SMOF News, volume 3, issue 35

Trying to define guests, and news in brief.

How To Convention: The Many Definitions of “Guest”

“Guest” is a slippery term when you try to pin it down. Ask a random group of convention attendees what it means and they will probably say something about celebrities, and special events within a convention focusing on the designated guests. They might also add that the convention pays for them to attend. But the exact boundaries of the term can vary a lot from convention to convention.

Some conventions will use “guest” to mean anyone who gets so much as a free membership to the convention. This can mean a lot of panelists becoming guests. One convention invites industry professionals to apply for free admission, with anyone who is approved for it being listed as a guest. (SMOF News does not report this convention’s guest announcements.)

“Guest” is also occasionally used in a more informal way, as “guest of the convention”, to mean people who have received some sort of travel assistance, such as the Hugo finalists whose travel was covered by sponsors of the Chengdu Worldcon last year.

“Guest” may or may not be extended to anyone who participates in convention programming. The big name who has an autograph session and an interview in the con’s biggest function space is almost certainly a guest, but is the minor celebrity who was brought in to conduct the interview a guest? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, though either way they probably at least got free admission.

Meanwhile, at the restrictive extreme, it’s possible for a program participant at a science fiction convention to do a reading, have an autograph session, appear on multiple panels, get a free membership, and still not be considered a guest, because science fiction cons prefer to keep a tight focus on a small number of names on the marquee.

There are also a lot of different terms thrown around that imply shades of meaning: guest, special guest, spotlighted guest, Guest of Honor. In actual practice there is no difference in what they mean, and it’s just a matter of using whatever term cons of that type habitually use.

In Brief

• Kat Clay has won the 2024 GUFF race to attend Glasgow 2024, this year’s Worldcon (Glasgow, UK, August 8-12). More details from GUFF here.

• Origins Game Fair (Columbus, Ohio, June 19-23) has added Matt Leacock, James Ernest, John Kovalic, Mike Elliott, Elizabeth Hargrave, Matt Forbeck, Jay Little, Elisa Teague, Luke Gygax, Tim Beach, Keith Baker, Chris O’Neill, Scott Brady, Kelsey Dionne, and Stephen Buonocore as guests.

• Tampa Bay Comic Convention (Tampa, Florida, August 23-25) has added Jennifer Morrison, Todd Haberkorn, Erika Harlacher, and Luci Christian as guests.

• Tucson Comic-Con (Tucson, Arizona, August 30-September 1) has added Dulce Ramirez as a guest.

• FanX Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, Utah, September 26-28) has added Jameela Jamil, McKenna Grace, Alison Arngrim, and Stephen Kramer Glickman as guests.

Event Calendar

Weekend of May 3-5

• DemiCon 35: Once More, With Feeling!, Urbandale, Iowa, USA

• HELIOsphere, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA

• AtomaCon 2024, North Charleston, South Carolina, USA

• Garden State Fur the Weekend (anthropomorphic), New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

• ChupacabraCon X (gaming), San Marcos, Texas, USA

• WagonCon 7 (gaming), The Dalles, Oregon, USA

• Heroicon (gaming), Decatur, Illinois, USA

• Zomerspel (gaming), Merelbeke, Belgium

• Buckeye Game Fest, Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Savage Geek Fest (gaming), Savage, Maryland, USA

• Festival Alchemie du Jeu (gaming), Toulouse, France

• Congress of Gamers Spring Session, Rockville, Maryland, USA

• Gaming Hoopla 2024, Mundelein, Illinois, USA

• LoBsterCon XXVI (boardgames), Eastbourne, UK

• Richmond Open (miniatures gaming), Doswell, Virginia, USA

• Final Boss Con (video games), Rio Grande, Ohio, USA

• Mega Spring Meltdown (gaming), Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA

• Games Fair 2024, Auckland, New Zealand

• Kogaracon (anime), Edison, New Jersey, USA

• Anime Onsen, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

• Pokheimon Festival, Heimsbrunn, France

• Northern FanCon (media), Prince George, British Columbia, Canada

• Saratoga Comic Con, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

• Pixies Street Con (media), York, South Carolina, USA

• Crypticon Seattle (horror media), Seatac, Washington, USA

Weekend of May 10-12

• ColoniaCon 25, Köln, Germany

• SFeraKon 2024, Zagreb, Croatia

• Das Frühlingsfest der Filksmusik 2024 (music), Hanstedt, Germany

• Furry Weekend Atlanta: Furry University 2, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• LinCon (gaming), Linköping, Sweden

• Pinecon (gaming), Druskininkai, Lithuania

• IberAnime, Lisboa, Portugal

• North Star (sf RPGs), Sheffield, UK

• Lan ETS (LAN gaming), Montréal, Québec, Canada

• Anime Town Utah, Sandy, Utah, USA

• WasabiCon NOLA (anime), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

• Otafest 2024 (anime), Calgary, Alberta, Canada

• FedCon (media), Bonn, Germany

• SiestaCon (media), Sarasota, Florida, USA

• Mountain Mania (gaming), East Burke, Vermont, USA

• Fantasy Basel (media), Basel, Switzerland

• Portsmouth Comic Con, Portsmouth, UK

• Horrorcon UK (media), Sheffield, UK

• Sunshine City Scare (horror media), St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

• FrankenCon 2024 (horror media), Alcoa, Tennessee, USA

Weekend of May 17-19

• Marcon 59, Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Keycon 40: Choose Your Own Adventure!, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

• Mephit Mini Con 25: Dia de Muertos (anthropomorphic), Kirchen/Sieg, Germany

• Furpile (anthropomorphic), Łódź, Poland

• Furry Weekend Holland: In the Deep Forest, Baarlo, Netherlands

• ZodiaCon 2024: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (anthropomorphic), Horní Bradlo, Czechia

• Chupacabracon X (gaming), San Marcos, Texas, USA

• CanGames, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Play (gaming), Modena, Italy

• Geekway to the West 2024: Geekway to the 7 Seas (gaming), St. Charles, Missouri, USA

• Sioux City Game Con Spring 2024, Sioux City, Iowa, USA

• Drums at the Rapids (historical miniatures), Perrysburg, Ohio, USA

• Huzzah! Con 2024: Huzzah Goes Hollywood (miniatures gaming), Portland, Maine, USA

• Sand Wars 2024 (historical miniatures), Mesa, Arizona, USA

• Air Con 2024 (air-themed gaming), Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

• Tokyo Alley 12: Adventure (anime), Perth, Australia

• Anime Central, Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• CloverCon (anime), Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA

• Beta Quest (anime), Kingsland, Georgia, USA

• Metrotham Con Episode V: The Magical World of Metrotham (media), Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

• Tidewater Comicon, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

• Comic Con Revolution, Ontario, California, USA

• CradleCon (media), Garden City, New York, USA

• Geek Days Lille (media), Lille, France

• East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• Great Mills Comicon, Great Mills, Maryland, USA

• Spooky Empire (horror media), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Seaquestria Fest (My Little Pony), Ocean City, Maryland, USA

Weekend of May 24-26

• Balticon 58, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• MisCon 38: The Dark Forest, Missoula, Montana, USA

• Na meji nevidnega, Ljubljana, Slovenia

• Fargo CoreCon: Echoes of the Past, Fargo, North Dakota, USA

• IceCon 2024, Rejkjavik, Iceland

• ConFuzzled (anthropomorphic), Birmingham, UK

• AnthrOhio: Purranormal (anthropomorphic), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• PrairieCon 43 (gaming), Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

• KublaCon (gaming), Burlingame, California, USA

• ReCon (gaming), Kernersville, North Carolina, USA

• Rocky Top Game Con, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

• Gamex 2024 (gaming), Los Angeles, California, USA

• TableTopCon 2024 (gaming), Southport, Australia

• BGG.Spring (boardgames), Dallas, Texas, USA

• Enfilade 2024 (miniatures gaming), Tacomaington, USA

• PaizoCon Online 2024 (Pathfinder/Starfinder RPGs), online

• FanimeCon: Fan Prix (anime), San Jose, California, USA

• Thy Geekdom Con (anime), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

• Animazement (anime), Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

• Mizucon (anime), Miami, Florida, USA

• AniMinneapolis (anime), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• ExpOtaku A Coruña (anime), A Coruña, Spain

• Animefest 2024, Brno, Czechia

• MomoCon 2024 (anime), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• Sabaku Con 2024 (anime), Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

• Naka-Kon 2024 (anime), Overland Park, Kansas, USA

• MCM London Comic Con, London, UK

• Cherry Capital Comic Con, Acme, Michigan, USA

• Austria Comic Con, Wels, Austria

• Phoenix Fan Fusion (media), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• Argentina Comic Con, Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Austria Comic Con, Wels, Austria

• Southernerds Festival (media), Biloxi, Mississippi, USA

Weekend of May 31-June 2

• ConCarolinas 2024, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

• Fantasticon 2024: Immortality, Copenhagen, Denmark

• StokerCon 2024 (horror), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• Oz-Stravaganza 2024: Technicolor Oz (Wizard of Oz), Chittenango, New York, USA

• Cymera 2024 (sf writing), Edinburgh, UK and online

• Airikas Traum XVIII (music), Erbach, Germany

• StratosFur (anthropomorphic), Houston, Texas, USA

• Steampunk Alchemy Fest, Budd Lake, New Jersey, USA

• FlaMinGoCon (gaming), Delray Beach, Florida, USA

• UK Games Expo (gaming), Birmingham, UK

• Wellycon (gaming), Wellington, New Zealand

• Evergreen Tabletop Expo (gaming), Renton, Washington, USA

• Diversão Offline (gaming), São Paulo, Brazil

• Diecon 2024 (gaming), Collinsville, Illinois, USA

• Y-Con 2024 (gaming), Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

• 64 Bits or Less (retro video games), Corvallis, Oregon, USA

• CORGSCon (retro video games), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• KimoKawaii 3 (anime), Conroe, Texas, USA

• Bak-Anime, Bakersfield, California, USA

• Chibi-Con (anime), Winterthur, Switzerland

• Anime Riverside 2024, Riverside, California, USA

• 3 Rivers Comicon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• ColossalCon (media), Sandusky, Ohio, USA

• The NeverEnding Fantasy Con (1980s fantasy films), London, UK

Coda

• The Sci-Fi Writer Who Invented Conspiracy Theory (The Atlantic)

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