Future Worldcon and NASFiC Bidder Questionnaires

A panel featuring bidders for Worldcons and NASFiC in years to come will be held at Worldcon 76 on August 17.

And Worldcon 76 has posted questionnaires completed by future bid committees.

Note that a NASFiC is held in North America only if the Worldcon goes off-continent. The Utah in 2019 bid will be voted on at Worldcon 76 (the Dublin 2019 con already having been chosen). If the New Zealand Worldcon bid wins, the Columbus in 2020 bid will be voted on at the 2019 NASFiC (not the Worldcon). ‘Tis clear as is the summer sun!

Seated Worldcon

2019 NASFiC Bid

2020 Worldcon Bids

2020 NASFiC Bid

2021 Worldcon Bid

2022 and Beyond Worldcon Bids

13 thoughts on “Future Worldcon and NASFiC Bidder Questionnaires

  1. Give 2022 to Chicago NOW. They should get the con whenever they want. I’ve been to the last… 4? there. Excellent facility (all under one roof), good con, and the food and attractions are first-rate.

    I’m not liking the spread-out-ness of New Zealand; 3 venues in mid-winter, possibly not accessible, and 1.5 km from some of the hotels? While being rained on? That’s gonna be a LOT of taxi/Uber-equivalent. I’d like to hear info from those familiar with downtown Wellington but not involved in the bid.

    Food sounds great, though, and I like the low elevation.

    I like seeing 4 bids for 2023.

  2. I just find it a bit odd that we have four competing bids (two US bids and two non-US bids) for 2023, but only one for 2022. Is Chicago really such a juggernaut that no one wants to bid against them?

  3. Cora Buhlert: I was going to try and answer that question, when I discovered I had picked up an error from the Worldcon 76 page — the Perth and Seattle bids are for 2025.

  4. Cora Buhlert: Chicago might be a juggernaut, however, some of these committees are still coalescing and may not be ready to campaign for a vote that will be held in 2020.

  5. Lurkertype, not all of us liked that Chicago facility. For one thing, it was very difficult for anyone on wheels because of the two-sidedness and verticalness of the facility, pretty much requiring multiple elevator rides to go between panels (for instance, up, across, down). People on wheels told me they had to allow an entire panel slot for travel. A lot of people not on wheels also found the facility confusing and hard to navigate, though the time was less because the escalators were not hidden away in corners, and had larger capacity. There were also always long lines in the evening, and frequently at other times of day, for the elevators to the sleeping room towers. I also recall a story about the con suite, which was located in one of the below-grade levels, being required by the hotel to do all of their food handling in a room at the top of one of the towers. You can imagine how that slowed down the con suite. I think there were other difficulties as well. None of this was the fault of the committee. Well, except for the fake program item in a fake room, which is apparently a Chicago tradition, but didn’t translate well to a more diverse audience. Live and learn.

  6. Lenore Jones / jonesnori: I also recall a story about the con suite, which was located in one of the below-grade levels, being required by the hotel to do all of their food handling in a room at the top of one of the towers. You can imagine how that slowed down the con suite.

    I imagine that made things very difficult for the people staffing the consuite, but it didn’t translate to the attendee experience. The Chicon consuite was fantastic (large room with many tables, continuously stocked with good food and beverages). It made the Sasquan consuite (tiny room, horrible beverages, never any food on the numerous occasions I stopped in) look absolutely terrible by comparison.

  7. JJ, oh, aye, they were amazing. But it was hella hard to do, or so I was told.

  8. My twin sister worked consuite for the last Chicago Worldcon. The consuite prep room and store room was on the 16th floor. The consuite was in (I think) the first basement (at least, I’m pretty sure it was below ground level). The elevator situation was… inadequate. (The elevators were, naturally, in constant use by fen; I don’t recall her mentioning any freight or staff elevator access.) This situation was mandated by the hotel; they would much rather have had prep and storage facilities adjacent to the consuite. Still, they made it work.

  9. I didn’t hear from any people on wheels about problems, or at least no more than everyone had that the panel they wanted next was probably t’other way. But that happens at every single con I’ve been to, be it the 8K+ Anaheim Worldcon, or a local one where the attendance topped out at less than 70 people The maps/exploded diagrams provided were fine.

    I do recall that after the masquerade and the Hugos, the hotel stationed employees along the route to the main elevators, and they very kindly ushered us in to not only those, but also the freight elevators up to the sleep rooms. Probably the fastest I’ve ever gotten out of either of those events, at any con! It was so sensible. The hotel is used to us.

    I didn’t notice any problems with the (firstest below ground level) consuite. There was always real food coming through there regularly. I’m sure it was tough on them, but the attendees always had a place to sit down and eat.

    San Jose is having a con suite that’s basically taking up most of a floor. There will be space to sit, and real foods/drinks.

    The Worldcon of no elevators I recall was 1986 in Atlanta, in the esophagus/”High Anxiety” style hotel. And they didn’t let us use the freight elevators, ever. Although the open interior did mean you could look down to lower floors, spot a friend, and tell them to stay/meet you somewhere. Plus the con suite was a completely open 10th floor. The talking glass elevators were not for the faint of heart if you had claustrophobia, acrophobia, or vertigo. Also everything’s on the corner of Peachtree and Peachtree, but that wasn’t the con’s fault.
    (The automated trains at the airport back then talked exactly like Cylons. You could tell who was there for the con in your car and others by who laughed, pointed, and started moving like robots.)

  10. It appears we will be looking upon large bodies of water, eating seafood, and speaking French in 2023 no matter what. And on a western coast of a continent in 2025.

  11. As someone who really struggles with long-distance flights (bad knees and long legs mean I need more legroom than I can afford unless I win the lottery), I’m pretty much confined to Europe for Worldcons, so there are only three of those bids I could get to.

    Ah well, I really enjoyed London and Helsinki, and I’m planning Dublin now, so Nice and London/Glasgow are there to look forward to. Nice I can do by train in a day, and London and Glasgow are only a couple of hours each.

    Helsinki without flying was a bit of an adventure, but a fun one.

  12. Having spoken to the Chicago organizers, I think it highly unlikely they’ll be going to the same hotel. For every fannish complaint, the con-com had two.

    We (I’m local to Chicago) have added a ton of hotels in the past few years, so I think there are more options now.

  13. I wonder whether the Chicon consuite tangle was caused by union requirements of doing all food handling on the convention floors, versus the concom’s desire to have a sufficiently large space.

    @Lurkertype: only for certain values of large, and not really — I’ve been in NO twice and never heard any French (in conversation rather than menu items). Something up/else-thread suggested the one certain thing at the moment is that the convention will be steamy — but Wikipedia says the average high in August in Nice is only 82.

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