Membership

A fan who attends an sf con buys a membership in that con and becomes a member. This terminology — in contradistinction to ticket — emphasizes that fans are expected to be active participants in the activities of a con and not merely passive consumers of entertainment.

In some cases, such as Worldcon and Windycon, convention membership also comes with membership and voting privileges in the sponsoring organization.

Memberships come in various forms, Presupporting, Attending, Supporting, One Day, Children's, Child in Tow and Cuddly Toy.

The last two refer to beings that won’t use con resources but nevertheless need a badge so they may be returned to their guardians should they become parted.

Membership may also refer to club membership.

Membership cards

While clubs often have had membership cards, since some time in the 1960s, conventions have tended to have name badges. However, for the first few decades of conventions, a membership card, numbered and signed by an officer of the convention, was issued. For Worldcons, these stated the possessor was a member of the World Science Fiction Society.

The custom started to disappear in the ’60s and by the ’70s membership cards were uncommon. (This may have been an effect of the increase in convention sizes. Individual membership cards are more practical for 150-member conventions than for 1,500-member conventions.)

Torcon II in 1973 issued the cards — we aren’t sure of others after that.

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Fanspeak

This is a fanspeak page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was coined, whether it’s still in use, etc.