Science fiction convention

Science fiction conventions are gatherings of the community of fans (called science fiction fandom) of various forms of speculative fiction including science fiction and fantasy. Historically the focus has been on the written form rather than audiovisual media representations, but this has broadened to include all forms of storytelling. People in attendance at a science fiction convention are traditionally known as members of the convention; invited celebrities including authors are commonly known as guests of the convention, though many professionals including authors will simply attend as members. Often conventions will also honor Fan Guests who are not celebrities but have made a significant contribution to the fan community.

Anatomy of a typical science fiction convention

Getting Started

Although wide variations exist between different conventions, there is a general pattern that most adhere to. Nearly every weekend of the year now has at least one convention somewhere in the United States. Some conventions are held on holiday weekends where four or more days can be devoted to events; Worldcon and Midwestcon typically exceed three days even without being adjacent to a holiday.

The first night of the convention "Opening Ceremonies" are held, where organizers and marquee guests are introduced and speeches might be made. Some conventions such as WisCon and ICON will have a skit as part of the Opening Ceremonies.

Program

Panel-led discussions, or Panels, usually fill up the daytime hours of most conventions with typically one-hour discussions of topics related to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Fandom in general. Some conventions, such as Penguicon and WisCon, have well-attended, scheduled panels starting as late as midnight. Panel members (even professionals) are not customarily paid for their appearance, although some conventions rebate the membership fees of program participants after the convention, if finances allow.

Evening entertainment often includes a combination of official and unofficial events, including dances, formal invitational dinners, and fandom-themed room parties. A bid party is a room party held to influence the choice of the location of a future convention by advertising its advantages.

A costume contest called a masquerade is often held where persons go on stage and compete for nominal prizes based on their skill in assembling and presenting genre-inspired outfits. This is truly more a "talent show" rather than the "fancy dress ball" that the term suggests (although British fandom sometimes uses the term "fancy dress"). Anime fans might refer to the masquerade as cosplay, but there are notable and subtle distinctions between the terms.

Specific Rooms

A Dealer's or Huckster's Room is available, where merchants sell wares of interest to fans. These include books, action figures, prop replicas and t-shirts. Similarly, there is often an Art Show where genre-inspired art is displayed and usually made available for auction or purchase. Smaller conventions may simply have an informal Dealer's Row, a section of hotel rooms from which dealers sell goods, while larger conventions may have both an official dealer's room and an unofficial dealer's row.

Many conventions have video rooms in which genre-related audiovisual presentations take place, typically commercial Hollywood movies and genre television show episodes. If there are multiple media rooms, each one may have themed content.

Typically, Game Rooms are also available for attendees to play a variety of genre games, including collectible card games like The Gathering, role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, miniatures games like Warhammer 40,000, and board games like Settlers of Catan.

The Convention Hospitality Suite or Consuite is often provided as a room reserved for light refreshments, a quiet conversation, and a place to briefly rest. The refreshments typically include coffee, tea, juice or soda, and light meals appropriate for the time of day. Depending on local liquor distribution and liability laws, the suite may serve alcohol. At conventions in the United Kingdom, the provision of cask ale is generally considered essential.

Ending the event

Often the "Closing Ceremonies" on the convention's last day are dispensed with entirely. This omission is because such ceremonies would logically be held after scheduled events are over, and convention members are occupied with packing up and checking out of the hotel.

Ceremony or not, a dead dog party is likely to be held. This is the traditional winding-down party where few of the attendees are likely to have huge amounts of energy. This party is an attempt to ease people back into the real world outside of convention and can be an effective method of warding off the depression, which is often associated with the end of a major event. Analogies can be drawn to the decompression parties following large events such as Burning Man.

Other conventions

Although the oldest and largest conventions attempt to reach fans of the entire genre, some specific works have gained a fan base considerable enough to support dedicated conventions. These include "Celebration," the official Star Wars convention, "Galaxyfest," the yearly event in Vulcan, Alberta dedicated to Star Trek, and BotCon, the official Transformers convention.

Specific conventions

See Category:Science fiction conventions

World Science Fiction Convention

The precise time and place of the first science fiction convention is a matter of some dispute. Sometime in 1936, a group of British fans made plans to have an organized get-together, with a planned program of events, in a public function space, in early 1937. On October 22, 1936, however, a group of six or seven fans from New York City, including David Kyle and Frederik Pohl, travelled by train down to Philadelphia, where they visited for several hours with a similar number of local fans at the house of Milton A. Rothman, declaring the event the first science fiction convention.

On January 3, 1937, the British fans held their long-planned event at the Theosophical Hall in Leeds. Around twenty fans, including Eric Frank Russell and Arthur C. Clarke, were in attendance. To this day, many fan historians — especially those in the United Kingdom — complain that the Philadelphia meeting was a convention in name only; while other fan historians point out that many similar gatherings since then have been called "conventions" without eliciting any disagreement.

Nevertheless, by 1939, American fans had organized sufficiently to hold, in conjunction with the 1939 World's Fair, the first "World Science Fiction Convention," in New York City. Subsequent conventions were held in Chicago in 1940 and Denver in 1941, before World War II interrupted their scheduling. Conventions resumed in 1946 with the hosting of the World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles, California. Worldcons, as they are now called have been held yearly ever since, with various large metropolitan cities playing host.

With the success of Worldcon, hundreds of local and regional science fiction conventions have sprung up around the world. At these conventions, fans of science fiction come together with the professional writers, artists, and filmmakers in the genre to discuss its many aspects.

Since most such conventions are entirely volunteer run, a breed of fan known as Smofs has developed its own community and knowledge share to keep convention-running traditions alive.

World Fantasy Convention

Fantasy is usually considered alongside science fiction at conventions (the terms were used interchangeably for most of the period from 1926-1966). Conventions that are nominally science fiction conventions such as WorldCon are usually also fantasy conventions in all but name. World Fantasy Convention was begun in 1975, held yearly thereafter. The World Fantasy Convention, however, has less oriented to the fan community, and is primarily a professional gathering (for writers, editors, publishers, etc.). Many of those who attend "World Fantasy" also attend Worldcon.

External links

Science fiction fandom | Fandom | Science fiction conventions

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