So how come I didn't know about this?

[catalyst2]

WorldCon could be coming to Australia, Melbourne to be precise, in 2010 if this campaign works like it should. I am already impressed by the campaign, even if it is just by their sense of humour and general fun approach to things (although I get the impression the bid itself is deadly serious!)

I really hope this gets off the ground - having gone to Tabula Rasa 2005 in Melbourne, I can only say that that was the best fun I have had in a very long time. Of course, that was helped by the fact that Melbourne rocks anyway and that I was staying with two of the coolest people on this planet - Paul and Lucie.

Seeing David Fury, Tony Head and James Marsters might also have had a little something to do with it too!

Comments

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

The Melbourne bid has been "off the ground" since 2002, when a certain S. Boucher was incautious with his remarks and found himself deluged with $20 bills (US or Australian) -- the now traditional way of talking someone into launching a Worldcon bid.

There is no competition against this bid. As long as the A2010 committee keep bidding, I expect them to win unopposed at the site selection election in Denver in 2008.

[catalyst2.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reply - glad to hear the bid is still on (and even a happier to hear that there is no opposition at this point!). Still, keeping up the momentum for another two years is a fairly long haul. I hope the enthusiasm is till going.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the enthusiasm continues, particularly since they've been at it for years already.

Worldcon bidding is a very long process. Even with recent changes designed to shorten the bidding process, campaigns can last for years. We select sites two years in advance (it used to be three), and people tend to start bidding many years before that. For example, there are bids I know of for Seattle in 2011 (to be selected 2009) and Chicago in 2012 (to be selected in 2010, probably at Melbourne).

Anyone willing to be involved in a Worldcon at a high level needs a tremendous amount of commitment. I was co-chairman of the 2002 Worldcon in San Jose. If you measure from the formation of the bid by our parent non-profit corporation, SFSFC (http://www.sfsfc.org/) to the discharge of the final "caretaker" committee that managed post-convention wrapping up of business, the 2002 Worldcon's organization ran from July 1996 to September 2005.