Tips & Tricks Day 4: Group Discussion Questions!

[chaneen]

It's Day 4 of our series on how to run programming! Yesterday, we put up this post with some tips and tricks to help you with hosting a group discussion. For today's post, I've included the notes from a few of my own group discussions, since I've run a lot of them.

Group discussions generally focus on one single fandom (or trope or more narrowly focused topic). When I've run group discussions, I generally write down a few things that I want to discuss, as well as some leading questions to ask the group if we have time. Some examples for you:

Stranger Things (CONfab 2017):
(This discussion was held between S1 and S2)

• The Stephen King-esque vibe of the whole series. This show feels like it could be an adaptation of a King or similar book from that era.
• All of the 80s pop culture references and how spot on the 80s vibe was.
• Characters and relationships (how much do we love Hopper? *__* how great are all of those kids?)
• The ending!!
• #justiceforbarb
• Things to ask the group: what drew you to the show, what do you want to see in S2, favorite part of S1

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (CONfab 2017):

• Tone, setting, clothes, etc. Talk about the look of the show.
• Jack/Phryne y/y/mfy?? Their working relationship, possible romance, etc.
• Evolution of Dot's character over the three seasons
• Character relationships (Dot and Miss Fisher, Miss Fisher and Mac, Hugh and Dot, Miss Fisher and the police, etc.)
• The possible movie!!
• Things to ask the group: favorite episode/arc, favorite character, why you started watching the show

Podcasts (CONfab 2018):

• Types of podcasts you listen to
• How you got into listening to them
• Fiction vs. Non-Fiction
• Recommend some podcasts to the group

If any of you have your own examples, please leave them in the comments! We'd love both actual notes from a group discussion and advice/things you like to do for your own group discussions. I'll update this post later on with links to whatever we receive.

As always, we're happy to answer any questions you may have, so leave us a comment or send an email to programming@confabcon.com. :D

Comments

[ofjustimagine]

Found my notes from the 2017 Confab Hockey Panel!
• Whatever hot button breaking news event that happens in the playoffs, inevitably
• The differences between being A Fan of The Sport vs A Person in Sports Fandom
     • Which place feels more comfortable for you?
     • Analytics vs Narrative
     • Hockey Twitter Media vs Hockey Twitter Fandom
     • Are those fluid or do you have hard boundaries?
     • Uncomfortable things that are normalized in sports (WHY IS THE DRAFT COMBINE, coming back from injury)
     • Uncomfortable things that are normalized in fandom (infantilizing)
• Women’s hockey
     • NWHL/CWHL, differences and similarities. they’re not merging u media idiots
     • What’s the best way to help gain more followers? with near and far options. Fandom efforts like fic exchanges or primers? Bringing friends/family to games? Sponsoring local nonprofessional teams?
     • Players to watch or learn about for Olympics?

• Pimp your favorite player/narrative/story
• Trials and tribulations made by Expansion Draft or trades