This piece originally appeared in substantially this form in the Minicon 30 program book.
Over the course of the weekend, you will repeatedly see signs posted for parties named, Some City in Some Year. Ever wonder what the big deal is? These are called bid parties, and they are hosted by fan groups who are trying to get the Worldcon hosted in their city someday. After all, we've got this big con, and we have to put it somewhere, don't we?
For the uninitiated, the Worldcon is more properly known as the World Science Fiction Convention. Worldcons are currently running with about 6000-7000 people each year, and they are a major event for the hosting city (even if the city is San Francisco). If you think Minicon is big, you haven't seen anything.
Sounds like fun? Well, you can play too. The first trick is picking a year. In order to maintain a kind of regional balance, the World Science Fiction Association (Worldcon's parent corporation) has divided North America into three regions (see sidebar).
How does it work? Eligibility is limited on one region per year, and they cycle through from East to West to Central. The current cycle is shown in the second sidebar.
International bids are eligible anytime, without upsetting the cycle. If the Worldcon is overseas then we hold something called the NASFiC, or North American Science Fiction Convention. NASFiC is held in the region that otherwise would have hosted the Worldcon, had it been on this continent. For instance, the 1995 Worldcon will be in Glasgow, Scotland, and since this is an Eastern year, the NASFiC will be in Atlanta that same year. Worldcons and NASFiCs are traditionally held over Labor Day weekend, although overseas cons usually run earlier or later, so they don't conflict.
Each Worldcon selects the site for the Worldcon to be held three years later. For instance, the 1993 Worldcon was in San Francisco. 1994 and 1995 had already been selected (Winnipeg and Glasgow, respectively), so that left them with the choice of a site for 1996, which is another Western year. They can't take a home field advantage and choose themselves again, since there is a rule requiring that the next site be at least 60 miles away.
Got all that? Good. Nobody said this was going to be easy.
Okay, you've decided when to bid. Then all you have to do is get sufficient hotel accommodations, a convention center, and a whole bunch of your friends (all of whom had better have strong con-running experience) to help you pull it off. Guess which one is the hard part. Now you're ready to bid. In addition to having your act together, you need to tell other people about your bid, and what you plan to do if you end up hosting Worldcon.
Bid parties really are the way to go. Since the people who go to Worldcon, and therefore can vote, are likely to go to other cons, then you want to get other really nifty cons (like Minicon). At a bid party, you invite people in to hear about your plans, and to try and get their vote. People who liked your bid bought pre-supporting memberships at your planned Worldcon. Anyone who pre-supports a bid can then vote for site selection. You can upgrade your pre-supporting membership to attending real cheap after the voting, whether your bid won or not.
Some cities bid for Worldcon every chance they get. Some believe that running a Worldcon is great fun, and a really neat thing to do for the rest of fandom. Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles are perennial bidders, for instance. On the other hand, others say that friends don't let friends run Worldcons. Minneapolis fen feel safest if we bid for a Worldcon that happened 21 years ago.
Once you win, youre on your own. But you have our best wishes!
Oh, lest we forget, ever hear of the Hugo Awards? Or the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer? In fact, if you register for Worldcon, you can nominate and vote for the Hugos. You always wondered how that happens, didn't you?
So there you have it. Everything you ever wanted to know about Worldcons, but was afraid to find out. If you have more questions, talk to the people hosting the bid parties at this Minicon -- they have to know.