As far as I know, they did not. The s-f and the furry communities in Southern California were separate. But they did not need to be. There were fans who were members of both. By 1996 the LASFS (technically SCIFI, Inc.) had put on three Wolrdcons and twenty years' worth of Loscons; and several LASFS members had been on the committees of Costume-Cons and Bouchercons and Corflus and others. If the ConFurence Committee had shown any interest in listening when it was pointed out that the s-f community had many years of experience in putting on conventions, and had found out that this worked and that didn't, and could give advice if asked ... but the answer from the ConFurence Committee boiled down to "We already know about that" and "We've got it under control" and "We'll do it our own way". After so long, I don't feel wrong in saying that the ConFurence Committee essentially refused to incorporate.
The ConFurence Committee did grow over the years. The help of more and more volunteers was accepted. But the basic structure was not changed. Mark and Rod, and then Darrel, remained in charge of everything with more and more staff in various areas. The Chairman coordinated everything. The final year, when Darrel told the committee not to worry about printing the conbook, he'd do it all personally, may not be a good example because he had a reason for not wanting anyone to see it before the convention began; it had his statement ending the ConFurences. But the staff was not surprised because there were plenty of earlier examples of Darrel taking charge of this or that and handling it all himself.
As far as I know, they did not. The s-f and the furry communities in Southern California were separate. But they did not need to be. There were fans who were members of both. By 1996 the LASFS (technically SCIFI, Inc.) had put on three Wolrdcons and twenty years' worth of Loscons; and several LASFS members had been on the committees of Costume-Cons and Bouchercons and Corflus and others. If the ConFurence Committee had shown any interest in listening when it was pointed out that the s-f community had many years of experience in putting on conventions, and had found out that this worked and that didn't, and could give advice if asked ... but the answer from the ConFurence Committee boiled down to "We already know about that" and "We've got it under control" and "We'll do it our own way". After so long, I don't feel wrong in saying that the ConFurence Committee essentially refused to incorporate.
The ConFurence Committee did grow over the years. The help of more and more volunteers was accepted. But the basic structure was not changed. Mark and Rod, and then Darrel, remained in charge of everything with more and more staff in various areas. The Chairman coordinated everything. The final year, when Darrel told the committee not to worry about printing the conbook, he'd do it all personally, may not be a good example because he had a reason for not wanting anyone to see it before the convention began; it had his statement ending the ConFurences. But the staff was not surprised because there were plenty of earlier examples of Darrel taking charge of this or that and handling it all himself.
Fred Patten