If I were Crazy Enough to Attempt a Panel or the Like at ApolloCon, What should it be About?
What could I take on? Last year I did one on specialty teas, which was full and even over-slotted (just bare of standing room only, because we had overflow couches). It went all right, if not quite as splendidly smooth as lolleeroberts in her coffee tasting. I considered that quite acceptable given she is a professionally a teacher and quite used to teaching in a classroom setting whereas my usual day is spent grinding through important calculations in a one-woman office setting, and only very rarely involves speaking to more than 8 people in a formalized meeting style setting.
I would like to do something SF wise, or tasting wise, but I need to avoid any possible overlap with my profession as a chemical engineer. Not only would it be far too easy to say something amiss and be liable to a slander complaint, my profession is not one of wide-spread interest to most people, excepting perhaps spectacular disasters like the current oil-leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Those situations, of course, being the ones where I do not have direct first-hand knowledge, and if I did, I would be bound by confidentiality agreements not to say word one anyway.
So, any suggestions out there? Most of you are acquainted with my hobbies. I could do something very geeky, like the statistics of modern D&D versus the original editions, or something about chemical safety in the home. I could do a tasting panel, and I am already scheduled to run a formal High Tea so I think that lets out the tea panel (not that I mind, it's a LOT of work to put one together). I also thought about a contra-idea panel of athletic pursuits for geeks, to fly in the face of stereotypes, but I would need to recruit some more active geeks for that to broaden the subject.
I would like to do something SF wise, or tasting wise, but I need to avoid any possible overlap with my profession as a chemical engineer. Not only would it be far too easy to say something amiss and be liable to a slander complaint, my profession is not one of wide-spread interest to most people, excepting perhaps spectacular disasters like the current oil-leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Those situations, of course, being the ones where I do not have direct first-hand knowledge, and if I did, I would be bound by confidentiality agreements not to say word one anyway.
So, any suggestions out there? Most of you are acquainted with my hobbies. I could do something very geeky, like the statistics of modern D&D versus the original editions, or something about chemical safety in the home. I could do a tasting panel, and I am already scheduled to run a formal High Tea so I think that lets out the tea panel (not that I mind, it's a LOT of work to put one together). I also thought about a contra-idea panel of athletic pursuits for geeks, to fly in the face of stereotypes, but I would need to recruit some more active geeks for that to broaden the subject.