense. (And given that I'm hoping to attend my first WorldCon next year, that's good to know, thank you! :-)

Your point about being invited is a good one, too. There's a difference between the con e-mailing to ask me to be on panels vs. when I was brand new and I was the one contacting them and asking if they could put me on programming...