Categories include novels and short fiction, artwork, dramatic presentations, and various professional and fandom activities.
[citation needed] Guests of honor generally receive travel expenses, membership, and a small per diem from the convention, but no speaking fees.
Its main activities are running the selection (voting) process for the annual convention and various awards.
The conventions themselves are run by non-profit, volunteer fan organizations, who bid to host the event.
The business meeting also empanels a number of ad hoc committees to deal with review of amendments and with certain administrative functions.
[11] Historically, most Worldcons were held in the United States; however, beginning in the later part of the 20th century an increasing number of them have been hosted in other countries.
The first Worldcon to be held outside the US was the sixth, in 1948 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the first outside North America was the 15th World Science Fiction Convention, in 1957 in Bayswater, London.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers announced during March 2020 that it would be a "virtual" con with attendees and panelists using video technologies to participate.
A group of writers and officers of the Worldcon have signed an open letter against Saudi Arabia's bid to host the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention, citing human rights abuses and discriminatory laws.
"[24] As WSFS itself is an unincorporated society, each Worldcon is organized by a separate committee (usually) legally incorporated in the local jurisdiction; in the United States, these are usually organized as 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations, while in the United Kingdom, they are usually operated by companies limited by guarantee.
Like most non-media science fiction conventions, all Worldcons are managed entirely by volunteers, with no paid staff.
Senior committee members typically devote hundreds of hours (not to mention thousands of dollars in travel expenses in some cases) in preparation for a particular convention.
While each convention is managed separately by the local committee, an informal and self-selected group of volunteers constitute the "Permanent Floating Worldcon Committee" who volunteer for many Worldcons in different years; this group offers a measure of institutional continuity to otherwise disparate legal organizations.
Traditionally, all members (except for guests of honor) must pay for their membership; if the convention makes an adequate surplus after covering operating expenses, full or partial membership reimbursements are paid back to volunteers after the convention.
Some members of the committee may be performing a variety of current or past roles and could have a large number of ribbons attached to each other hanging from a badge.
[citation needed] Extending this tradition, other groups and individuals create more special ribbons for use at the convention; these may be serious or silly.