CoNZealand

The 78th Worldcon, CoNZealand, was held July 29–August 2, 2020, as an online event. It was to have been the first New Zealand Worldcon, held at TSB Arena and Shed 6, the Michael Fowler Center, the West Plaza Hotel, and the Intercontinental Hotel in Wellington, New Zealand, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the committee made the bold decision in late March to hold a Zoom-based virtual convention, a first for any large sf convention, let alone a Worldcon. Concom members held a brief in-person Business Meeting in Wellington, which lasted only long enough to validate 2022 Site Selection and pass all pending business on to DC3 in 2021.

Typical CoNZealand panel over Zoom. This was a Lord of the Rings panel, moderated by Karen Bovenmyer and featuring Sam Blackley, Timothy Ellis, Ceinwen Langley and H. G. Parry. Photo by Laurie Mann.

Total membership was 4,624, with 1,847 “attending” members. The con had three online platforms with independent registrations for different aspects of the con. The number adopted for CNZ's attendance is the highest of those three registration numbers. No numbers are available for how many fans actually participated.

• Author Guests of Honour: Mercedes Lackey, Larry Dixon
• New Zealand Artist GoH: Greg Broadmore
• Fan GoH: Rose Mitchell
• Toastmaster: George R. R. Martin

The New Zealand in 2020 bid was uncontested at 2020 Worldcon Site Selection at Worldcon 76 in San Jose in 2018. CoNZealand conducted the 2022 Worldcon Site Selection, which elected Chicago in 2022, and the 2020 Hugos, with an extremely long online ceremony.

Convention Committee

• Co-Chairs: Norman Cates and Kelly Buehler
• Vice Chairs: Maree Pavletich and Dave Gallaher
• Events: Mel Duncan
• Exhibits: Spike
• Facilitation: Lynelle Howell
• Facilities: Ben Yalow
• Finance: Andrew A. Adams
• IT: Grant Preston
• Member Services: PRK
• Operations: Rick Kovalcik
• Programme: Jannie Shea
• Promotions: Nikky Winchester
• Publications: M. Darusha Wehm
• Registration: Lorain Clark
• Tech: John Maizels
• Welcome: Sharon Sbarsky
• WSFS: Colette Fozard

Links:

• CoNZealand publications and photos on fanac.org.
• YouTube channel.
• Smofcon 36 fannish inquisition.
• Hugo In Memoriam Scroll 2020.
• Website.

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Dublin 2019	Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos	Discon III
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	2020

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