DisCon III Chair Lawhorn Resigns

DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, announced today that Bill Lawhorn has resigned from his position as Convention Chairperson of DisCon III, effective immediately.

The Baltimore-Washington Area Worldcon Association (BWAWA) has begun the process of finding a permanent replacement. Until the position is filled, the DisCon III Division Heads and staff will continue with the business of the convention.

The committee’s press release said: “We wish to thank Bill for his hard work and dedication in bringing Worldcon to Washington, DC, and his contributions to DisCon III.”

119 thoughts on “DisCon III Chair Lawhorn Resigns

  1. Oh gee, this convention is having some problems. The accessibility people are great so some of the departments are working well.

  2. I hope DisCon is not following this song:
    “Eight, sir; seven, sir;…”

  3. The best outcome would have been for him to decide that this wasn’t a hill he was willing to die on, but if the only other possible outcomes were his getting the victory he desired or being completely defeated, I prefer defeat.

  4. @Anne Marble: Pretty sure tension, apprehension, and dissension have begun.

  5. Steven desJardins:

    The best outcome would have been for him to decide that this wasn’t a hill he was willing to die on, but if the only other possible outcomes were his getting the victory he desired or being completely defeated, I prefer defeat.

    What victory would that be?

  6. Steven states The best outcome would have been for him to decide that this wasn’t a hill he was willing to die on, but if the only other possible outcomes were his getting the victory he desired or being completely defeated, I prefer defeat.

    Huh? Nothing you’ve said here makes the least bit of sense. Seriously try again.

  7. @Steven desJardins–

    The best outcome would have been for him to decide that this wasn’t a hill he was willing to die on, but if the only other possible outcomes were his getting the victory he desired or being completely defeated, I prefer defeat.

    It looks to me like falling on his sword for the good of the convention, not “my way or I quit.”

  8. He was willing to have a division head and the Hugo staff resign rather than engage the finalists respectfully. It would have been best to reach a compromise, but if he was so dug in to his position that he was unwilling to compromise, it was best for him to step down.

  9. I don’t suppose anyone might be willing to explain what’s going on for the benefit of those of us not clued in?

    I remember when newszines used to be able to explain things, not just have strings of meaningless comments attached to “news” with zero explanations. 🙁

  10. I don’t remember when Gary Farber used to tell the world all the inside committee politics. Or at least you didn’t tell them to me. So don’t act so entitled.

  11. Gary Farber says I remember when newszines used to be able to explain things, not just have strings of meaningless comments attached to “news” with zero explanations.

    That’s just damn unfair to Mike. File 770 is a place primarily intended for fans to engage in conversation. It’s not a new site as such in the traditional sense. And the “strings of meaningless comments attached to “news” with zero explanations” are a conversation that both entertaining and informative.

    It doesn’t have a staff paid to investigate news, dig into stories and white them up. Nice idea — someone should find it.

  12. Errr…

    If File 770 was primarily a place for fans to engage in conversation, I would just put up one of those dinosaur Salon open-comment posts every couple of days like Camestros.

    My theory — benighted as it may be — is that the news and info I post gives fans something to talk about.

  13. Free trip for the former Chair to Port Meirion, Wales?

    Seriously, I attended the 1966 WesterCon in San Diego, where the entire committee resigned before the con, and it was up to attendees to organize the art show, the programming…

    That’s where “Bouncing Potatoes” was born!

  14. I don’t suppose anyone might be willing to explain what’s going on for the benefit of those of us not clued in?

    Presumably this is linked to the kerfuffle over the now-rescinded message to Hugo finalists that team entries would only be able to have up to four people and plus ones at the awards ceremony and the resignation of the Hugo administration team earlier in the week.

  15. Steven says He was willing to have a division head and the Hugo staff resign rather than engage the finalists respectfully. It would have been best to reach a compromise, but if he was so dug in to his position that he was unwilling to compromise, it was best for him to step down.

    I so do love uninformed speculation. You have no idea how and why the division head and Hugo staff decided to resign as they very much didn’t make that public. So we don’t know that he was willing to let them do this. I doubt that we will ever know what happened.

  16. It’s not a new site as such in the traditional sense.

    I wouldn’t say that. I’d call File 770 a news site that lets the people involved in a story tell it in their own words as much as possible while still relating the available facts.

    As for this situation, it’s another major upheaval coming from DisCon without any specifics from the particulars about what’s going on. I wish that as WSFS members we were being told at least some of it, but if not I can only offer a tepid harrumph.

    Good luck to those who remain running DisCon and to those who quit.

  17. @Gary Farber: Obviously @Mike Glyer can’t report on things he doesn’t know. So why scold him or commenters?! So you’re curious what’s going on behind the scenes; great — you’re not alone.

    @rcade: Given it just happened, the harrumph seems premature. It’s not at all unusual for initial information to be “X HAPPENED,” with details coming later (if they come).

    I don’t totally agree it’s our business . . . well, as long as the con stays on its feet, replaces the Hugo admin committee, and replaces the con chair. (That’s my opinion on the order of importance.)

  18. Okay, so I wrote a thing:

    Seven Days of DisCon

    On the first day of DisCon
    true fans lost with much glee
    a Hugo in a pear tree.

    On the second day of DisCon
    true fans lost with much glee,
    one con hotel
    and a Hugo in a pear tree.

    On the third day of DisCon
    true fans lost with much glee,
    one GoH,
    one con hotel
    and a Hugo in a pear tree.

    On the fourth day of DisCon
    true fans lost with much glee,
    the con dates,
    one GoH,
    one con hotel
    and a Hugo in a pear tree.

    On the fifth day of DisCon
    true fans lost with much glee,
    two Hugo teams,
    the con dates
    one GoH
    one con hotel
    and a Hugo in a pear tree.

    On the sixth day of DisCon,
    true fans lost with much glee,
    two media teams,
    two Hugo teams,
    the con dates,
    one GoH,
    one con hotel
    and a Hugo in a pear tree.

    On the seventh day of DisCon,
    true fans lost with much glee,
    two con chairs,
    two media teams,
    two Hugo teams,
    the con dates,
    one GoH,
    one con hotel
    and a Hugo in a pear tree.

  19. @Steven desJardins – you are making a lot of unfounded assumptions. I suggest that you should try chairing a Worldcon during a global pandemic, lose your co-chair, lose half your facilities, have to move to an unprecedented time of year and face multiple social media firestorms. And then have other people blame your departure on this one most recent thing.

    @Camestros Felapton
    It’s not good, no. But also NOT not good. When you are in a situation where you have entire divisions departing a convention, maybe that means that a leadership transition would be a good thing for the convention. It remains to be seen how it will play out.

  20. And then have other people blame your departure on this one most recent thing.

    I don’t know how you can fault anyone for speculating when the members of the con are being told nothing from official channels about why these resignations happened.

  21. My theory — benighted as it may be — is that the news and info I post gives fans something to talk about.

    It works for me.

  22. Pingback: Bill Lawhorn’s Goodbye Message to DisCon III Staff | File 770

  23. When will people learn that not disclosing why something happened will lead to idle speculation by the public, which, in the end, will be many times worse than the fallout from frankly disclosing the real reason at the beginning, and moving on. (Yes, assuming privacy is not a factor here.) Many corporations have not learned this, I guess I wouldn’t expect a fan organization to be wiser, perhaps?

  24. @Bruce D. Arthurs: This certainly is giving me flashbacks to Iguanacon! Lately, I’ve been reassuring a friend of mine (a small-press publisher) who has a dealer table at DC-3 that all is not yet lost. He knows his sales will be down due to low attendance, but that would have happened anyway, owing to the small-venue problems.

    I still recall Bruce Dane’s filk of “12 Days of Xmas” for that con:
    On the first day of Iggy, the concom gave to me
    A room in the Hyatt Regency.

    It goes on from there thru:

    Two hundred gofers
    Three thousand nametags
    [I can’t recall what was for 4]
    Five thousand fans!
    Six missing Hugos
    [I can’t remember seven, either]

    The last (eighth) verse ran:

    On the eighth day of Iggy the concom gave to me
    Eight bleeding ulcers…
    [and it stopped right there, on that line].

  25. Andrew I. Porter on June 25, 2021 at 11:21 am said: “it was up to attendees to organize the art show, the programming…”

    Worldcon has always been organized by its members.

  26. Mike Glyer said

    So don’t act so entitled.

    Oh, like he’s going to change his behavior now?

  27. “Gary, this latest Worldcon crap isn’t giving you flashbacks to 43 years ago? ‘Cause I’m having some doozies.”

    Uh oh. What happens in 12 years?

  28. @Michael: Gideon is a visitor from the past, so he’s dreading the unknown-to-him events of 1978 from his vantage point in 1966.

  29. If Ian Moore is correct, then this is about a decision made to limit the number of people representing a team entry at the Hugo Awards ceremony to eight. Which sounds like a sensible plan, probably based on space limitations. But from reading Lawhorn’s letter of resignation however, it does sound like the information wasn’t communicated in the best manner.

  30. @Tom Becker–

    Worldcon has always been organized by its members.

    Not usually entirely by members who thought they were just attending this time. And not usually because the entire concom had resigned.

  31. Gideon Marcus: Uh oh. What happens in 12 years?

    Something that’s a result of what happens 10 years in your future. And the thing that’s 10 years in your future is my Westercon bid. (Darn, I should have made that even more cryptic.)

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