Editing Science fiction convention (section)

===Commercial shows vs. volunteer conventions ===
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An important distinction can be made between commercial events (often called "shows") – those run by dedicated companies who specialize in con organization, or by local for-profit firms – and volunteer-run cons.

Usually run for profit, commercial events tend to charge for "tickets" or "admission" rather than having "memberships". A primary focus of commercial events is meeting celebrities, such as stars of science fiction TV show and movies, anime [[voice actor]]s, etc. There are frequently very long lines of people waiting for autographs at commercial events; while famous actors like [[William Shatner]] of ''[[Star Trek]]'' are paid tens of thousands of dollars per convention, minor and obscure [[bit player]]s pay to set up booths to sell autographs and memorabilia.<ref name="reitman20050408">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-apr-08-me-bitplayers8-story.html | title ='Star Trek' Bit Players Cling On | work=Los Angeles Times | date=2005-04-08 | access-date=May 14, 2011 | last =Reitman | first = Valerie | page =1}}</ref> Commercial events also tend to have less small-scale programming; panels will more often be composed of famous actors, directors, etc. on press junkets, where the panels are held in very large rooms with very high attendance. The largest cons (in terms of attendance) tend to be commercial ones. Commercial events tend to be more likely to be about comics, manga, anime, and popular visual media than volunteer cons, and they also tend to attract the younger generation, but this is not absolute by any means. Some commercial conventions have official licences from the company which produces a particular movie or TV show to run a convention about a particular movie or show. They have been known to aggressively go after fan-run conventions via their legal teams.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

Volunteer cons, on the other hand, tend to be smaller in scope and more intimate in character. Panels may be more lightly attended; however, it is the fans themselves who mostly take part in the panels.  Although there are frequent autograph sessions, they tend to be less of an attraction for volunteer cons. Admission to volunteer cons is usually called "membership", thus emphasizing that the fans themselves are the ones who make up the con, rather than the staff who run commercial cons. A community of fans who run such conventions has developed, and many of them share their best practices and keep convention-running traditions alive, including at specialist con-running conventions such as [[SMOFcon]].