RE: World Science Fiction Convention 2021
Irene > December 21st, 2021, 09:52 AM
Keeping count of attendance was almost impossible. Probably partially my fault, as I didn't keep proper records of the pre-printed pre-con labels I put on badges. Maybe they kept count of badges?
I volunteered at Registration on Tuesday (we never opened) and Wednesday 8AM (lines across the hotel from end to end) until the lines ended around 7PM. They didn't have any lines the rest of the convention, and (to my eyes) most of the people were pre-registered.
A better count would be the number of seats used at the Masquerade. I'd say that half of the seats were taken. Maybe as much as 2/3. Since I had a seat among the assistance needed people, (I'm getting deaf in my senior years,) I can only estimate. Hmm 10-15 seats per row, 20 rows, 8 sections.... About 2000 people? And there was no real line to get in.
No crowds. Always plenty of seats in the Restaurant. The only "crowd" was in the Staff Den when the lunches were late.
The panels I attended, had pretty full rooms: shoe construction, 'But does it have pockets?', watercolor class, "Judging a Book by it's cover", Webb telescope, The mission to "push" an asteroid out of orbit (brain freeze).
AND with some panels being ONLY virtual, I have no way of counting the registrants who were virtual only.
In fact that "only virtual" meant that I couldn't attend "The Magician's Butler Did It" the only real problem with the convention was that (I couldn't find or ) there weren't viewing rooms for the Virtual only panels.