Kevin Roche
If the San Jose in 2018 Worldcon bid wins, Kevin Roche will chair the con. The bid’s press release says:
Kevin Roche is “a fan for all seasons,” with extensive experience in convention running and many other aspects of SF/F genre conventions. He co-chaired Westercon 66 in Sacramento in 2013 and chaired Costume-Con 26 in San José in 2008. Worldcon attendees will have most recently seen him as Masquerade Master of Ceremonies at the 2015 Worldcon, Sasquan. He also co-directed the 2011 Worldcon’s Masquerade as well as Masquerades at Anime Los Angeles, Westercon, and BayCon. He has been part of convention programming teams at several past Worldcons.
Kevin has extensive and well-received convention hospitality experience, including running the convention hospitality suite at the 2009 World Fantasy Convention in San José, and recently as bartender for the Helsinki in 2017 Worldcon bid. Fans across the USA have seen him as Fan Guest of Honor at conventions from the San Francisco Bay Area to Texas, Iowa, and Boston. He also has conference organization experience outside of the SF/F genre, having been the event registrar for scientific events (SpinCurrents 2009, SpinAge 2010, and Superconductivity 297k! organized under the direction of IBM Fellow Dr. Stuart SP Parkin).
The San Jose bid proposes to hold Worldcon 76 from August 16-20 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, the San Jose Marriott Hotel, San Jose Hilton Hotel, and other downtown hotels.
San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions’ full press release follows the jump.
Press Release 2015-1
SAN JOSE IN 2018 WORLDCON BID ANNOUNCES PROSPECTIVE CONVENTION CHAIR
SAN FRANCISCO SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTIONS, INC. A California Non-Profit Corporation PO Box 61363, Sunnyvale CA 94088-1363 USA [email protected]; http://www.sfsfc.org/
For Immediate Release: October 21, 2015
San José in 2018 Worldcon Bid Announces Prospective Convention Chair
The San José in 2018 Worldcon Bid has announced that Kevin Roche will chair Worldcon 76 in San José, California should their bid to host the World Science Fiction Convention win.
The San José in 2018 Worldcon bid’s parent non-profit corporation, SFSFC, unanimously voted to select Kevin Roche as the chair of the committee that will host Worldcon 76 should the San José in 2018 bid win the election to be held at the 2016 Worldcon, MidAmericon II. Members of the 2016 Worldcon will vote on where to hold the 2018 Worldcon.
Kevin Roche is “a fan for all seasons,” with extensive experience in convention running and many other aspects of SF/F genre conventions. He co-chaired Westercon 66 in Sacramento in 2013 and chaired Costume-Con 26 in San José in 2008. Worldcon attendees will have most recently seen him as Masquerade Master of Ceremonies at the 2015 Worldcon, Sasquan. He also co-directed the 2011 Worldcon’s Masquerade as well as Masquerades at Anime Los Angeles, Westercon, and BayCon. He has been part of convention programming teams at several past Worldcons.
Kevin has extensive and well-received convention hospitality experience, including running the convention hospitality suite at the 2009 World Fantasy Convention in San José, and recently as bartender for the Helsinki in 2017 Worldcon bid. Fans across the USA have seen him as Fan Guest of Honor at conventions from the San Francisco Bay Area to Texas, Iowa, and Boston. He also has conference organization experience outside of the SF/F genre, having been the event registrar for scientific events (SpinCurrents 2009, SpinAge 2010, and Superconductivity 297k! organized under the direction of IBM Fellow Dr. Stuart SP Parkin).
The San José in 2018 Worldcon bid is bidding to host the 2018 Worldcon in downtown San José, California. If the bid is successful, Worldcon 76 will be held Thursday, August 16 through Monday, August 20, 2018 at the San José McEnery Convention Center, the San José Marriott Hotel, San José Hilton Hotel, and other downtown San José hotels.
The San José in 2018 Worldcon bid is offering “pre-supporting” memberships for $20 and a variety of other types of memberships to help fund the bid. Joining the bid helps pay for the cost of promoting the bid. Membership forms and additional information about the bid are available on the bid’s web site, http://www.sjin2018.org/.
Worldcon is the longest-running traveling-location general science fiction convention in the world, with a history stretching back to 1939. Different groups host Worldcon each year in a different city. Members of the 2016 Worldcon in Kansas City will vote on where to hold the 2018 Worldcon.
San José in 2018 is a committee of San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (SFSFC), the non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that hosted the 2002 Worldcon in San José and the 1993 Worldcon in San Francisco, as well as several past Westercons and World Fantasy Conventions.
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Not to mention all the cool themed parties he’s held at the Gallifrey One convention…
Kevin is absolutely brilliant (in a number of ways), and I am delighted that he is willing to devote himself to such a huge and important undertaking.
Also, his bartending robot “Thinbot” has won a ton of gold medals and makes martinis and Vespers that would make 007 defect from MI6. Also, Tiki Dalek.
Kevin (and his husband Andy) run wonderful conventions. I didn’t go to their Costume Con, but everyone praised it. And their Westercon was one of the best conventions I ever went to. It was all good vibes, things running on time, and no creeps/violations of code of conduct. Programming was outstanding, con suite was amazing. Very PoC- and LGBTQ-friendly atmosphere, but no offense taken by SWM.
I am confident that any convention he runs will be on time, on budget, and run smoothly. And the parties will be swell.
Plus, the facility is near light rail and is walking distance to good restaurants (both cheap and upscale), bars, and other kewl stuff. And the Tech Museum! Oh, if you’ve never seen the Tech Museum, you’re missing out on true geekdom.
(The competition is located in a much worse facility, in a town covered in humidity and bugs. And humidity.)
Well, that’s a familiar face!
Kevin and Andy are an incredible pair- I worked at Westercon under them, and it was one of the best con existences I’ve had over the last thirty years. Seriously, there’s nobody I’d trust more with Worldcon.
The location is pretty close to ideal as well- San Jose Convention Center is used to large conventions full of fannish people like Fanime, the facilities are spacious and accessible, and have recently been upgraded. It’s in the middle of downtown, with easy access to restaurants and stores. This is also a downtown that has had years of experience in seeing people in costumes cavorting about thanks to Fanime.
I really hope they win this bid- I’d be more than willing to work this Worldcon.
He also ran the only hoax bid to ever beat out a “real” bid. Dude has *chops*…
Oh, YES PLEASE Bay Area Worldcon!
Based on e-mail I received last night, I guess I have to apologize for us writing a press release in actual “pyramid” press release style (designed so you can chop paragraphs off from bottom to top without affecting the story, which each paragraph adding more detail). I also must apologize for not writing an announcement that assumes that every single person reading it has attended Worldcons since the 1960 and knows the entire history of the bidding process, including how Worldcons are selected. After all, the only people who actually vote on where Worldcon should be held are those who have only voted in the past, right?
What the hell was in that e-mail you received, Kevin?
Based on your response, whoever wrote it must have been too big for their britches.
Among other things, I was called to task for repeatedly using the full phrase “San Jose in 2018 Bid Committee” and was told “I suspect most people will accept my ‘consuite’ for your ‘convention hospitality suite'”… despite the fact that in fact my experience with World Fantasy Convention is that they call it a “Hospitality Suite” in keeping with professional meeting planner terminology.
It’s all well and good to use fanspeak jargon solely within the community of people who understand it, but when you’re speaking to a broader community of people, including potentially people reading the news who don’t have decades of immersion in a particularly community, you might want to at least include footnotes.
Besides, inverted-pyramid news releases are intended to be read to the point where you’ve read enough and can see that you know the rest and/or don’t care and can stop reading, that’s all. Maybe they sound pompous to people who think we should only talk to each other, and that if you’ve not attended dozens of Worldcons, you shouldn’t even be part of the conversation.
Yes, I’m in a poor mood today. Not enough sleep, too many hours on the Day Jobbe these past two weeks.
Lucy and I purchased attending memberships at Mid-Americon II at Sasquan specifically in order to vote for San Josie in ’18. We also purchased special pre-support memberships to San Jose in ’18 that convert into full attending if\\WHEN they win the bid. Now that we live n San Jose, we want to support local fandom.
This is also close enough for all my L.A. friends to come up, visit, and party on! I hope that all of them purchase pre-supporting memberships, since that will make it much more affordable when the bidding is over.