Checking Pro Privilege

[akirlu]

Pro Privilege is rearing its ugly head again.

In the world of science fiction and fantasy fandom, there is one long standing, basic, golden rule: those who do the work get to make the rules. And make no mistake, it's a lot of work. Modern Worldcons, in particular, are a species of miracle. The logistics, the finance planning, the web design, the program, the facility negotiations, all of them are as good as, and often significantly better than, what you can expect from an academic professional conference, and all happen for free -- that is, no one on the committee or staff is paid for the work they do. Thousands upon thousands of unpaid volunteer hours go into making a fan run convention happen.

A World Fantasy Con is not as big, but still a remarkable production of unpaid labor. And World Fantasy has always been an essentially exploitative affair. That is, unlike Worldcon, World Fantasy likes to regard itself as a strictly professional conference for working professionals in the field. Fans are not really welcome to attend or participate. And yet the labor to make this event happen has traditionally all been provided by fan organizations. Must be nice, huh?

Now Andy Duncan and a number of pros in the field are up in arms because they don't like the programming choices for the upcoming World Fantasy Con. They want the program head sacked, and a new program of their choice put in place. And they want new rules put in place so that future World Fantasy Cons are more like they would want. Notably, none of the people who are asking for this to happen are themselves volunteering to do the work.

Now, the changes they want may be perfectly reasonable, I'm not actually disputing that. What I am suggesting is that if fantasy authors want to be in charge of World Fantasy Con in every specific detail they should either a) volunteer, and do the work of running it themselves or b) hire paid professionals to do the work of running the event for them, which is what real professional conferences do.

Comments

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. When it was here, we got contacted, "hey, who wants to volunteer?" But no discount on the sky high membership price. We were clearly an afterthought, as if mere proximity to the pros like a "brush with greatness" should be enough thanks. So I did not volunteer.

[k6rfm.livejournal.com]

WFCs are certainly allowed by the board guidelines to sell discounted "staff" memberships (same rate the board pays.) So this was just your local committee not being particularly interested in your help, not WFCs in general.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I'm at a loss as to why anyone would volunteer to help run it if they are not a pro or hoping to be one. The disdain for non-pros or pro-aspirants was palpable at the one I attended.

Shocked!

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

I'm just shocked that anyone would suggest such a thing! ;-)

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

The person they are complaining about is a pro, who volunteered to work on the con. Next year when the program is done by a fan it might be better.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Can't say I am entirely on board with you on this. Volunteers aren't immunized from criticism if they screw up. And the reason I don't do program planning any more is that I know I am no longer au courant with the field. I'd make the kind of mistakes that Darrell made, and that would be wrong.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I've always had conflicted feelings about World Fantasy, for the very reasons you describe.

[billzilla.livejournal.com]

It seems as though you are putting your own spin on this too. My understanding -- and I admit, by not being directly involved with WFC, it may well be quite flawed -- is that People In Charge at WFC were warned about the current program head. Program head was contacted about a number of issues, which he apparently verbally agreed to change, then did not.

As far as my first point goes, hey, they run it on the backs of volunteers; you get what you pay for, right? As you suggest.

Point the second: This seems to stand up to scrutiny. Either he lied about making changes, or he forgot. Either way, not a solid start to the con.
MY issue is that it's apparent the program chair, Mr. Schweitzer, is programming entirely for the benefit of himself and his friends. There is little diversity here -- and by diversity, I mean program items that are not directly related to each other in some way. There is only ONE program that discusses Shirley Jackson FFS, and she's one of the specifically honored authors at this convention.

Look, I've been program head before, and a person doing that job needs to be proactive in serving the needs of the attendees, not scheduling exclusively things he or she wants to see. Mr. Schweitzer appears to have not given other people a second thought in all of this. That's what his job was supposed to be, and he didn't do it. That's MY issue.

As far as other issues go, well, it's meant to be a trade show for pros. I'm regularly tempted to go by assurances froma diverse selection of writer friends who are convinced it will help my career, then think better of it, because A) expensive, B) bad reputation for dealing poorly with newbies/wannabess/people in exactly my position as a budding pro. I'm not gregarious enough to do well in an arena where I have to fight to prove my worth the entire weekend, so thanks, I'll pass. This particular issue doesn't convince me I made the wrong choice by not going.