A Tale of Two Natcons

[dalekboy]

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.

Comments

[greteldragon.livejournal.com]

Only if you can take advantage of the time...

And that's not always easy for a newbie.

And you still have to be able to front up the money to start with (current problem with Swancon).

[angriest.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah I'm aware of the issues. I'm also aware from the other side of the curtain that conventions are often that expensive for a good reason.

That said, Swancon is currently overcharging by about $30 or so. (Recent Swancons I mean, not singling out this year. I haven't seen their budgets and overheads so couldn't fairly comment on their con.)

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

On a slight tangent - Swancon is in the enviable position of being able to say 'we can expect a minimum number of around two hundred people.'

Having such a high minimum number is awesome, and knowing it should certainly make budgeting easier.

[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).

[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.

[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.

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

$10,000 US, first or business class airfare, etc. it all becomes too much.

That said, would totally consider it for Bruce Campbell. Contacted him for Continuum ages back, explained that we can't afford appearance fees etc. I got an email from the man himself explaining politely that after some bad experiences, he doesn't make exceptions to his requirements. He was firm but really lovely, and I was very impressed.

[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.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

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

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that's a bit rude. If the convention doesn't offer you anything you enjoy, either don't turn up, or do something to change it.

[dr-jekyl.livejournal.com]

As one of those half-interested (but not really long running) con-goers, I have to say that if it weren't for the cheap day, I wouldn't have gone at all. It was my excuse to come, rather than to stay away, because there was very litle in the convention programming that interested me, and I had to work on one of the days of the con. I suspect there are quite a few others out there like me.

The real problem with the con pricing this year was that it was cheaper, providing you didn't want to go to the last half-day, to buy membership on a daily basis than it was to buy a full membership at the door. Going for the whole con should entail a discount, even buying tickets at the door.