Well that was a weekend! I was not expecting to attend two conventions and a few other fandom related meetings in the course of two days. Yet here I am – describing this to you. In short I can say it was super busy and fun. Should you wish to learn more details – please keep reading.
Vilcon
Some weeks ago I learned about Vilcon – a small convention that is normally held in Bydgoszcz. I have never been to it before and I learned about it when my friend (Seji) was invited as a guest. The decision to attend was pretty easy. For a few years I wanted to visit Bydgoszcz. Attending a virtual local convention was not the same but as you know I enjoy visiting new cons. Vilcon was scheduled to last only for one day. All of the con was held on Discord server.
The Faceboobook header from Vilcon.
I managed to attend only four programme items – including a talk by Seji. He had a great presentation about the genesis of the RPG. I already had the chance to listen to it before but I didn’t remember everything so decided to join it again. Another highlight of the programme was a presentation about Takarazuka Revue theatre. It is a Japanese all-female musical theatre. I recall watching a documentary about the Takarazuka school and was interested to learn more. The topic is fascinating (and also terrifying in a way). The presenter – Santa Evita made a great speech and covered the topic thoroughly.
Apart from the programme items I managed to talk a bit to people on the Discord server but not for very long. I had to devote time to other things as well.
Keycon
Although Keycon started on Friday it was Saturday evening when I managed to get to it. Or to be more precise – it was evening for me. For most Keycon attendees it was middle of the day as in usual circumstances the con is held in Winnipeg (Canada).
Similarly to Vilcon I attended only a few programme items and had brief discussions on Discord. The item that was most interesting for me was presentation of Winnipeg in 2023 Worldcon bid. The bid was announced very recently and I was willing to learn more about it. The item was scheduled for an hour but afterwards we moved to another Zoom. There we had discussion ongoing in a little less “formal” style. It was good to learn more about Winnipeg and why it was selected to bid for 2023.
Screenshot from Keycon’s website featuring the beutiful poster.
When it comes to non-programme related highlights of the con I need to mention brief discussion with Laurie Smith. Thanks to it I learned more about Keycon and local fandom in general. Laurie was kind enough to share with me the movie created to promote Keycon. Yet instead of it being a standard promotional material it was (as it’s title states) “A tribute from the heart”. I must say that it was a nice thing to watch and it allowed me to understand local fans a bit.
Other Meetings
On Saturday we had the meeting of the Council of Fandom. It is a gathering of the representatives of the Polish SFF clubs that are associated in the ZSFP (Societies’ Assoctaion Polish Fandom). We had some discussions related to choosing the new board members for ZSFP. We also had to cover the topic of Polcon and Janusz A. Zajdel Award Gala. The final decisions were not taken – hopefully we will be able to make them by the end of June.
On top of all that I had three meeting for volunteers of Balticon. If you are surprised by the number of them it is just an effect of me working for three departments (I am not sure how this happened – I promise!). They were more trainings than social activities. Yet I treasure them also from the socializing aspect. They allowed me to meet people with whom I was supposed to work the next weekend. I will cover Balticon in more details in my next post.
I had a good time. It was a super busy weekend but time was well spent. If I would have to say what I regret is the fact that I didn’t manage to fully enjoy Vilcon nor Keycon. Because of everything that was happening I spent only a little time on each of the cons. I hope to visit them again in the future and experience them to a full extent. I am aware it will be way easier with Vilcon but who knows?
My next post will treat about Balticon 55 and will be published within two weeks.