The page below will contain recaps of each 2026 Worldcon Business Meeting as soon as possible after their conclusion, in reverse order with the most recent meeting recap at the top.
The full video of each Business Meetings is also being uploaded shortly after its conclusion to the LAcon V YouTube channel.
In-person Site Selection Main Business Meeting, held August 30, 2026
The in-person Site Selection Business Meeting received the report of the Site Selection Administrator announcing that Brisbane, Australia was selected as the site of the 2028 Worldcon. The 2028 and 2027 seated Worldcons each gave a brief presentation and then answered questions.
Site Selection results courtesy WSFS, click for a larger version
The presiding officer informed the meeting that CoNZealand had discovered an error in the 2024, 2025, and 2026 financial reports resulting from an incorrect summation formula in the 2024 report. Andrew Adams, who creates the financial reports, expressed his deep regrets for the error and apologized unreservedly to the Business Meeting. The correct 2024, 2025, and 2026 financial reports will be included in the minutes.
John Coxon was announced as the chair of the committee handling F.6 Responsive Late Business.
The meeting was adjourned in memory of Sally Woehrle, John Guidry, Robin Johnson, and Ted White, the chairs of Sasquan, NOLAcon II, Aussiecon 1, and Nycon 3.
Resolutions adopted by the August 9, 2026 Third Main Business Meeting
The following resolutions were adopted by the third Main Business Meeting, which was held virtually in executive session on August 9, 2026:
Resolution D.6
Resolved, that Dave McCarty is censured by the World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting for his actions related to the 2023 Worldcon, and
Resolved, that future Worldcons are requested to ban Dave McCarty indefinitely from WSFS membership and from joining any future Worldcon, and from volunteering at any future Worldcon in any capacity.
Resolution D.7
Resolved, that Joe Yao/Yao Chi/姚驰 is censured by the World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting for his actions related to the 2023 Worldcon, and
Resolved, that future Worldcons are requested to ban Joe Yao/Yao Chi/姚驰 from WSFS membership for a period of two years, and from joining Worldcon for a period of two years, and from joining any future Worldcon committees in a leading capacity.
Resolution D.8
Resolved, that Raistlin Chen/Shi Chen is censured by the World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting for his actions related to the 2023 Worldcon, and
Resolved, that future Worldcons are requested to ban Raistlin Chen/Shi Chen from WSFS membership for a period of two years, from joining Worldcon for a period of two years, and from joining any future Worldcon committees in a leading capacity.
Resolution D.9
Resolved, that Ben Yalow is censured by the World Science Fiction Society for his actions related to the 2023 Worldcon, and
Resolved, that future Worldcons are requested to ban Ben Yalow from WSFS membership for a period of five years and from joining Worldcon for a period of five years and from volunteering for any future Worldcon in any capacity.
Closing Resolutions
Resolved, That the Secretary is directed to enter into the public minutes of the Business Meeting the resolutions adopted by the Business Meeting censuring and making recommendations to future Worldcon Committees, to the extent required for the protection of the Society, with no information relating to the charges or other details connected to the case appearing in the public minutes;
Resolved, That the Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee is instructed to review the full minutes of the executive session of the Business Meeting to determine if any rulings made therein should be entered into the Resolutions and Rulings of Continuing Effect;
Resolved, That any published Resolutions and Rulings of Continuing Effect arising out of the executive session of the Business Meeting shall contain only such information as is necessary to set forth the precedential holding contained therein, and the Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee is instructed to ensure that the confidentiality of the executive session be otherwise maintained to the fullest extent possible; and
Resolved, That the Business Meeting requests the Mark Protection Committee to investigate methods, such as the use of a secure file-sharing platform, to ensure the right of any member of the Society to examine the reports to and minutes of executive sessions of the Business Meeting.
Third Main Business Meeting, held August 9, 2026
Average attendance at the meeting, based on users logged into the virtual platform, was about 145.
The entirety of the meeting was held in executive session to receive the report from the Trial Committee related to the administration of the 2023 Hugo Awards and take action on the recommendations within the report.
The meeting adopted several resolutions censuring individuals and requesting that future Worldcons ban certain individuals from membership or volunteering. The text of the adopted resolutions will be made available after the conclusion of the 2026 Business Meeting (which will happen when the final meeting on August 30 adjourns).
At the end of the meeting, the body also adopted a resolution requesting that the MPC look into ways to ensure the rights of WSFS members to view the minutes of the executive session once they have been prepared.
The next and final session will be the in-person Site Selection Business Meeting on Sunday, August 30 at 10:00am PDT. The Site Selection Business Meeting will receive the results of the 2028 Site Selection, hear a presentation from the winner of Site Selection, and have a time for Q&A for future seated Worldcons.
Second Main Business Meeting, held August 1, 2026
Average attendance at the meeting, based on users logged into the virtual platform, was about 115.
The results of the Mark Protection Committee election were announced: Alana Vincent, Andrew January, and Warren Buff.
The appointments to the Bidding Trust & Safety Committee were announced: Alana Vincent (chair), Anna Bradley, Brandon O’Brien, Chris Rose, Kathy Bond, Mara Michaud, Olav Rokne, and Steve Cooper.
The following items were addressed during this session:
- Business Passed On (if passed, these items are added to the Constitution at the end of LAcon V)
- E.14 Unnecessary PII – passed
- E.15 End the False Binary – passed as amended with a lesser change, a neutral rewording that provides clarity without change to the meaning
- New Constitutional Changes
- F.1 Ethics Ombuds Office – passed as amended, changing the makeup of the ombuds office to be “at least” three members, only one of whom may be a member of the MPC who may not chair the ombuds office, and also adding the leadership of the immediately prior Worldcon to those who are disqualified from serving as an ombuds
- F.2 There’s No Business Like Virtual Business – passed
- F.3 Conversion Rights – failed
- F.4 Fixed Bid Deadlines – failed
- F.5 Advance Notice of Business Meeting Deadlines – failed
- F.6 Responsive Late Business – referred to committee to report to the 2027 Business Meeting
- F.7 Limitation on Listed Contributors for Hugo Award Finalists – previously withdrawn at the request of the proposer
- F.8 Purposeful Proportionality – passed as amended, with an amendment from the committee it was referred to last week adding language clarifying that the changes made by F.8 do not apply to elections that have their own process specified elsewhere in the Constitution
- F.9 The Tie That Doesn’t Bind – passed
- Resolution
- D.10 Eligibility Extension for The Event by Henry Bean – this was a late addition to the agenda, passed
Anyone wishing to serve on the F.6 Responsive Late Business committee should email bm-committee@lacon.org and indicate if they are willing to serve as chair of that committee.
The next session will take up the report from the Trial Committee related to the administration of the 2023 Hugo Awards. The proceedings of that meeting will be held in executive session. The report from the Trial Committee will be published on the Lumi platform by Wednesday, August 5th.
First Main Business Meeting, held July 26, 2026
Average attendance at the meeting, based on users logged into the virtual platform, was about 130.
The Business Meeting Study group was reconstituted with Farah Mendlesohn and Kat Kourbeti as co-chairs. The membership of the committee formed by D.5 Bidding Trust & Safety will be announced at the August 1st meeting.
The following items were addressed during this session:
- E.1 Clarifying Active Bids – passed as amended, adding “and that have not subsequently withdrawn” after “filed before the ballot deadline.” The body decided this was a lesser change and does not require re-ratification at the 2027 Business Meeting.
- E.2 Clarifying Hugo Award Administrator’s Discretion – passed
- E.3 Clarifying Best Graphic Story or Comic – passed
- E.4 Clarifying Best Series – passed
- E.5 Clarifying the Best Dramatic Presentation Categories – passed
- E.6 Clarifying Nominee Diversity – passed
- E.7 Clarifying WSFS Membership Rights (A) – passed
- E.8 Clarifying WSFS Membership Rights (B) – passed
- E.9 Hugo Award Software Source – passed
- E.10 Site Selection Concordance – passed as amended, adding “and that have not subsequently withdrawn” after “filed before the ballot deadline.” This was ruled a lesser change and does not require re-ratification at the 2027 Business Meeting.
- E.11 Mandated Hugo Admin Reports – passed
- E.12 Speculative Poetry Hugo Award – passed
- E.13 Retire NASFiC – passed
- F.8 Purposeful Proportionality – referred to committee to report back to the August 1st meeting to address concerns that the language could be understood to apply to Hugo Award voting or nominating
All E.x items are ratifications of constitutional changes originally passed at the 2025
Business Meeting and will be added to the Constitution at the close of LAcon V.
Voting in the Mark Protection Committee election is being held through the LAcon V Member Portal and can be accessed from the Business Meeting card in the portal. The election will be open through noon Pacific time on Tuesday, July 28th. The results of the election will be announced at the August 1st meeting.
The August 1st Business Meeting is expected to handle E.14 and E.15, the report from the F.8 committee, and the rest of the F items.
Preliminary Business Meeting, held July 17, 2026
Average attendance at the meeting, based on users logged into the virtual platform, was about 120.
All standing committees were reauthorized to continue as currently constituted. The Ethics and Whistleblower Committee (“Sparkle Unicorn”) did not ask to be reauthorized, considering its work complete, and was discharged. The Business Meeting Study Group was instructed to report back to the July 26th meeting with their preference for a chair for the next year; the decision on reconstituting the Business Meeting Study Group and who shall serve as chair will be taken up at that time.
Nominations were taken for seats for the Mark Protection Committee; the following folks were nominated (and have not already indicated to Business Meeting Staff that they wish to decline the nomination): Alana Vincent, Andrew January, Arturo Serrano, Brianne Reeves, Gary Blog, Jesi Lipp, Jo Van, Joni Dashoff, Judy Bemis, Kat Kourbeti, Kris “Nchanter” Snyder, Linda Ross-Mansfield, Martin Pyne, Mike Willmoth, Roseanna Pendlebury, Todd Dashoff, Warren Buff. Nominees for the Mark Protection Committee should email bm-candidate@lacon.org by 3 hours prior to the start of the July 26th meeting to accept or decline their nomination. They may also include a candidate statement of no more than 300 words which will be published on the Business Meeting Discord. Voting for the Mark Protection Committee will happen at the July 26th meeting.
The following items were addressed during this session:
- C.1 Calling the Question At Any Point – passed and put into immediate effect
- C.2 Minimum Substantive Debate on Main Motions – passed and put into immediate effect
- C.3 Business Meeting Dislocation – passed
- D.1 Clarifying Hugo Award Authority Delegation – passed as amended, striking the paragraph regarding Section 3.5 of the Constitution
- D.2 WSFS Code of Ethics – passed
- D.3 Whistleblower Policy – passed
- D.4 Interim Ombuds Office – passed as amended, adding a request to the Mark Protection Committee to publish the Code of Ethics and Whistleblower Policy on wsfs.org
- D.5 Bidding Trust and Safety – passed
Those interested in serving on the D.5 Bidding Trust and Safety committee should email bm-candidate@lacon.org by 24 hours prior to the start of the July 26th meeting indicating their interest in serving and whether they would be willing to chair the committee.
In addition, the meeting also made the following edits to the agenda and the timing of items:
- E.14 Unnecessary PII – postponed definitely to not be taken up before August 1st
- E.15 End the False Binary – postponed definitely to not be taken up before August 1st
- F.7 Limitation on Listed Contributors for Hugo Award Finalists – the maker of the motion requested permission from the body to withdraw this motion, which was granted; this item is no longer on the agenda
- F.8 Purposeful Proportionality – postponed definitely until no later than 11:45am Pacific on July 26th
