I want to second you that SciFi conventions are usually much more mature and in general just better than gaming conventions.

I will never ever attend the Games Convention in Leipzig (now Cologne) again. People often told me how amazing it was, I was just standing in long queues and felt like in a booth babe peep show. Worse than a car exhibition.

Really, I prefer to read the reports of gaming conventions. Going there offered me really nothing.

I think we had around 7-800 people (possibly more) watching Doctor Who so certainly 200+

It is entirely true that SF fandom does appear to be very strongly white here (and in the US, Germany and The Netherlands … though in Japan it’s predominantly Japanese … those are the countries I’ve been to conventions in … (sorry for the terrible English!))

We do have some non “white” convention attendees, but I find it worrying that I can name nearly all of them at Eastercon (but then I can probably name 10-20% of the attendees!) … it’s been a discussion item at previous cons, and I’m sure it is something the London Worldcon team are looking at strongly, as Docklands means a large number of minorities live in short commuting distance. Previous convention committees I’ve worked with have produced flyers in other languages to try to be more inclusive …

I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing … but we do have an outreach programme to try to find new people who will enjoy conventions and fandom.

If you have a strong feeling about this, and think you’d like to be on an item discussion this concern, then please let us know

And thank you for all the lovely things you said about Odyssey! (I doubt you’ll remember, but I’m the one who stood on stage and introduced Doctor Who, the opening and closing ceremonies, and thanked Mitch Benn at the end of his set and got him back for the encore … moments of fame (grin!))

I’m the vice chair for next year’s Eastercon up near Birmingham, and also our “eAmbassador” so out here on the web answering questions and picking up feedback (like your race question) for next year. We often do have a “why is fandom so white and middle class?” item, but not this year … so probably time to do something again next year.

http://www.illustrious.org.uk
(and we’re on Facebook, LiveJournal and Twitter!)

Chris (The Magician) O’Shea

My aims for the convention were simple; Make everyone feel included and don’t leave anyone behind. You are absolutely right about there not being any programme items on race issues and I would like to address that next time. I think I am one of the few Eastercon committee members who is non white and possibly the only chair, which doesn’t come close to representing the demographics of the country as a whole. I’ll ask my programme head to have a think about suitable programme items, but do feel free to write to me with suggestions

As to the writers — no, their sales don’t pay for the convention. There is an element of promotion for some of them, but most of them come because they enjoy it (and many, possibly most, were fans before they became published, there were at least two long-term fans there who had their first fiction published last year for instance). Apart from the official guests they pay their own way to conventions. And not a few people who have first attended as guest have then come back regularly at their own cost.

You have a good point about mixing ages. In fandom there is generally no age distinction (apart from a few items which are ‘adult’ in nature, and those run specifically for younger people), and I often find that I can be talking to someone two generations removed from me (in either direction!) and not even notice until they say something specific (like not being born before personal computers, or going to the “White Horse” meeting before the War).

Yes, there are women there! In some parts of fandom, especially in ‘media’ (TV and film) fandom, they are even in the majority (at one time almost all of those running Star Trek and Blake’s 7 fanclubs were female).

We’ve had discussions on race in fandom before, and will undoubtedly again. The answer I’ve had from those non-white people outside fandom (but who are SF readers) is that it’s largely cultural, they just aren’t interested in such a social grouping (they also tend to be more family oriented than most white people, so unless they brought the whole family — which of course happens with many fans — they wouldn’t come).

This was very inspiring. Thanks!