In a recent post Tony DiGerolamo blogged about being at Philcon (con a couple weeks ago near Philadelphia) - he's 43 years old, but he was the guy who had to lift and move heavy boxes - because he was the youngest guy around. This is not good. This year's Philcon - which Brianna and I attended, as I was a AGOH - had an attendance of 400.
Very few people there were under 20. But, the thing is... young people do go to conventions - E3 (the annual videogame convention) had 41,000 this year. San Diego Comic-Con had 125,000 a couple years ago. Dragon-Con gets 35,000+ each year. In contrast, the last US worldcon, in Denver, got 4,000.
I've heard a lot of worried discussion about this in fandom. How do we draw in the younger crowd? They seem to really like (1) movies, (2) TV shows, (3) videogames; (4) comix. Most cons in the US don't have a lot of programming of that kind. Nor do they tend to have big-name movie stars (like Shatners and Nimoys) to draw people in. Nor do they seem to care to - most U.S. cons seem focused on books, magazines, writing.
What's the situation in the UK? I don't recall seeing a lot of young fans at the UK cons I've attended (though, to be honest, time has passed and recollection is cloudy).
Is this an issue UK fandom worries about? Are there specific things you guys are doing over there that we can copy here?
I've seen feeble attempts to draw in a younger crowd at conventions - a videogame panel discussion here or there. A panel on a current TV show here or there. A Boston con (Arisia? Boskone? I forget which) recently LOWERED its admission price for under-20s. But... there are fun and easy (and cheap) things that a convention can do to - like have a videogame tournament (like Tekken 6 or Street Fighter), with a prize like a free admission to next year's con, or they get their name announced as the total awesomeness during the masquerade or some other high-attendance event.
Any other thoughts on drawing in younger folks, from either side of the pond?