"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza
Jun. 8th, 2011 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysPost-con blues set in during the taxi trip to Auckland airport, so not sure if I want to do a con report or not. But, as usual, throwing some thoughts out at random and seeing what happens.
Judging by personal experience and various reports, there are some good places to eat up that end of Parnell. It is a pity that the weather didn't cooperate. I wonder if I had ordered a "hot" curry whether I would have dried out faster.
The hotel was quirky. It used to be a motel and the split units in two to make hotel rooms. Problem is that they did it on the cheap - recycling some of the tired old motel fittings. On the other hand, it was rather cheaper that most places around town, so it can be forgiven most of it. A leaking window and a bad that wasn't flat however were not so hard to forgive. I don't mean the bed had a bit of a depression in the middle - it had a noticeable step in the middle then one side of the step sloped to the edge. Not obvious when looking at it, but there to feel when you lay down.
Id doesn't matter how nice they are, when you choose a guest of honour that most people haven't read then you are not going to attract many new people to your con. (In fact, I had tried to read one of the GoHs books but had quit after about a quarter of it.) Whether that was the reason or not, it was a very small con. That can be nice and intimate for the folk attending but not so good for long term convention health. Things were certainly different last year.
Speaking of last year, the 2013 convention will be Au Contraire 2. This is particularly happy news for most of us attending and we all hope that A-C2 will be even bigger and better.
I hate high humidity. Just sayin'.
Publicly nominated, fan voted awards are a deeply flawed concept in many ways. But as long as they are honestly and well run (as ours are), then they are a lot better than the alternative of not having them. Nevertheless, I do find myself drawn to tilt at some of the windmills that exist. In this case, you have to take a really big swing at things to even get the smallest of movements. But even small movement is better than going along without noticing the problems.
I'm off the SFFANZ board again - phew. It looks like there is a very good set of new recruits who have been co-opted onto the board. Good result I think. I did volunteer to keep looking after the SFFANZ news site though - no hardship there.
I'm also looking after the web site for next year's con. Have a look - as you can see I'm adopting a simple is best philosophy. And while you are there why not think about planning a trip to attend - should be fun.
In case it isn't clear, I did have a pleasant time overall. I spent most of the con indulging in friendly conversation - that suits me well. I did get annoyed at one point when somebody suggested that this is all that needs to be done for a con. What may suit me and others is not what drives everybody. Con organisers needs to cover all the bases to make sure that everybody has the type of experience that they are after. It looks to me as if the people running the next two natcons understand that well.
Judging by personal experience and various reports, there are some good places to eat up that end of Parnell. It is a pity that the weather didn't cooperate. I wonder if I had ordered a "hot" curry whether I would have dried out faster.
The hotel was quirky. It used to be a motel and the split units in two to make hotel rooms. Problem is that they did it on the cheap - recycling some of the tired old motel fittings. On the other hand, it was rather cheaper that most places around town, so it can be forgiven most of it. A leaking window and a bad that wasn't flat however were not so hard to forgive. I don't mean the bed had a bit of a depression in the middle - it had a noticeable step in the middle then one side of the step sloped to the edge. Not obvious when looking at it, but there to feel when you lay down.
Id doesn't matter how nice they are, when you choose a guest of honour that most people haven't read then you are not going to attract many new people to your con. (In fact, I had tried to read one of the GoHs books but had quit after about a quarter of it.) Whether that was the reason or not, it was a very small con. That can be nice and intimate for the folk attending but not so good for long term convention health. Things were certainly different last year.
Speaking of last year, the 2013 convention will be Au Contraire 2. This is particularly happy news for most of us attending and we all hope that A-C2 will be even bigger and better.
I hate high humidity. Just sayin'.
Publicly nominated, fan voted awards are a deeply flawed concept in many ways. But as long as they are honestly and well run (as ours are), then they are a lot better than the alternative of not having them. Nevertheless, I do find myself drawn to tilt at some of the windmills that exist. In this case, you have to take a really big swing at things to even get the smallest of movements. But even small movement is better than going along without noticing the problems.
I'm off the SFFANZ board again - phew. It looks like there is a very good set of new recruits who have been co-opted onto the board. Good result I think. I did volunteer to keep looking after the SFFANZ news site though - no hardship there.
I'm also looking after the web site for next year's con. Have a look - as you can see I'm adopting a simple is best philosophy. And while you are there why not think about planning a trip to attend - should be fun.
In case it isn't clear, I did have a pleasant time overall. I spent most of the con indulging in friendly conversation - that suits me well. I did get annoyed at one point when somebody suggested that this is all that needs to be done for a con. What may suit me and others is not what drives everybody. Con organisers needs to cover all the bases to make sure that everybody has the type of experience that they are after. It looks to me as if the people running the next two natcons understand that well.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-08 06:22 am (UTC)One idea for the awards - how about allowing nominations from anyone, but only count _additional_ nominations from SFFANZ members? So if Joe Bloggs gets a hundred of their non-SFFANZ friends to each nominate five of his novels, but there are four novels with two or more nominations from SFFANZ members, then only one Joe Bloggs book goes on the ballot? And there should be an official list of eligible works to give people ideas on what to nominate - obviously it's never going to be complete, but if anything not already on the list gets nominated, it should be added.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-08 06:31 am (UTC)Not sure if that would work - it might, but the problem is that there is no mood for reform. The majority seem happy with results that cheapen the value of the awards - awards that are supposed to be for excellence, not mere existence.
There was some work done on a register of eligible works - nobody submitted to it though. Its the sort of thing that requires wide input. The apathy problem again.