Shout-out to dinner with the Wild Cards authors. They were ALL fascinating. Melinda M. Snodgrass, Walter Jon Williams (not at dinner, but met later), Ian Tregillis, Paul Cornell, Stephen Leigh (aka S.L. Farrell), Carrie Vaughn, David Levine, various lovely spouses and partners, and of course, the inimitable George R.R. Martin. (If I've forgotten anyone, forgive me -- I blame the wine.) Listening to Michael Cassutt narrate scurrilous tales of SF's greats was an absolutely fan-girl highlight of the convention. And Melinda's Star Trek stories were just as good. Could have listened to those stories ALL NIGHT.

On a less squee-ing front, I don't agree with everything here; in particular, I think Chauncy De Vega seriously undercounted the people of color both attending WorldCon and on panels, and he doesn't seem to understand how people become leading staff on conventions (usually years and years of grunt work volunteering come first). But nonetheless, lots of good and thought-provoking issues raised here, worth considering. And yes, scheduling my panel on "Finding Minorities" against the Carl Brandon Award ceremony was...deeply unfortunate.