Editing Science fiction convention (section)

==Anatomy of a typical convention==
Although wide variations exist between different conventions, there is a general pattern to which most adhere.

===Guests of Honor===
[[Image:Sfcon-registration-ddb.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Fans registering for [[Minicon]] 41]]
[[Image:Sfcon-lobby-hanging-out-ddb.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Hanging out in the lobby]]
[[Image:Sfcon-ellison-talk-ddb.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Harlan Ellison]] speaking]]
[[Image:Sfcon-reading-ddb.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Pamela Dean]] reading]]
[[Image:Sfcon-music-session-ddb.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Informal music session (AKA [[filk]] circle)]]

Most conventions have ''Guest(s) of Honor (GoH)''.  These guests are to some extent the headliners of the convention.  A convention may have as many Guests of Honor as the convention committee wishes. Along with Author and perhaps Fan Guests of Honor (fans who are not necessarily celebrities but have made a significant contribution to the fan community), a convention may have an Artist GoH, Editor GoH, [[Filk]] or Music GoH, a Toastmaster, and Special Guests. A Memorial Guest of Honor (as at [[Readercon]]) or Ghost of Honor (as at [[66th World Science Fiction Convention|Worldcon 2008/Denvention 3]]) is a deceased individual who is selected as a focal point of the festivities. [[Potlatch (convention)|Potlatch]], however, has an annual ''Book of Honor'' instead.

===Professionals at conventions===
Conventions provide a forum for fans to see first-hand and meet their favorite authors and artists. They also serve the interests of authors, editors, and other publishing professionals, providing opportunities for networking, promotion, and a convenient location for contract negotiations and other business meetings. At traditional science-fiction conventions, there is little or no distinction made between the "pros" and the "fans". Many professionals in the field began as fans, and may still consider themselves fans; and more than a few fans have also worked professionally or semi-professionally in the field. At a small number of cons, there is a category for "Attending Professionals", professionals who are paying full con price to enter but also get a special name badge that proclaims them to be professionals in whatever field they are involved in.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}

===Program===
Panel-led discussions, or ''Panels'', usually fill up the daytime hours of most conventions with typically one-hour discussions of topics related to [[science fiction]], [[fantasy]], and [[science-fiction fandom|fandom]] in general. Some conventions have well-attended, scheduled panels starting as late as midnight. Panel members (even professionals) are not customarily paid for their appearance, although many North-American conventions waive membership fees for program participants or rebate them after the convention.

Some program items are set presentations by experts. Science speakers are among the most popular program items at many conventions. Slides (either photographic or [[presentation software|computer]]), video clips, or handouts might be used for such presentations.

Readings and "kaffeeklatsches" are program items where a single author either reads from their work or has an informal discussion with fans.

===Special events===

The first night of the convention "Opening Ceremonies" are often held, where organizers and marquee guests are introduced and speeches might be made. Sometimes, conventions will have a skits, musical performances, video clips, or other samples of the convention as part of the Opening Ceremonies.

A costume contest called a [[Masquerade ball|masquerade]] is often held where persons go on stage and compete for nominal prizes based on their skill in assembling and presenting genre-inspired outfits. This, however, would be more accurately labelled a "talent show" rather than the "fancy dress ball" that the term suggests (although British fandom sometimes uses the term "fancy dress"). [[Anime]] fans might refer to the masquerade as [[cosplay]], but there are notable and subtle distinctions between the terms.

Some conventions feature award ceremonies, in which the best works and most notable individuals are recognized for their contributions to the field. [[Worldcon]] has several award ceremonies, most notably the [[Hugo Awards]], but also the [[Sidewise Award for Alternate History]] and other awards. [[VCON]] in Vancouver, BC features the [[Elron Awards]] for dubious distinctions in science fiction, including an annual award for [[John Norman]] author of the [[Gor]] series.

Just as art shows display the visual aspect of science fiction, many conventions include concerts or other music-oriented events as part of the convention. Often these are performances by [[filkers]], though other musicians may also appear at a con.

A convention may have one or more auctions. The ''Art Auction'' is an event where the most popular items from the art show are sold to the most interested buyers at the convention. Many conventions also have auctions for charities, either formal or fannish; the latter would include auctions on behalf of TAFF (the [[Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund]]) or DUFF (the [[Down Under Fan Fund]]).

Evening entertainment often includes a combination of official and unofficial events, including concerts, dances, formal invitational dinners, and fandom-themed room parties. Additionally, other convention committees hold room parties in order to promote their own convention and to increase their membership. A ''bid party'' is a room party held to influence the choice of the location of a future convention (such as Worldcon) by advertising its advantages.

Some conventions have a ''Closing Ceremony'' to formally mark the end of the convention. Depending on the convention, this can be a major gathering of most of the membership, or it may be lightly attended or dispensed with entirely as members are occupied with packing up and checking out of the hotel.

===Exhibits and fixed functions===
A ''Dealers''' or ''Hucksters' Room'' is available, where merchants sell wares which may be of interest to fans. These include books, [[action figures]], prop replicas and t-shirts. Similarly, there is often an ''Art Show'' where genre-inspired art is displayed and usually made available for auction or purchase. Smaller conventions may simply have an informal ''Dealers' Row'', a section of hotel rooms from which dealers sell goods, while larger conventions may have both an official dealers' room and an unofficial dealers' row.

The ''Art Show'' is generally an [[art exhibition|open art exhibition]]; that is, it is open to all comers and all art submitted is exhibited for sale.  This naturally leads to a wide variety of types of artwork, from professional illustrations to [[outsider art]], with many amateur works.  The subject matter is tailored to the interests of fandom, i. e. many [[spacecraft|spaceships]], [[dragon]]s, [[unicorn]]s, [[vampire fiction|vampires]], cat girls etc. Art shows often permit sales by artists, these sales constituting a significant source of income for some artists.

Traditionally, many conventions have had ''video rooms'' in which genre-related audiovisual presentations take place, typically commercial [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] [[movies]], genre [[television]] show episodes, and [[anime]]. If there are multiple media rooms, each one may have themed content.  Larger conventions may also have a genuine ''Film Room,'' for presentation of actual movies on film instead of video.

''Game Rooms'' are also available at some conventions for attendees to play a variety of genre games, including [[collectible card game]]s like ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', [[role-playing games]] like ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', [[miniatures game]]s like ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', and [[board game]]s like ''[[The Settlers of Catan]]''. Easy, fast-playing card games, e.g. ''[[Apples to Apples]]'', are popular as they don't require a large time commitment or deep knowledge of rules, thus allowing casual gamers to join in.
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===Con suite===
At North American conventions, a convention [[hospitality suite]] or ''consuite'' is often provided as a room reserved for light refreshments, a quiet conversation, and a place to briefly rest. The refreshments typically include coffee, tea, juice or soda, and light meals appropriate for the time of day. Depending on local liquor distribution and [[Dram Shop|liability laws]], the suite may serve alcohol. At conventions in the rest of the world, the hotel or convention centre bar typically offers the same social function. At conventions in the [[United Kingdom]], the provision of [[cask ale]] is usual.

=== Dead dog party ===

Many conventions have a "dead dog party"<ref>The name comes from the idiom "until the last dog is hung" (or "... is dead"), meaning "until the very end of the event" or "till the bitter end". {{Cite news|last=Safire|first=William |title=ON LANGUAGE; Campaign Trailese|language=en-US|work=The New York Times |date=April 12, 1992 |at=sec.&nbsp;6, p.&nbsp;14 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/12/magazine/on-language-campaign-trailese.html |access-date=December 20, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> in the evening of the last day of the convention, after closing ceremonies. This is the traditional winding-down party where the remaining attendees are unlikely to have huge amounts of energy. This party is an attempt to ease people back into the real world outside of the convention and can be an effective method of warding off the depression which is often associated with the end of a major event. A dead dog party can last until the following morning.

===Idiosyncrasy===
Many con-goers take pride in being interesting and unusual, and naturally many cons are highly idiosyncratic. Cons often have activities, running jokes, organizational methods and other features that not only differentiate them from other cons but are often a point of pride. Most cons vary from the above outline in one or more important ways, and many have their own unique cultural characteristics.

For example:
*[[Capricon]] in [[Wheeling, Illinois]], always includes an entire track of spoof programming. Originally held in the [[P. T. Barnum|Phineas Taylor B]] room, it is now slated for the [[Lake Wobegon]] room.
*At an early [[Minicon]], the President of Mnstf (the con's sponsoring organization) declared himself to be President for Life. This was resolved by play-assassinating the President. Ever since then, the President has been "assassinated" by various humorous means at Closing Ceremonies.
*Many cons have idiosyncratic names, including puns, in-jokes, or portmanteaus.<ref name=mandel>{{cite web | last1=Mandel| first1=Mark A.| title=Conomastics: The Naming of Science Fiction Conventions| url= https://www.ldc.upenn.edu/sites/www.ldc.upenn.edu/files/ads2010-conomastics.pdf| website= Linguistic Data Consortium| publisher=Linguistic Data Consortium| access-date=28 February 2015}}</ref>

Most cons will tend to evolve many of their own idiosyncrasies along these lines. To fans, these are often part of the charm each convention offers.

=== Peace-bonding and weapons policies <!--[[Peace-bonding]] redirects to this section; if the section title is changed, be sure to update that redirect. -->===
A '''peace-bond''' is a conspicuous lock, tie, or mark which makes or identifies something  unusable, such as a weapon, and shows  that the owner's intentions are purely peaceful.

At some conventions, attendees carry real weapons or costume props that appear to be weapons. To forestall concerns about mis-use of real weapons at such events, the security team "peace-bonds" anything that might look like a weapon.<ref>{{Citation | last = Rogow | first = Roberta | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hyoYAAAAIAAJ&q=%22peace-bonding%22 | title = Futurespeak: A Fan's Guide to the Language of Science Fiction | page = 244 | place = New York | publisher = Paragon House | year = 1991| isbn = 9781557783479 }}.</ref>

The event's "weapons policy" may offer objective criteria to determine what looks like a weapon. For example, a weapons policy may require a peace-bond for anything that a reasonable person might recognize as a weapon from a short distance in dim light. Real weapons, if allowed, are disabled, secured, and marked.  For example, bright orange zip ties may be used to hold a [[sword]] in a scabbard or to hold a [[pistol]] in a holster. Simulated or costume props may require conspicuous marks, such as bright ribbons or zip ties, to show that security has deemed them safe to be carried. Simulated weapons or props which can be used as a weapon may be disabled or secured in the way as real weapons.

Peace-bonding helps security control the use or abuse of real weapons at a convention or other event: anything that looks like a weapon but which is not peace-bonded is immediately deemed to be suspicious.  SF writer [[C. J. Cherryh]] writes on her website, "I was a witness of pre-peacebonding times, was narrowly missed, and assure you this is a good idea. Read the convention weapons policy."<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.cherryh.com/www/fiawol.htm | title = FIAWOL and all that: peacebonding | author-link = C. J. Cherryh| last = Cherryh | first = CJ}}.</ref>