Cons and Programming

[sartorias]

The call for programming, and promise of a scholarship for programmers for Sirens 2011 makes me think about the whole programming thing. Well, 'think' is probably too strong a word for two hours of sleep

Comments

[green_knight]

I've just had a look at the UK Eastercon panel, and found not a great amount I'd be interested in or that I'd pick up for Bittercon.

http://www.illustrious.org.uk/?page=grids

(One panel entitled 'why are women invisible' is scheduled opposite Peter Hamilton's GOH slot: your answer, let me give you it.)

The main point of a panel is/should be _generating discussion_, so I think that a panel called 'Software Concepts of the Future' would work better than 'Why software fails.'

As for the 'always the same people' and 'in my book-': I've recently read with a certain measure of alarm as a well-established writer talked about cons: they were of the opinion that if they were sitting on panels, they were providing content for the attendants (and should be compensated in some form). And that attitude means that you can really only *have* pros above a certain point on panels, because if Jane Unpublished sits on a panel with Edith Multipublished, and one of them gets their con attendance subsidized and the other doesn't, you're going to have some *very* discontented congoers.

(I'd been under the impression that GOHs get paid; while other panellists get _some_ perks/discounts, but apperently that's not universal practice.)

[sartorias]

One panel entitled 'why are women invisible' is scheduled opposite Peter Hamilton's GOH slot: your answer, let me give you it.)

Oh dear oh dear. (Well, maybe they think that Hamilton's fans wouldn't attend the invisibility one anyway? Sometimes you have to have two tracks, in which case I think it a good idea that the subjects be as divergent as possible. One thing that really bites the big balloon is when two interesting panels are slotted at the same time--and their subjects are related. Argh!)

Re your second point, well, there are all kinds of approaches to these questions, and decisions have to be made by con committees. However, speaking for myself, I would rather hear Jane Unpublished if she's got some good stuff to offer on the topic than three Blockbuster Sellers who are often on these things, but then other attendees might be there to see the blockbusters.

[green_knight]

I recognise that scheduling is a nightmare - I very much prefer to have several tracks to pick from; it makes it easier to sit out panels because you can't attend all the interesting ones anyway - but that was particularly bad scheduling.

other attendees might be there to see the blockbusters

I think once you get into that, you have a whole _different_ set of dynamics. You invite Names, they promise to turn up and do work, you advertise them to other congoers. This can work in getting people to attend. At the same time, it means that the pros in question won't see themselves as _congoers_ - they're not there for fun, they're working. One of the attraction of cons for me is that you get to mingle freely with other fans - some of whom might have fans of their own. Separate the two, and you have a different event.

[3rdragon]

I worked with a college convention for four years, and we didn't have the funds to actually compensate professional guests (or even to bring in too many guests from the West Coast, unfortunately), which I think forced us into a position that actually worked really well: we would have invited guests, who would have travel and housing and free admission to the con -- these were general professionals -- and other panelists, who got free admission on days they were on panels (or for the whole con if they were doing lots of things on one day but not on others). People who weren't officially invited guests tended to be locals, and thus didn't need transportation or housing, and I felt like we usually had an excellent mixture on most of our panels.

This did mean that there have been people we would've liked to invite but didn't because they only make paid appearances, but we've generally had excellent professional guests in addition to very popular panels run by college students.

[sartorias]

This the solution that a lot of smaller cons without big budgets have found.