[penguicon-general] A couple of thoughts about programming

[Catherine Olanich Raymond]

On Tuesday 24 April 2007 11:57 pm, Matt Arnold wrote:
> Cathy,
>
> This is a good place to discuss it. The only way for Penguicon to get
> the kind of programming one wants to see, is to ask the general
> population of attendees to provide it. The schedule is largely
> crowdsourced-- in other words, it consists of whatever volunteers step
> forward to do. That grassroots method is why we had a hundred program
> participants this year.

Agreed.  I'm not particularly good at thinking up program items, though, which 
is why I chose to make a conceptual statement and see what kind of responses 
resulted.  

I'm perfectly willing to be recruited for program items.  I'd be happy to do 
the Dark Chocolate Tasting again next year.  (Or let Tammy Coxen do it, and 
run something different.  Maybe cheese?)

[snip]

> I suspect that when you talk about having game, music, and anime
> tracks, what you mean is panels talking about these topics. 

Only in part.  Workshops can certainly count as program items.  This year's 
miniatures workshops count as part of the Gaming Track, in my mind.  As a 
congoer, I prefer workshops to panels, frankly.  

[snip]

> One thing I realized from several comments over the course of the year
> is that different people mean different things by "crossover
> programming" but they often don't realize there are other definitions.
> I frequently hear from prospective panelists, "I can't be on that
> panel because I only know half of it", and I tell them the other
> panelists know the other half and getting them together to learn from
> each other is the whole point. That's how I know a crossover panel
> when I see one.

Agreed.  

One of the toughest parts of recruiting people for panels is determining which 
people 1) have knowledge to compliment each other; 2) are capable of working 
together by temperament.  It's also important to have ENOUGH people on the 
panel.  For most subjects, and most panelists, two people are not quite 
enough, and five are too many.  

It's also possible to have one person speak on a subject.  If the person is 
knowledgeable enough, and knows how to work with an audience, that can be a 
great programming item (Eric and Rob Landley, among others, have done good 
ones).  But it isn't a panel.  :-)


-- 
Cathy Raymond <cathy at thyrsus.com>

"You've got to have the proper amount of disrespect for what you do."  
-- George Mabry