I would venture that there has been some change in the tone and
attitude of some conventions over the years, not always favorable. Now,
bear in mind, I've been a fan of SF for all my life, I've gone to cons
for well over 15 years as Just Another Guy, so in some of this I have my
Fanboy hat on, though from time to time my Producerboy hat may slip on
as well.

There are some conventions I never miss; LosCon here in LA, and San
Diego Comic Con, because both have a sense of real fun about them, and
the people running them are generally swell (absent one or two years of
LosCon when, I dunno, something went weird at the ConCom level). As a
rule, Westercon is great, Icon is great, and though I haven't had that
much exposure to Chicago ComicCon, that seems pretty nifty as well.

But over the years, at some other conventions (not all of them, but
a growing number), you start to run into a problem in fan/pro
relationships. One convention I know of (no names) didn't bother to send
out invitations to the pros or offer guest passes because "Well, they
always come every year ANYway, so why spend the money on stamps? BECAUSE
IT'S POLITE TO BE ASKED, YOU NUMBSKULL. Consequently, a number of pros
passed and didn't come.

I've had a real problem with a couple of recent WorldCons, where I
shelled out my own money as a pro with a whole lotta TV SF credits to
fly up, paid for my own room, transportation, everything...and was told
upon arrival that even having done all this, and after they'd used my
name to bring in more people, they WOULDN'T EVEN GIVE ME A GUEST PASS to
the convention. I had to pay to get in. When they pulled this one on me
in San Francisco, I chewed those involved several new orifices, and only
went to the one panel I really wanted to do, and otherwise said "screw
it."

More and more, it seems, conventions which rely on pros to draw
attendees adopt a give-a-shit attitude toward those pros, as though tyey
(they) are *expected* to perform, and should be happy for the chance to
appear anywhere. I cannot tell you the number of calls I get from people
putting cons together *right now* that explain, "Yes, we want you as our
GoH, but you'll have to pay your own way at every step," often including
buying admission. When you protest, they get snippy and say, "Well, you
know, we're doing this for YOUR benefit, to give you exposure to your
show to the fans, we're doing you a favor."

At which point I usually hang up the phone hard enough to shatter
phone lines from here to New Orleans.

Now let me repeat...this is not the standard, but it has been
happening enough, and growing, that a lot of pros are having second
thoughts about the whole convention idea. A number of 'em just won't go
anymore...and where that's unfortunate is that it hurts the goodly number
of great conventions put on by terrific people, and there are many.

It's caused me to be very selective in the conventions I attend, and
I work hard with my cast, who are new to all this, to try and help them
avoid any that I know are going to be trouble.

I'm not sure what the root of the problem is, whether it's some fans
taking pros for granted, or the growth of cons as Big Business rather than
just a chance to have fun and hang out, or what. So I can't even begin to
describe what needs to be done, only to agree with Paul that there is a
problem, but to disagree with him on the notion that there aren't good ones
out there. Yes, you can be taken advantage of, and that happens more than
it should in every area, and SF cons are no exception. But I don't think
it's time yet to throw the proverbial baby out with the proverbial
bathwater.

jms