Eastercon Wiki (original) (raw)

Welcome[]

This website aims to collate knowledge from people who have helped run the popular not-for-profit science fiction convention known as "Eastercon".

It also has information for those of you wanting to attend Eastercon.

If you want to take part in a discussion about the future of Eastercons, and the sort of things that might be useful to carry forward from year to year, then there's a discussion going on on the Friends of Eastercon (IA) site.

News[]

A 2026 bid is in preparation

Eastercon Accounts from 5 recent Eastercons now available.

There is a bid for Eastercon 2024

The decision on Eastercon 2023 has been delayed as 69% of votes were for holdover in a fraught bid session.

Reclamation won a virtual bidding session to hold the 2022 Eastercon in the South of England.

ConFusion won a virtual bidding session to hold the 2021 Eastercon at the Birmingham NEC Metropole

Concentric, the 2020 Eastercon, has been cancelled because of the Coronavirus.

Thanks to Mark Plummer John has scanned in the Eastercon programme archive, 31 programme books and 47 PRs from Whitcon to BECCON ’87, and uploaded them to Fancyclopedia (IA). 1880 pages, done on an HP all-in-one printer with sheet feeder I just bought for £30. HP think they’ll make their money on Instant Ink, the fools…

The wiki has been ported from Alex's machine to Fandom (was Wikia), http://www.eastercon.org points to http://eastercon.fandom.com

For the moment, the easiest thing to do is click on Recent Changes in the navigation menu to the left of the screen.

We try to keep news of bids and any major changes (new guests, change of hotel) on this front page.

We're looking for new articles and new areas to write about, so if you have any questions, suggestions, or want to update or edit any of the articles (or want to write new stuff), then please get in touch!

Do you want to help?[]

Due to the large number of spam accounts that were being set up, to be added as an editor/writer, please email me (Chris O'Shea) at chris.oshea@gmail.com and I'll set you up with an account.

In the meantime I'm collecting lists of pages to update, and ideas for new pages ... so even if you don't want to write it yourself, please email me a the same address and I'll add it to the request list below ...

Work in Progress/Stuff to do!

What is an Eastercon?[]

Eastercon is the annual British National Science Fiction Convention. It has been held over the Easter weekend every year since 1955. Before 1955 it was usually held over the Whitsun weekend.

Eastercon attracts 800-1,200 fans of Science Fiction, Fantasy and similar genres. Programme events usually include a fancy dress competition, an Art Show, a large Dealers Room selling books and other items, panels, quizzes, workshops, competitions and talks. Items range from hard science through writing workshops to the fun and silly. People are encouraged to take part.

Because it is considered to be a place for fans to meet and take part, rather than sit and listen to presentations, it's a convention and not a conference. Similarly when you pay your money to take part, you buy a membership in Eastercon and not a ticket.

The current cost of attending an Eastercon is approximately £50-£60 British pounds for the membership (discounts are usually available for the unwaged and for those younger than a certain age) plus you will have to pay for your own food and accommodation. Most people stay in the convention hotel and special lower room rates are negotiated.

If this sounds fun, then start by looking at Membership. If you are tempted to run an Eastercon, then start with Departments

Future Eastercons[]

Past Eastercons[]

Recent[]

Before 2008[]

Full list of previous Eastercons

Reproducing old Eastercon publications

Fancyclopedia's gateway article on Eastercons in fannish history (IA). The conventions there have a treasure trove of PRs, newsletters, ReadMes, Programme and Souvenir books.

Fanac.org have a good selection of photos and reports (IA) from 1973 to 2000.

Archived websites[]

Traditions[]

Eastercons have many traditions

Advice on attending an Eastercon[]

Do it! Membership, We Do It Differently Here

Advice on running an Eastercon[]

See the advice section for tips on bidding, adding fun and many other areas of Eastercon convention running

General Eastercon articles[]

Caroline Mullan's thoughts

Evolution did a survey of Eastercon attendees' demographics in 1996 (John has preserved the web pages in case the Internet Archive loses them)

The EightSquaredCon committee blog (IA) discusses how they ran their event, with general articles on Eastercon 2023 etc

How do I edit this Wiki[]

Create a Fandom.com account, or talk to Chris O'Shea or Pat McMurray.

To backup visit Admin Dashboard/Advanced/Wiki data and tools/Statistics, and request a dump. Wait a few days and download