What is a Convention?

WorldCon? Sasquan? Loncon 4? What are these things?

They’re Conventions. A convention is a large gathering of people in a particular location to celebrate, discuss, and promote all things Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Writing, or whatever the convention is about. Some of them are small. Some of them are large. They are often named after their location. Each convention may have different types of programs offered. Some offer group talks on topics such as “Why Do We Love Sparkly Vampires?” or publishing things “How to Get your Short Story Published?” These panel discussions are generally run by a moderator who will ask question to the group, and will support questions from the audience.

Some will offer readings by authors or social gatherings like masquerades. Some have gaming options for tabletop gaming o LARPing. It generally depends on the Convention.

Conventions usually have a Guest of Honor, who is the highlight of the convention. There are periodically children’s programming as well. Some of them also have music options (sometimes called Filk). Your best bet is to look at the programming options from a variety of conventions, several of which are listed below.

Also worth saying is mentioning the national conventions are sometimes named strangely. WorldCon is the name for a particular type of convention. It is a world-wide convention, and moves ever year. The 2015 WorldCon was held in Spokane, Washington, USA. The convention is called Sasquan. The name of the WorldCon changes each year as it moves.
Check out some conventions:

Sasquan (WorldCon 2015)