Panels and Parties
30/08/2007
Sitting in a panel session at a science fiction convention feels exactly the same as sitting in a panel session at a scientific conference, or so it seems at first. The rooms are the same size, there are the same rows of standard-issue chairs—half-full—and there are glasses of water placed next to the speakers’ microphones on the standard-issue desks. Everyone looks sober, and people are wearing the same attire as I’ve seen during W3C 2007 in Banff.
But this is because it’s only the begining.
I should be paying attention, rather than doodle. The panelists are ready to start, and immediately I discover a difference: conference participants tend to be better prepared, but con panelists are way more fun. Who knew that one of my favourite writers is also an internet guru? (Shame that I lost my program notes.)
This first panel is titled ‘The Future of Computers’ and I’m listening with half-an-ear while fiddling with my Zaurus. There is no internet. The coin machine in the hotel lobby has no input, the computers in the lounge are frozen and so is the Zaurus, as soon as I plug in the wireless card.
I reckon it will be a while yet until the Singularity arrives…
After the panel, I go on an errand: out to the tourist information by the station where I feed 100¥ coins into the machines only to discover that they have no USB. Back to the convention centre to for some food only to find that the station was the better option. I miss the slide show about interstellar travel but realize once-and-for-all that I’m not at a conference when I watch the iado demonstration that follows:
21:00. The first party of the convention is shaping up nicely, taking place in the harbour lounge with spectacular views of the port. Helicopters fly over the canal, low enough to skim the surface. Any moment now I expect one of them to appear from behind the wall, bearing down on us like in the movies.
It’s sub-tropically warm (bliss) and I’ve relocated outside to the smoker’s corner. The air is like silk. All that’s missing is a big-ass cigar like that fella is smoking over there. That thing must be over a foot long.
Hang on, he’s coming over…
He offers me one of those cigars and I think Christmas has come early. We talk for two hours—it takes that long to smoke it. For some reason, we end up discussing career options. G has dug that I don’t enjoy being a ‘housewife’ in a village next to a bomb factory and lays out various paths for me: cheese making in Wales (too much competition), rearing carp in ponds warmed by waste heat from power stations, clock making, long-distance lorry driving…
I stop him there.
He also gives me a short introduction into fandom, which is a sub-culture all of its own and may well be the most interesting thing about a convention (rather than a conference). I mentally review my schedule and decide that it’s worth signing up as a volunteer for a few hours, to see how a Worldcon ticks behind the scenes.
G assures me that the volunteer ribbon is as good as a backstage pass.
Tags: events, Japan without a Clue, NIPPON2007, scifi, Travel, Worldcon, Tag Index
Denni