Bidding

Worldcon Bidding

Under the constitution of the World Science Fiction Society, the site of a future Worldcon is chosen by a vote of the membership of the Worldcon two years earlier, so the site of the 2011 Worldcon will be chosen in 2009. Groups must bid to host the Worldcon, and often more than one group will bid for a given year. The rules for voting can be found here

Bid committees travel to conventions, hosting parties and sitting at tables, to explain to fans about what their city, facility, and committee have to offer as a Worldcon site. Bid parties are an important social function at many conventions, while much of what bidders talk about at tables is not so much their bid versus other bids but explaining what Worldcons in general are about and how fan groups around the world are connected to each other and to more than eighty years of fan history.

Bid committees will also have a web site, possibly a 'zine, t-shirts, and plan other activities, but the core activity of a bid committee is simply talking to other fans one-on-one at other conventions, and one of the most useful things most bid committee members can do is simply travel to other conventions to help at parties and tables; even going to one or two out-of-town conventions a year is a big help to the group.

2011 Bids

The vote to determine who will host the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention will take place at Anticipation, which will be held in August of 2009 in Montreal, Canada. Currently at this time, Reno and Seattle are the only competing bids.

An article that was published in 1994 points out some considerations when choosing a Worldcon site. It is well worth reading before placing your vote.

SITE SELECTIONS

Here's a list of present and past site selections for Worldcons.

SWOC

The Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee, or "SWOC", is the sponsoring organization of the Seattle in 2011 Worldcon bid. SWOC has organized three Westercons and one North American Science Fiction Convention (or "NASFiC"), Cascadia Con in 2005.

SWOC also organizes ConComCon, a conrunning convention in the Pacific Northwest each year, where the SWOC annual general meeting and election of directors occurs each year.