WSFS Business Meeting and Submitting New Business

AGENDA FOR L.A. con IV

Preliminary Business Meeting, Thursday

Presiding Officer: Kevin Standlee
Deputy: Donald Eastlake III
Secretary: Pat McMurray
Timekeeper: Deb Geisler

1. Committee Reports

Committee reports may include motions. Motions made by committees consisting of more than one person need not be seconded.

1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)

The Mark Protection Committee will meet at a time to be announced, probably on Wednesday evening of the convention. A formal report is unlikely to be available until the Friday Business Meeting at the earliest.

Nominations for the WSFS Mark Protection Committee are in order at the Preliminary Business Meeting. Nominees must accept nomination and indicate their current residence zone within one hour of the end of the Preliminary Business Meeting.

The members whose terms of office expire at this Worldcon are: Scott Dennis (Central), Donald Eastlake III (East), Ruth Sachter (West). Due to zone residency restrictions, we can elect at most two people from the Western zone, one from the Central zone, two people from the Eastern zone, and 3 people from the Rest of the World. Write-in votes are allowed, but write-in candidates must submit their consent to election by the close of balloting. (See the head table staff for a nomination acceptance form.)

1.2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee

1.3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee

1.4. Hugo Eligibility Rest of the World (HEROW) Committee

1.5. Formalization of Long List Entries (FOLLE) Committee

1.6. The Taming the Digital Wilderness Committee

2. Worldcon Reports

Exchange rates from http://www.oanda.com/
16-Aug-06

2.1 Past Worldcons

2.1.1. ConAdian (1994)

Report is attached

2.1.2. The Millennium Philcon (2001)

2.1.3 Torcon 3 (2003)

Report is attached.

2.1.4 Noreascon 4 (2004)

2.1.5 Interaction (2005)

2.1.6 CascadiaCon (2005)

2.2. Seated Worldcons & NASFiC

2.2.1 L.A.con IV (2006)

2.2.2 Nippon 2007

Report is attached

3. Business Passed On from Interaction

The following Constitutional Amendments were approved at Interaction and passed on to L.A.con IV for ratification. If ratified, they will become part of the Constitution at the conclusion of L.A.con IV.

3.1. Short Title: Best Editor Split

Moved, To split the Best Professional Editor Hugo Award into a Best Editor Short Fiction and Best Magazine Editor Long Award by striking out and inserting new sections as follows:

3.3.8: Best Professional Editor. The editor of any professional publication devoted primarily to Science Fiction or Fantasy during the previous calendar year. A professional publication is one which had an average press run of at least ten thousand (10,000) copies per issue.

3.3.x: Best Editor Short Fiction. The editor of at least four (4) anthologies, collections or magazine issues primarily devoted to less than novel-length science fiction and / or fantasy, at least one of which was published in the previous calendar year.

3.3.y: Best Editor Long Fiction. The editor of at least four (4) novels of written science fiction or fantasy published in the previous calendar year.

4. New Business

4.1. Resolutions

Items under this heading may be voted upon and final action taken by the Preliminary Business Meeting.

4.2. Standing Rules Amendments

Items under this heading may be voted upon and final action taken by the Preliminary Business Meeting. Standing rules amendments take effect at the conclusion of the 2006 Business Meeting unless given earlier effect by specific provision and a two-thirds vote. In all amendments, new text is shown in underline type and stricken text is shown in strikethru type.

4.3. Constitutional Amendments

Items under this heading have not yet received first passage, and will become part of the constitution only if passed at L.A.con IV and ratified at Nippon 2007. The Preliminary Business Meeting may amend items under this heading, set debate time limits, refer them to committee, and take other action as permitted under the Standing Rules

4.3.1 Short Title: Artist Hugo

Moved, To amend the WSFS Constitution to require that nominations for the Best Professional Artist Hugo Award include one citation of a specific work created by the nominee during the year of eligibility, by adding additional wording as follows:

Add to Section 3.7: Nominations

3.7.4: Nominations for the category of Best Professional Artist must include, in addition to the nominated artist's name, the title of a specific work by the nominated artist or the name of the publication within which the nominated artist's work appeared, either of which must have been first published in the year for which the artist is being nominated.

Add to Section 3.8: Tallying of Nominations

3.8.8: Nominations for the category of Best Professional Artist shall be tallied only by the artist's name and not by the title of any specific cited work or publication within which the nominated artist's work appeared. Nominations for these categories that do not include the information required in section 3.7.4 shall not be counted.

Submitted by: Donato Giancola, Irene Gallo

Makers' Argument:

While no single work is voted upon for the final Artist Hugo balloting, the inclusion of naming works from an eligible year in the nomination process will insure that only eligible works are those which the nominator is considering the artist for, rather than relying upon name and reputation recognition. This will help clarify and enforce the rules as per the World Science Fiction Society Constitution, specifically Section 3.2: General, and 3.2.1: "Unless otherwise specified, Hugo Awards are given for work in the field of science fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year."

In the past, sheer name recognition has propelled nominations forward without any verifiable check that those artists had contributed any new work to the field of Science Fiction in the eligible, and required, years. I believe these amendments will bring an end to the 'blind' nomination process and restore credibility to the Award

4.3.1.1 Amendment by Substitution

Substitute for the proposed Constitutional Amendment "Artist Hugo" the following resolution:

Short Title: Best Professional Artist Hugo Administration

Resolved, That the WSFS Business Meeting requests that future Worldcon Committees encourage persons casting Hugo Award nominating ballots for Best Professional Artist to be more proactive in citing current work by the nominated artists by doing the following:

1) Include sufficient space on the Hugo Nominating Ballot for Best Professional Artist for a nominator to submit at least one reference to a work by each nominated artist. Failure to provide such references shall not invalidate a nomination.

2) When the Worldcon Committee determines the nominees, request that the artists provide references to up to five (5) pieces of artwork that the nominated artist believes best represents his or her work for that year, along with permission to cite those works on the convention's web site and/or final Award ballot. Failure to provide such references or permission shall not invalidate a nomination.

3) Make references to such pieces cited in item (2) above available on the convention's web site and/or on the final Award ballot. Failure to provide such references shall not invalidate the final Award ballot.

4.3.2 Short Title: Conversion Cap Clearance

Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution to increase the cap on initial conversion fees from two (2) times the site-selection fee to three (3) times the site-selection fee by striking out and adding text as follows:

Section 1.5.5: Memberships

1.5.5: Voters have the right to convert to attending membership in the selected Worldcon within ninety (90) days of its selection, for an additional fee set by its committee. This fee must not exceed two (2) three (3) times the site-selection fee and must not exceed the difference between the site-selection fee and the fee for new attending members.

Submitted by: Colin Harris, TBC

Makers' Argument:

The move to two-year bidding has consequences for the profile of membership fee rates that needs to be achieved for a satisfactory Worldcon budget. This change would restore a suitable level of flexibility for Worldcons in relation to their rate policy.

Under three-year bidding, most recent Worldcons adopted broadly consistent approaches to membership fee evolution. Initial attending rates were usually set at just over $100 and final attending rates typically fell in the $200 region. This provided for around 5 increases of $20 - one per 6 months. The discount for joining early acts as an incentive and compensates members for loss of interest. The increases are spaced sufficiently to enable publicity materials to be revised whilst providing continual incentive for potential members to sign up.

This balance needs to be maintained for two-year bidding and it is also necessary to ensure that the average membership income per head is maintained.

It is undesirable to have very large step-changes in the rate (distorts joining profiles and creates administrative issues) or very frequent rises (difficult to keep advertising in line). It is also reasonable to expect a higher starting rate for two-year bidding reflecting the shorter period for which the Worldcon is holding the member's money. This could be especially important in a highly contested election where there could be a very high number of joiners in the early months - having these at too low a rate could create a budget shortfall.

Increasing the allowable conversion rate to three times the voting fee would provide more flexibility in the system whilst avoiding the need for higher voting fees - and would indeed enable the voting fee to be kept as low as possible, encouraging participation in site selection. For instance this proposal would enable $40 voting fees ($40 being a fair estimate of the cost of servicing a supporting member) with a $140 initial rate for new attending members - which is not possible under the current rules.

5. Site Selection Business

5.1. Report of the 2008 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners

5.2. Reports by seated Worldcons & NASFiC

5.2.1. L.A.con IV (2006)

5.2.2 Nippon 2007

5.3. Presentation by future Worldcon bids

5.3.1. Presentation by bidders for 2009

5.3.2. Presentation by bidders for years after 2009

6. Adjournment

6.1. Adjournment Sine Die