Panel feedback?

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

This was my first year running the literature track (ran comics track in '08 and '09), and I didn't get to many panels I wasn't actually on, so! I seek panel feedback! What went well? What didn't? What was well-attended? Any issues?

This would also be a great place to thank panelists you particularly appreciated.

Thanks!

--Shira
(modded Sexual Politics in Fandom and Take Back the Sci-Fi; also on Trauma as Character Development, Interstitial Fiction, Kick-Ass Moms, and Connection and Collaboration.)

Comments

[aelscha.livejournal.com]

I don't think I saw any lit panels, but you know programming keeps body counts for just about everything, right? So those numbers are available whenever someone gets around to transcribing them.

Also, I loved your reading and I'm sorry I had to slip out early.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) Yeah, I kinda expect anyone on staff or on panels following the reading to have to duck out at some point, but it's awesome that you came to it. :)

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

I was on two literature panels; they both went really well and were well-attended. I have a bit of feedback to give, but perhaps I should send it directly to you rather than post it here?

[dda.livejournal.com]

There is always the Feedback (http://2010.arisia.org/feedback) address. It is probably better to give official feedback and only giving it to one person.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

shadesong at gmail!

[moria923.livejournal.com]

I got sick and missed the whole con. This was serious suckage, largely because the lit panels you put together seemed so intriguing. I'm really sorry to have missed them. Are you going to run this track again next year?

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Oh noes!

That's a maybe. We'll see who ends up as head of programming, if they want me, and what my schedule looks like, but I enjoyed it and would consider doing it again.

[cimeara.livejournal.com]

I saw the Interstitial panel, and enjoyed it very much. Some good panelists with lots to say and not shy about saying it, which makes for good discussion and a non-bored audience. When you have people still talking as they file out of the room, you know it went well.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I enjoyed that one. I'm glad we had a really engaged audience, too!

[ambyr.livejournal.com]

I attended The Changing Face of Fiction: Literature, Diversity, and Backlash, Women and Sci-Fi, and Disabilities in Science Fiction. I enjoyed the first a lot, but thought the latter two got off track. In particular, Women and Sci-Fi ended up devoting a lot of time to issues encountered by women studying and working in the sciences today, which while an interesting subject was pretty far afield from the precis. Not sure what the solution is; more detailed panel descriptions?

[spacehawk.livejournal.com]

I left this panel (Women in Sci-Fi) halfway through because it got so far off track.

I think this is a job for the mod.

Also Walter Hunt had no idea why he was (supposed to be) on that panel, and I was really confused by this too, which is why I asked him.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

He wasn't. I don't know who put him on there, but it wasn't me - I only assigned female sci-fi writers to the panel, because that is what made sense to m.

A number of the panels mysteriously got people I didn't assign crammed in there.

(Nothing against Walter, who seems to be a swell guy, but the panel makeup was all-female on purpose.)

[emily-goddess.livejournal.com]

One issue with the "Women and Sci-Fi" panel was that the panelists included one non-writer and one no-show, which left only two panelists to carry most of the discussion. I still found it interesting, but it did veer off-topic quite a bit.

[ambyr.livejournal.com]

I don't even think they need to be writers, but I do think it would have helped if all the panelists were readers at least vaguely familiar with the incidents mentioned in the precis. Having one panelist say they didn't pay attention to or care about the gender of the authors they read made me wonder why they were on that particular panel.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Which panelist? (There were a few that got snuck on there when I wasn't looking.)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Which were which? That was one where someone was swapping panelists on me at the last minute...

[emily-goddess.livejournal.com]

Trisha Wooldridge and Adrianne Brennan were both there, and I think it was Anna Bradley who was there but said she wasn't a writer.

[onyxhawke.livejournal.com]

I would have liked to see a few more panel's on who's emerging for writers.

I would _LOVE_ to see a "1985 to now, what to read".

Most of the lit panels this year seemed to trend heavily towards social issues and not enough in general on appreciation of the books we love.

[emily-goddess.livejournal.com]

The panels on "social issues" were what motivated me to come to Arisia, and I enjoyed them immensely. But then, I'm the kind of person who would go to WisCon if only I could afford to.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

We did have a lot on the classics, but definitely we should have some stuff on emerging writers for next year. (Several were *on* the panels, but we could always use more panels.)