I was intrigued to receive the following e-mail notification from LAcon V (the 2026 Worldcon), in my In box today:
Obviously, as a voting member for this year's Hugo Awards, I would need access to the nominations, the voter's packet and subsequent voting, but the e-mail suggests that the membership includes "access to the online parts of the convention".
Hmmm...according to the bullet point summary, program streaming is part of the access, and given that the Seattle Worldcon streamed several of its more high profile programs, it's possible that I will be able to watch some parts of the convention, and even participate to a certain extent by posting questions.
I immediately activated my account, and the Coming Soon section of the Member Portal has some promising options in the form of a Stream and replay button.
It's possible that access to the portal may be controlled based on type of membership, with non-attending members restricted from accessing all the options, but I suspect that the organizers will take the simpler route of just letting everyone with a membership access everything - after all, if the Seattle convention was typical, only a few of the events will be streamed. As always, time will tell - and fingers crossed.
- Sid
