Bids That Draw Help From Around The World

By Crystal Huff: For the past few weeks, New Zealand in 2020 has been soliciting volunteers to go to their website and fill out a form indicating interest in helping staff the convention if they should win. Without a significant amount of staff around the world, they were concerned their endeavor would be doomed to failure even if they got the votes in 2018.

I’m pleased to report that they’ve reached their goal in volunteer recruitment, at least for now. They’ve not released actual numbers yet, but I hope we’ll see them soon. Folks who want to volunteer for NZ but haven’t yet should still head over to NZ in 2020 Needs You and fill out the form toward the bottom, below their announcements.

I find this particularly fascinating because we are using recruitment methods more in line with modern technology and social media. NZ spread the news only on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, so far as I’m aware — as a NZ pre-supporter, at least, I didn’t get any email about it. I note that this effort for NZ has been wildly successful, and possibly even caused them to surpass a statistic on Helsinki in 2017 that I’m quite proud of: Team Helsinki has recruited staff and volunteers representing the bid in 25 countries. In Ye Olde Days, I am under the impression that Worldcon bids were only expected to represent themselves in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. We’ve gone to conventions in Singapore, China, the Caribbean, and, well, all over the world! Worldcon bidding might now actually be a worldwide thing!

But then, you know most things come down to the Helsinki bid, for me. Not surprising that I’m only volunteering for NZ after we know how the vote for 2017 goes. If we get a Worldcon in Helsinki, it’ll impact several of my other potential projects.  😉