LostCarPark's Journal

It's been a while since I've posted anything under this topic, but I've been busy. I guess part of the reason for this is that I've reached the point where there's not a lot to say about GUFF in general terms, and it's getting into the specifics of my trip. It's also hard to comment on the plans I'm making when it could all turn pear shaped when the trip actually starts. However, I feel for that very reason, now is a good time to talk about my intentions. Then I can see how they compare to what actually happens.

Part 8 - Planning

More or less the first thing I did after finding out I was the GUFF delegate was to check out the visa situation, since if there was likely to be any problem getting into the country. Fortunately, providing you're an EU citizen, it's pretty straightforward these days. For Australia, you must apply for a "eVisitor" online. This is free, and is normally granted in about 24 hours. For New Zealand it's even easier, as EU citizens can travel for holidays without a visa.

The next thing was to check I could get the time off work. There were raised eyebrows at me taking my entire year's holidays in a single block, but in the end it was no problem. I wanted to go to Au Contraire before Aussiecon, so a week an New Zealand followed by 3 weeks in Australia seemed a logical breakdown.

I also started talking to as many previous fan fund winners as I could, and got lots of helpful advice. Ang, Sue Ann and James Bacon in particular have been hugely helpful. I also got a number of offers of places to stay during the trip, which was also fantastic.

I felt it would be a good idea to get my main flights booked as soon as I could, so I at least had the main part of the trip nailed down. I looked at lots of options from various airlines. I did toy with the idea of trying to do a round the world trip, but that didn't seem to be practical, and these days it's best not to travel through the US unless necessary, as I really don't want to end up on the wrong side of Homeland Security.

There were some fairly cheap options for flights to Australia, but the tricky part seemed to be the New Zealand leg. In the end, the best deal seemed to be to book with Quantas as a multi-stop trip. While they were a little more expensive for an Australia only journey, they were a lot cheaper than any combination of flights I managed to find. It should also mean that if anything goes wrong with my flight connection, it's the Airline's fault and they have to look after me.

The next step was planning what to do when I get there. I'll go into my plans for the conventions later. For now I'll talk about what I'm doing around them.

Norman Cates, a former DUFF delegate, was very generous in offering to put me up when I arrive in Wellington. Hopefully I'll get to meet some of New Zealand fans in the run up to Au Contraire,

I would have liked to go to lots of places in Australia. Sydney is the obvious choice, though only really for touristy reasons. However, I was advised that the biggest fan community outside Melbourne was Perth, so a stop-over there seemed a must. I also felt it would be nice to catch up with old friends Damien and Juliette as their 2005 trip was one of the things that sparked my interest in GUFF. After that there really wasn't time for any more stop-offs.

Sue Ann suggest I come to the monthly meeting of MUGS, the Melbourne LEGO Users Group, so keen to forge more links between LEGO and SF fans, I readily agreed.

Booking internal flights in Australia was pretty easy, and reasonably cheap. I hope that JetStar are nicer than Ryanair (I think I've flown with Ryanair enough that I doubt anything will surprise me).

One thing I'm quite pleased about is that my flight on the way out is on a 747 (operated by BA - I hope they don't go on strike), while on the way back I'm on a A380 super-jumbo. I haven't been on either before, so getting to experience the two largest passenger planes on the same trip should be interesting.

I've outlined my itinerary below.

Sat 21 Aug: Arrive in Heathrow, depart for Wellington
I've a few hours in Heathrow. Anyone fancy meeting for a pint there?

Mon 23 Aug: Arrive in Wellington

Fri 27 Aug-Mon 29 Aug
Au Contraire

Tue 31 Aug: Depart Wellington, arrive in Melbourne

Thu 2 Sep-Mon 6 Sep
Aussiecon 4

Tue 7 Sep-Wed 8 Sep
Melbourne

Thu 9 Sep-Sun 12 Sep
Adelaide

Sun 12 Seo-Tue 14 Sep
Melbourne

Wed 15 Sep-Sat 18 Sep
Perth

Sun 19 Sep
Depart Melbourne

Mon 20 Sep
Arrive Dublin

I really meant to post this before the following Friday, but better late than never...

Was up at 4am on Friday morning, and ready to depart by 4:30 when the phone rings. Problem at work - not a good sign. Ask them to call back in 10 mins so we can get on the road. They do and I'm on the phone for half an hour while my dear sister drives to the airport. Get to the bottom of the problem, which is fortunately caused by someone else doing something stupid. Get to airport in plenty of time, and have uneventful flight to Heathrow.

Arrive in Radisson before 9 and enquire at reception "I know it's way too early, but I wonder what time my room might be ready?" "Let me check. Oh, it's ready now, sir." Head down for a shower, and leave feeling fresh. Only later learn that lots of people are left waiting till late afternoon for their rooms.

After picking up membership pack, head to bar and meet other early arrivers. Bridget wanders by and mentions Ops are looking for volunteers. I express interest and am escorted to control centre where I sign up for several stints.

I wander about the hotel, exploring the non euclidian geometry. I'm sure I take four consecutive right turns, walking approximately distances between them, but end up in a completely different part of the hotel. I end up at the art show, which is still setting up, but already looks amazing.

I pop into a couple of programme items, and before long it's time to go back for my first stint as Ops support. This proves very interesting, mainly involving sitting at the desk dealing with people's problems, usually by asking the Ops manager what I should do. I also learn that one should not volunteer for a block unless someone has already voluntteered for the one immediately after. My two hour stint turns into nearly four. I didn't mind as I was enjoying myself.

We closed Ops for the opening ceremony, which left me with a good feeling for the weekend. I then went on to the 2014 UK Worldcon bid launch, where it was announced that the location was going to be the Excel centre on London's docklands. This was accompanied by free wine, so all was well. Then it was back to the bar to chat with fans until far too late in the night. I did also pop into the caeleigh, but the linking arms and swinging around didn't look like a good idea in a cast.

Saturday morning came around far too early, but I struggled out of bed and made it down to breakfast. Filling myself with enough bacon to last past lunchtime.

I spent a while flitting in and out of programme items, exploring the dealer's room and did a stint on the 2014 Worldcon table. Then it was time for my shift in Ops, which proved a great way to get to know people. Fortunately this time I was safe as there was someone scheduled right after me.

Of course, there's no getting away from the highlight of Saturday night: Doctor Who. My first impression of the new doctor was pretty good, but watching in a room packed with nearly a thousand other fans can cause a loss of objectivity. I have a good feeling about Matt Smith, though.

I caught some of the Cabaret, which looked fantastic, but had to leave as we were setting up the fan fund auction. This started a little slow, but picked up as more people arrived, and items began to fetch better prices. Determined to embarrass me, Alison asked me to model a corset, I couldn't confuse, could I? I'm not sure whether it's more embarrassing to wear it, or that it failed to raise a single bid. Alison told me after that it never does. There were a few impressive sales the highlight being a fanzine produced for Corflu, signed by most of the contributors, which fetched a jaw-dropping £100.

I did pop into the New Romantics disco a few times and even had a bit of a dance, but I was mainly talking toot in the bar. I must have talked a lot of toot, as it was past 4am when I got to sleep.

Sunday morning, and I struggle out to breakfast. I'm just wolfing down the last round of toast when I idly wonder what time I'm supposed to be in Ops. I mention this, and someone says I should check as it would be really bad to be late. I head back to my room, but my key has stopped working, so I hurry up to ops. Fortunately I'm not due till later, but that's about to change. "James, we're stuck for someone to be Ops Manager at 11:30, could you do it?" "Okay," I say, without really thinking about it.

If I'd thought about it, I'd have realised this slot was the bid session for the next two Eastercons, which I might have liked to attend. Oh well, it was a promotion. I discover lots of things I don't know, and Marion on Ops support is new to the role too. Still, we muddle through, with others available whenever we get stuck.

I finish my session with a pile of groats (the convention currency) and a lovely blue shirt (the convention had Star Trek style shirts, yellow for committee, blue for ops, tech and a few others, and red for the poor gophers).

Shortly after I head to the green room to prepare for the GUFF panel with Ang and Doug. We head to room 12, hidden in a dark corner of the hotel. Ang talks a little about her trip, and embarrassing moments in New Zealand. Then Doug and I respond to questions from Ang, the audience and the Twitterverse. It seems to go well. We talked about our thoughts about fan funds in general and GUFF in particular, our trip plans if we win and what we'll do if we don't. But all that deserves a post of its own.

I take a break from the con and nip next door to McDonalds as I can't face another meal in the hotel. Then, back for Mitch Benn, an amazing comedian and sci-fi fan. He strikes up a great rapport with the fans.

Next is the Steampunk ball, featuring a live and very steampunky band. There are lots of great costumes on show, and we are asked to have a cheer-off to select our favourite.

Speaking of costumes, there were dozens of excellent costumes on show over the weekend. My personal favourite was the Doctor and Captain Jack, but there were many others including a transformer and a strange and slightly scary fox creature. There was also a masquerade on Saturday, though personally I find masquerades a little too formal and stuffy.

On Monday I did another stint in Ops, and popped into several more programme items, and hung around the dealers room, twisting people's arms to vote in GUFF, assisted by a couple of very kind and helpful campaigners.

I then joined a group for another excursion to McDonalds, who must have done well out of us over the weekend. We had an interesting discussion about future Eastercons over dinner.

When I got back it was nearly time to head to the airport, so I started my tour of the hotel to say goodbye to everyone. Until the next one, that is.

Part 5 - So what's this about an election?

In previous instalments I talked about GUFF, the Gone-Under/Get-up-and-Over Fan Fund, hinting that the delegate is chosen by their peers. Now, I feel it time to explain how this works.

To start with, candidates must be nominated to stand for the election by a total of five fans. Three of the nominators must be on the candidates own continent, and two from the destination. The nominators are important, since fans who don't know the candidates will look to see who nominated them.

Once a candidate has agreement from their nominators, they lodge a bond of £15 with the current administrator, and write a short platform about themselves to tell people why they out to vote for them. This appears on the ballot form.

After that, candidates are expected to publicly say what fine upstanding folk their rivals are, while secretly plotting their untimely demise. Of course all candidates hire personal bodyguards to ensure these plans never come to pass.

But back to the election, where fans now have ballot papers. In order to vote, fans must have been active in fandom for a reasonable amount of time. Active in fandom is considered to mean attending conventions or doing other fanish things. Voters may have to give the name of another person known to the administrators who can vouch for them. Although individual votes will not be made public or revealed to the candidates, voters must identify themselves to the administrator, so it's a sort of semi-secret ballot.

The ballot papers will list the names of all candidates who have been properly nominated, plus a couple of extras. The first is "hold over fund", who should be voted for if both candidates make your blood boil, and you don't want either to make the trip. The second is called "no preference", who should be voted for if you think both are lovely, and you don't mind which one goes, or if you just can't decide.

Rather than just ticking the box, you should number votes, with 1 for the person or entity you like best, and so on.

In the old days this was all done on paper, but thanks to the magic of the interweb, you can now do it all online. Of course paper votes are still valid too.

To win the election, a candidate must achieve at least 50% of the total number of votes. If nobody achieves this from first preference votes, the candidate with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated, and the second preference from their ballots will be counted and added to the other candidates first preference votes. This continue until a candidate has majority of the valid votes.

These elections have been an important feature of fan funds from the early days, and since votes must be accompanied by a donation, it gives the candidates a good incentive to get their friends to vote for them, boosting the fund. And a little friendly rivalry between candidates makes it interesting.

Once the election is over and the results announced, a candidate becomes the GUFF delegate until their trip is complete when they become the administrator and the cycle starts again.

Part 3: Where does the money come from?

In parts 1 and 2 I talked about GUFF and how it works and what the winner's responsibilities are.

But the question which naturally follows is who pays for it all?

And the short answer is "you do" (you being fans of science fiction).

This, of course, prompts you to ask, "why would I want to do that?"

Perhaps you'll allow me to give the longer answer first.

The fund actually comes from several sources. The first is directly from fans when they vote for their preferred candidate (or vote for one of the alternatives, which I'll cover in a later instalment). Each vote must be accompanied by a donation to the fund, with the current minimum being £5, or the local currency equivalent, though larger donations are not discouraged. This may form a relatively small portion of the fund, but it forms an important principal that by voting you support the candidate to get selected, and the eventual winner to make the trip.

The next source is from the sale of trip reports. Next time you are at a big convention, look for the fan fund table, which will be loaded high with mighty tomes going back to the early days. Pick a few up and feast in the old school production values. And then buy some. For the fund! Again the actual sums of money from trip reports may not be great, but the principal is vital.

After that we get down to actual fund raising, which mainly takes the form of fan auctions. The tradition is that you donate some stuff you don't want to the auction, then go along and bid on a load of other stuff you don' want (and maybe occasionally some that you do), but you don't mind because it's for the fund. Next time around you'll have realised you didn't want the stuff, and you donate it back so the cycle can continue.

Other fund raising ideas come along from time to time, such as Ang's "name the amusingly shaped potato" competition at Novacon.

Finally, as mentioned in the last episode, two bodies known as FANAC and SCIFI pay bounties upon completion of a trip report. This is quite a considerable sum, especially if the report is finished within a reasonable time after the trip (a good idea, while it's still fresh in memory). This is obviously of great benefit to the fund.

I think an important concern when planning a trip is to ensure the fund is not depleted by more than can comfortably be replenished before the next trip, and previous administrators have done a fantastic job of keeping the fund in good shape for their successors.

Part 1: So what is a fan fund anyway?



Recently I got chatting with a friend who I meet at conventions because he comes with his wife, but he doesn't consider himself a science fiction fan. I mentioned GUFF, and tried to explain what it is. I could tell by the look on his face that I wasn't doing a very good job. So I hope I can do a better one here.


Let's start with a little history. It all started back in the 1950s when some UK fans decided it would be nice to send their mate Walt Willis to a Worldcon in Chicago.


Back in 1952, transatlantic travel for something as frivolous as a holiday was something that only the very wealthy, so Walt must have been pretty well respected by the fanish community. But to show that respect was well placed, Walt felt he shouldn't just turn up and party (though I'm sure he did plenty of partying while he was there).


Instead, he went out of way to do as much to help with the convention as he could. And when he came back, he filled several fanzines with his report from the convention. Remember, this was long before the internet, so fanzines were the only way people got to hear about far away conventions. It was also before desktop publishing and cheap photocopying, so fanzine production was a slow, mechanical process involving typewriters and Letraset, and nasty chemical processes to produce stencils, and turning the handle on the Gestetner machine yourself. There wasn't just ink on the pages, there was blood (hopefully just metaphorical blood, not actual blood, though paper cuts can be a killer).


Take a look at some of those old fanzines. On one level they look rubbish compared to the professional look you can run off in a couple of hours with a modern DTP package, but when you look deeper and realise the effort that went into them they really are amazing.


But I digress. The Americans really enjoyed having Walt, so it was decided to make it a regular event. But who to send? They decided to have an election. Fans could put themselves forward, and by making a donation to their travel fund, their peers could vote for their preferred candidate.
A couple more Europeans went to America before it settled into a pattern of alternating directions on alternate years that it follows to this day, with Robert Madle the first American to make a fan fund trip to Eurpoe in 1957.

The fan fund was born, and pretty soon it became known as the trans-Atlantic fan fund, or TAFF. It was also widened from UK/America to Europe/America, and other countries to have been represented over the years include Ireland, Sweden and Jersey (which is not actually part of the UK).


The Down Under Fan Fund, or DUFF. alternately sending fans between the US and Australia was the next major fan fund, and this was followed by GUFF, which stands for either Going Under Fan Fund or Get Up-and-over Fan Fund, sending fans between Europe and Australia.


There are other smaller funds, such as CUFF, the Canadian Fan Fund, which sends fans fans from one side of that great country to the other. There have also been one-off funds, such as JET, which sent a UK fan to the Japanese Worldcon in 2007.


So that, in a nutshell, is what fan funds are. In my next instalment I will tackle the thorny question my good friend retorted with.