Archon 31/TuckerCon/9th NASFiC Guest Policy

Guest Membership Policy

Due to a combination of circumstances, Archon 31 will not be following the traditional WorldCon/NASFiC policy of requiring all program participants to purchase their memberships with the possibility of reimbursements after the convention. As an ongoing convention, Archon is less dependent on pre-registrations for our up-front operating expenses than a typical WorldCon or NASFiC. Also, since there will be no Site Selection voting or Business meeting, and obviously no Hugo voting, we are not required to enforce the World Science Fiction Society's constitutional requirement that only "dues paying" members can participate in those activities. On the other hand, we expect a much higher level of interest from the professional community for a NASFiC than we would get for a typical Archon.

With that in mind, our Board of Directors has agreed on a policy which is a compromise between the traditional WorldCon/NASFiC policy and our normal Archon guest policy. That policy is as follows:

INVITED Guests and Program Participants will be divided into three categories.

Group One: Authors who are Active members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, OR who meet the requirements for the Active category of membership in SFWA, AND equivalent "Professional" Artists, Editors and Publishers will be offered complimentary memberships for themselves and one (1) guest in exchange for participating in programming. We will be strictly enforcing the one guest limit. For the SFWA requirements, go to www.sfwa.org/org/qualify.htm. A current SFWA membership is not required.

Group Two*: Authors, Editors and Publishers who do not meet the requirements for Group One such as Small Press and some self-published Authors and those "Semi-pro" Artists who are invited to participate in programming will be offered a 50% discount for themselves off the membership rate in effect at the time they register. No guest membership or discount will be offered.

Group Three*: Fans, including our past Fan Guests of Honor, and gaming company representatives who are invited to participate in programming will be required to pay the full membership rate.

We reserve the right to make exceptions where the Co-Chairs feel it would benefit the convention.

In all cases an invitation must be extended by the Archon Pro Liaison (Les Haven) or one of the Archon Co-Chairs (Michelle Zellich and Steve Norris) and in all cases participation in programming is expected in exchange. Anyone not included in one of the three groups will be handled on a case by case basis.

Invitations will be mailed beginning in March, 2006. If you do not receive an invitation and would like to be considered, please contact the Pro Liaison. For more information on the Convention, see the web page at www.archonstl.org/31/.

Like most compromises, this one is sure to make many people unhappy. We would like to make clear that the groups do not reflect any judgment on our part of the relative talent of the people involved. There are obviously many very talented people working with and being published by small press publishers. We simply had to draw a line somewhere and the SFWA requirements are one widely recognized standard. Likewise, Archon has relied heavily on our many Fan guests over the years for programming and will continue to do so in the future.

*Funds permitting, our membership reimbursement priorities after the Con will be as follows:

First, members of Group Three will be reimbursed to the 50% level of Group Two.

Second, members of both Groups Two and Three will be reimbursed some or all of the remaining 50% of their membership price. Neither Groups Two or Three will be offered reimbursement for any guests.