What with timezones, and having posted in my afternoon yesteday, the timeline gets fuzzy.

That said, yesterday’s total ended up being two panels and the bid session. The first reading didn’t happen – I think it there was a panelist issue rather than technical, but I wandered off to find food and couldn’t be bothered with trying for the one immediately following.

Which means my first panel was Cartography in SFF with Jared Pechacêk, Michael Noone, and Natania Barron. It was quite fun and had some interesting map nerderdy… it did trend a little towards “advice for writers”, but not entirely. Thumbs up.

Next was New Speculative Fiction From Eastern Europe with Alexandra Nica, Alex Shvartsman, and Julie Nováková. This one was great, talked a bit about general trends, the history of SFF in the region, translations, and so on. We ended up with a lot of recommendations and it turns out that Czech fandom has a big presence at this Worldcon including a launch party for a proposed Worldcon in Prague!

Then the bid sessions!

2027:

Montreal had a lot to say about the city and venue, less to say about the fandom or vision. To be fair, I feel like that is not uncommon with bid sessions but with a convention that has been criticized for its lack of engagement so far it seemed a missed opportunity.

2028:

Brisbane had bloomed into a proper bid with lots of information and enthusiasm. The team looks good, the city and venue as well. They’re excited about the eclipse the week before, and mentioned one of their committee is running an Aboriginal track, which sounds exciting.

Kigali didn’t have anyone on site due to no fault of their own, but equally still doesn’t seem to have engaged with anyone onsite, or provided more than what is on the website, which like Montreal mostly consists of the tourist pitch for the region. Their main selling point is that an African Worldcon is overdue, which I agree – but it would have been great to get a video presentation, or some social media, or a virtual presence at the con, to put faces on the names involved.

2029:

Dublin! Excited about this one, obviously because it is close but also because the team is good, the energy and vision as well. They seem to be building on the 2019 Dublin experience, learning from it and aiming bigger and better.

2030:

Edmonton is the new kid on the block and coming in strong. Another great team with a strong vision, lots of great folks and a really nice looking city. They also have a clean, modern visual presence, as you would expect given the folks involved. Another point in their favour is that they’re coming right out the gate with a virtual offering, they are throwing a virtual bid party tonight.