World Con

[queenoftheskies]

How many of you folks are coming to LA for World Con?

Have you been to a World Con before? If so, would you care to share your thoughts?

Comments

[tryslora]

My family (me, husband, kids, and yes, parents (who got ME into fandom)) has our hotel reservations and are shopping plane tickets. This is going to be my tenth wedding anniversary (I honeymooned at LACon in 96).

I've been to several WorldCons, but often from the SMOF perspective rather than the Writer perspective. Be prepared to sleep little, be overwhelmed by the amazing people and huge dealers' room and tons of great panels. Bring water bottles, eat well, sleep SOME. It's like any other con, but bigger!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I don't know yet. WorldCon is one of the possibilities if I feel better later this year.

I've been to two WorldCons, ConJose and NoreasCon. They were overwhelming and exhausting and immensely varied, not just between the two but within each one. I'm not sure any two people go to the same WorldCon.

[elialshadowpine.livejournal.com]

I'd love to, but I don't see it happening, as I want to get to DragonCon, which is around the same time of year. As I have good friends that are in the area and others who will probably be going as well, if I had to pick, I'd probably go to DC, despite that I'd love to do Worldcon as well.

Who knows, though?

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

We'll be in LA for WorldCon. I wouldn't hear the end of it from my parents if I didn't. (They live outside Pasadena.) We're also going to Dragon*Con this year, too. August/September is going to be busy, yet again. :)

The first WorldCon I attended was in San Jose in 2002. Went to Toronto in 2003, Boston in 2004, and Glasgow in 2005. Every one has been a little different. Since the concoms are different each time, that's par for the course. Lots of panels, lots of people, lots of networking. That's the major part of it from the writer's perspective, IMO. Although, personally, my favorites have usually been connected to the Hugo ceremonies in some way. And, oddly, connected to Neil Gaiman as well. (Yeah, okay, I do cite Gaiman as one of my literary influences, so this shouldn't be a surprise.) I will never forget San Jose in 2002, and the infamous "Fuck, I won a Hugo!" when American Gods won. And, of course, I had to go when he was emceeing the awards in Boston in 2004. Fangirl that I am. :)

Considering that most of what I write right now is in the tie-in field, WorldCon isn't really as good a promotional or networking experience for that end of writing. However, as I'm slowly branching out into original fiction, networking through WorldCons and getting my name out into the literary end of the genre can't possibly be a bad thing. Besides, it's let me see parts of the world that I hadn't been to before, and write the trips off on my taxes. They're legitimate business expenses. :)

[telaryn.livejournal.com]

I worked the 2000 Worldcon in Chicago, and if Chicago gets Worldcon in 2009, I'll probably work it too.

With Dragoncon being about the same time, and our company getting part of the souvenir concession there, I usually end up going to Dragoncon (plus, Atlanta is a lot closer to home!).

I've heard mixed reviews about Worldcon the past couple of years -- mostly because Dragoncon tended to bleed off all the best guests. As shows go it tends to be quieter than your average convention, and a *lot* more professional.

[msisolak.livejournal.com]

I met up with OWW people I'd only know online at Chicon. Every year thereafter (barring Glasgow -- I would have loved to, but there was no way), the OWW amoeba has grown and grown. I think there were about forty of us in Toronto.

The good thing about WorldCons is putting faces/voices/gestures to people you'd only known online. There's a lot of merriment, drinking, discussion, and not much sleep. For a newbie con-goer, the panels are usually great. For those of us who've been to several in a row -- well, maybe not quite as stunning.

If you have the time and energy, and if they're offering it in LA, try to sign up for the critiquing segment. It's a great way to meet a few people quickly.

I'll be there, since whee! I don't have to travel much for this one! Better yet, I don't have to trade time zones. (And that's a good thing.)

So, if you're sitting on the fence, don't. Sign up and go. Seriously. :)

[annathepiper]

I and mine (solarbird and spazzkat and an old friend of spazzkat's) will be heading down for Worldcon this year. We're actually taking extra time so we can enjoy Disneyland, mostly, but we'll also be going to the con. ;)

Worldcon's about the only big con I hit these days, aside from Norwescon, which is local.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

Me - it's going to be my third Worldcon - it's big and busy and frantic and if you're lucky the thtree-deep programming WON'T schedule absolutely everything you want to go to during the same two-hour period on Saturday afternoon... But all our arrangements are in place and we'll be in California this summer.

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

I went to WC for the first time in 1998, in Baltimore, and didn't know many people. Also, I made the decision at the very last minute and ended up in a hotel miles from the con. Did I ahve fun? Yes, but not as much as I had hoped.

THEN, for the 2000 WC in Chicago, it seemed like all the fun people I had met online in the previous year or two were going, so I went, and this time I planned much earlier. I roomed with msisolak, have roomed with her every year since (except last year, when neither of us went), and yes, we're rooming together in Anaheim this year.

For me personally, I think 2001 in Philly was the best WC I ever went to, in terms of hanging out with friends and having a damn good time (also, the bar was very well designed). Nowadays my list of friends and acquaintances has offically grown too big--not that I don't love all of them, but I don't get to spend enough time with any of them, as many of them now have Official Writer Stuff they have to do, i.e. meet with their agents and editors.

Staying in the "main" con hotel is a good idea, IMO. You can save money staying elsewhere, but the convenience factor is high. (Though not every year. One of the drawbacks of ConJose was that the convention center was a walk from the main hotel. Not far, but not so close that one could say, "I'm going to dash up to my room for a sec--save me a seat in that panel." You pretty much went to the convention center and stayed there all day. TorCon was a similar situation, but I stayed in the "second" main hotel, which was attached to the convention center. Of course, that meant trekking over to the Fairmont to hang out in the bar, but that wasn't annoying, because I was going to the bar to hang out with fabulous, entertaining people.)

Wow, lotsa rambling. Anyway, I would say that WC is actually several cons in one. You can follow the different tracks and have an entirely different con experience, and each year, as other people have pointed out, the organizers are different and so the con will be different. Boston was fab-o for the panels. Philly for the hotel bar (it was big, it was in the round, and they had set up about a dozen "living room" sorta spaces. You walked around it until you saw people you knew, you sat down, had interesting conversations, and nice waiters brought you drinks and desserts. Ah, heaven!).

Go to the Hugo ceremony. In some respects it can drag, but I didn't attend the first few years I went, and everyone had funny stories, and I have enjoyed it the last couple of years when I have gone. Though nothing will beat sitting in a hotel room watching it on closed-circuit TV with a bunch of friends. We didn't miss anything, and we could talk aloud during it. And there was Guinness. (I think that year was Philly? Or was that Chicago?)

Which all adds up to: yeah, go. It's an expensive excuse to hang out with friends, but it is a very good way to re-cement friendships that suffer for being only online for the rest of the year. (**loffs online friends**)

[cicadabug.livejournal.com]

I keep hoping I'll find a way to go, but right now I just don't think I'll be able to afford it. )-:

I've gone to a few Worldcons, and have generally found them to be worthwhile. They also can be, at times, overwhelming or sometimes boring. To say more than that I'd end up writing a several-page monologue, so I guess I'm curious if you are going, and if this will be your first Worldcon, so I know what better to tell you.

[kythiaranos.livejournal.com]

I went to ChiCon in 2000. It was fun, but a bit overwhelming--I tend to shut down after a day or so surrounded by unfamiliar people, so I've been hesitant to go back to a WorldCon without some pressing reason.

I think I much more enjoy small, local cons--but that's just my asocial personality. Still, at the big ones there's lots to see and do, and many, many interesting and friendly people to meet. If you do end up going, be sure to post reports for the rest of us. *g*

[herefox.livejournal.com]

I'll be there. I've only done worldcon when it was in San Jose with a day pass so this will be my first full con. It's a weird con going experience for me as I'm used to going to cons mostly to see friends and world con there's lots of going to panels and such instead.