I was one of the first people to accept an invite from United Fan Con up in Springfield, MA, in November…and, as of last night, was the very first one (and, to my knowledge, the only one) to be disinvited. As opposed to Orlando where I was simply summarily dumped from the roster, this time I was contacted by the convention organizer who explained that, well, they only had so much money to go around, and they were so busy paying for the appearance fees and hotel rooms for the–y’know–important guests, and their advance registration or interest in purchasing photo ops or signed pictures in advance had been so far below projection, that they could no longer afford to have me out even though I don’t charge appearance fees. They had to cut the budget somewhere and apparently I’m it. They couldn’t afford hotel stay and travel costs for the guy who signs tons of comic books and such for free because they needed to be able to accommodate all the folks who charge fans $20/$30 a pop for signatures.
I doubt that anyone was coming to United Fan Con just to see me–certainly the convention organizers are banking on that–but if you were, and you were hoping to get free autographs, you’re out of luck.
You know, I just can’t get enough of having regional conventions use my name for initial promotion and then dump me at the last minute. Actually, now that I think about it…I can. I’m going to be thinking long and hard before accepting invites for any smaller conventions; I’m just tired of having my face stepped on.
PAD
• 
I’m so sorry you had this experience. My partner and I own SiliCon on the west coast. We’ve had our own embarrassing episodes when we’ve been less than professional with guests. We’ve always owned up to the mistake and did our dámņëdëšŧ to make amends and sort out the problem. I find myself apologizing all year long for unprofessional behavior done one weekend. Our guests are gold to us.
An incident like the one you’ve experienced, hurts all conventions.
Here’s hoping you have some good experiances the rest of this year and next.
Maurine “MO” Starkey
Since Washington, D.C. (unfortunately) does not have a comic book convention, I hope you attend the Baltimore Comicon one of these days. If not, I’ll try to see if I can catch you at a Star Trek convention in Maryland. I remember you attended one about a decade ago, but I can’t remember the name…
I hope you don’t rule out all small cons but instead look at the type of con instead. I have stopped going to fan cons that have guests that charge for their autograph. They strike me as there for money and not for fandom and I don’t trust them. I have ended up being sucked into working local conventions and I have rather high standards for the ones I will support both with my money and my effort. Sometimes these are small cons but they aren’t set up to need to pull what UFC did.
Mr. David,
I’ve never posted in your forum before, but I found links here from friends who are running Costumecon, who keep their ears to the ground about many things fannish.
As both a fan of your Star Trek novels, and as a person who has helped run many fan-run conventions in the past (Conjecture in San Diego, and the national Gaylaxicon, to name two of my favorites), I think it’s both appalling that you would be treated so shabbily, and I also think it’s entirely appropriate for you to discuss the situation on your blog.
If I ever run a con and have the privilege of having you as a guest, I hope we, like many other small fan-run conventions, can be given the opportunity to make up for the asshattery (asshaberdashery?) of UFC’s inappropriate actions.
Oh, and I note their announcement of having Bill Mumy on October 2. Wouldn’t that be after they had asked you to not attend? Curious, indeed. (Of course having asked you months in advance should be the real deciding factor here, even if your draw appeal and professional experience weren’t reason enough to keep you as a guest.)
If nothing else, I look forward to your future works, and thanks for all you’ve contributed to the sci-fi and comic genres.
> Would think that anyone with the slightest bit of common sense would realize that this isn’t the way to run a rail road, but then there are lots of folks without common sense out there.
People with any common sense at all do not volunteer their time to run a convention for free.
People with any common sense at all do not volunteer their time to run a convention for free.
That’s such a sad thing to say. The entire convention economy is based on hundreds of people donating their time and effort for no cash compensation.
Unfortunately, I fear that this attitude of “you shouldn’t do anything without Getting Paid” is starting to spread. If it becomes more predominant, you can expect that the number of conventions will drastically shrink, and all we’ll have left is a handful of for-profit “shows” (calling them “conventions” does a disservice to those dedicated people who have volunteered themselves for all these years).
People with any common sense at all do not volunteer their time to run a convention for free.
To say that I’m stunned by this comment is a bit of an understatement. I’ve been in SF fandom for nearly 30 years and the only place I’ve encountered that sentiment is in the media end of things.
Every con I go to is run by dedicated volunteers (my wife being one of them) and they tend to be well run, enjoyable, and we don’t have to charge $200 at the door and sell you tickets for every other event.
Conventions should be participation-driven, not passive. Which is why we sell memberships. You are part of the con, not just attending. I don’t see that in events like UFC.
“People with any common sense at all do not volunteer their time to run a convention for free.”
People with any guts don’t make sweeping disparaging statements anonymously.
I regularly volunteer my time for things that are important to me. I’ve helped run conventions, I participate in community theater, I serve on the board of the CBLDF…all efforts for which I do not, nor do I expect to, receive compensation.
PAD
One of the questions on Jeopardy Friday, October 19, was “Who was Dogberry?”. The answer mentioned Michael Keaton in Much Ado About Nothing.
Go figure.
Hey, Mr. David,
If you’re ever interested in being a guest at ConCarolinas, you can do so with the assurance that we will NEVER disinvite you! We’re on year six now, and what we do is stick to our budget to start with. If we can’t afford someone, we don’t invite him/her in the first place.
We’re lucky to have been started off with a loan from SECFI (Southeast Convention Fandom Inc), chaired at the time by Kelly Lockhart and the now-late Irv Koch. Their aim was to get a con started between Atlanta and DC that could eventually support a WorldCon.
So far, we’ve had David Weber, Alan Dean Foster, Greg Keyes, Spider Robinson (and wife) and Barbara Hambly as GOHs.
If you’re interested, just let us know! Another Trek-writer… yeah! We could do that!
And again, I promise.. we will NEVER EVER disinvite you!
Posted by: Anonymous at October 20, 2007 06:04 AM
Anonymous: “People with any common sense at all do not volunteer their time to run a convention for free.”
I am a happy capitalist and believe capitalism is superior to its alternatives. But the fact is that there are a great number of vital and worthwhile things that would never get done if a profit motive were the only driving force in our society.
Voluteerism in all its forms is a necessary and wonderful thing. Volunteering to run a convention for free doesn’t represent a lack of common sense. It represents a love for the art form and the industry.
A non-profit convention should be held to standards of fiscal accountability and professionalism, to be sure. But volunteering in and of itself isn’t an inherently bad thing, and I feel badly for anyone who believes otherwise.
Posted by: Kevin Standlee
That’s such a sad thing to say. The entire convention economy is based on hundreds of people donating their time and effort for no cash compensation.
Unfortunately, I fear that this attitude of “you shouldn’t do anything without Getting Paid” is starting to spread. If it becomes more predominant, you can expect that the number of conventions will drastically shrink, and all we’ll have left is a handful of for-profit “shows” (calling them “conventions” does a disservice to those dedicated people who have volunteered themselves for all these years).
Perhaps we’re missing the point/taking things too seriously here?
I well remember the buttons that were floating around Atlanta fandom that said “Friends don’t let friends do WorldCons.”
It’s been my experience that, at some point in the process of running a con (of any size), people start going “Why the hëll am i doing this? And for no money, too?”
Sort of “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps” type thing.
If anyone is still questioning your professionalism for going public – remember this.
“As for his trip to Indonesia, we’ve learned that was cancelled (sic) because the organization which had asked him to perform was not fulfilling its contractual obligations. David is currently in the US.”
– TMZ.com regarding David Copperfield. Yeah, he may be about to be in trouble with the law, but he’s a “real” professional (unlike authors, wink). AND he let it be known why appearances were canceled!!!!
dropping back to oblivion now
I’ve read about this issue elsewhere, and then found Mr. David’s discussion here. I’m quite appalled that a convention or other group would invite someone, say they would pay that person’s expenses, wait until very near the convention, and then tell the person “nope, changed our minds.” What I find still more appalling is the vitriol being spewed by people in Mr. David’s own forum claiming that he is being unprofessional.
Nope. None of that. He is protecting himself and his reputation; he is telling his fans why he will not be at a convention at which he was scheduled to appear; and he is ensuring that later claims that this was all his fault (by fannish revisionists) are debunked now.
If Mr. David wishes to be asked as a guest by other conventions (and, to all accounts, his appearances are very much enjoyed by his fans), he had dámņëd well better make sure that *his* side of the story is public and remembered.
Anyone who says that he should sit quietly and watch his reputation be smeared in order to be a “gentleman” is a dámņëd fool.
(Oh, and I’m one of those idiots who runs conventions in my spare time, for no money.)
Mike Weber noted: I well remember the buttons that were floating around Atlanta fandom that said “Friends don’t let friends do WorldCons.”
There’s a new button in town, Mike. It reads: “Friends don’t let friends run Worldcons. Friends help friends run Worldcons.
Kath,
Having grown up in Springfield I need to ask WHY ANYONE would be looking forward to going there? The only place of worth to visit is the Quadrangle with the Dr Suess memorial (unfortunately constructed after I left).
David,
I’m sure that our local conventions, the ones mentioned by Lee Whiteside, would like you to reconsider the statement that you would no longer consider smaller conventions.
Bob LaPierre
FYI, I was at the bostoncomiccon.com this past weekend, and there were fliers for the United Fan Con on the giveaway table. You are still listed as an attendee. Your picture was on the flier without any indication that they had cancelled your apperance.
> People with any common sense at all do not volunteer their time to run a convention for free.
I beg to differ. Some of us find running conventions a lot more fun than attending them. ^__^
I think Peter has definite cause to be upset, but it could have been much worse IMHO. Imagine if UFC simply did not have the money to pay his expenses AFTER he arrived on-site. “We’re sorry, we failed to pay the hotel its deposit, so we don’t have a room for you. Or half our staff, either. Oh, we can’t cover your travel, either.”
I have been planning/running conventions since 1994, and we would never rescind an offer to a guest, despite the fiscal ramifications of doing so. But then our segment (anime) has been growing as the SF con circuit has been dying. But what upsets me about some of the comments I see is what I like to call “fan ignorance”.
Fans are very quick to criticize events for things out of the events’ control, or for doing things differently than the fans expect. Often, it is because the fans simply have no idea what all is involved in running an event, especially a large one. They also don’t seem to understand that in some cases, especially for new / small events, the organizers are often personally responsible for financial losses. I’ve heard people complain about reg rate increases, saying the staff of our event were “getting rich” off the con — we’re all non-paid volunteers, but try to convince the attendees of that.
I think it’s unfortunate that UFC decided to “uninvite” you in the manner that they did, but don’t assume that they just wanted use of your name for advertising, and now they’re done with you. It sounds like they’re in serious trouble, and are looking to cut expenses until they bleed. Sure, it’s short-sighted of them to cut several quality reliable mid-level guests instead of one demanding headliner, but sometimes you are forced to do things you really don’t want to do.
“I’ve helped run conventions,”
I can confirm that. That so many conventions are run “as a business” is why I no longer attend very many. A convention needs to be run in such a way that receipts equal expenses (at least) with some left over to get the next year’s convention underway. The convention needs to be “word of mouth” worthy, so people will tell other people to come. There needs to be the sense of value gained for the money spent attending.
If you do that, you don’t need the biggest “name” guests or the highest membership fees.
Peter’s been a loyal friend of conventions for as long as I’ve known him (which is getting to be a really long time :-). Treat him right, and he’ll be your friend too.
Looks like this story just hit “Lying in the Gutters.”
Just a heads up.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=13
“Peter David has been having his own interesting issues with the United Fan Con, who invited him as a guest back in April, only for them to disinvite him last week because they hadn’t sold enough of his signatures in advance. Cue, people telling the con that they aren’t coming anymore… “
Ok, I’m lost. Since Peter doesn’t charge for his autographs, what is this guy talking about?
Rich’s report is inaccurate. I don’t charge for autographs. He mixed up several different aspects of the situation.
PAD
Jerry,
That would be referring to the possibility that UFC was going to charge for the autographs, which is different than Peter charging for it. Which might have been a problem with Mr. David when that eventually came out, because I don’t think he’d avoid signing any and all other autograph requests or anything.
To The Lop:
While most people here might not be basketball fans, Springfield is the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame, so there is more things to see there than you suggest.
More importantly you can actually see the BHOF from the highway in front of the hotel where UFC is.
To Jay:
Sorry I forgot about the BHOF. Of course when I last visited it it was before the new location was built. And I forgot that Riverside amusement park is now a “Six Flags”. My apologies to anyone who still lives there. But you could attend something in Northhampton or Amherst and still visit the attractions in Springfield.
Bob
Bob, as a fellow Springfield escapee, I understand where you’re coming from entirely. I go to UFC not to go to back to Springfield, but to hang around with nerd friends for a weekend in a friendly environment. Yes, I’m still going, although I’m not happy about this situation.
Another piece of bad news, BSG’s Aaron Douglas has cancelled his appearance.
I remember the good old days when conventions/fan groups were small and the heavy hand of big business didn’t enter into it.
When you invited a guest he stated a fee and you paid it.
In those days we got Alan Moore turning up in the top room of a pub in Preston showing pages of a new comic called Watchmen he was writing. Sat on a chair with a pint of beer in his hand (IIRC)
Iain Banks chatting to us about The Wasp Factory and his upcoming work Consider Phlebas.
Nearly throwing up on Brian Aldiss while chatting in a corridor.
Ahhh…Happy Days
I suppose nowadays Conventions are all big business and in business deals go sour.
However this one stinks a bit, I think PAD has been treated somewhat shabbily here, and for it to happen twice in a short period of time …
What’s the saying?
“Fool Me Once, Shame On You! Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me!”
or maybe George’s version
“Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
As Peter says, he doesn’t charge for an appearance and makes money of what he sells so to cancel one event in favour of another and then to be dropped means a loss of money.
What about all those who booked on the Strength of Peter’s name, who now can’t get their money back.
Shabby, very Shabby
>Posted by Mark Stansfield at October 23, 2007
>I remember the good old days when >conventions/fan groups were small and the heavy >hand of big business didn’t enter into it.
Yes, I miss those days as well. My main problem with all of this UFC stuff is that this is STANDARD operating procedure for them, they’ve done this kind of thing for years, all the while claiming they are a fan convention.
Let’s continue to advertise a guest that we know won’t be coming so that we can get more memberships. Then when we announce we’ve cancelled the guests, let’s refuse to refund anyone’s money, even though the guest list has changed so drastically that there’s no one from the original list left. Fan cons don’t pull this kind of crap. I don’t care if they’re volunteers or not, you DON’T do this kind of thing.
I’ve helped run conventions in the past, too, as an unpaid volunteer. You do it because you love it and believe in a fan run event, not to make any money. If you are in it to make money, you’re in the wrong profession!
Stuff like this gives true fan cons a bad name, and doesn’t help out anyone at the end of the day. UFC originally started as a fan con called Wishcon, with the proceeds, if any, going to charity. Boy, have they gotten far from that. All they are now is desperate and money hungry, and I for one won’t be sad to see them go down the tubes.
While it would be sad to see one of the few New England cons left go down the tubes, they’ve far outlived their usefulness, and are out for no one but themselves, have been for years now. I speak as someone who attended for many years, then pretty much stopped when they stopped being what they were claiming to be, which is a fan con.
That is incredibly disheartening. I am a huge fan of yours, Mr. David and I have only seen you at a con once. Not even to get a book signed, but to express gratitude in hand-shake form. Living out here in MA would have given me the opportunity to get one of my favorite books signed, and, hëll, maybe even a cool story, but, alas, the convention gods do not know the meaning of professional courtesy or public decency.
If there is a campaign to get you on the bill I’m there. Just let the world know if you’re still interested. Thanks and sorry on behalf of buffoonery.
I had a similar experience last year, and I got lucky that I found another way to the show. The kid’s father was coming for the weekend to stay at the house and visit the kids, and if we weren’t able to be at the show we would have been living in a hotel room in town!
Most shows are run by great people who provide a great experience, but negative experiences can be tough just logisically, but also on the ego. So I empathise (and I think I spelled that wrong).
I got to meet you earlier this year and it was a pleasure. I’ve been a fan for a loong time!
Mark Stansfield wrote:
Actually, I think this makes a false distiction between “fan” and “pro.” As I wrote in my LJ comments on this matter, “amateur” and “professional” are not the same thing as “amateurishly” and “professionally.” They form a 2×2 grid.
Fan-run amateur (“for the love of it”) events can be managed professionally (“in a well-organized manner”, not “by people paid a salary for doing so”). Professional gate shows can be managed very amateruishly (“sloppy, poorly managed, without regard for good practices”). See the distinction?
Mary Dumas writes:
Peter, sorry about you being cancelled, but honestly, you’d be better served attending an Arisia or Boskone than a UFC.
*Looks up hopefully*
I just want to say I totally agree with Mary! PAD should totally go to Arisia. Repeatedly, if possible. Arisia is a wonderful convention, and I’ve heard excellent things about Boskone too.
(I’m also kinda at a loss to figure out why anyone would want to go to UFC w/wo PAD, but I concede that I don’t understand the appeal media cons)
I went to GenCon in 1994 and, while I didn’t do so especially to meet PAD, I did happen to notice on the schedule that he was doing a seminar around lunchtime on one day. Intrigued, as I liked his writing on (at that time) X-Factor and Incredible Hulk (pink bunny slippers, anyone?), I used a couple of generic event tickets to get a seat. Mr. David was late entering the room, but quickly apologized, as he had convinced catering to provide lunch for everyone (pizzas). He then proceeded to show us clips from a film whose screenplay he’d written. I’ll outright say which, but I’ll just say this… suing cons into oblivion? I understand that Oblivion’s not such a nice place 😉
In appreciation,
a fan
see, now this gives us small conventions a bad name. 🙁
we would love to have you with us, but you now have a bad taste in your mouth. maybe we could sweeten it next october with yummy halloween candy? or cake? we’re fond of cake.
you’re always welcome at PhauxCon. 🙂
sorry to hear about this. I found the con fun last year (and had more to offer and was cheaper than say the last creation venture I went too) meeting you peter was a highlight (I actually got so fangirl and shy I didn’t get anything signed.) But from my recollection you were a very personable guest. I found the organizers of that con to be VERY DISORGANIZED. I am glad I did not attend this year.