I’m still peripherally involved in running SFSFC conventions, even though I can’t attend any of them. The next one we have coming up is SMOFcon 28, which will take place in San José in December. SMOFcon is a convention about con running which, amongst other things, helps to spread knowledge of best practices throughout the fan community.

When SMOFcon is in other parts of the world we normally give out scholarships to local Bay Area fans who might otherwise be unable to afford to attend. I’m pleased to see that this year CanSMOF, the parent organization of the 2009 (Montréal) Worldcon, is giving out a couple of scholarships. One of those is for a Canadian fan (congratulations Kent Pollard), but CanSMOF decided to open up the second scholarship to fans from anywhere in the world, and I’m delighted to see that it has been awarded to Norm Cates of the New Zealand in 2020 Worldcon bid. That’s an excellent use of the idea.