By James Bacon: The Dublin 2029 bid co-chairs Margeurite Smith and Brian Nisbet organized a site visit of the venues where they hope to host the Worldcon in 2029.  

With fans flying in, it was considerate and clever to co-ordinate the site visit on the morning of the National SF convention Octocon, which gave everyone further purpose to visit the city and continue an SFnal weekend.  

The smiling greeting from Natalie at the CCD was matched by the graphics for the bid emblazoned on the walls, shining brightly, like the hopes of those present, warming everyone on this early autumnal chilly Dublin morning. 

The calm serenity of the CCD, it’s such a lovely venue and it was lovely to see it again. 

The interesting aspect is the openness and positivity about developments, changes and adjustments that the team are already discussing with the venues, recognizing how improvements can made.

This all seems to be in the spirit of building and improving on what Dublin 2019 achieved but with that experience in mind, and consciously considering where they can occur, at this early stage in pre-planning, seeking and looking to build in successful wins.  

The change to programming timing is already seen as advantageous, 60 minute items in 90 minute slots worked well in Glasgow, and the CCD is dynamic, offering the future team choices to consider.  

Technology is also developing and that is an interesting prospect as the kit even available now has improved in the 5 years since the previous Worldcon. The CCD was called upon during Covid to host The Dáil, the Irish Parliament, and events continue to be held here very successfully. All event venues are seeking to update and improve and the CCD is keen to be leading in that regard. That will only benefit the bid and if they win the prospective Worldcon. 

The venue liaison and our guide Kate was here in 2019 and could recall many of the aspects of the con. This memory is brilliant, as is the shared knowledge from the plans, running order, and documentation of the previous event which were not only on file but available as an accurate reminder. 

Accessibility is vital and one could see that already thoughtfulness is occuring in this regard and the CCD were keen to show aspects that could be helpful. 

Worldcons have changed since 2019, the hybrid and online proposition, streaming out programme, even how the event is managed. Glasgow had a member of staff focused on sustainability for instance, so these aspects and many more are now an important aspect to what the Worldcon wants to achieve.  

Those present had interesting and thoughtful questions, it’s early days, but it’s clear the team think the options are all worth considering, again that willingness, a listening approach, carefully noting and considering what could work well was great to see, while recognizing that at the moment it is a team building phase and views need to be broadly sought.   

From the CCD it’s a short distance to the new potential venue that will be part of the Dublin 2029 proposal — The National College of Ireland. Google says this is 300 meters away from the CCD and it’s closer for sure than some parts of previous Worldcon spaces in the same venue, but it does involve exiting the CCD, crossing a street and going to Mayor Square.  This is also the location of one of the Luas Tram stops.   

The college boasts a wide variety of spaces that are dedicated to plenaries, perfect for programme and offering over a thousand extra seats in a variety of rooms from the 270-seater Kelly theater with tiered seating, that is metres from the front door, with the speaking area flat to the atrium.   

Theatre 1 and 2 are also tiered, but like the Kelly, the entrance is on the flat level with the speaking area and the accessibility spaces immediately there, with built in tiered seating for 150 persons.  These are absolutely lovely spaces they’re designed for pleneries and therefore perfect for program primals also their modern building so some thought and effort has gone into how they are set up, positive aspects built into them from word go.

The bid is looking at taking 10 separate spaces in total which would be a total of 1070 seats for plenary or programming sessions also on top of that then will be the atrium area which is an open space that has considerable potential. 

The college has more spaces in its in building and at the moment negotiations and discussions are ongoing about how many more spaces could be made available. The college has gained some extra space recently and this is even closer to the CCD and might be available or could free up spaces here at the NCI for a potential Worldcon. 

There’s already a clear and stated desire to increase the amount of rooms that can be hard, the College has other demands, with exams and summer studies, but their liaison Bertie was keen to make sure it was understood that if extra space can be allocated to the Worldcon it will be and I suspect that may progress positively which could be very beneficial. 

The seating arrangements are flexible, when we visited they were set up for college students, but there’s an understanding and appreciation of the requirement for more space for accessibility purposes and Moby’s, as well as their willingness to adjust the spaces to suit the convention’s needs.

10 rooms 300 metres away is an incredible improvement already on the Dublin 2019 facilities. If further space can be arranged, that will be a huge win for this team. 

Potential dates were mentioned and right now the team are looking at the Irish Bank Holiday in August 2029 potentially the 2nd to the 6th of August. 

It feels great having no responsibility whatsoever and lovely to watch on and see all the new opportunities and options unfold with fans full of excitement.   

All returned to Octocon and the weekend continued.