This was my second con; there is no way I would ever have gone to the first one - or indeed, any subsequent - except that I already knew people who would be there. Those people I had all met through various online means, and not in person. This, though, may be a reflection on me, and my particular non-gregarious attitude and dislike of meeting new people! Trying to balance old and new attendees is a hard job. I have to admit that although I knew quite a few people at Swancon, I still felt on the outer, to an extent. That's always going to happen when you have a function like Swancon that has such long-term attendees: cliques will always develop, and to an extent that's not a bad thing, as people have already pointed out. It's why people love cons! How to include newbies as well... well, I'm never gonna run a con!