Why are the membership rates so high?
Do volunteers and program participants have to buy memberships?
Why isn’t the program finalised yet?
What is the convention program going to offer?
When is the next PR due?
What’s Voice of the Platypus?
When can we book hotel rooms?
Are you providing any child care facilities?
Are you providing tourist help for overseas or interstate visitors?
 

Q: Why are the membership rates so high?

A: Historically-speaking the membership cost of Aussiecon Three is rather high. But this can be explained by the necessity for the convention committee to factor in the high cost of the convention facilities.  Hotels in Australia with, or attached to, convention sites do not generally provide discounts for site rental based on hotel room bookings.

For North American fans coming to the convention, if they buy an attending membership before the start of the convention, we can assume that the cost of that membership will be less than 10% of the total cost of the trip to Australia.

On the Australian side, fans are regularly holding conventions in this country where they charge over $A100 for a two-day event, with few facilities and limited events.  We will be holding a five-day convention which will probably run close to 20 hours per day. So we felt that our value-per-dollar ratio would be higher.  For Australian fans this will still be the cheapest possible Worldcon they can ever hope to attend.

Given that, we erred on the side of fiscal responsibility and aimed for a high initial rate which we would hold steady for as long as we could.  The one thing you have to remember is that all membership fees will be put towards the cost of running the con.  The bottom line is that we had to make a decision on the rate using the best arguments we could come up with.
 

Q: Do volunteers and program participants have to buy memberships?

A: Yes, it is the policy of the convention that no free memberships will be provided (other than our Guests of Honour) to anyone prior to the convention. This includes the Executive committee, the Board and everyone who works on the convention.  After the convention’s finances are finalised membership refunds will be allocated in accordance with standard Worldcon practice
 

Q: Why isn’t the program finalised yet?

A: Given that we are still a year out from the con, programming is just starting to get underway.  It is standard practice with cons of this sort to start at this time.  Even now we cannot be certain of who is actually attending.  The purchase of an attending membership by anyone does not necessarily imply their physical presence.  Most authors, editors, artists etc will only make their plans for Aussiecon Three after the 1998 Worldcon.  It is only then that we can approach them to appear on the program.   It has always been the plan of this committee that the organisation of the program would not start in earnest until mid-1998
 

Q: What is the convention program going to offer?

A: We will be providing approx 3 or 4 streams of programming at any one time (with a few exceptions), as well as gaming rooms, large dealers rooms, an Internet lounge, video programming amongst other things.  The main items on the program will include the Guest of Honour speeches, the Hugo Awards Ceremony, and a Masquerade.  We have people working on items detailing the History of Australian Fandom, and the History of Australian SF.  There will be exhibits , an Art Show and a Fan lounge to help fill in the hours between interesting items on the program.
 

Q: When is the next PR due?

A:  Our current publishing schedule calls for PR 3 to be printed and posted at the start of December 1998.  Australian and New Zealand members will receive their copies before the New Year. This progress report will include the Hugo Award Nomination form and the Hotel booking form. PR 4 will be published in April 1999 and will include the Hugo Award Ballot and Site Selection ballot.
 

Q: What is Voice of the Platypus?

A: VotP is the official newsletter of Aussiecon Three which has been designed to provide information about the convention to non-members who may not have been in contact with us before.  In general it is distributed to Australian bookshops and libraries and contains information that has been included in previous Progress reports or on one of the web pages.
 

Q: When can we book hotel rooms?

A:  We are now (mid-October 1998) very close to finalising the hotel booking arrangements with the group of hotels we will be utilising. In order to expedite the booking and to reduce the workload on the convention committee we will be utilising the services of an accommodation agency.   If you intend to contact any hotels directly to book a room, they may well take your booking but we will be unable to guarantee that the room rate will be anything close to the substantial discount we are currently negotiating.
 

Q: Are you providing any child care facilities?

A:  Due to Legal, Health and Safety and Insurance requirements in Australia, it will not be possible for the convention to provide a fan-run creche or child-care facility.  To cater for this we are therefore investigating the possibility of "out-sourcing" the running of the creche to a professional, licensed child-care organisation.  Our aim in this regard, is to provide the best service we can for the cheapest possible outlay.  A number of members of the committee, including the convention’s Chair, have a vested interest in seeing this facility run to the highest possible standard.
 

Q: Are you providing tourist help for overseas or interstate visitors?

A: We will do the best we can to help out but we will not be arranging or sanctioning any tour groups for the convention.  There are a number of tourism links already added to this web site, and we are always on the lookout for more.  We have negotiated a substantial discount for overseas travellers through United Airlines and you can find details of this on the Travel page.
 

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Aussiecon 3 Webmaster: Tim Richards.  Website queries: webmaster@aussiecon3.worldcon.org.  General queries: info@aussiecon3.worldcon.org