Written By Larry Baker and Keith Johnson The Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee (SWOC) was created on November 4, 1990 with the specific mission of bidding for and running Westercon 46. The purpose of this project was twofold: 1) Test the fannish waters to see what support there might be for a Seattle Worldcon bid, and 2) To serve as a catalyst for encouraging cooperation among Puget Sound area fandom. Seattle, of course, did win and host Westercon 46 (1992). Not long after Westercon 46, it became obvious that SWOC had the desire, resources, and organizational experience to take on another significant project. We decided that we really wanted to hold another Westercon - the expectation being that we could produce an even better one than we did before, and gain more experience that we could then apply toward our Worldcon hopes. In July 1995, SWOC was awarded the honor of hosting Westercon 50 by the fans attending Westercon 48, and we are currently in the planning stages of what promises to be a heckuva good convention. SWOC remains committed to the ideals of openness and fairness that let us succeed in our earlier endeavors. In addition to Westercon 50, SWOC also has taken on sponsorship of the Seattle in 2002 Worldcon bid, currently known as Group of Friends. We have also hosted two local convention planners conferences, ConComCon's 2 and 3. SWOC has also become one of the few Northwest fannish organizations to be granted 501(c)3 tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. This means that SWOC now qualifies as a tax-deductable charity organization. What is the future for SWOC after Westercon 50? Will we bid for another Westercon? Will we focus solely on the 2002 Worldcon bid? Will we go off in a completely different direction? That depends in large part on how well this Westercon goes and where we feel our expertise and experience can best be applied once that work is done. The future holds many intriguing possibilities. Stay tuned.