WHAT IS A WORLDCON?
According to Wikipedia:
“Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention.”
As such, Worldcons celebrate science fiction and fantasy literature, art and other media presentations. Worldcons are organized by a different committee in a different location every year allowing fans who would like to attend a choice of locations over time. Many conventions are the direct descendants of Worldcons in their areas or from people who attended them and wanted to create a similar experience in their area. While Worldcons have many activities associated with them there are 3 responsibilities every Worldcon is supposed to carry out in order to be recognized as a Worldcon. These are to administer the Hugo Awards, the Business Meeting, and Site Selection for future Worldcons. Administering the Hugo Awards is probably the most visible task that a Worldcon performs. From tallying votes to publishing the final votes this is probably the most public and beloved responsibility that a Worldcon committee brings to attendees and award nominees alike. Choosing the recipients of the Hugos is a requirement of Worldcons under the auspices of WSFS.
Another of the major requirements of holding a Worldcon is to host the annual Business Meeting of the WSFS. One uniqueness of Worldcons is that they are entirely organized and run by volunteers from non-profit organizations. There is no paid permanent staff and the parent organization, WSFS, is an unincorporated society. Any business, including WSFS constitutional amendments, is conducted at the Business meeting at Worldcon. You are automatically a member of WSFS if you have a membership to that year’s Worldcon and are entitled to attend the Business Meeting if you are present in person.
Site selection is the process by which the Worldcon members decide the future locations. Groups that wish to hold a Worldcon bid for their sites several years prior to the year they wish to hold their Worldcon. A vote is held at every Worldcon for the one 2 years in advance. Members of that Worldcon may vote after paying a “site selection” fee. The winner receives the site selection fee earnings and uses them to help fund their Worldcon.
Another occasional duty of WSFS is to select a bid for a NASFiC, (North American Science Fiction Convention) for the years that Worldcon is not in North America. The vote is held 1 year in advance rather than the 2 years that Worldcons use.