I suspect we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
Which is fine.
You did not answer my question as to whether there was absolute evidence that including the Fan Guest of Honor in publicity is alienating and causes people not to attend a convention that they otherwise might consider attending.
And unless someone gives me a large amount of money to conduct a professional marketing impact survey on a few thousand people, there's never going to be any. There isn't any evidence that I'm wrong either. What I do have is a fairly good understanding on how marketing does and doesn't work, earned through several years of doing it professionally, and some extensive conversations with people I know or have met who would obviously adore being at an Australian SF con but refuse to try it because they find it deeply unwelcoming to look at.
If you're trying to make your advertising sound as non-threatening as possible and as non-eccentric as possible, people are going to be in for a real shock when they actually get to the convention and find the more esoteric things that happen there!
But once there it can be seen in context and it can be explained to them, just like when you explain a fan guest of honour on a website. If you have time, it makes sense and most new fans are cool with it - even rapidly embrace it. But if you've got 10cm x 7cm to play with, including "Fan Guest of Honour" and a name doesn't add anything.
Why is it self-important to honor someone who has contributed to the community that is hosting the convention?
It's not. I never said it was. I said it looks like that if you don't know what it is.
Finally, and this is where we really are likely to disagree, I'm not sure it's worth "selling the soul" of the convention and of fandom, so to speak, just to get a few more memberships.
It's not ever "selling your soul" to market something properly. It never is. People hear marketing and alarm bells go off, and they shouldn't.
A science fiction convention exists for no other purpose than to facilitate the group appreciation of science fiction, and if it does not market itself in a fashion to attract all readers of science fiction, it is not doing its job and is wasting everyone's time.
no subject
Which is fine.
You did not answer my question as to whether there was absolute evidence that including the Fan Guest of Honor in publicity is alienating and causes people not to attend a convention that they otherwise might consider attending.
And unless someone gives me a large amount of money to conduct a professional marketing impact survey on a few thousand people, there's never going to be any. There isn't any evidence that I'm wrong either. What I do have is a fairly good understanding on how marketing does and doesn't work, earned through several years of doing it professionally, and some extensive conversations with people I know or have met who would obviously adore being at an Australian SF con but refuse to try it because they find it deeply unwelcoming to look at.
If you're trying to make your advertising sound as non-threatening as possible and as non-eccentric as possible, people are going to be in for a real shock when they actually get to the convention and find the more esoteric things that happen there!
But once there it can be seen in context and it can be explained to them, just like when you explain a fan guest of honour on a website. If you have time, it makes sense and most new fans are cool with it - even rapidly embrace it. But if you've got 10cm x 7cm to play with, including "Fan Guest of Honour" and a name doesn't add anything.
Why is it self-important to honor someone who has contributed to the community that is hosting the convention?
It's not. I never said it was. I said it looks like that if you don't know what it is.
Finally, and this is where we really are likely to disagree, I'm not sure it's worth "selling the soul" of the convention and of fandom, so to speak, just to get a few more memberships.
It's not ever "selling your soul" to market something properly. It never is. People hear marketing and alarm bells go off, and they shouldn't.
A science fiction convention exists for no other purpose than to facilitate the group appreciation of science fiction, and if it does not market itself in a fashion to attract all readers of science fiction, it is not doing its job and is wasting everyone's time.