Sympathies to the Seattle Bidders

[gerisullivan]

Earlier tonight, Bobbie DuFault announced the end of the Seattle in 2011 Worldcon bid. Other groups booked the facilities they planned to use, and there weren't any viable alternatives for them to pursue.

All of us on the Reno bid thank Bobbie and her bid committee for a cordial race against worthy opponents. Speaking for myself, I think the challenge of the competition helped strengthen both bids, and I'm sorry that competition ended abruptly six months sooner than any of us expected it to. Just three weeks ago, we shared a bid table at Arisia, and Seattle's gorgeous website set a new standard for bids to strive for.

Our condolences to Bobbie and the entire Seattle bid committee.

Comments

[thirdworld.livejournal.com]

It was a tragedy. Nobody with a heart would say otherwise. A lot of disappointed folks on that side... along with the usual, "Phew, now I have more time for 'X'!" comments.

I'm glad my involvement was peripheral (and accidental) and that I'm not one of the super-invested folks. Nothing sadder in fandom than a room full of people who just lost a vote, and this situation is similar.

I still have a lot of reservations about Reno. I kinda hate casino hotels and all their excesses and endless tobacco smoke that in truth is hard to avoid. Plus there is little appeal for me in going to Reno itself. It is not a destination and there is not really any local Worldcon-compatible fandom worth thinking about. I think these factors will see it stay small and I think on the tail of Denver (which was small), Montreal and Oz (which are expected to be small and tiny) that this is a very bad thing. The Worldcon trends right now are not encouraging to me.

There is a chance that a cheapness factor will offset all this, but I still have my doubts. One way or another it will be an interesting fannish experiment that will render some good data, either because my doubts prove true, or because they prove false, or are partially true but offset by positives. I also have a vested interest in seeing a team like this run a Worldcon in a city that is not the usual, "strong Worldcon base," for my own reasons.

Further, Reno has what most likely is the strongest bid team of fannish volunteers ever to be assembled, so, unless that team is somehow not preserved, you know the Worldcon itself will be extremely well run. You also know that there are many other positives, because the team has got some great people who would not have gone that route otherwise.