Bruce is a long-time (about 27 years) convention organizer ... about 130 convention positions worked to date. This includes chair positions for NASFiC, Westercon, SFRA, World Fantasy Convention, SMOFCon, and others. He’s also managed departments and Divisions such as Program, Treasury, Art Show, Hotel Liaison, Video, Registration, and Operations. If you work on conventions, you know how much fun this can be ... he recommends it to anyone who wishes to help out fandom. Okay, so he’s a hard-core convention geek ...
You can accumulate a lot of stories ... for example, the time in New Orleans when three gentlemen tried to remove part of a young lady’s costume at the Porno Patrol Dance. Bruce talked the three of them to come to the convention office to be dressed down by the Ops Manager. Another convention where the hotel had just fired their staff the night before the convention was to move in, and the caretaking staff had no interest in hosting the event ... and Bruce was lucky enough to be the Hotel Liaison. It all worked out within about an hour, but it took a top hat, cane, and a lot of fancy dancing.
Some of his fond memories are of the Bruce parties that we held in earlier years. Bruce Pelz, Bruce Miller, and Bruce Farr worked up badges for everyone with “Robert the ...” to honor our proud name. Once upon a time a signal in the 1980’s that the night was done was when Bruce went to bed. Those days are long gone, sadly, but are still fondly remembered. But that’s why new generations of fans are born or recruited ... to carry on proud traditions.
But more than anything else, he’s made a study of how to run conventions. Bruce edited CON GAMES, which documented processes, procedures, and feedback on running conventions. He also developed a Convention Organizer’s Checklist with 30 pages of “did you think of’s?”, and a standard hotel contract which has been used for conventions from Worldcon through local conventions. One of his soap box discussions ... everyone talks about not reinventing the wheel, but few do the research to see what’s been done. Maybe some people go to SMOFCon or other workshops, but do they really take the effort to steal from the best? Too many think they know the one true way ...
His other passions include his wife, Lea, daughters Kira and Heather, and book and art collecting. The book collection comes out to about 2.5 kids worth of space and upkeep – in this he has a lot of company with literary fans everywhere. He’s a CPA in Arizona (several authors are clients) and works for a major manufacturer as a Finance Manager.
