In the early 90's the media Natcon was going gangbusters (300-400+ attendees), the lit Natcon was dying with a slowly decreasing (around 200) and aging membership. With the success of a couple of joint media/lit Natcons, it was suggested that Australia's population was so small the two cons should be joined.

It would mean a bigger overall Natcon with a larger budget. Everyone would win. The media fans had no reason to do this. Their Natcon was doing fine. The only reason they did it was out of a sense of community. It would be good for fandom as a whole to have a single, bigger Natcon.

Both Natcons had their own awards. The ASFMAs (Australian Science Fiction Media Awards) and the Ditmars. Having both sets of awards would be huge and unwieldy. The only reason we still have the Ditmars is because the media fans not only agreed to the joining of both Natcons, but agreed to continue the Ditmars and discontinue their own award since a lot of older fans were concerned about the loss of the Ditmars, and their history, if a new award were started.

The only real requirement media fandom had was that the Ditmars have categories changed or added so that the media side was adequately covered, and the new Natcon have a program that fairly represented both media and lit fandom interests.

In a short time, with no separate Media Natcon to compete against, the Natcon program became heavily lit based.

With no guest or programs that addressed their passions, the fan clubs and groups more or less stopped attending the Natcon, and with their own yearly Natcon and awards gone, there was nothing to hold media fandom together through other issues.

We stopped having regular cons and Natcons in Victoria as we approached the worldcon, and while Perth picked up the slack with regards to the Natcon, it didn't advertise in the east terribly well. With no experience of a Swancon, which does tend towards a more balanced program, the east coast media fans expected more of the same they had already been given - Natcons with nothing for them. Why spend all the money getting to Perth just to be disappointed again?

Having already been hurt by the Natcon, to then have someone loosely associated with the then upcoming WorldCon loudly state at a major pre-Aussiecon 3 event, "We don't need the media fans!" didn't help things. For a group than had already been well screwed, a group that had been far more active in con-running over the previous decade than the majority of the fans working on A3, this was telling them that they, and their expertise, really weren't welcome.

The lack of action on the part of the WorldCon committee to rectify the damage didn't help. Having the creator of Babylon 5 as a guest was all well and good, but other than that, the only answer received to the question, "Why should we attend?" was "Because it's the WorldCon." The attitude was that if you didn't want to come to the WorldCon, there was something wrong with you.

On top of all this, fan politics within and between several clubs further damaged things within the media scene.

The big media expo-style cons had tried to get a foothold in Australia a few times, but previously couldn't compete with the fan-run media cons. Why go to a con where you couldn't really talk to or interact with the guest?

The best of the fan-run media cons was Multiverse, which not only ran good cons (and tried with variable success to also cater to lit fandom) but raised thousands and thousands of dollars for charity into the bargain. That was one of the interesting things about Media fandom - the profits of most Media cons were donated to charity. Again, there's that attitude of trying to help and be a part of the wider community - the same attitude that lost them their own Natcon.

But eventually the folks behind Multiverse decided it was time to finish up. Once they did, in came the expos to fill the vacuum.

Media fandom in Victoria had lost their last interesting media cons, while media fandom in general had lost its awards, its Natcon, and its history. Even the Doomsday Book, a book filled with humourous advice, info, and illustrations from previous Media Natcon committees to future ones, was lost. I think it was later recovered, but couldn't swear to it.

Certainly for a time before the Natcons joined, the two media fandom centres of Australia were Melbourne and Brisbane. But it would be up to someone from Brisbane to tell what effects, if any, losing the Media Natcon had on Queensland fandom.

With this history in mind, take the time to find and go through the last decade of Natcon program books, and decide for yourself if you think Australian media fandom has been well-served by their selflessness.

One of the architects of the change, in light of all that has happened, has commented to me on several occasions over the last ten-plus years, that he thinks they killed the wrong Natcon.
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From: [identity profile] smofbabe.livejournal.com


I made my reputation as a fearless moderator by taking the microphone physically out of a monopolizing Well Known Pro's hand when he ignored a few cheery suggestions that he allow other people on the panel to talk :->

From: [identity profile] dalekboy.livejournal.com


I remember Swancon 17 had about 50 Melbourne fans at it.

They achieved this by doing something really weird... they contacted Melbourne shops and arranged to get their flyers into them. For nearly twelve months, there wasn't a genre bookshop in Melbourne that didn't have the latest versions of the flyers and or the poster.

Madness!




From: [identity profile] dalekboy.livejournal.com


You're welcome, and thank you!

Naturally, I'm having to go on memory, and have had a few people remind me of other factors (i.e. the insurance issues of the late nineties, and I had quite forgotten the nightmarish Media Natcon constitution), but I was someone who tended to go to most of the media and lit cons, so I got to see both sides.

I can still remember the very serious conversations at a couple of media Natcons about whether or not there should be a merge, or just let the lit Natcon die.

From: [identity profile] dalekboy.livejournal.com


I think I have three of them as well. Couldn't tell you for certain because they're packed away as they are massive and totally lethal!

A cut-glass cityscape silhouette on wood. Absolutely gorgeous, and if you even think about dusting it, it cuts through your flesh like razor wire.

From: [identity profile] stephen-dedman.livejournal.com


(1) Thanks for mentioning the overpriced actors. Not that I have anything against actors, of course, and I understand why they charge so much for autographs... but when it comes to explaining the cost of cons such as Swancon, maybe we should try comparing them to the commercial media cons, where the entry fee may be lower, but 'extras' cost a lot more.

(2) Most Swancons do run to a surplus, and thus can be considered overpriced... but this is partly because concoms have been told to budget for worst-case scenarios... and that, in turn, is because sometimes those worst-case scenarios have come true.

(3) Have other concoms considered the option of having one day, early in the con, where day memberships are extremely cheap? (currently being tried at Swancon, reportedly with some success).

From: [identity profile] angriest.livejournal.com


Short version: Sue Ann was massively out of pocket for convention expenses at Swancon 19/ConFusion, and somewhere between her committee treasurer and the WASFF treasurer all the receipts went missing, so WASFF refused to reimburse her.

I was shockingly angry at the time. I'm still angry now.

From: [identity profile] mortonhall.livejournal.com



the story goes... ConFusion made a loss. This was the early days of WASFF. We had assumed that the money I used to cover the costs would be returned to me as the convention was being run under the auspices of WASFF. It took a long time to be raised at a WASFF meeting as the then WASFF treasurer managed to lose (misplace) the entire collection of convention receipts etc so there was no way of proving what the expenses of the convention had been. They had the meeting, decided I had no right to the return of my $3000. They then, informally, told me this in such a way that I wasn't even sure what they were saying. Some months later (6 months maybe), after much pushing on my part, I received an official letter. Grant may be able to fill you in on more detail as he was at the WASFF meeting.

Whatever the story maybe, I'm out of pocket for $3000 and have a dislike for the bureaucracy that is WASFF.
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From: [identity profile] kremmen.livejournal.com


Yep, [livejournal.com profile] jocko55, myself and a few others left the B5 club meeting to go over there.

Quite agree that it's easily done if you're not in the loop, but doesn't that hit to the core of the issue? The people running a worldcon should have been "in the loop", or at the very least asked someone who was. The obvious contrast is that we in the media clubs knew about A3 and were (at least initially) interested, while A3 appeared to neither know nor care about media fandom.

You say that a comment about not needing media fans did the most damage, but for those for whom actions speak louder than words, the actions matched those words.

From: [identity profile] angriest.livejournal.com


I'm not sure the ultra-cheap day is so good an idea. The impression I got this year at Swancon was that while quite a few new people took up the offer, a lot of half-interested long-running congoers used it as an excuse to only come for one day.
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From: [identity profile] king-espresso.livejournal.com


Could you tell me who that is, so I don't buy any of her books?

From: [identity profile] baby-elvis.livejournal.com


Having been to a couple of 'expensive actor cons', they aren't that much cheaper, if they are all inclusive. And the actors who pull in people regularly charge US$10 000 or more to attend, on top of anything else.

From: [identity profile] baby-elvis.livejournal.com


Oh, it was a saying over here before 1999, believe me!

From: [identity profile] dalekboy.livejournal.com


This story is just another reason I find you such a delightful and attractive woman.

From: [identity profile] smofbabe.livejournal.com


Sorry for not being clear - it was a member of the audience, not a fellow panelist.
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From: [identity profile] kremmen.livejournal.com


Why? The 1985 Worldcon was pretty good for Victorian fandom.

From: [identity profile] stephen-dedman.livejournal.com


I'm told that the number of people who came for the cheap day and then bought memberships for the following days made it worthwhile - and I don't know how many of the half-interested long-runners even paid for memberships at all, rather than simply sitting at the bar and meeting people for dinner. But I will certainly agree that it has to be combined with an interesting program and better promotion.

From: [identity profile] angriest.livejournal.com


Good points. The "just sit in the bar and not join the convention" phenomenon appears to be growing dangerously.

From: [identity profile] dalekboy.livejournal.com


See, as far as I'm concerned, if you had misplaced the receipts, that would be a problem. There would be much checking and eventually you would have received something. Maybe not the full amount, but something.

However, they lost the receipts. And on top of that, you had saved Swancon's bacon that year.

They should have worn the error.

From: [identity profile] stephen-dedman.livejournal.com

Re: Aussiecons...


Agreed. David Gerrold, OTOH...

Which side are we counting comics fans on - lit, media, or neither?


From: [identity profile] dalekboy.livejournal.com


I like WASFF as an idea, but there have been times when I've felt it's lost track of what it's purpose is.

It's why my mantra is a constant "The Continuum Foundation is there to make the lives of people running Continuum easier. If we can't do that, then we have no purpose."

From: [identity profile] girliejones.livejournal.com


ahh ... could be a combination of product and selling. Who knows.
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