Editor’s Geeble - Issue #111

I am attending fewer cons this year. As much as I love them, economic constraints forced me to scale back (yeah, me and everyone else, right?). At each one I’ve gone to, I heard the same conversation repeated: Convention attendance is dwindling. No location is ever convenient enough. Everyone’s broke. Fandom is “graying.” There are too few younger fans replenishing the ranks of the clubs that sponsor cons.

Everyone knows exactly how to fix these situations, of course—except their ideas are almost all contradictory. They range from things like, “keep the focus tight on what worked in the past and ignore the rest” to “chuck everything we used to do and give the kids whatever they want.”

I am not going to capitalize on my all-powerful status as the mistress of Space and Time (okay, all-powerful within these 48 pages) and offer up my ideas on the subject as the One True Solution. Rather, I’m simply going to share my experience attending a brand-new convention a couple of months ago and let readers draw their own conclusions.

The Steampunk World’s Fair (www.steampunkworldsfair.com) was held in unglamorous (hey, I can say it, I live here) Piscataway, NJ at the Radisson hotel. The event was produced in part by Jeff Mach, who is best known for Wicked Faire, in collaboration with Jeff Marks, formerly of Salon.com and Cap and Whisker of S.S. Icarus. The convention was publicized mostly via social media (Facebook, Twitter) and, according to the pre-registration tally of those saying they would attend, drew a whopping 3,000-plus attendees. Judging by the crowds I encountered at the event, not to mention the fact that they sold out all the rooms in both the Radisson and the neighboring Embassy Suites, I’d say that count was a fair estimate of actual attendance.

So, what did they do to overcome all the strikes against cons these days that I described above? Here are a few of my observations:

1. They called it what it was: The Steampunk World’s Fair. Everything there was about Steampunk: literature, videos, clothes, vendors, and entertainment. The focus was tight and unapologetic.
2. Solid promotion via social media, which led to word-of-mouth, which led to huge numbers.
3. There was entertainment beyond just another masquerade and scheduled panels, and it went on throughout the entire weekend. Everything from Goth circuses, live action role-play (LARPs), a tea party, an absinthe tasting, formal and informal dances and hot rock stars from the Indie-genre circuit ensured that there was something going on to entertain everyone, nearly round-the-clock.
4. Jeffrey Mach. The man has a reputation through Wicked Faire for throwing an extremely inclusive, fun event that is more a party than straight-forward convention. While the SWF wasn’t nearly as edgy as a Wicked Faire (nor should it be; this is a weekend with plenty of kid-safe fun, too), he knows what his target audience wants and gives it to them.
5. Press passes. Too few conventions these days, especially the literary cons, actively offer free passes to the press, so no one from outside fandom comes to cover the event. Why pay for advertising in the media when reporters can (and will) give you all the PR you need in their columns?
6. Location, location, location. Yes, Piscataway isn’t exactly Mecca. However, it is at or close to the junction of several major highways (Rte. 287, the Garden State Parkway, Route 18, and the NJ Turnpike). It’s also down the road from two NJ Transit train stations (Bound Brook and New Brunswick).

This is not to say everything went perfectly and there was zero room for improvement. The crowding is going to become a real problem if they don’t limit ticket sales next year, or move some events into a second hotel. The vendors were in separate hotel rooms, not one big dealers’ room and I heard a few complain about how that limited customer access to their wares. The restaurant and bar at the Radisson were clearly not up to handling such an overwhelming crowd and there aren’t a lot of other dining options in the area (especially for those without a car).

However, just ask some of the longer-running conventions if they’d rather be facing those challenges, almost all caused by the huge number of attendees or the problems they’re now facing, like whether they can afford to continue running if their attendance doesn’t improve. I think you’ll find they’d rather be overwhelmed than under.

Magazines are facing similar challenges; just sub ‘readers’ for ‘attendees.’ The downturn in the economy has played its part, to be sure. However, like the savvier conventions, I truly believe magazines that know who their target audiences are and what they want—and continue to provide it—will survive.

I hope this quarter’s issue of Space and Time meets the goal of pleasing our long-time fans and drawing the attention of new readers in search of the best Strange and Unusual fiction. I always want to hear from you if we aren’t giving you want you want, so feel free to let me know directly at hildy@spaceandtimemagazine.com. Oh, and if you want to let me know we’re succeeding, I’m open to that feedback, too!

Hildy Silverman
Publisher