The Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee (SWOC) has helped bring Westercon to western Washington two times before, Westercon 46 and Westercon 50. Jack Beslanwitch voiced a strong interest in making this happen again and was nominated and accepted as the bid chair for Westercon 56. The fact that a fan friendly hotel like the SeaTac Double Tree was interested in having us made this decision all the more easy. The goal of this convention is to be an inclusive organization welcoming of new fannish talent from all over the region to create a wonderful experience to be had by all. Jack started the bid with a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish and has since supplied a vision statement that you might want to take a look at.


What is SWOC?

The Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee (SWOC) was formed on November 4, 1990 with the intent of bidding for and hosting a Westercon.It was hoped that there would be support for this project and that the project would prove to be a way to unify North West fandom.

This project worked so well that not only did Seattle win the bid and host in 1992 the 46th Westercon but also they went on to bid to host 2 other Seattle Westercon’s.Bidding was successful for both, Seattle hosted the 50th Westercon, and in 2003, they will host Westercon 56.

It has become obvious that SWOC has the desire, resources, and organizational experience necessary to take on other significant projects.Today SWOC has moved towards helping the Pacific Northwest gear up to eventually host a Worldcon.Keeping this goal in mind SWOC is working towards enabling the team putting on Westercon 56 to make this convention a showcase of talent and hospitality for those looking at future sites for large regional conventions.

SWOC remains committed to the ideals of openness and fairness that let them succeed in their earlier endeavors.In a continuing effort to promote and expand the talent pool of willing con runners SWOC has hosted several local convention planners’ conferences.SWOC sponsored ConComCon 2 and 3 and in the year 2000, it was decided by the membership of that years ConComCon that C-Cubed as it has come to be called would be moved under the organizational leadership of SWOC.

SWOC is a fully qualified charitable organization as with a 501(c)3 tax-exempt status recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.In support of this status all events sponsored by SWOC are of literary, charitable and an educational nature.

SWOC’s primary purpose is to make all arrangements necessary for the effective execution of Westercon as a forum for the discussion and appreciation of science fiction and fantasy art, literature and related topics through the congregation of fans, lectures, films, exhibitions and similar activities. SWOC may also engage in other activities at the discretion of its membership as long as those activities do no preclude the primary purpose of SWOC and fall within the restrictions of SWOC’s status as a literary, charitable and educational organization.