CONfab 2018 Brainstorming Post for Programming Submissions!

[chaneen]

Hello fellow fanpersons, your Programming Team here with some announcements!

Programming submission time is here! We will be running submissions starting on Friday, June 1st and closing on Sunday, July 15th. We will be accepting submissions for any of our three tracks of programming: one track of panels, one of group discussions, and one of workshops. After the submission period ends, programming will be voted on and chosen by you, the attendees.

Here's a handy guide to the types of programming we have to get you started:

• Panels — Programming about a topic that applies to multiple fandoms (AUs, tropes, kink, horror TV, the representation of women in canon, etc.) or a more general fandom universe that has multiple smaller fandoms that fall under its umbrella (Comics, Sports RPF, Video Games, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The CW's DC verse, etc.). Panels run for one hour, and can have up to 4 panelists, including a moderator, whose job is to keep discussion moving, and ensure that the panel stays within established time limits. If you don't want to mod your own panel, we can find someone to help you.
• Group Discussions — Programming about a single fandom (Yuri on Ice, Check Please!, Critical Role, Overwatch, Stranger Things, D&D, etc.), or a niche topic within fandom. Group Discussions can be run by one person, but can have up to 2 panelists. They run for one hour and are in a round table format.
• Workshops — Programming where attendees get a chance to learn something new or hone their skills. Workshop topics could include things like live beta reading, art tips and tricks, or making fannish plushies. If you submit a proposal for a workshop, you must be willing to run it. Workshop sessions run for one hour, but you may offer more than one session of your workshop across multiple days, or request a single day session of longer than one hour (in one hour blocks, only).

We look forward to hearing your amazing ideas for programming! Help make CONfab an awesome experience! We will be accepting submissions for all types of programming from everyone, whether you have registered for the con yet or not. This is your chance to get the programming you want by submitting your ideas. What are you excited about? Share it with the group!

Comment on this post with your programming ideas and questions. Find friends and strangers to help you out, and get ready to submit your proposals starting on June 1st! A new post will go up with submission instructions and a link to the submission form on Friday, June 1st.

The comments on this post will be open throughout the submission period, so feel free to use it as a resource and a sounding board for new ideas that you want a second opinion on before submitting. We can't wait to see what you come up with.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment on this post, or email the Programming team at programming@confabcon.com.

Comments

[lesson_in_love]

Tabletop RPGs 101! Either a panel to talk about different systems or ways to play (finding games IRL or with other fannish people?), or a workshop to create a new character with input from mods/GMs. Maybe culminating in a one shot on Sunday? All of this is free to a good home, because I am new into this world and wholly intimidated haha.

[colls]

I am going to be able to attend this year (YAY!)
I'd love to volunteer for a vidding panel - technical how-to's and general editing topics in vidding. Or just a general vidding love fest.
However, I'm old school - as in, my technology is outdated. Anyone interested in collaborating with me?

[trey]

Would anyone be interested in teaming up for a sports RPF panel? I'd be bringing a still relatively new knowledge and care about Figure Skating!

[tsukinofaerii]

I've been waiting for my brain to kick in before commenting and... nope, hasn't. So here we go anyway.

Fandom History might be a good one. Maybe it's because I'm increasingly An Old, but anyone who's spent any time on Tumblr has probably noticed a few "wow Fandom is such a new and trendy thing and definitely hasn't been around since fire was the latest tech trend" posts. Even aside from my old person grumping, it's never a bad thing to know your roots.

Which leads into, Tumblr. Specifically, Tumblr decentralization. Does anyone else feel less like they're in A Fandom and more like Fandom is one giant homogeneous glob? And I'm not really sure where my place is in the glob. I'm not sure how to frame that conversation, though.

Video Games is always a good one. E3 this year really turned some things on their ears. We saw some really excellent diversity of characters and game design choices. I'm not able to talk about most of the games that drew the most attention, but I'm sure someone could?

Fandom-specific, though, I can do Kingdom Hearts. Give me five hours, a wall, some colored strings, a lot of alcohol and let me at it! The next retcon game comes out January 29th, so now's the time to try and remember wtf happened before it's changed again.

Other fandoms we could run through is the usual Marvel panel ( :P ), Critical Role, um... Game of Thrones? Stranger Things? What are the cool kids watching these days?

[tsukinofaerii]

I can handle 5e and general DMing stuff but I've never played anything else. Or IRL lol. Roll20 is a blessing. And a curse. (Just. Work. For one whole session, WORK DAMN YOU.)

[chaneen]

I am 100% here for the video games panel, if you want to run that together! I have a lot of opinions on stuff, especially The Last of Us, but I did see a ton of other things that looked intriguing. :D Plus, a discussion of diversity in gaming would be pretty interesting, I think!

And I love the idea of Fandom History, but I think it needs a little more focus. Maybe a general overview of where we've been and where we're going (hopefully somewhere else post-tumblr), with the big bullet points that seem to cycle around over and over again? (Probably an hour where we rant about how adults have just as much place in fandom as the young tumblr denizens would be a bad idea. ;))

[tsukinofaerii]

I would have a pretty hard time covering the vidya games panel, since my game play is so limited. (If you want to lay me out for the rest of the day, show me game play from a first-person anything. Yeesh.) But I can be a voice of RPGs, both tabletop and otherwise. And games like Stardew Valley and Don't Starve, which I'm not even really certain what to label.

Fandom History I sort of half-envisioned as almost a history seminar. From Zines to AO3 or somesuch.

The rant about how fandom is for adults too can be title "Just Because I Have a Mortgage Doesn't Mean I Can't Have Hobbies Too, Helen" and will be exclusively about the trials of having had to print our fanfic at the library and smuggle it home in a backpack, uphill, in the snow, both ways.

Or, you know, an actual discussion of how fandom changes as you age. Never mind having to squeeze that latest chapter in between dinner and arranging for the dishwasher repair, there's also a special sort of terror in going back to old fandoms after 20 years. I've matured, and the canon hasn't, and there's a sort of grief there.

(I'm always up for a private rant about Kids Today, but I'd hate to legitimize the arguments that people over 20-something are Too Old for fandom with a panel shouting it down.)

[lesson_in_love]

Just FYI, I've already submitted a Hockey RPF panel, but I think other sports should definitely have a presence!

[countessmry]

Oh I'm so down!! I'd love to do a panel where we actually make a vid as a team? Or something like that. Or how to give feedback to vids? Or like a historical vid show?

[countessmry]

I would love to do a panel on people's fannish histories, how they got into fandom, where their fandom journey has lead them...

[saintawesome]

I would really love to attend this, if someone submits it. I'm super interested in learning how to play tabletop rpgs.

[lesson_in_love]

Yes! I love hearing origin stories!

[countessmry]

Would you want to help me run it? I figure it’s more of a discussion group than a panel.

[lesson_in_love]

Sure! Depending on if any of the Fandom History stuff previously discussed in this post gets submitted we could also add in that.

[countessmry]

I feel like those are two different panels. One is a history of fandom and the other is a personal history. I feel like the personal history one is more of a ice breaker at the beginning of the con type thing.

[chaneen]

I agree. We did the personal history at Wincon 2015 at the M&G and it was super fun. But it would also be a fun group discussion if people want to make it more formal. Maybe with a focus on fandoms of yesteryear (like, what was super popular when you joined? why did that fandom specifically draw you in? etc.) or something.

[chaneen]

(Oops, I totally meant to reply to this ages ago, sorry!)

Stardew Valley and Don't Starve totally count as video games! Technically, they're both even available on consoles, though I find the idea of playing Stardew Valley on the PS4 or whatever to be a little weird.

I love all of these Fandom History ideas! I think it'd be cool to have panelists who got into fandom during different eras (pre-internet, usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, bulletin boards, LJ, tumblr, etc. etc.) to really get a sense of how things have evolved. And I love the idea of talking about how fandom involvement changes as you age and looking back on old fandoms and whatnot. We should definitely do this!

[chaneen]

A couple of ideas that I'd love some collaboration on!

Podcasts: I listen to so many podcasts about a variety of things, both fiction and non-fiction, and think some kind of group discussion about them would be great. I have absolutely no parameters or anything other than that I think we should all trade recs for good stuff!

Video Games: Blatantly stealing this idea from tsukinofaerii, since she doesn't think she's qualified to be on it (I beg to differ! :P). I think this could be a group discussion or a panel, depending on how broad we want to go. I'd love to talk about diversity in upcoming games (more female protagonists! more POCs!) and maybe discuss some of the stuff that's been recently announced, as well as anything that's new this year, or old favorites. And because I love fannish history, how you got into gaming.

[lesson_in_love]

I didn't word that correctly, sorry. I meant more of what chaneen was saying! Talking about like, the websites where we discovered fandom or what major events you remember (Strikethrough, FFN purges, the founding of a/b/o, etc). Since the con has a variance in ages/fandom experience, it might be interesting to get a general timeline or survey for where we all came in. Just adding in some topic points instead of a full blown story hour, which has happened before.

[colls]

I know I went radio silent for a while there, but I'm a) still attending and b) still down for jumping in on something if there's a vid panel talking about whatever.

I'm not sure how making a vid as a team would work in a panel, but am open to trying. I will not be traveling with my vidding computer though. We could storyboard one? (do other vidders still storyboard?)

FlutterWolf is Princess is WickedFade. I finally have a DW.

[flutterwolf]

I am here for either a Sports RPF or a Hockey RPF panel. I may even be willing to be a panelist depending on how many ideas I suggest and get accepted.

EDIT: LOL THIS IS LAST YEARS BRAINSTORMING POST! Welp there goes me being social on here correctly, for my first comment!