Editing Fan convention (section)

==Overview==
Fan conventions are traditionally organized by fans on a not-for-profit basis, though some events catering ''to'' fans are run by commercial interests for profit. Many conventions have award presentations relating to their genre (such as the [[Hugo Award]]s which have been presented at [[Worldcon|The World Science Fiction Convention]] (WorldCon) since 1953). 

At commercial events, performers often give out [[autograph]]s to the fans, sometimes in exchange for a flat appearance fee, and sometimes may perform songs that have no relevance to the shows or otherwise entertain the fans. Commercial conventions are usually quite expensive and are hosted in hotels. There is often tight security for the celebrities to protect against potentially fanatic fans. Such features are not common at traditional [[science fiction convention|science-fiction convention]]s, which are more oriented toward science fiction as a mode of literature, rather than toward visual media, and do not include any paid appearances by famous personalities, and maintain a less caste-like differentiation between professional and fan. 

[[Anime convention]]s, [[gaming convention]]s, [[filk music|filk-music]] conventions, and [[furry convention]]s may all be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s. [[Image:Sfcon-ellison-talk-ddb.jpg|thumb|right|[[Harlan Ellison]] speaking at [[Minicon]] 41, April 13, 2006]][[File:Audience microphone at APExpo 2010 022.jpg|thumb|In fan conventions, the audience is sometimes invited to line up and ask questions using a dedicated microphone.]]

{{anchor|masquerade}} While the wearing of costumes—and even a costume competition (known as a "masquerade")—has been an occasional feature of traditional science-fiction conventions since [[Morojo]] and [[Forrest J Ackerman]]<!--NOTE:  Ackerman styles his name with no period after the middle initial (August 2009)--> wore them during the [[1st World Science Fiction Convention|First World Science Fiction Convention]] in 1939, this has never been the dominant feature of such events. From press coverage of comic book and anime conventions has arisen the widespread image of fans' tendency to dress up as their favorite characters in elaborate costumes (known as ''[[cosplay]]'' in anime terminology) that are time-consuming and/or expensive to assemble.

Different conventions use different methods to count their attendance, which leads to some confusion about actual convention size.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ontechnologyandmedia.com/2017/10/16/comic-con-attendance/ |title=Comic Con Attendance: Numbers, Numbers, and Numbers |last=Whitehouse |first=Kendall |date=16 October 2017 |website=ontechnologyandmedia.com |access-date=16 July 2018 |archive-date=17 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717070936/https://ontechnologyandmedia.com/2017/10/16/comic-con-attendance/ |url-status=live }}</ref>