Now Really The Biggest Ever: Loncon 3

With 9,596 members through today, Loncon 3 has topped the mark of 9,282 set by L.A.con II in 1984. Although it won’t open the doors for another two weeks, the 2014 Worldcon already has more members than any previous Worldcon.

When Loncon 3’s total membership passed  L.A.con II’s reported attendance last month it stimulated fresh interest in locating the 1984 con’s overall membership number, which has never been added to the data on the Long List of Worldcons.

Searching online I found Evelyn Leeper’s 1984 conreport said the membership was over 9,000. That prompted me to dig out my own report in File 770 #49 where I located the numbers Bruce Pelz provided after the con:

Pre-registered attendance 5,823
At-the-door attendance 2,542
Total attendance 8,365
Total membership (includes no-shows and corresponding members) 9,282
* from File 770 #49 (October 1984)

If I recall, the keepers of the Long List wanted information about daily memberships and other specifics for use in massaging the raw total. They’re never going to get that data, and perhaps with London setting a new record it will become less important for the 1984 figure to be perfected before it is added to the chart.

3 thoughts on “Now Really The Biggest Ever: Loncon 3

  1. To clarify: L.A.con II claimed 8365 “warm bodies”, then? Because the Long List seems to be somewhat ambiguous on that point…

  2. Yes, L.A.con II in 1984 had 8,365 “warm bodies.” The keepers of the Long List also were given a total membership number by committee member Bruce Pelz that has never been added.

    As I said, I was on the L.A.con II committee and was given the same numbers to report in File 770 — though until I dug out my copy of the issue I didn’t remember the story.

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