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Conventional Thoughts [Swancon 43]
Apr. 3rd, 2018 12:46 pmSwancon is now over for 2018. I stayed at the con hotel, the Pan Pacific for three nights, even though I live here [Perth] because honestly, that's the only way to survive a Swancon. It's a very intense experience and, as an elder fan, I have a room not to party all night but to take naps in so I can make it to dinnertime and/or evening programming. Also it's a very swanky hotel and this is my one chance in the year to enjoy some luxury, and to try out the hotel pool, because I could. It was frigging freezing! Still, how often do you get to go swimming with a couple of merfolk (Rob and Leece in their masquerade costumes)!
That said, I didn't actually make it to too much programming. On Friday I was at loose ends so offered to help set up the Art Show. Some four hours later, I had a new appreciation for just how much effort is involved in putting up those simple-looking pinboards on which to fix/hang the art. I also voted in the Art Show (since I'd seen most of it at close quarters) and put in a bid for one of Lara (sorry, cannot read Desiree's writing of your last name!)'s shawls, called Clio's Treatises. This was successful and it'll be a present for my mother. I'm not going to try to explain anything about the colours/patterning; it will help with her susceptibility to cold and be a really good looking shawl at the same time! And yes, I've got the washing instructions.
On Friday night I had noisy people in the room next, so that kept me awake until 2am, and then the hotel's fire alarm went off around 3.30 followed by a "sorry, that was a false alarm!" message. So I had to catch up on sleep during some of Saturday.
About half the panels were in small Meeting Rooms on the hotel's fifth floor, away from main events, rather than using available rooms on the main level. I don't know why that was, but would really have preferred those panels close to the main area rather than needing to trek up to them in the lift. I think also you get more of a convention ambience, for want of a better phrase, when you don't tuck events away out of sight.
What also didn't help with me working out Where Things Were was that the smartphone was considered to be the main source of programming info. I don't have one. When I asked about paper programs, I was first told I could borrow one and only after the desk person realised I was a full member was I allowed to keep one. Usually there are con bags with programs and info in them but not this time. I do appreciate, though, that there was a large print program. Even with reading glasses I wouldn't be able to make out the "regular" paper program.
I'm not acquainted with the national guests, having read/seen only a little of Ryan Griffen's Cleverman, which I couldn't really get into, and not knowing Foz Meadows' work at all. She had only recently been announced as guest, since Kameron Hurley pulled out, so that's my excuse. I did get to chat to Foz a bit, mostly on the subject of tattoos. Foz has some amazing tattoos.
The Post (Helsinki) Worldcon debrief and gloat was one panel I did make it to, but the talking was dominated by one person who would not stop talking and most of us were unable to add too much or show pictures we'd brought. Doesn't matter too much, I guess; the amount of gloating all of us did online was pretty huge and we haven't finished yet. For anyone now hooked on Finland, the site Very Finnish Problems is definitely worth a look, and the Helsinki Complaints Choir is fantastic, singing about all the things which bother them, including the difficulty of the Finnish language and why did their ancestors settle in a place with such a miserable climate?!
Another excellent panel was Science Fiction's Boneyard, another one hidden away on the fifth floor, addressing questions such as how does the fiction part stay ahead of the science, and does fantasy have to clear out the sf boneyard? Featuring Cat Sparks, Nuke, Carol Ryles, PRK and Foz Meadows.
One thing I might caution about, and that's the need to balance between panels about fans/fannish culture and actual fantasy/science fiction. I met one newcomer to Swancon who commented that he hadn't found much which was actually about science fiction. How true this is, I can't judge for sure since I was too sleep deprived to get to a lot of panels and he was going by the Friday events, but newcomers aren't going to "get" fandom, not right off, and to them it seems way off the point of an sf convention.
Were there any room parties? I wasn't aware of any. As previously mentioned, it wasn't easy to find people and on Friday and Saturday I was left to own devices re dinner. I don't normally see people too much outside the con and I was pretty upset by this as I had hoped to be able to do some actual socialising. On Friday I did get to move over to some friends' table when they saw I was on my own and the second night, when I went to the Fenians pub, I got to chat to Cat Sparks there, since her table was too full to move to, and I don't think anyone else noticed I was around. So thanks, Cat! You're a star.
It's made me resolve to try to do something about this next year, if I go, because I'm certainly not the only person this happens to. Perhaps a marshalling point and time where people on their own for dinner can come and meet up with similarly isolated folks to go for dinner. Or even pairs and small groups of folks can come and do likewise. Worth considering. I wasn't at my most acute best at this event, I freely admit, but I did feel isolated and as though I did not have anything worth considering or listening to.
I now return to RL, such as it is. I've got a few days off to recover from the con and indeed, have only just caught up on sleep. Probably there are more things I'll want to talk about but this is all that floats up in my mind right now.
Apparently there's a fan gathering at the Old Shanghai in Northbridge, 6pm plus tomorrow.
That said, I didn't actually make it to too much programming. On Friday I was at loose ends so offered to help set up the Art Show. Some four hours later, I had a new appreciation for just how much effort is involved in putting up those simple-looking pinboards on which to fix/hang the art. I also voted in the Art Show (since I'd seen most of it at close quarters) and put in a bid for one of Lara (sorry, cannot read Desiree's writing of your last name!)'s shawls, called Clio's Treatises. This was successful and it'll be a present for my mother. I'm not going to try to explain anything about the colours/patterning; it will help with her susceptibility to cold and be a really good looking shawl at the same time! And yes, I've got the washing instructions.
On Friday night I had noisy people in the room next, so that kept me awake until 2am, and then the hotel's fire alarm went off around 3.30 followed by a "sorry, that was a false alarm!" message. So I had to catch up on sleep during some of Saturday.
About half the panels were in small Meeting Rooms on the hotel's fifth floor, away from main events, rather than using available rooms on the main level. I don't know why that was, but would really have preferred those panels close to the main area rather than needing to trek up to them in the lift. I think also you get more of a convention ambience, for want of a better phrase, when you don't tuck events away out of sight.
What also didn't help with me working out Where Things Were was that the smartphone was considered to be the main source of programming info. I don't have one. When I asked about paper programs, I was first told I could borrow one and only after the desk person realised I was a full member was I allowed to keep one. Usually there are con bags with programs and info in them but not this time. I do appreciate, though, that there was a large print program. Even with reading glasses I wouldn't be able to make out the "regular" paper program.
I'm not acquainted with the national guests, having read/seen only a little of Ryan Griffen's Cleverman, which I couldn't really get into, and not knowing Foz Meadows' work at all. She had only recently been announced as guest, since Kameron Hurley pulled out, so that's my excuse. I did get to chat to Foz a bit, mostly on the subject of tattoos. Foz has some amazing tattoos.
The Post (Helsinki) Worldcon debrief and gloat was one panel I did make it to, but the talking was dominated by one person who would not stop talking and most of us were unable to add too much or show pictures we'd brought. Doesn't matter too much, I guess; the amount of gloating all of us did online was pretty huge and we haven't finished yet. For anyone now hooked on Finland, the site Very Finnish Problems is definitely worth a look, and the Helsinki Complaints Choir is fantastic, singing about all the things which bother them, including the difficulty of the Finnish language and why did their ancestors settle in a place with such a miserable climate?!
Another excellent panel was Science Fiction's Boneyard, another one hidden away on the fifth floor, addressing questions such as how does the fiction part stay ahead of the science, and does fantasy have to clear out the sf boneyard? Featuring Cat Sparks, Nuke, Carol Ryles, PRK and Foz Meadows.
One thing I might caution about, and that's the need to balance between panels about fans/fannish culture and actual fantasy/science fiction. I met one newcomer to Swancon who commented that he hadn't found much which was actually about science fiction. How true this is, I can't judge for sure since I was too sleep deprived to get to a lot of panels and he was going by the Friday events, but newcomers aren't going to "get" fandom, not right off, and to them it seems way off the point of an sf convention.
Were there any room parties? I wasn't aware of any. As previously mentioned, it wasn't easy to find people and on Friday and Saturday I was left to own devices re dinner. I don't normally see people too much outside the con and I was pretty upset by this as I had hoped to be able to do some actual socialising. On Friday I did get to move over to some friends' table when they saw I was on my own and the second night, when I went to the Fenians pub, I got to chat to Cat Sparks there, since her table was too full to move to, and I don't think anyone else noticed I was around. So thanks, Cat! You're a star.
It's made me resolve to try to do something about this next year, if I go, because I'm certainly not the only person this happens to. Perhaps a marshalling point and time where people on their own for dinner can come and meet up with similarly isolated folks to go for dinner. Or even pairs and small groups of folks can come and do likewise. Worth considering. I wasn't at my most acute best at this event, I freely admit, but I did feel isolated and as though I did not have anything worth considering or listening to.
I now return to RL, such as it is. I've got a few days off to recover from the con and indeed, have only just caught up on sleep. Probably there are more things I'll want to talk about but this is all that floats up in my mind right now.
Apparently there's a fan gathering at the Old Shanghai in Northbridge, 6pm plus tomorrow.