#wsfs

What’s WSFS?

WSFS is the World Science Fiction Society. Worldcon is technically the annual meeting of WSFS. A lot of people don’t know that, so changes have recently been made to try to make this clearer. 

If you’ve heard of “supporting memberships” and “attending memberships,” those are now “WSFS memberships” and “the attending supplement.” This is trying to make it more clear that WSFS exists. 

Benefits of WSFS membership include nominating and voting in the Hugos and being able to participate in site selection (which requires pre-buying your WSFS membership for next year).

What’s the Constitution?

The WSFS Constitution is the document that governs WSFS activities. These include administering the Hugos and selecting the site of Worldcon. You can find a copy here.

The Constitution is where all the Hugo awards are defined, so if you want to change the Hugos, that’s the document you need to amend.

What’s the Business Meeting?

The Business Meeting is where all amendments to the Constitution are debated and either accepted or rejected. If you did Model Congress or Debate and enjoyed it, you’ll enjoy the Business Meeting. (The common wisdom is that the Business Meeting is extremely boring, but it’s not — it’s both fascinating as an exercise in participatory democracy and fun if you like rules lawyering.)

Amendments to the Constitution take two years — they have to be passed by the first year and then ratified by the second year. This is a slow process on purpose, to make sure that people have a chance to react to things they didn’t see on the agenda the first time.

Okay, I got it. So what do I DO?

First you need to figure out what change you want to make. It’s generally better to try to make changes as small as possible, so they’re easier to understand.

Then, you need to write it up using the proper format, along with a supporting statement. You can get help with that on the SMOFS mailing list, the JOF Facebook group, the WSFS Business Meeting Facebook group, or the WSFS BM Chat Discord. (Email me at aiglet (at) gmail for an invite.) It is STRONGLY recommended to at least run your proposal by one or more of these groups to prepare for the arguments you might see at the Business Meeting. (Also, be prepared for a lot of “we tried that and it doesn’t work.” That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, just that you need to explain what’s changed since the last time it was changed.)

Once you’ve got it written up in a format that makes sense to everyone, you submit your item to the Business Meeting for the next Worldcon. That will put it on the Agenda to be considered. 

If you aren’t going to that Worldcon, it is generally a good idea to have someone who is going as one of your co-sponsors. It’s not entirely necessary, but that does ensure that at least one person in the room will be able to speak in favor of the motion and make the arguments you want.

If you are going to that Worldcon, it’s worthwhile checking out some of the videos of prior Business Meetings so you can see what that’s all about. The Business Meeting is run on Roberts’ Rules of Order (no, that apostrophe isn’t in the wrong place), modified by the Standing Rules and Resolutions of Continuing Effect from prior meetings.