SMOF News, volume 2, issue 2
The obligatory talk about con website usability, and news in brief.
The Convention Website Schedule Checklist
A convention’s website has to serve several audiences. Newbies need to know why they should attend that particular convention. Those already signed up to attend need to know details like reservation deadlines, panel locations, and COVID policies. Convention listmakers have much simpler needs, but there is ample evidence out there that even the most basic information can be screwed up.
Everyone who goes out into the wilds of the Internet to gather convention information rather than just waiting for it to be sent to them winds up writing this article eventually. I’ve even written it once already, years ago, for a previous fanzine. Instead of taking the usual approach of just grousing about particularly terrible examples, I’ll try a more constructive approach with this handy checklist.
Load up the front page of your convention (or your favorite convention, if you aren’t a conrunner but are playing along at home) and see if you can find:
The proper name of the convention. Spelled consistently everywhere, including the page title, the graphics, the headers, and all the paragraph text. Ideally including at least one usage which is not in an all-caps phrase. With consistent use of either a number or a year if you like, but not switching back and forth.
The dates of the event. With the year, just to make sure. The actual dates, not just a counter which requires visitors to do arithmetic in modulo 365 (or 366 at the right time). Numerical dates, rather than plain references to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The location. With the city, not just the name of the venue. And the state, if you’re in the United States. (Note for international readers: City names in the US are frequently duplicated across multiple states.) In text, not with a Google map embed. The actual city, not the general metropolitan area it’s on the outskirts of.
What type of convention it is. Explicitly stated, not hinted at through the art style of the mascot or big photos of crowds or the clever pun in the name of the con that requires deep knowledge of one particular franchise to catch. (Even if your con is for that particular franchise, it’s best to be clear about it so you don’t accidentally bring people in who aren’t fans of it.) With the correct spelling of “premier”, if the content writer felt compelled to use the word.
Bonus round: Can you find all of this information using both desktop and mobile devices?
The average convention website has improved a lot over the years. Splash pages and opening movies that you have to click or sit through before getting to the actual content have nearly died out. So has a particular quirk of WordPress sites, where an entire site would be structured like a blog and big early announcements like the dates would only go in an individual post that would then be buried under less important material by the time the con dates were actually approaching. Hardly anyone puts together totally unreadable text and background color combinations just to stand out from the crowd these days.
Still, hardly a week goes by that I don’t wind up clicking to every menu option on some convention site trying to find its dates, or pasting the name of a hotel into a search engine to find out where a con is happening. And while I’m willing to do that much digging, the typical web user, on encountering a site for the first time, typically spends mere seconds scanning for the information they want before shrugging and giving up. Every time a would-be attendee doesn’t realize that a con is practically in their backyard, or caters to their specific fandom, or that it’s scheduled for a weekend when they have nothing better to do, it’s a loss to both of them.
To everyone whose site made it through the checklist with flying colors: thank you for making my life that little bit easier.
In Brief
Norwescon 45 (SeaTac, Washington, USA, April 6-9) has announced that Uncanny Magazine will be its spotlight publisher, to be represented at the con by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas as guests of honor.
Event Calendar
Weekend of September 16-18
FenCon XVIII, Irving, Texas, USA
16. Elstercon: (N)IRGENDWO (N)IRGENDWANN, Leipzig, Germany
Copernicon, Toruń, Poland
FantasyCon 2022, Heathrow, UK
Albacon 2022, Albany, New York, USA
Furry Takeover: Alien Invasion (anthropomorphic), Fontana Dam, North Carolina, USA
Furdance Budapest (anthropomorphic), Budapest, Hungary
8th Annual Steampunk Fair, Kennebunk, Maine, USA
32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
SIBCON XXVI (gaming), Butler, Pennsylvania, USA
MegaMooseCon (gaming), Richburg, South Carolina, USA
Strong Tower Gaming Convention, Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA
B-Con 2022 (gaming), Northglenn, Colorado, USA
Tabletop Gaming Live 2022, Manchester, UK
ShireCon 2022 (gaming), Falls Village, Connecticut, USA
Game Devs of Color Expo, online
Southern Front 2022 (miniatures gaming), Morrisville, North Carolina, USA
Anime St. Pete, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
Avalon Expo 9 (media), St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
AncientCityCon (media), St. Augustine, Florida, USA
Incredible Con (media), North Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Granite State Comicon (media), Manchester, New Hampshire, USA
Edmonton Expo (media), Edmonton, Alberta, USA
Fandom Kissimmee (media), Kissimmee, Florida, USA
Extremicon (media), St. Robert, Missouri, USA
Incredible Con (media), North Charleston, South Carolina, USA
CaperCon (media), Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Weekend of September 23-25
Necronomicon 2022, Tampa, Florida, USA
SWFL SteamCon (steampunk), Ft. Meyers, Florida, USA
PhilliFur 2022: The Cyberspace (anthropomorphic), Quezon City, Philippines
Nuke-Con (gaming), Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA
Enbicon (gaming), Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Tennessee Game Days Fall 2022, Franklin, Tennessee, USA
Barrage (miniatures gaming), Havre de Grace, Maryland, USA
Recruits (wargaming), Lee’s Summit, Missouri, USA
Hurricon 2022: Persia (miniatures gaming), Kissimmee, Florida, USA
CEOtaku (anime fighting games), Orlando, Florida, USA
Made in Asia (anime), Brussels, Belgium
Anime Fargo: Magical Transformations, Fargo, North Dakota, USA
AnimeCon Classic 2022: The Roaring Twenties, Almelo, Netherlands
Microcon II (comics), St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Fountain City Fandemonium (media), Bryan, Ohio, USA
MissouriCon (media), St. Louis, Missouri, USA
NORCON (media), Norfolk, UK
Suncoast Fan Fest (media), Palmetto, Florida, USA
Spa-Con (media), Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA
Comic Con Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Cincinnati Comic Expo, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Thessaloniki Comic Convention, Thessaloniki, Greece
Retro Con 2022 (‘80s media), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA
Alpha Omega Con (Christian-themed sf media), Whittier, California, USA
PokeFest SA (Pokémon), San Antonio, Texas, USA
Weekend of September 30-October 2
Archon 45, Collinsville, Illinois, USA
XVIII Forum Fantástico, Lisboa, Portugal
Conflux 16: Visions of Time, Canberra, Australia
Capclave 2022 (books), Rockville, Maryland, USA
Gaslight Steampunk Expo, San Diego, California, USA
Cosplay World Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, USA
H-Con XVIII: Grown Up Tails - Breiter, Dicker, Länger! (anthropomorphic), Erbach, Germany
FilkCONtinental (music), Wernigerode, Germany
OctoGônes 12 (gaming), Villeurbanne, France
Crucible X (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA
Spellenfestival 5e (gaming), Limburg, Belgium
Lone Star Game Expo, Grapevine, Texas, USA
S’mores and Meeples (gaming), North East, Maryland, USA
Meeple-A-Thon (gaming), Kansas City, Missouri, USA
CuseCon 2022 (gaming), Syracuse, New York, USA
Michigan GT (wargaming), Lansing, Michigan, USA
SkålCon 2022 (Pathfinder& Starfinder RPGs), Plymouth, Minnesota, USA
Pittsburgh Gaming Expo (video games), Monroeville, Pennsylvania, USA
Rappig Crossing (Tales video games), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Ramencon: Year of the Kaiju (anime), South Bend, Indiana, USA
BanzaiKon (anime), South Padre Island, Texas, USA
ValleyCon 46 (media), Fargo, North Dakota, USA
Upper Valley Comic Expo, West Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA
SiouxperCon: Retromania (media), Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA
Monster-Mania 51 (horror media), Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA
PonyCon Holland 2022 (My Little Pony), Zeist, Netherlands
Weekend of October 7-9
CONtraflow X, Kenner, Louisiana, USA
Decongestant 5/Arcanacon (relaxacon/dark fantasy), Bloomington, Minnesota, USA
Direbrook (dark fantasy), Portland, Oregon, USA
The Global Fantastic (symposium), online
WPAFW 2022 (anthropomorphic), Allison Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Alamo City Furry Invasion: A Tell Tail Mystery, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Save Against Fear (gaming), York, Pennsylvania, USA
U-Con (gaming), Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA
Con on the Cob Episode 2022: Cryptid Party (gaming), Richfield, Ohio, USA
CinCityCon 2022 (gaming), Sharonville, Ohio, USA
Spiel ‘22 (boardgames), Essen, Germany
Furnace (RPGs), Sheffield, UK
Lair Con (RPGs), Pensacola, Florida, USA
Atlanta Game Fest 38, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
Nintendo Live 2022 (official Nintendo), Tokyo, Japan
Tsubasacon (anime), Charleston, West Virginia, USA
Anime Fiesta, McAllen, Texas, USA
Animasia (anime), Bordeaux, France
Ani-Medford (anime), Grants Pass, Oregon, USA
Anime Senpai, Collinsville, Illinois, USA
Overload (anime), Auckland, New Zealand
Connichi (anime), Kassel, Germany
Wauke-Con (comics), Waukegan, Illinois, USA
Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (comics and animation), Columbus, Ohio, USA
Toon-Con (comics and animation), Pasadena, California, USA
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, Sitges, Spain
Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival, New York City, New York, USA
27th Annual H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Portland, Oregon, USA
New York Comic Con, New York City, New York, USA
Level Up ICT Con (media), Wichita, Kansas, USA
Comiccon de Québec, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Comic Con Scotland, Edinburgh, UK
MagicCon 5 (fantasy media), Bonn, Germany
Monsterama Jr. (retro media), Peachtree Corners, Georgia, USA
Ponies Exhibition: Back to the 80’s (My Little Pony), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
UK PonyCon 2022 (My Little Pony), Nottingham, UK
VoltCon! 2022 (Voltron), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Midweek convention: Icon Festival, Tel Aviv, Israel
Weekend of October 14-16
ICON 47: The Prime Universe, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
MultiverseCon IV, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Octocon 2022 (Irish national sf convention), Dublin, Ireland
VCon 2022, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Can*Con 2022 (Canadian sf), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, Sitges, Spain
Viking-Con 41 (gaming), Kastrup, Denmark
Festival Internacional de Juegos de Córdoba (gaming), Córdoba, Spain
Effing-Con (gaming), Effingham, Illinois, USA
G.A.M.E. Expo, Springfield, Missouri, USA
Conecturday (video games), San José, Costa Rica
Portland Retro Gaming Expo (retro video games), Portland, Oregon, USA
Banzaicon 10 (anime), Larvik, Norway
WasabiCon (anime), Jacksonville, Florida, USA
AmeChibi (anime), Northampton, UK
Anime USA, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Anime Banzai, Davis, Utah, USA
Another Anime Convention, Westford, Massachusetts, USA
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Kendal, UK
Geek Days Caen (media), Caen, France
Motor City Comic Con, Novi, Michigan, USA
LeakyCon Denver (Harry Potter), Denver, Colorado, USA
Coda
Quiz: Can You Match the Fantasy Novel To Its Opening Lines? (Book Riot, hat tip: File 770)
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