Worldcon Lands in Glasgow
More than 4,000 science fiction and fantasy fanatics will arrive in Glasgow this week to attend Interaction – the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which will take place at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre from 4 – 8 August.
This five-day festival of books, art, science, TV, movies, comics and gaming returns to Europe for the first time in 10 years.
Highlights of this year’s Worldcon include The Masquerade - a catwalk show where costume designers show off their unique creations - and the Hugo Awards Ceremony recognising excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy.
Guests-of-honour include renowned sci-fi writers Jane Yolen and Christopher Priest along with artist and illustrator Alan Lee, who received an Oscar for his work on The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
Glasgow won the bid to host the convention – which was previously held in the city in 1995 - because the city’s infrastructure was able to support the needs of the event in terms of accommodation stock and accessibility of the host venue. Glasgow City Marketing Bureau worked in close conjunction with the SECC along with the convention chair Vincent Docherty to land this major conference for Glasgow.
Scott Taylor, chief executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau commented: “The World Science Fiction convention is an extremely prestigious and colourful event and we were delighted when we won the bid to host the convention in Glasgow once again.
“Glasgow City Marketing Bureau worked with the convention chair Vincent Docherty – who hails from Paisley and is a big fan of Glasgow – to bring the convention back to Glasgow and Worldcon is a perfect example of our conference ambassador programme put into practice.
“More than half of all convention sales made for Scotland are for Glasgow and approximately 40% of sales made by Glasgow City Marketing Bureau are as a result of working with an ambassador – someone from the academic, medical, scientific or business community who loves the city and helps to spearhead our conference bids.
“Glasgow is currently number 18 in the world rankings for the number of international delegates it attracts – up from 34 in 2003 – and the reason for its growing popularity is simple. It is a highly compact conference destination, boasting a purpose-built convention centre, international airport and 12,000 hotel rooms all within a 10-mile radius. What really sets the city apart, however, is its unique image and strong team-spirit.”
Glasgow City Marketing Bureau has also supported Worldcon through promotional activity. A representative from GCMB attended last year’s event in Boston to provide destination information and literature to delegates attending the Glasgow convention.
Further to this, posters promoting the event – with artwork inspired by the classic sci-fi thriller ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ - have been produced and distributed to local hotels and the SECC to welcome delegates to the city. These have also been circulated to libraries in and around Glasgow in an effort to encourage attendance at the convention by locals.
Further information about this year’s programme of events can be found at: www.interaction.worldcon.org.uk
ENDS
Further information from:
Caroline Gray
Public Relations Executive
Glasgow City Marketing Bureau
Tel: +44 (0)141 566 0832
Email: caroline.gray@seeglasgow.com
Note to editors
1. A PDF of the colourful promotional poster for Worldcon 2005 is available on request.
2. Glasgow City Marketing Bureau is the destination marketing agency for the Metropolitan Glasgow area and is engaged in national and international activity comprising:
- Conventions, incentives, events, meetings and exhibition sales
- Conference and event accommodation bookings
- Development and implementation of the city branding campaign: Glasgow: Scotland with style
- Public Relations
- Development and optimisation of the website: www.seeglasgow.com