Long-time readers and followers may know that I enjoy going to science fiction conventions, and they may also know that I tend to go to one of them per year as my weekend away. I'm not talking about Comic-Con, which is a bit "too much" for me -- all hype and promotion. No, I mean a smaller con, located a little (but not much) farther away, where I spend the weekend.
In the past, that was Lunacon, which has fallen into the annals (or "annuals"?) of sci-fi history. Now, there is it's pseudo-replacement, HeliosphereNY, held in the spring in Tarrytown, NY (a stone's throw from Sleepy Hollow). This past weekend was supposed to be my weekend away, but, like everything else in the country right now, it was cancelled.
However, you can't keep sci-fi fans down for long. They were like, Let's Go! It was On with the Con!
HeliosphereNY held a virtual convention online. I was impressed that it came together so quickly, and that it ran as smoothly as it did considering they didn't even know if they would have panelists.
A couple of things led to its success: first, much of the programming work had already been done. It was just a matter of finding panelists who were available and scheduling some of talks which they had expressed interest in.
Second, and this is the biggie, I have to send kudos to the Filk community. I'm not a filker, and I don't spend much time in the filk room, listening to their concerts or open singing. But they are a very organized group, a close-knit one, a society unto their own. And they had an entire slate of performers ready to fill one track of programming. I don't think there was a point during the weekend where there wasn't some concert or other going on, even when there were no discussion panels.
Side note, here: A number of years ago, at one of the last Lunacons, the filkers wanted to invite Leslie Fish, a well-known filker on the West Coast, to the con. However, they needed to raise money to bring her to NY. So they started an indiegogo campaign. I donated to that fundraiser, without asking for any reward, for the simple reason that I wanted it to succeed. Not because I wanted to hear the concert, but because if it did succeed (which it did), that meant it could be used as a viable route for other guests (or events) in the future. (Which didn't happen, alas.)
Back to the weekend: Friday night was a little touch and go. The participants had to accustom themselves to using zoom, and the moderators and administrators had to deal with "zoom boomers" who came in to disrupt. The convention was free, and word was put out online in places where people ho might attend generally congregate. This also brought out the wackos. Despite the waiting room feature, people slipped in and had their little fun. As a results, for many of the panels, the microphones had to be turned off for all participates but the panelists. There was a chat window for questions. Thankfully, I didn't encounter anything rude or lewd on video.
For me, Friday was a mixed bag. One panel had no moderator and it seemed to lack direction, like the panelists weren't sure what they would talk about even after it started. The Horror panel, which featured readings, was going well, but was getting "bombed". Unfortunately, I was a casualty of that, as the incorrect person who removed from the room. (I got sincere apologies from the admin and the panelist after that one. No hard feelings.)
The "big" panel for me on Saturday was "I Wrote a Thing, Now What?", with advice from writers/editors on what to do, and what not to do. And a reminder that I need to write another story for another shot at another anthology, even though it may not get funded. Sadly, given this downturn, people are watching more TV, but reading less. Book sales are down. Even audio books, but they mostly sold to people driving to work. Notable about this (for me) was that Alex Shvartsman and Ian Randal Strock were both panelists. I was on two panels at HeliosphereNY 2019, and I sat next to both of them, one at each panel.
I was on two panels this year as well, both on Sunday. The first was Episodic or Serial, and I seemed to be the lone voice of dissent. It was the opinion of the panel that serial is the way TV is going now. Actually, I didn't disagree with that, but I wasn't enthused that this is where we're heading. I miss episodic TV, and many people at home in the evening, will flip on a half-hour sitcom and just enjoy. I think the other panelists agreed with me here. I'll have more to say about this panel in Part II of this report.
The second panel was "Privacy in the Information Age". I volunteered for this one because I thought it an interesting topic. I used to work programming computers, and now I use them in education. I signed up before the teaching world was turned upside down. This panel came along at the right time. Speaking of time, it was probably the best-attended Sunday 3pm panel that I've ever been to. Shoutout to Joseph R. Kennedy for stepping up and leading the discussion with lots of information and stories at his disposal. Most of my contributions were anecdotal, but the three panelists had a good hour.
Not much to gripe about during the Gripe session, and I even stopped in for a while during the Dead Dog filk.
Overwhelming approval by the organizers, presenters, and participants. We thought it great, and would love to do it again. However ... we'd all rather just be there in person next year. So here's hoping for 2021!
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