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Better late than never, the Loncon3 report
Sep. 7th, 2014 04:36 pmAs anyone following me on Twitter or Tumblr would have noticed, last month I went to England for my first Worldcon: Loncon3. And then I failed to write about it UNTIL NOW.
This is mostly because it was huge and overwhelming and awesome, and it's taken me this long to digest it and get homesick for it. I got to fulfill a long-term dream and actually watch the Hugos live. I met Seanan McGuire. I found out that Connie Willis and George RR Martin and utterly hilarious if you put them on a panel together.
Plus, I got to visit with lots of old friends and hopefully make some new ones.
I suppose this should really be put in something approaching chronological order, shouldn't it?
( Cut for length )
In conclusion, I had a brilliant time. Excellent. Would do again. It was my first time working on operations, and I loved every minute of it. Even the hectic ones. I'd definitely do that again...which is good, because I've already been volunteered onto the team for Nine Worlds. Heh.
I can't speak to other peoples' experience of Loncon, but for me, it was excellent. I expected something fustier and filled with intolerant old dinosaurs, even though we'd been trying not to do that, and what I found was bright, fun, vibrant, and filled with great people and new ideas. A large part of this, I suspect, is because of how I chose to do the con.
Most of the panels I went to were not the kind that attracted that old dinosaur element: diversity, representation, urban fantasy, transformational works. I had a big group of friends there, and I met some new people. All of them are lovely. It felt like a world away from the Eastercon I attended a few years ago. I'd love to do another Worldcon, but only if it's like that. Sasquan doesn't sound like my kind of Worldcon. I might see if Dublin 2019 happens, and whether I can swing doing that one.
It probably helped that I didn't do it coming off Nine Worlds, which is a very, very different kind of con. I didn't have 9W to compare to and, for me, Loncon3 was one of the best cons I've been to. My opinion on some things might change after seeing 9W next year, but we'll see.
The other factor that might have helped, was being on the ops team and seeing the staff side of things for months beforehand. I knew how much work we'd put into the code of conduct and the team supporting it. I knew how many knots we'd tied ourselves in trying to make the con safe and welcoming to everyone. And I think we largely succeeded, which makes me feel incredibly proud to have been a part of it.
In short, roll on a Worldcon run by the next horrible, liberal, diversity-conscious, BLOODY FANTASTIC team to stick their necks out and try to take it on. Helsinki 2017. Dublin 2019. Let's make those happen.
This is mostly because it was huge and overwhelming and awesome, and it's taken me this long to digest it and get homesick for it. I got to fulfill a long-term dream and actually watch the Hugos live. I met Seanan McGuire. I found out that Connie Willis and George RR Martin and utterly hilarious if you put them on a panel together.
Plus, I got to visit with lots of old friends and hopefully make some new ones.
I suppose this should really be put in something approaching chronological order, shouldn't it?
( Cut for length )
In conclusion, I had a brilliant time. Excellent. Would do again. It was my first time working on operations, and I loved every minute of it. Even the hectic ones. I'd definitely do that again...which is good, because I've already been volunteered onto the team for Nine Worlds. Heh.
I can't speak to other peoples' experience of Loncon, but for me, it was excellent. I expected something fustier and filled with intolerant old dinosaurs, even though we'd been trying not to do that, and what I found was bright, fun, vibrant, and filled with great people and new ideas. A large part of this, I suspect, is because of how I chose to do the con.
Most of the panels I went to were not the kind that attracted that old dinosaur element: diversity, representation, urban fantasy, transformational works. I had a big group of friends there, and I met some new people. All of them are lovely. It felt like a world away from the Eastercon I attended a few years ago. I'd love to do another Worldcon, but only if it's like that. Sasquan doesn't sound like my kind of Worldcon. I might see if Dublin 2019 happens, and whether I can swing doing that one.
It probably helped that I didn't do it coming off Nine Worlds, which is a very, very different kind of con. I didn't have 9W to compare to and, for me, Loncon3 was one of the best cons I've been to. My opinion on some things might change after seeing 9W next year, but we'll see.
The other factor that might have helped, was being on the ops team and seeing the staff side of things for months beforehand. I knew how much work we'd put into the code of conduct and the team supporting it. I knew how many knots we'd tied ourselves in trying to make the con safe and welcoming to everyone. And I think we largely succeeded, which makes me feel incredibly proud to have been a part of it.
In short, roll on a Worldcon run by the next horrible, liberal, diversity-conscious, BLOODY FANTASTIC team to stick their necks out and try to take it on. Helsinki 2017. Dublin 2019. Let's make those happen.
