Smofcon

A convention for convention planners/runners run since 1984.

The name comes from smofcon.

In 1983, there were three bids for the 1986 Worldcon. Only a few members of these bids had much experience with running a Worldcon. Joe Siclari and Edie Stern had been discussing how to improve this situation and came up with the idea of a convention for conrunners. In 1983, after running an Atlanta bid party at Windycon X (a Chicago regional convention), they approached Ben Yalow (then on the NY bid) and later Theresa Renner (DC bid).

While the committee tried to call the convention "ConCon", as happened with Nycon II and the Tasfic, "the fans wouldn't have it" and it was called "Smofcon".

This was not the first such convention as a convention on con running had been held in New York City in the early 70s (retroactively dubbed "Smofcon 0"), but this was the convention which successfully began an almost-annual series of conventions.

Name	Date	Site, City	Attendance
Smofcon 0	1973 or 1974?	Sheraton, New York, NY
Smofcon 1	Oct 12-14?, 1984	Washington, DC
Smofcon 2	Nov ?, 1985	Oakland, CA cancelled	0
Smofcon 3	Dec 5-7, 1986	Lowell Hilton, Lowell, MA	137
Smofcon 4	Nov 20-22, 1987	Columbus, OH
Smofcon 5	Dec 9-11, 1988	Hyatt Regency Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ	102
Smofcon 6	Dec 8-10, 1989	Holiday Inn Airport, Toronto, ON, Canada
Smofcon 7	Dec 7-9, 1990	Airport Hilton, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Smofcon 8	Dec 6-8, 1991	Shilo Inn Airport, Portland, OR
Smofcon 9	Dec 4-6, 1992	New Orleans, LA
Smofcon 10	Apr 23-25, 1993	Hotel de France, Jersey, Channel Islands, UK
Smofcon 11	Dec 3-5, 1993	Lexington Marriott, Lexington, KY	~110
Smofcon 12	Dec 2-4, 1994	Burbank Hilton, Burbank, CA	~175
Smofcon 13	Dec 1-3, 1995	Austin Red Lion, Austin, TX	121
Smofcon 14	Dec 6-8, 1996	Seattle Hilton, Seattle, WA
Smofcon 15	Dec 5-7, 1997	Doubletree Suites Hotel, Boston, MA	153
Smofcon 16	Dec 4-6, 1998	Radisson Inn, Colorado Springs, CO	86
Smofcon 17	Dec 10-12, 1999	New Orleans, LA
Smofcon 18	Dec 1-3, 2000	Cocoa Beach, FL
Smofcon 19	Dec 7-9, 2001	York, UK
Smofcon 20	Dec 6-8, 2002	Hacienda Hotel, San Diego, CA	~125
Smofcon 21	Dec 5-7, 2003	Embassy Suites O'Hare, Rosemont, IL
Smofcon 22	Dec 3-5, 2004	Washington, DC	~123
Smofcon 23	Dec 2-4, 2005	Red Lion Convention Center Hotel, Portland, OR
Smofcon 24	Dec 1-3, 2006	The Hotel Phillips, Kansas City, MO
Smofcon 25	Dec 7-9, 2007	Hilton Boston Logan Airport, Boston, MA	~214
Smofcon 26	Dec 5-7, 2008	Columbus, OH	~130
Smofcon 27	Dec 4-6, 2009	Austin, TX
Smofcon 28	Dec 3-5, 2010	San Jose, CA	154
Smofcon 29	Dec 2-4 2011	Amsterdam, Netherlands	110/130
Smofcon 30	Nov 30-Dec 2 2012	Philadelphia	196
Smofcon 31	Dec 6-8, 2013	Toronto	168
Smofcon 32	Dec 5-7, 2014	Manhattan Beach, CA
Smofcon 33	Dec 4-6, 2015	Ft Worth, TX
Smofcon 34	Dec 2-4, 2016	Chicago, IL
Smofcon South	Dec 3-4, 2016	Wellington, New Zealand, held in tandem, with a video link to Smofcon 34	~25
Smofcon 35	Dec 1-3, 2017	Boston, MA
Smofcon 36	Nov 30-Dec 2, 2018	Santa Rosa, CA	~165
Smofcon 37	December 6-8, 2019	Albuquerque, NM
Smofcon 38	December 4-6, 2020	Montreal Canada

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Convention
Website	1984—

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