Because of these several impediments, as well as other technical difficulties, you will find typos and occasional replication of text. In our humble opinion, typos show that the logs are of *live* chats, not canned interviews, and minimal editing of these logs has taken place.

[Cybling] Perianne welcome to the Chicon Chatroom!
[Cybling] Perianne...how has the con been so far?
[Cybling] From your point of view.
[Perrianne_Lurie] Tiring. I've been working in the Events Divison on the Hugos
[Perrianne_Lurie] and Masquerade, and I've been on about five panels as well.
[Cybling] And the events division controls what events besides the Masquerade?
[Perrianne_Lurie] Events runs the Hugo Awards Ceremony as well as Opening and
[Perrianne_Lurie] Closing Ceremonies and the live theatrical presentations and
[Perrianne_Lurie] dances, but I wasn't working on most of those.
[Kimmo] Sounds exhausting nonetheless
[Cybling] So you're the folks that get the rooms ready, get the tables, clean up afterwards...
[Cybling] keep things moving.
[Perrianne_Lurie] Yes, it is. Mostly the union folks do all the furniture moving.
[Perrianne_Lurie] But we have to coordinate all the participants, and, of course
[Perrianne_Lurie] tell the union folks where to put the furniture.
[G]
[Cybling] Perrianne..you're our "fan" guest during the convention... a person who volunteers on a lot of levels to help make WorldCons and local con's go...
[Cybling] so I'm going to be asking you a lot of questions to help folks who are listening in now...
[Cybling] and who will be reading the log...
[Cybling] learn what they can expect if they volunteer.
[Perrianne_Lurie] Yeah, that's about right. I've been involved in con running
[Perrianne_Lurie] for a long time, and every experience is different, but
[Perrianne_Lurie] it can be a lot of fun and you get to meet lots of interesting
[Perrianne_Lurie] people, some of whom may even be famous.
[Cybling] Yes...I've noticed that here in the Green Room.
[Cybling] Now you were on the Bucconneer in 98 Bid Committee...
[Cybling] what does a Bid Committee do?
[Perrianne_Lurie] I was on the Baltimore in 1998 bid committee, we were
[Perrianne_Lurie] trying to get the fans to vote for us to run the 1998
[Perrianne_Lurie] Worldcon and when we won, we became BucCONeer.
[Cybling] ookay...
[Cybling] Cool!
[Perrianne_Lurie] I edited the "bid zine" (the newsletter we sent out telling
[Perrianne_Lurie] people how wonderful we were and why they should
[Perrianne_Lurie] vote for us and I was the "Electronic Liaison" for both
[Perrianne_Lurie] the bid and the con. I also was the Deputy Director of the
[Perrianne_Lurie] Programming Division (for con program, not the computer
[Perrianne_Lurie] kind).
[Cybling] Trying to get the fans to vote for you involves a lot of electioneering doesn't? aka bribes. LOL. I know Charlotte's BBQ and Pecan pie parties this year may go down in history.
[Perrianne_Lurie] We like to look at it differently, but there was a lot of
[Perrianne_Lurie] Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum distributed...
[Perrianne_Lurie] Bids hold parties, but we also sit behind a lot of tables
[Cybling] lol
* Kimmo grins
[Perrianne_Lurie] answering the fans questions about the size of the
[Perrianne_Lurie] convention center and the weather in August in our
[Perrianne_Lurie] city.
[Cybling] That's important. I know a lot of people were surprised...
[Cybling] at how hot it was in Chicago when they arrived...
[Cybling] and how cold it is now
[Cybling] lol.
[Perrianne_Lurie] Well, I've been to Chicago before, so *I* wasn't surprised.
[Cybling] Perrianne...we were talking about this earlier today...where *are* closing ceremonies for this WorldCon.
[Perrianne_Lurie] Beats me. Check your Pocket Program or the "Other Stuff"
[Perrianne_Lurie] guide.
[Cybling] LOLOL!
[Cybling] Things change, just thought I'd check, LOL.
[Kimmo] So how does it feel now that it's almost over over there?
[Perrianne_Lurie] The last day of a Worldcon is always sort of a let-down.
[Perrianne_Lurie] Many people are leaving or have already left, and
[Perrianne_Lurie] we're looking ahead to next year. I'm also on the
[Perrianne_Lurie] Millenium Philcon committee. I'll be the Deputy
[Perrianne_Lurie] Hugo Awards Ceremony Director (always a
[Perrianne_Lurie] bridesmaid...) and I'm on the "Program Brain
* Kimmo grins
[Perrianne_Lurie] Trust" working on developing interesting program ideas.
[Cybling] Aren't there things like tear-down left to do though, that require the services of volunteers?
[Perrianne_Lurie] Absolutely. And I think you earn double credit for
[Perrianne_Lurie] work after the con.
[Cybling] Okay...let's talk a little about why most folks volunteer for WorldCons....
[Perrianne_Lurie] Aside from masochism, you mean?
[Cybling] granted, there's the credit you earn against re-imbursements...
[Cybling] lol...but there are other reasons too.
[Perrianne_Lurie] I don't think most people volunteer to get
[Perrianne_Lurie] reimbursements. You do it because you're
[Perrianne_Lurie] a member of the community throwing
[Perrianne_Lurie] a party for your friends. You do it for the
[Perrianne_Lurie] ego-boo; you do it to meet other fans and
[Perrianne_Lurie] even some pros (who are not usually as
[Perrianne_Lurie] interesting as many of the fans) from
[Perrianne_Lurie] all over the world.
[Cybling] Has your usual volunteer done at least one or two Worldcons as a fan, only, before?
[Perrianne_Lurie] There are a LOT of volunteers who are at their
[Perrianne_Lurie] first Worldcon. In fact, I'd recommend
[Perrianne_Lurie] volunteering as a great way to orient
[Perrianne_Lurie] yourself to Worldcons and to fandom
[Perrianne_Lurie] in general/
[Cybling] And a volunteer can work 1 hour, to as many hours they're willing to devote?
[Perrianne_Lurie] Right, although I recommend not working ALL
[Perrianne_Lurie] the time. Eating and sleeping (and bathing)
[Perrianne_Lurie] are also essential.
[Perrianne_Lurie] And you might want to SEE some of the con, too.
[Cybling] How would someone go about volunteering, and should they choose which department to volunteer for the first time?
[Perrianne_Lurie] If you have a particular area of interest (e.g. art)
[Perrianne_Lurie] then by all means volunteer for that area. If
[Perrianne_Lurie] you're not sure where your interests lie, then
[Perrianne_Lurie] just sign up as a general volunteer and you'll
[Perrianne_Lurie] be sent where you're needed most.
[Cybling] There are also volunteers called Gofers...who run all over the con. Is there any particular talent that a gofer requires.
[Perrianne_Lurie] Stamina.
[Cybling] LOL.
[Cybling] They haul things?
[Perrianne_Lurie] Actually, all volunteers are usually refered to as
[Perrianne_Lurie] "gofers" Some haul things, some direct traffic,
[Perrianne_Lurie] some check badges for people trying to get
[Perrianne_Lurie] into convention areas, etc.
[Cybling] I wanted to ask you a little more about the Programming Brain Trust before I undo the duct tape that's...
[Cybling] holding you to the hotseat here.
[Cybling] ARe there only a select number of people who dream up the panels, etc.
[Cybling] Or can anyone submit an idea?
[Perrianne_Lurie] Most Worldcons (and local conventions too) are
[Perrianne_Lurie] always looking for program ideas. On the
[Perrianne_Lurie] MilPhil website there's a form for people to
[Perrianne_Lurie] submit their program ideas. And Laurie and Jim
[Perrianne_Lurie] Mann, our Program Division Heads, have set
[Perrianne_Lurie] up an e-mail list for program ideas and the
[Perrianne_Lurie] discussion of them that, I think, is open to
[Perrianne_Lurie] anyone interested in joining it.
[Cybling] So folks who are planning on attending a convention can usually sign up to volunteer just about anything...their bodies, their time and their brains, online.
[Perrianne_Lurie] This is true for most cons nowadays, but there are
[Perrianne_Lurie] probably some, particularly overseas, that
[Perrianne_Lurie] are not as wired. However even they are
[Perrianne_Lurie] looking for volunteers and ideas, you just may
[Perrianne_Lurie] need to contact them by snail mail or telephone or
[Perrianne_Lurie] by attending meetings.
[Cybling] Perianne...thanks so much for joining us online in chat today...is there any bit of advice you can give us that you learned the hard way at a convention?
[Kimmo] I just wish we'll see a worldcon on the proper side of the atlantic soon
[Kimmo] Ie, not on your side ;)
[Cybling] LOL, Kimmo tell us where you are again.
[Kimmo] I'm in Finland, so would be fairly expensive to have done Chicon
[Perrianne_Lurie] There have been three British Worldcons, one in Germany,
[Perrianne_Lurie] and one in the Netherlands. There's a bid for
[Perrianne_Lurie] Glasgow in, I believe, 2005, that seems
[Perrianne_Lurie] likely to win/
* Kimmo crosses his fingers
[Cybling] WEll there you go, Kimmo, start saving up now for Glasgow.
[Kimmo] That might be quite feasible, in fact.
[Perrianne_Lurie] And I'm sure they'd be delighted if you
[Perrianne_Lurie] volunteered to help them with the bid and
[Perrianne_Lurie] the con when they win.
[G]
[Kimmo] I just hope they keep on piling on the bribes... uh, I mean, gifts, so they get it
[Cybling] lol
[Perrianne_Lurie] Last advice, you can't do everything you might want to do
[Perrianne_Lurie] at a Worldcon, so don't even try. You'll just
[Perrianne_Lurie] collapse.
[Cybling] LOL...excellent advice I will next *next* WorldCon.
[Cybling] Thanks so much Perrianne!
[Perrianne_Lurie] Thanks.