WorldCon is the generic name given to the World Science Fiction Convention, which is held every year around North America and around the world, usually sometime in late August or early September. When the convention is held out of the North American continent, a NASFiC is usually held in its place there.
I first started attending WorldCons just two years after I really joined SF fandom. Before then, I was certainly a fan of science fiction and fantasy but I wasn’t a full-fledged fan until I started attending SF conventions. (By that time, I was already attending gaming conventions and comics conventions so I considered SF conventions to be just an extension of those. I was very right and very wrong.) That was Chicon IV in Chicago in 1982. It was a real eye-opener, the biggest SF convention I attended to date.
Whatever I discovered there, it certainly was enough that I wanted to attend more, and become more involved. By the time the Chicon V bidding committee was up and promoting the convention in 1986, I was helping. I helped smuggle 20 lbs. of Oreo cookies into Britain for the big party at Conspiracy in Brighton, England, in 1987. (Milk and cookies for the party, how American.) I worked other WorldCon bids, most especially the Chicon 2000 bid at both the 1999 NASFiC convention and the 1999 WorldCon.
To this date, I have attended the following WorldCons:
- Chicon IV — Chicago, IL
- LA Con II — Los Angeles
- ConFederation — Atlanta, GA
- Conspiracy — Brighton, England
- Nolacon II — New Orleans, LA
- Noreascon 3 — Boston, MA
- Chicon V — Chicago, IL
- Conadian — Winnepeg, BC
- Intersection — Glasgow, Scotland
- LA Con III — Los Angeles, CA
- Conucopia — Los Angeles, CA (NASFiC)
- Aussiecon — Melbourne, Australia
- Chicon 2000 — Chicago, IL
- Nippon 2007 — Yokohama, Japan
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