Notes on Rebuilding Fandom
(a condensed write-up of my notes from a Pemmi-Con NASFiC panel)
The greying of fandom. Falling attendance. Conventions closing or going on "temporary" hiatus post-pandemic. This discussion tries to examine the issues and come up with some solutions. Should we even try and consider just bowing out gracefully?
I think the major irony of this session was where it was held. The 2023 Pemmi-Con North American Science Fiction Convention was, people tell me, quite poorly run. The panel discussion included many specific actions that other cons commonly do, which Pemmi-Con did not do.
(The question of whether it was this con specifically, or whether this con-running crew is competent to run any con, is a conversation that I'll leave to correspondents more embedded in the Canadian SFF fandom scene. I'm relatively new to the organized SFF fandom, and I'm lacking context.)
So let's talk about the state of the Speculative Fiction Fandom:
Fans today are more often interested in specific fandoms, not general-content or genre fandom
Fanzines are dying out; there's a history of bad-apple editors and editors who retire
Yet there are many conventions which are topical to Speculative Fiction, or topical to Fandom-writ-large, which are growing rapidly and drawing record crowds.
The question opening the panel was, "how can we get kids-these-days to be the sort of fans we were?" which I added 🤔😅🙃 to, and so did many members of the audience and panel.
The response question was, "how can we adapt organized fandom to meet kids-these-days where they are?" Many expressed the sentiment that fandom changes over time, so the organized fandom must change to adapt.
Also raised was the question of demographics. Yes, Fandom is greying. It will continue greying, one year per year, until we defeat death and become immortal. To keep the average age low, recruitment is necessary. But how do you recruit younguns to get interested in the Traditional Speculative Fiction Fandom events?
A number of strategies were identified in the panel:
Rebuild mutual support: It used to be the case that con-organizing organizations were many. Now they are few. With this dwindling in number has come a dwindling of mutual-support opportunities. It used to be the case that different orgs would help each other run events. This is a dwindling case. Someone has to offer first; let your org do it.
Make in-person events attractive: Before the Internet, it was harder to be a Fan. Without an established in-person fannish presence, you were a loner. Fandom conventions were the sole way to sate your urge for fannish socialization. Nowadays, Fandom is like any other niche social group: It's really easy to find compatriots from the comfort of your home, and you don't have to travel to have a meeting of the minds. Look at the successful in-person events to determine what draws people: novelty, merch sales and swaps, in-person competitions, event exclusives, photoshoots.
Outreach: You're running a generic con? Great! Find all the specific cons and specific fandom groups and ask them to panel and attend. If you're running a scifi con and haven't invited the local chapters of the 501st, the Rebel Legion, the 405th, the Royal Manticoran Navy, the 1701st, Mandalorian Mercs, cause-players, any local university clubs, and any local anime or furry conventions, then you're doing organizing wrong.
Advertise: This one is multifaceted, and had a lot of comments in response to Pemmi-Con. Notable points: Publish your schedule early enough that people can buy tickets and book a hotel room because they know there's a panel they want to attend. Publish your schedule early enough that your panelists know they're going to be paneling. Do badge swaps, table swaps, and pamphlet swaps with other cons, so that you can advertise at each other's con. Do this especially at cons local to your city, and at Big Cons. Continually expand your comms infrastructure until every attendee has a reasonable chance of seeing every important update.
Multimedia: If you're going to have hybrid panels, make sure that the remote panelists have good audio before the session starts. Provide slide deck editing services, to make sure that text can be read from the back of the room. Position your projectors so that the display is large enough and not canted.
Experiment with format: Not everyone wants to go to spend a weekend in panels getting lectured by grey-haired white people, or sing the same filk songs again. Mix it up. Pemmi-Con had a legitimately interesting innovation: a pinball tournament. One of the most-popular John Scalzi events at Chicon 8 was the dance he DJ'd. Anime con photoshoots are hugely attended. Board game conventions are similarly popular. Host an AMV contest. Run a room that's just a TV clip show. Have a library room, like the Carolina Manga Library. In addition to Masquerade, run a cosplay critique panel, and run it on multiple days so that people can bring different costumes to it. Do the fukcing Ribbon Game.
Look to the future: A lot of Traditional SFF Fandom is about the past. But some of the most-highly-attended panels at Anime and Games cons are about the future: things which are in the pipeline for next season or next year. Already-funded Kickstarters. Already-signed series. Do that at your Traditional SFF panels.
Train the next generation: Recruit volunteers, and when they tell you they have a better way to do things, don't turn them down immediately. If there's a reason, explain the reason. If their idea is good, adopt it. They're trying to make things better. If you drive out the next generation of con-runners, there won't be a next generation of cons.
