Wiscon Day 2 - Report 4
May. 31st, 2008 07:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julieandrewsAck! They took the schedule down off the Wiscon page. Now I'll have to resort to my pocket programming book, which is all kinds of awesome, by the way. Perhaps not strictly pocket-sized, but still of a small size, and it's the spiral-ring binding that makes it of the most use. Two thumbs up.
After I left the Gathering, I had to stop by my room to drop off those heavy ARCs I'd just not-purchased. So I was a bit late arriving to listen to my first ever Wiscon panel!
Toys: The Other Childhood Fixation We Didn't Leave Behind
M: Mark Rich, Ellen Klages, Richard Chwedyk, Robyn Fleming
I didn't take notes at this panel, as it didn't really seem the type of panel to take notes at. At least for me. The panelists talked about toys. There were some bits I didn't catch, either because there were references I didn't get, or I couldn't hear well, I'm not sure. I definitely couldn't see well, as I'd ended up sitting behind a pillar.
Robyn, I believe, had customized a Barbie. She had light-up bling on her finger. Other toys discussed, as I recall, are dinosaurs, the easy-bake oven, lead civilians, chemistry sets, and others. Some of the discussion revolved around dangerous things the panelists did as children, that children today couldn't get away with. Such as melting lead.
Next, I went to the panel for moderators. I wasn't set to be a moderator, or even a panelist, at this Wiscon, but I'd like to be at other cons in the future, and it looked like the most interesting panel in the timeslot.
Mod Squad
M: Debbie Notkin
Debbie was surprised to learn she was the only person on the panel, which was a good demonstration of something not to do if you're a moderator. You should always check to see who's on the panel with you.
I took a number of notes at this panel, and I think it will prove useful to me in the future. Some things you might think are common sense after you've listened to enough badly-moderated panels, but there are some situations the average con-goer may not have encountered (yet).
Interrupting someone who's talking at length is a key skill of a moderator. What's trickier to deal with is if someone on the panel or in the audience makes an offensive remark. One of the ways discussed about dealing with that is to bring it back to the panel topic as quickly as possible. In most cases, that's probably the way to go.
I also wrote down that you shouldn't tokenize panelists. I can see how that would be pretty easy to do. As a moderator, if you're floundering for a question to ask, you might ask a panelist how they view X because they are Y. Unless 'Y' is their profession or hobby, you'd better be very careful. Unless a panel is about race, gender, a disability, or etcetera, then the panelist likely isn't there to represent that view.
After that panel, I went to dinner! If you're not aware, Wiscon has scheduled lunch and dinner breaks, which are awesome. And there's so many local restaurants within 5-10 minutes of the hotel, that the entire 1000 attendees can find somewhere to eat without unduly overburdening any one restaurant.
Dinner involved two of my classmates, three other people from San Diego that you might call Clarion-groupies, as they helped out during our Clarion, one person who attended a prior Clarion taught by Maureen McHugh, one of our instructors, Greg Frost, and the aforementioned Maureen McHugh, who was also a Guest of Honor. Also one other person who was at the other end of the table from me, so I never caught his name, sorry!
You'd think it'd be hard for a group of ten to find a table for dinner, but it was quickly managed. We ate at.. Chauwara(?), which was this mix of Nepali and Indian and something else. The other vegetarian, S (hereafter referred to as S), and I split a couple of things. My brain is not good at remembering the names of what we ordered, but it was a veggie dumpling, some dal, and tofu something or other. It was all very good. S said dal isn't usually soup, but it was here, and it tasted remarkably like stew I've made before. Perhaps it was the mix of kidney beans, onion, and possibly pepper. I've never put lentils in my stew, so it wasn't them. :)
I usually don't attend Opening Ceremonies at cons, but when you've already had your dinner break and there's nothing else scheduled, and people to attend with, why not? General introductions of people and thanking of people and various and assorted announcements. The highlight was probably The Carl Brandon Society who got up on stage to sing. Greg was one of the people up there. We had song sheets to sing along. There was a Wiscon song and songs about the GoHs, and finally they sang the debut of... I believe it was called "Filk Ain't Got No Soul" which was pretty awesome.
The con was only just getting started, but these entries are getting longer and longer! Time for a break.
After I left the Gathering, I had to stop by my room to drop off those heavy ARCs I'd just not-purchased. So I was a bit late arriving to listen to my first ever Wiscon panel!
Toys: The Other Childhood Fixation We Didn't Leave Behind
M: Mark Rich, Ellen Klages, Richard Chwedyk, Robyn Fleming
I didn't take notes at this panel, as it didn't really seem the type of panel to take notes at. At least for me. The panelists talked about toys. There were some bits I didn't catch, either because there were references I didn't get, or I couldn't hear well, I'm not sure. I definitely couldn't see well, as I'd ended up sitting behind a pillar.
Robyn, I believe, had customized a Barbie. She had light-up bling on her finger. Other toys discussed, as I recall, are dinosaurs, the easy-bake oven, lead civilians, chemistry sets, and others. Some of the discussion revolved around dangerous things the panelists did as children, that children today couldn't get away with. Such as melting lead.
Next, I went to the panel for moderators. I wasn't set to be a moderator, or even a panelist, at this Wiscon, but I'd like to be at other cons in the future, and it looked like the most interesting panel in the timeslot.
Mod Squad
M: Debbie Notkin
Debbie was surprised to learn she was the only person on the panel, which was a good demonstration of something not to do if you're a moderator. You should always check to see who's on the panel with you.
I took a number of notes at this panel, and I think it will prove useful to me in the future. Some things you might think are common sense after you've listened to enough badly-moderated panels, but there are some situations the average con-goer may not have encountered (yet).
Interrupting someone who's talking at length is a key skill of a moderator. What's trickier to deal with is if someone on the panel or in the audience makes an offensive remark. One of the ways discussed about dealing with that is to bring it back to the panel topic as quickly as possible. In most cases, that's probably the way to go.
I also wrote down that you shouldn't tokenize panelists. I can see how that would be pretty easy to do. As a moderator, if you're floundering for a question to ask, you might ask a panelist how they view X because they are Y. Unless 'Y' is their profession or hobby, you'd better be very careful. Unless a panel is about race, gender, a disability, or etcetera, then the panelist likely isn't there to represent that view.
After that panel, I went to dinner! If you're not aware, Wiscon has scheduled lunch and dinner breaks, which are awesome. And there's so many local restaurants within 5-10 minutes of the hotel, that the entire 1000 attendees can find somewhere to eat without unduly overburdening any one restaurant.
Dinner involved two of my classmates, three other people from San Diego that you might call Clarion-groupies, as they helped out during our Clarion, one person who attended a prior Clarion taught by Maureen McHugh, one of our instructors, Greg Frost, and the aforementioned Maureen McHugh, who was also a Guest of Honor. Also one other person who was at the other end of the table from me, so I never caught his name, sorry!
You'd think it'd be hard for a group of ten to find a table for dinner, but it was quickly managed. We ate at.. Chauwara(?), which was this mix of Nepali and Indian and something else. The other vegetarian, S (hereafter referred to as S), and I split a couple of things. My brain is not good at remembering the names of what we ordered, but it was a veggie dumpling, some dal, and tofu something or other. It was all very good. S said dal isn't usually soup, but it was here, and it tasted remarkably like stew I've made before. Perhaps it was the mix of kidney beans, onion, and possibly pepper. I've never put lentils in my stew, so it wasn't them. :)
I usually don't attend Opening Ceremonies at cons, but when you've already had your dinner break and there's nothing else scheduled, and people to attend with, why not? General introductions of people and thanking of people and various and assorted announcements. The highlight was probably The Carl Brandon Society who got up on stage to sing. Greg was one of the people up there. We had song sheets to sing along. There was a Wiscon song and songs about the GoHs, and finally they sang the debut of... I believe it was called "Filk Ain't Got No Soul" which was pretty awesome.
The con was only just getting started, but these entries are getting longer and longer! Time for a break.
