I remember Glasgow 2024, and the moment when I learned of the GOHs selection for LAcon V. Right at that moment, I knew that I wanted to travel to Los Angeles. Sadly, I didn’t manage to do so. Still, I did the second best thing available – I attended LAcon V online.
No Enemy But Time
One thing I learned during the pandemic is how the time zones work. Of course I knew it before, but only during the pandemic I became used to calculate them back and forth. The important lesson was that the number of hours a convention is away from me is crucial. While six and seven hours behind Poland was perfectly ok, nine hours difference was hard. Despite that, I committed to help make LAcon V a reality. I spent countless hours in the Program Division (and a bit in Promotions division too).
Just a single screenshot this time.
Time was the problem with LAcon V. No matter how I tried to look at it, Los Angeles was nine hours behind Kraków, and was not willing to change that. What I had to do was to accept the harsh reality of how fast the continents may move. With nine hours difference I had a short overlap with the “in person” part of the convention. Yet, LAcon V was not an in person only convention…
Robust Virtual Program
The promise to have a “robust virtual program” was not hollow. While most of the program was held in Anaheim where the con took place, online participants had a lot to choose from. Some virtual rooms offered items to watch almost all day long. On op of that multiple on-site rooms had streaming enabled. I didn’t count the number of items I could choose from but it was huge.
During the con I was also a virtual host which has limited my choices a bit. This happened not because of the convention, but “thanks” to the Zoom client for Linux. It was lacking some options needed to work with streaming from the rooms. Because of that whenever I was hosting I could choose only from the items held in the online rooms. This limitation was not that bad. In the end it was me who chose when to host, and when to enjoy watching the stream.
Over the con I listened quite a few programme items – both from the audience, and as a virtual host. Some were great, others were ok, but I won’t be making a review as I could not be objective concerning the fact I was in the Program Division. What I can say, however, is that I already managed to play some of the recordings.
Work, Work
As mentioned, I did volunteer for the con. This should not be a surprise to anyone who knows me. This time I worked as an Area Head for the Fandom and Fan History Area. Considering where my interest lie, this place suits me best in the Program Division. This doesn’t mean, however, that it was a piece of cake. Working on the program took me a lot of time. Way more than I expected. I am very grateful to Daniel and Alex who helped me in making this a reality. I also wish to thank everyone who participated in the programme, supported, and lead us through the months of preparations.
Some items I was looking forward too didn’t have enough people who wanted to be panellists. In some cases this came to me with a surprise. On the other hand, other items were so popular that I decided to have two sessions of those – one in person and another online. I didn’t manage to watch everything I wanted – some of those are still pending for my rewatch.
Virtual Participation
As stated, virtual programme offering of the LAcon V was robust, but what about everything else? Our Discord was (and still is) huge. Once I got the access I was even overwhelmed with so many channels and threads. One of the first things I did was muting the channels I knew I won’t be using. Discord was not designed only for the online members. Instead it was a place for both – online and in person audiences. This made it bigger, but thanks to that we all had more chances to exchange thoughts.
Sadly, I was tired, maybe even a bit burned out. Because of that I didn’t fully use what convention had to offer. I managed to do some online activities though. One of those was attending Dublin 2029 Worldcon Bid online party. Another was participating in the Scavenger Hunt. It was cool to see how online and in-person participants were both uploading their findings. I didn’t manage to make a full set but I found most of the “items”. Well, in one case I had to make an item but it was still fun.
Hard To Judge
Was the LAcon V weekend a good time? It certainly was. Yet I don’t feel I can fully judge the con. Because of the time difference and my mood I didn’t fully enjoy it. I am sure that being on-site would make for a different experience. Still, I appreciate the virtual offering a lot. Without it, I wouldn’t have an option to experience this year’s Worldcon at all. Thanks to what was prepared I had the chance to listen to programme, participate in it, and enjoy some other aspects of the LAcon V. I am glad that I was part of the team, and added a small contribution to make it happen.
My next post will appear late in October.