Wednesday, December 15, 2021
2:30 pm EST
4:00 pm EST
Bring your artistic talent (or lack thereof!) and join the fun guessing fannish phrases, titles, or characters, based on drawings by you or your fellow fans.
Please note: Virtual streaming of this session will be audience-only. Participation through drawing and guessing will be limited to on-site attendees due to technical constraints.
Fanzines have been a vital part of science fiction and fantasy from the beginning of modern genre fiction in the 1930s. They provide a record of friends, feuds, fashion, and fascinations. Periodically their demise is predicted, but they are still going strong, drawing in new participants and evolving along with fandom. This is a chance to talk to current and previous Hugo nominees about why they produce fanzines.
Signing – Jonathan Pace Brazee
7:00 pm EST
Sip With the Stars (Wednesday)
New con-goers are invited to hang out with published writers, critics, and convention veterans. A great way to make new friends and get the vibe of the con! We’ll break into groups of 4-5 people, each with a mix of newer and more experienced folks. Sips With the Stars events are planned on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings at 7–8 p.m. in the private dining room of the hotel restaurant. Bring your own drinks!
Thursday, December 16, 2021
8:30 am EST
A fully inclusive, gentle yoga class for people of all abilities. Practicing in a chair or on a mat with some optional standing poses, participants will move, stretch, rejuvenate and relax through a series of gentle yoga movements, breathing exercises, and meditation. This class will offer different variations and options, encouraging participants to explore at their own pace and expand their yoga experience within a welcoming and inclusive community. Companions and support people are welcome.
10:00 am EST
DisCon III Feedback — Thursday
Come talk with us about how the Worldcon is going and how we can improve.
Planning and Running a Virtual Fan Event
Virtual cons have been contemplated for a while, but 2020 forced many of us to get serious about them for the first time. In the process, organizers were presented with a lot of new organizational and technical challenges. The panelists will explore the different challenges, organizational structures, and opportunities presented by a virtual con versus an in-person event.
11:30 am EST
1:00 pm EST
Adding Fannish Skills to Your Resumé
Wrangling volunteers, publishing fanzines, beta reading, negotiating hotel contracts… Plenty of fannish skills can be converted to real-world professions. How can you translate fannish experiences into a career?
Get books signed by Guest of Honor Nancy Kress
2:30 pm EST
Learn about The Heinlein Society, which honors the written work and lives of Robert and Virginia Heinlein.
Robert’s Rules and Accessibility
Robert’s Rules of Order is a set of strict rules for running meetings used by governmental bodies and many fan groups. They can also present a significant entry barrier for many, including people with disabilities, non-native English speakers, and people with nontraditional educational backgrounds. How can we work within the framework of Robert’s Rules to ensure accessibility to everyone who wants to participate?
Signing – Mary Robinette Kowal
4:00 pm EST
A chance to talk with Ben Yalow about his long career in con-running. Ben has been involved in SF fandom for about 45 years, attended more than 800 cons, and worked on about a third of them. His first con was Lunacon 14 in 1971. He has been a member of numerous Worldcon bids and has worked on many of them staring in the mid-1970s. He coined the phrase “wimpy zone.” One of his apothegms: “Running a Worldcon is impossible. Running a NASFiC is harder.”
Speculative media content is increasingly offered through subscription services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and CBS All Access. Do your subscriptions reflect your identity as a consumer and fan? What does it say if you subscribe to Britbox and Shudder versus Prime and Disney+?
5:30 pm EST
Talking About the Big Heart Award
Worldcon awards the David A. Kyle Big Heart Award each year to a member of the science fiction community for their good work and great spirit. This panel features past winners of the Big Heart Award who will talk about its influence on fandom.
Two Truths and a Lie: Convention Version
Panelists present three wacky stories about things that have happened at conventions. Only two are true. Can you, the audience, find the lie?
7:00 pm EST
Come hear the Chicon 8 team present its plans for the 80th World Science Fiction Convention in 2022 in Chicago.
New con-goers are invited to hang out with published writers, critics, and convention veterans. A great way to make new friends and get the vibe of the con! We’ll break into groups of 4-5 people, each with a mix of newer and more experienced folks. Sips With the Stars events are planned on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings at 7–8 p.m. in the private dining room of the hotel restaurant. Bring your own drinks!
8:30 pm EST
Where will we go in 2023? Chengdu & Winnipeg Q&A
There are two rival bids who want to run the 2023 Worldcon. Come to this session where Chengdu and Winnipeg will tell you their plans prior to the vote on Friday.
10:00 pm EST
Social Media: Making Enemies & Alienating People
Social media can be an excellent place to find online community, especially during a pandemic, but it can also be a fraught world of vicious gossip, lip service activism, and whatever the Algorithm is. The panel will explore ways of using different forms of social media to connect with like-minded people, while providing tips to avoid falling prey to such platform’s worst aspects.
Friday, December 17, 2021
10:00 am EST
Creating a More Accessible Convention
How can we make conventions safer and more inclusive for those of us with disabilities (visible and otherwise) through mutual support and cultural change?
Come talk with us about how the Worldcon is going and how we can improve.
Kaffeeklatsch With Nancy Kress
Nancy Anne Kress began writing in 1976 and won the Hugo and Nebula Awards for her 1991 novella Beggars in Spain, which became a novel in 1993. Her five other Nebulas include recognition for her novellas After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall (2013), and Yesterday’s Kin (2015). Her most recent novels are Flash Point (2012), The Eleventh Gate (2020), and Sea Change (2020).
11:30 am EST
Signing – Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
1:00 pm EST
Reverse-Harem Reform School Omegaverse Romance
In 2018, this genre was barely a gleam in AO3’s eye. Suddenly it was all over Goodreads, Amazon, and paranormal romance forums, with dozens of series all over the web. Why and how did this extremely specific genre become the hot ticket of 2019 and 2020? What questions does it open up?
Signing – Marie Brennan/M.A. Carrick
Get books signed by Marie Brennan/M.A. Carrick
The Public Domain We Don’t Have
Entertainment industry lobbyists keep pushing copyright life further and further into the future. If copyright in the U.S. hadn’t been extended in 1976 and again in 1998, many more works would now be in the public domain. Join us to discuss the fun mashups we might have had if copyright extension hadn’t passed. Bring your own soapbox.
What Is This Thing Called Filk?
You’ve seen filk items on the convention schedule, but aren’t sure what it is. Come find out!
2:30 pm EST
Everything You Need to Know to Bid for Worldcon
How do you choose a location? How much startup capital do you need? How do you assemble a staff? This panel will tell you everything you need to know, including what unsuspected resources are at your disposal, when putting together a Worldcon bid.
It can be hard to find people with common interests if you are isolated geographically, or when you move to a new place. What goes into finding fellow fans, conventions, gaming or social groups? How do you get to know a new community culture? What pitfalls should you avoid?
A meetup for the fans of the Escape Artists podcasts, including 2021 Hugo nominees Escape Pod and PodCastle. Come chat all things audio short fiction with us!
4:00 pm EST
Kaffeeklatsch with Eddie Louise
Small group conversation with author Eddie Louise.
Advance signup is required to attend this session. Signup sheets will be at the Info Desk starting 12-24 hours before the Kaffeeklatsch begins.