Natcon running guide

This article is intended to provide a Natcon running guide to inform and assist potential and future Australian National SF Conventions.

Responsibilities of the Convention

• make and win an informal bid for the Natcon at the Natcon Business Meeting two years prior to the Convention (per the Natcon Constitution)
  • notification of this bid should be made to the chair of the Standing Committee of the Natcon Business Meeting in sufficient time to be included in the agenda of the meeting
• provide a member to the Standing Committee of the Natcon Business Meeting which is either the Chair of the Convention or a representative of the Chair, for the three year period beginning one year before and ending one year after the Convention
• provide a venue, programming slot (traditionally three hours in length), and minor administrative support if needed (e.g. printing of agendas) for the Natcon Business Meeting.
• advertise the Ditmar nomination form and ballot, and make ballots available to eligible voters (including the previous Natcons members)
  • Note: it has become traditional to snailmail Ditmar Ballots only to those eligible voters who have not supplied an email address
• make identity and contact information of its members available to both the current and succeeding years Ditmar committee for purposes of informing and confirming Ditmar voting.
  • Note: making this information available may be something that requires careful harmonization with your conventions privacy policy
• produce trophies and certificates
  • Ties are possible, so you may need to create more trophies than there are awards, or have the capability to create additional trophies as needed after the event.
• include a number of non-Ditmars Awards in the ceremony, including the A. Bertram Chandler and the Norma K. Hemming Awards (ASFF Awards) and the Peter McNamara Achievement Award. These awards are not organised by the Natcon Standing Committee or in any way part of the Ditmars, but the Natcon awards ceremony is when they are traditionally awarded;
• provide pins (a large number of which were produced in 2010 and are available through the Standing Committee) to all Ditmar award nominees. Pins are held by Paul Ewins, who was 2010 Natcon Dudcon chair.
• organise to post out uncollected awards
• provide for the handing-on of the Natcon gavel to a representative of the following year's Natcon, traditionally at the Convention closing ceremony
• present reports of the progress and status of the Natcon Business Meeting for the three years beginning the year prior to the Convention

Things the Convention Committee should remember

• Contact Awards finalists (ie. people who appear, or whose work appears, on the ballot) to ensure they are present or have a representative present at the ceremony to collect any relevant physical awards
• Ensure uncollected physical awards (eg. trophies, certificates, finalist pins etc.) are delivered to their winners promptly

Responsibilities of the Standing Committee of the Business Meeting

• manage the evolution of the Natcon Constitution and rules under that Constitution including the Ditmar rules and the Natcon Standing Committee Rules
• assist in the management of an eligibility list
• produce a nomination form
• collect and collate nominations
• produce a ballot
• collect and collate votes
• assist the Convention regarding Natcon matters
• assist the Convention regarding general Convention matters (eg. Accessibility)

Other Resources

The Ditmar running guide provides information, especially timeline information, that may be useful to both the convention committee and the Standing Committee.