I've always been deeply ambivalent about World Fantasy: The programming is almost always excellent (where "excellent"="stuff I like"); on the other hand, WFC makes Readercon look whimsical and egalitarian by comparison. Readercon is only accidentally elitist as a by-product of its focus and emphasis; WFC is elitist by design.
In other ways, WFC is among the least elitist conventions I've been to. Everybody hangs out in the Con Suite (which is much better than the Green Room), parties that are often invitational elsewhere are open there, etc.
Not surprising; once you've set things up to make certain that only (or at any rate mostly) the right people† can get in, everybody who's there is part of the "in" crowd.
†Which is to say, sf/fantasy professionals and their associates. I've heard repeated rumors over the years -- admittedly without substantiation -- that the purpose of the WFC membership cap is as much to keep the number of just-fans attending as low as possible as it is to keep the convention at a manageable size, and that for A-list people the cap is not necessarily a problem.
Looking at the membership list, there are a handful of people that would probably recognize me and say hello, but not more than that; there are another few who might remember meeting me with prompting. Eh.
WFC has usually not hit the cap, so it didn't have much effect.
The membership rate is kept high so that only people who are seriously interested in attending do so.
There are constraints that affect pros that other conventions don't have; for instance, a limit of one program item (except for GoHs).
I wouldn't be surprised if certain people can join even after the cap is reached; however, I believe the number of such people is fairly low (and the number who actually do is even lower). I don't think any convention would turn away Stephen King.
The problem I had at the WFC I attended was that for 90% of the people I tried to talk to, the minute I said that I wasn't a writer, they lost interest in talking to me. The people who would talk to me were great, but it was still a bit of a downer.
2009-08-14 04:46 (UTC) [T+00:47:00]
00:46 (malkingrey's time)
2009-08-14 13:18 (UTC) [T+09:18:30]
08:18 (sethb's time)
2009-08-14 14:12 (UTC) [T+10:12:40]
10:12 (bunsen_h's time)
2009-08-14 14:25 (UTC) [T+10:25:56]
10:25 (malkingrey's time)
†Which is to say, sf/fantasy professionals and their associates. I've heard repeated rumors over the years -- admittedly without substantiation -- that the purpose of the WFC membership cap is as much to keep the number of just-fans attending as low as possible as it is to keep the convention at a manageable size, and that for A-list people the cap is not necessarily a problem.
2009-08-14 14:48 (UTC) [T+10:49:05]
10:48 (ckd's time)
2009-08-14 17:31 (UTC) [T+13:31:51]
12:31 (sethb's time)
The membership rate is kept high so that only people who are seriously interested in attending do so.
There are constraints that affect pros that other conventions don't have; for instance, a limit of one program item (except for GoHs).
I wouldn't be surprised if certain people can join even after the cap is reached; however, I believe the number of such people is fairly low (and the number who actually do is even lower). I don't think any convention would turn away Stephen King.
2009-08-15 12:12 (UTC) [T+1d08:12:23]
08:12 (readsalot's time)