Virtual Worldcon: Conventions in the Time of Coronavirus

 

I attended my first virtual convention a few weeks ago, ConZealand (the 78th Worldcon). This was my second Worldcon, with Helsinki as my first. I know many people were disappointed when Worldcon went virtual, but for people like me who couldn't have attended the con at all if it had been in New Zealand, this was actually a great opportunity to participate after all. I purchased my membership right after the announcement with very little expectations as to what the con would actually be like, figuring that at least the money would go to a good cause, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. 

There are actually many advantages to a virtual convention: no standing in line, everybody fits into the "room" for whichever panel they want to watch, and, best of all, as most panels/events were recorded, people could watch them at their leisure. The program could be accessed through Grenadine, which had links to Zoom for the actual panels. For most panels only the panelists could turn their video and microphones on and everybody else was automatically muted, which made attending the panels stress-free, and joining a panel late didn't disturb anyone. ConZealand used Discord for discussions (the panel "rooms"), and they had also created spaces there for virtual bars, the consuite, etc. There was a place to post cosplay pics, and the Masquerade also went virtual. Additional content could be found on the ConZealand site, like virtual tours of New Zealand (I especially loved my virtual visit to Hobbiton) and a virtual exhibition hall, art show, and the recorded panels. 

My experience, technology-wise, went quite smoothly. I was familiar with Discord from a writing course that used it for discussions, and Zoom was quite easy to figure out. I had no trouble logging in, and all the panels I watched live or from recording went smoothly. The only issues I had were with the Larry Dixon and Mercedes Lackey panels (the guests of honour), because they were unable to use Zoom and Discord didn't actually work too well. As I understand it, you can't mute or turn off cameras for the audience in Discord, and that was a problem. I can't speak for the writing workshops or kaffeeklatsches, because I didn't attend any due to the time difference. (Most of those happened in the middle of the night European time.) The Hugo awards broadcast had some technical issues, but that was the worst of it. 

Speaking of the Hugo awards, that was the only thing that soured the con experience a bit for me. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can catch up here.) I mostly enjoyed Martin's hosting and found his anecdotes about former Hugo ceremonies entertaining, but some of the jokes did make me a bit uncomfortable. I do see the point of the people who took offence, but I also felt a bit sorry for Martin, because I genuinely believe he didn't mean to hurt anyone or exclude people. I watched the rest of his panels and he was feeling very nostalgic, and that was probably why he included the stories he did. Some of the fault also lies with the con organisers, because they should have seen to things like sending Martin the correct pronunciations of the finalists' names. If they had looked through the material, maybe they could have discussed the potentially offensive bits with Martin and taken them out. But as I'm looking at this from a position of privilege, my opinion doesn't really matter. For what it's worth, Martin did apologise. Hopefully the next Worldcon will do better. 

All in all, virtual Worldcon was a positive experience for me and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone considering attending a virtual convention. (There's one this Saturday, ReCONvene, if anyone's interested. Membership is only 10 dollars.) As far as I can see, I did all of the things I would have done at a regular convention, watched panels, met people, joined in discussions. Maybe I would have attended a party or two or a workshop at a regular con. If DisCon III, the next Worldcon, goes virtual, I'll definitely attend. 

Worldcon 75

Yay, I made it through Worldcon in one piece! I'm probably the only pregnant woman ever to be totally okay with missing my due date... All in all, I'm glad I took the chance; the baby seemed happy to stay where she was and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. According to the organisers, this year's con turned out to be the second largest Worldcon ever, with 10,516 members and day passes and 7,119 people on site. 

On Wednesday the con site was very crowded and a lot of people missed the panels they wanted to attend, including me. I didn't get into the opening ceremonies or the Tea and Jeopardy podcast afterwards, but as both can be viewed/listened to online, that wasn't the end of the world. Not that much could have dampened my spirits anyway; I was just so happy that I could attend the con after being sure it would be impossible for me to go because of the baby. 

I caught a panel on fashion in science fiction, but unfortunately they had technical difficulties and didn't get much discussion in. By then I had wised up about the queues and turned up an hour early for the next panel I wanted to see: Creating Effective Dialogue with Elizabeth Bear, Nalo Hopkinson, Nina Niskanen, and Ran Zhang. Most of the things they talked about were familiar to me from writing books, but the panelists did have an interesting discussion about incorporating dialect in dialogue and also about how writing dialogue is different in different languages. Hopkinson and Bear had taught Niskanen at Clarion, and both seemed like they'd be great teachers, not scary at all. If I have a chance to attend a workshop with one of them, I definitely will. This time I didn't sign up for any workshops because I didn't want to take up a spot and then have to skip it if I started to have contractions or felt ill. I'd have liked to see a few more panels, but the ones I wanted were full, so I decided to check out the art show and the Hugo awards on display. Nice, huh?

Hugo awards through the ages.

On Thursday the organisers had limited the sale of day passes, closed down the sale of memberships, and negotiated with the venue to get a few larger rooms. It made all the difference! The first two panels I attended, In Defence of The Unlikeable Heroine and Appeal of The Bland Protagonist, were both interesting. I missed Nalo Hopkinson's GoH interview though, because I didn't want to lose my seat. (My friends later told me that there had been plenty of room, but you can't have it all.) I especially liked the unlikeable heroine panel and the way the panelists pointed out the double standard happening with unlikeable male and female protagonists. Have you noticed that most unlikeable female protags are conventionally attractive to compensate being so unlikeable? And how readers will forgive a male protagonist a multitude of sins while condemning a female protagonist for something relatively minor? (Case in point: Jaime Lannister vs. Catelyn Stark. One throws a child out the window, the other one dislikes her husband's bastard. Who do the readers turn on? You guessed it...)

I also made it to a panel on working with editors and one on military science fiction by women authors. By then it was almost five o'clock and I was so tired I went back to my hotel to rest.  

On Friday I made it to astronaut Kjell Lindgren's space medicine lecture and learned some fascinating facts, like how they have to be extra careful on the ISS about looking for things in small compartments (the CO2 builds up and makes you sick) and that all the calluses slough off the soles of the feet in zero gravity.  Can't wait to use all this stuff in a story! Turns out space medicine is mostly about prevention: they pick the healthiest candidates to go up, have them do regular exercise and eat specially designed food to keep them healthy, and take lots of test to catch any problems early. If something unexpected happens, they'd rather send the patient down to Earth than try to treat him or her on the station. 

This is how they sleep on the station. Notice the puffiness of the face caused by fluid redistribution in the absence of gravity.

Another highlight was the Military SF: Pro-War or Anti-War panel with Joe Haldeman, a living legend. I also made it to Nalo Hopkinson's GoH presentation where she read excerpts from unpublished work. Intriguing. Can't wait to read more of her work. I also checked out a panel on monsters, which was fun. 

And of course I attended the Hugo awards. Extremely cool. 

On Saturday I made it to the Legacy of Buffy panel, a lot of fun and very nostalgic. The panel was so full that not everyone got in, so I guess Buffy is still going strong. Then I went for the Finnish Weird panel and a panel where authors talked about their cats. (Yes, really.) Again, I missed out on the extremely popular world-building panel with George R. R. Martin, but was first in line for the Joe Abercrombie interview, so that turned out okay. Abercrombie is a very entertaining speaker, so definitely go see him if you get a chance.

After the interview I hooked up with my Finnish critique group for some writing talk over smoothies and then headed to my last panel, Does Familiarity Breed Contempt in Horror?, before the Masquerade. 

My husband and I had decided to skip Sunday's program earlier, and it was nice to sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast before catching the train home. There's one good thing about being very pregnant when attending a con: I did almost no shopping despite all the glorious steampunky goodness on display at the trade hall. The idea of having to carry anything extra around with you while dealing with backache and joint pain etc. is a good deterrent. 

All in all, a great experience. I'm definitely happy I went, even though I caught a cold somewhere along the way. (The infamous con crud, maybe?) Hopefully it'll pass before the baby decides to make an appearance. The next Worldcon is in San Jose, but it'll be held in Dublin in 2019. Here's hoping I'll get to attend that one too.  

Worldcon in Helsinki!

It's almost Worldcon time! The con is held at the Messukeskus convention center in Pasila from tomorrow through Sunday. The registration opens at nine a.m. and the program begins at noon, but there's plenty to see in the evening too. Guests of Honor include Johanna Sinisalo, Nalo Hopkinson, and Walter Jon Williams, but many more authors will be participating in panel discussions, signings, and workshops.

Check out the program here: http://www.worldcon.fi/guide/

Don't have a pass yet? No problem! You can still buy a full membership or opt for a day pass sold at the door.