Chicon 8
Chicon 8, the 80th Worldcon and (as-you-know-Bob) eighth in Chicago, was held September 1–5, 2022, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
GoHs: Charles de Lint (Author), Floyd Norman (Artist), Edie Stern and Joe Siclari (Fan) and Erle Korshak (First Fandom). Korshak died in August 2021; in March 2022, de Lint withdrew due to family health issues and Chicon "released" him so that he might be a Worldcon GoH at another time. In June of 2022, Chicon also announced that Norman would be "unable to participate in Chicon 8 at the level of Guest of Honor." The also announced that Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due would be additional Guests of Honor for the con.
In November 2021, the convention announced three "Featured Guests" ("folks that we view as either “up and coming” or [... not] as well known in Worldcon circles as ... they should be. We looked for ... historically marginalized groups, and ... with Chicago connections"), soon renamed Special Guests: Dr. Eve L. Ewing (sociologist and writer), Gene Ha (comics artist), and Eric Wilkerson (illustrator).
Chicon 8 was chaired by Helen Montgomery. Toastmasters were Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders.
The Chicago in 2022 bid soundly defeated Jeddicon in Saudi Arabia by 517 votes to 33 at the 2022 Site Selection conducted by CoNZealand. Chicon 8 hosted the 2023 NASFiC Site Selection, won by the unopposed Winnipeg in '23 bid, and the 2024 Worldcon Site Selection, won by the unopposed Glasgow 2024 bid. The 2022 Hugos were held.
The concom announced that it would not exercise its option to run the 1947 Retro Hugos, but instead had a 1946 Fiction and Fandom Retrospective Program Track, coordinated by Cora Buhlert.
The convention newsletter, named Star Chart, was a weblog by Rex Allen Hughes, entirely online. Chicon also had a printed souvenir book; a pdf pocket program distributed only online; an online program guide app (which crashed for some time on Sunday); printed program grids passed out only on request at the Information Desk; a multi-page website including a weblog convention newsletter; a Facebook page; a separate Facebook group; plus Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Airmeet accounts, with some of the program virtual only, some live only and some mixed.
At least 55 people reported contracting Covid-19 while at Chicon 8.
Accessibility Issues[edit]
Despite heroic efforts by its Accessibility Services team, led by Katie Anderson, the con suffered from difficulties that disproportionately affected people with disabilities, an ever larger proportion of Worldcon’s aging community. The entire Chicago area sold out of rental mobies over the weekend, an issue exacerbated by Covid-19 parts supply-chain problems.
The Hyatt Regency, built in 1974, before the Americans with Disabilities Act, is a two-tower hotel with the usual hassles (“It's in the other tower!”) and its East Tower, where the main lobby, restaurants, much of the program and the party rooms were, is served by only one small elevator to the underground levels that housed the art show, hucksters' room, fan tables, exhibits and other popular functions (and shared with baggage to the parking garage) making getting up and down challenging for those on wheels.
Meanwhile, there were accessibility issues with Airmeet, Chicon’s virtual program platform, as well. Not to mention that large areas of the function space were blocked from internet service.
Links[edit]
- Hugo In Memoriam Scroll 2022.
- Website.
- Twitter.
- Facebook page.
- Facebook group.
- Chicon 8 publications and photos on fanac.org.
- Items tagged “Chicon 8” at File 770.
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