If I'm running a business, and it goes belly-up, or fails to show a
profit, if I then turn to the people who put up the money for it and said,
"Well, sorry, but after all, we're just amateurs," they'd nail my feet to the
floor and beat the crap outta me. And they'd be right in doing so.

So far a number of people have come forth to say, frankly, that the
WorldCons *do* suffer from frequent mismanagement, waste, the lack of
continuity, and the fact that as "amateurs" they can't be expected to run
things well.

This is a defense...? In what alternate universe?

Wouldn't it be smart, for instance, if the WorldCon committee hired an
outside business consultant, someone who *wasn't* an amateur, who could work
with each individual committee to provide continuity between cons, advise on
areas where mistakes had been made before, and suggest ways in which the cons
might be made to run more efficiently, and profitably, and sensibly? The cost
of such an advisor would be *minimal* compared to the funds recouped by a
leaner, more efficient, and more profitable operation. You'd make back that
fee a hundred fold. If there's general agreement that there *are* problems,
why not address them and fix them, instead of making the fan and pro
communities pay for the continuance of the problem?

(And yes, I have heard that LACon *will* be comping memberships for
participating pros, which by itself takes care of the assertion that it cannot
be done. Obviously it *can* be done. I know that some involved have gotten a
lot of email because of the discussion here, echoed on other nets, and I don't
know if it's had an impact, but either way, it's a Good Thing.)

Fans of the SF genre tend to describe those outside the genre as
"mundanes," and pride themselves on being smarter than the general population
(which is, to varying extents, probably true)...doesn't it seem strange that a
fan community which prides itself on being technologically and scientifically
smarter, on being on the leading edge of computer tech and genetics and other
areas, would choose to remain uninformed or less than capable about financial
areas? If the same attention were put on this area, as is on the others, all
parties concerned would be better served.

jms