convention questions
Lady Ketherian
What does a guest have to have to his/her credit to be
considered a GoH? (Guest Of Honor)
Minimum number of books/movies published/appearances/notations?
Public notarity to what level?
Currently popular, or past?
Awards to his/her credit?
ectera.
Thank you
--
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The Lady Ketherian | A dreamer, a scribe
keth...@mala.proteus.qc.ca | A talespinner, a programmer
| all these things I be
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Don Glover
Jim Rittenhouse
: According to general consensus of this newsgroup:
: What does a guest have to have to his/her credit to be
: considered a GoH? (Guest Of Honor)
: Minimum number of books/movies published/appearances/notations?
: Public notarity to what level?
: Currently popular, or past?
: Awards to his/her credit?
Depends on the con. Some people pick on the basis of the people they're best
buddies with. There is no set rule or criteria. For the con I run, CONGENIAL,
in Madison WI (200 person faanish relaxacon) we're limited by cost-of-guest
considerations. Flying someone in from the West Coast gets expensive.
Seriously, though, I rarely pay attention to the GOH; I got to a con because I
like the con, and which of my pals will bbe there.
Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey
> According to general consensus of this newsgroup:
> What does a guest have to have to his/her credit to be
> considered a GoH? (Guest Of Honor)
>
> Minimum number of books/movies published/appearances/notations?
> Public notarity to what level?
> Currently popular, or past?
> Awards to his/her credit?
Good question. There is no "official" generally accepted standard for
these things. At the most fundamental level, the GoH is whoever the
convention committee *feels* like making GoH.
This begs the question, of course. What criteria does the concom use?
Well, if you and I are on a convention committee, we'll have a meeting
to discuss various candidates. As Jim Rittenhouse pointed out, we'll
consider our finances first: maybe we have to limit ourselves to pros
who are local, or within driving distance (the concom, of course, pays
travel, hotel, and usually meal expenses for the GoH). If we have a
bit more money to play with, perhaps we'll pick somebody who's friendly to
people on the committee. Obviously picking an author whose work is
very popular with SF readers is a possibility. But I know one fairly
wealthy convention which makes a point of asking less-well-known
writers to be GoH, in order to give good authors a little more
exposure.
It's generally agreed that for black-ink-on-white-paper-SF
conventions, the choice of Professional GoH doesn't make a large
difference in the attendance at the con. Only a few people will say,
"Hey! I've always wanted to meet R. Lionel Fanthorpe! I think I'll
drive 300 miles next weekend to see him!"
On the other hand, for a *StarTrek*/*Dr. Who*/video-oriented con, the
choice of GoH can be *crucial* for financial success or failure, as
many Autograph Potatoes will make their decisions to attend based on
this. It's also not easy to get a really big-time actor, writer, or
director. Maybe somebody with more experience on mediacon committees
can comment on this problem.
As for Fan Guests of Honor, and all the other flavors, things are even
looser and the criteria less obvious. I've been FGoH many times in
various places around this continent, and it's always a bit of a
mystery why *I* got selected, or how I should conduct myself in order
to be a really *good* GoH. But that's another topic...
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Jim Rittenhouse
he has.
The reason he's been selected as Fan GoH is because he's well-regarded, well-liked, been around since St. Peter was in short pants and all the major players
know him, etc. CONGENIAL considered him a couple of times for the Fan GoH
slot, because he's a very CONGENIAL guy. Problem is that the Beserker kept
getting in the way...the GT'ers wouldn't show because we were too close to
one of their big parties...so we nixed him.
: very popular with SF readers is a possibility. But I know one fairly
: wealthy convention which makes a point of asking less-well-known
: writers to be GoH, in order to give good authors a little more
: exposure.
We've done that pretty regularly. We had Misty Lackey as our first
ProGoH - and this was *just* before she made it big. We chose Phyllis
Eisenstein on a similar bet.
: It's generally agreed that for black-ink-on-white-paper-SF
: conventions, the choice of Professional GoH doesn't make a large
: difference in the attendance at the con. Only a few people will say,
: "Hey! I've always wanted to meet R. Lionel Fanthorpe! I think I'll
: drive 300 miles next weekend to see him!"
I surely don't. However, it _was_ nice to see Terry Pratchett at CAPRICON.
Bernie Peek
->In article <174722.17...@mala.proteus.qc.ca>, keth...@mala.proteus.qc.ca
-> (Lady Ketherian) writes:
->> According to general consensus of this newsgroup:
->> What does a guest have to have to his/her credit to be
->> considered a GoH? (Guest Of Honor)
->>
->> Minimum number of books/movies published/appearances/notations?
->> Public notarity to what level?
->> Currently popular, or past?
->> Awards to his/her credit?
->
->Good question. There is no "official" generally accepted standard for
->these things. At the most fundamental level, the GoH is whoever the
->convention committee *feels* like making GoH.
->
It is arguable that the concom shouldn't take any notice of anyone
else's opinions, but that's just my opinion of course.
What you might consider is whether you have any contacts that would
reach someone who doesn't normally attend conventions. A few years
back we got Keith Roberts as a GoH of a local convention, because of a
personal contact we had.
->
->It's generally agreed that for black-ink-on-white-paper-SF
->conventions, the choice of Professional GoH doesn't make a large
->difference in the attendance at the con. Only a few people will say,
->"Hey! I've always wanted to meet R. Lionel Fanthorpe! I think I'll
->drive 300 miles next weekend to see him!"
->
I'm not sure that RLF is a good example. There are people who collect
his books and will attend a con to get them signed. {Although I admit
that there aren't very many Fanthorpe collectors, at least not many
that get allowed out at weekends :-)} He's also a useful guest. He
was GoH at a very small con a few years back, and ended up bailing out
the concom when they ran out of cash!
->--
--
Bernie Peek
Programme Coordinator
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Intersection: The 1995 World SF Convention. Glasgow.
Stephanie M. Clarkson-Aines
>Bill has a lot of good points...I mean, _I've_ never been FGoH *sob*, but
>he has.
>
>: conventions, the choice of Professional GoH doesn't make a large
>: difference in the attendance at the con. Only a few people will say,
>: "Hey! I've always wanted to meet R. Lionel Fanthorpe! I think I'll
>: drive 300 miles next weekend to see him!"
>
>I surely don't. However, it _was_ nice to see Terry Pratchett at CAPRICON.
>
I dunno....I did 800 miles on a Greyhound (16 hours!) to meet Marion
Zimmer Bradley at Darkover in Timonium last year...and if I hadn't moved
down here, I'd do the same to meet Elizabeth Moon next December...(now the
secret's out...I married Steve JUST to avoid that trip again :-)
Thes.
L.A.Z. Smith
keth...@mala.proteus.qc.ca (Lady Ketherian) writes:
>> According to general consensus of this newsgroup:
>> What does a guest have to have to his/her credit to be
>> considered a GoH? (Guest Of Honor)
>>
>> Minimum number of books/movies published/appearances/notations?
>> Public notarity to what level?
>> Currently popular, or past?
>> Awards to his/her credit?
In article <1993Jun28...@fnalf.fnal.gov> hig...@fnalf.fnal.gov
(Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:
>At the most fundamental level, the GoH is whoever the
>convention committee *feels* like making GoH.
And the criteria the concom use depend greatly on what their goal is in
choosing the guest and, indeed, in throwing the convention. Concoms who
subscribe to the "bigger is better" school of conventions are apt to
choose very well-known, popular authors in order to attract attendance.
Whether or not this works when said author has been GoH at eight other
cons that year is open to question.
Other conventions choose on the basis of who they'd like to honor or who
the concom members would most like to have dinner with. I think the
desire to honor someone probably is more often the main reason for
choosing a fan GoH than a pro GoH.
Criteria *I* think a concom should consider for their pro GoH include
personality. Is the person a good speaker? Is he or she gregarious?
Does he or she like *fans*?
Bill writes:
>It's generally agreed that for black-ink-on-white-paper-SF
>conventions, the choice of Professional GoH doesn't make a large
>difference in the attendance at the con. Only a few people will say,
>"Hey! I've always wanted to meet R. Lionel Fanthorpe! I think I'll
>drive 300 miles next weekend to see him!"
Yes, but how many would go to see Stephen King? Or Marion Zimmer
Bradley?
I do know a number of sercon types whose main pleasure at SF cons
is talking with pros, and will make a decision on what cons to attend
based on who's going to be there. And, to a certain extent, people go to
see their friends. That works as far as fan GoHs, too. A lot of people
who don't regularly go to Worldcons went to Magicon to see Walt Willis.
An overseas GoH, or somebody who doesn't get to cons very much, or cons
in one's part of the country, anyway, will attract people.
Bill again:
>As for Fan Guests of Honor, and all the other flavors, things are even
>looser and the criteria less obvious. I've been FGoH many times in
>various places around this continent, and it's always a bit of a
>mystery why *I* got selected, or how I should conduct myself in order
>to be a really *good* GoH. But that's another topic...
And why not talk about it? I've got my ideas on what makes a good pro
GoH (reasonably good speaker, willing to do what the concom asks in terms
of programming, and to be accessible to the fans the rest of the time --
somebody who spends all his time in the Green Room or the secret pro
party is NOT a good GoH in my opinion, no matter how good a speaker he
is). But how does a good *fan* GoH behave?
I'm interested in opinions on this question because I will be a fan
GoH for the first time this year at ConFusion XX (Jan. 21-23, 1994,
Romulus, Mich., memberships $18 until 10/1/93, ConFusion, P.O. Box 8284,
Ann Arbor, MI 48107).
---
Leah Zeldes Smith le...@smith.chi.il.us
Laurie Mann
>And why not talk about it? I've got my ideas on what makes a good pro
>GoH (reasonably good speaker, willing to do what the concom asks in terms
>of programming, and to be accessible to the fans the rest of the time --
>somebody who spends all his time in the Green Room or the secret pro
>party is NOT a good GoH in my opinion, no matter how good a speaker he
>is). But how does a good *fan* GoH behave?
>
>I'm interested in opinions on this question because I will be a fan
>GoH for the first time this year at ConFusion XX (Jan. 21-23, 1994,
>Romulus, Mich., memberships $18 until 10/1/93, ConFusion, P.O. Box 8284,
>Ann Arbor, MI 48107).
Congrats---I hope to get there myself!
For fan GoH (I was asked once and it was a BLAST!), I think you should
be accessible, be congenial, but remember that most people are more interested
in the pros, so be a little deferential to the pro GoHs. Try to throw a good
party and do something nice for the con com (I brought cookies).
** lm...@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Internet) Laurie.Mann (GEnie) **
** New address, late July or August: lm...@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu **
*Ignore the irrelevant; it will soon go out of fashion. Robin Morgan*