if I am able to go to Dashcon 2 and host a panel, what should the topic be
trolleys and their various forms within American Cities (Philly, Toronto,Boston)
transit infrastructure and why it's needed
a brief summary of American Rail Infrastructure history and why it matters today
the new potential for the north American Rail network and where it lacks
Local Advocacy and how to get involved
the history of the subway system
what makes a city livable, an open discussion
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Okay legitimately tho, not to be all "I'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR FIFTEEN YEARS" but...I've been doing this for 15 years. I literally teach other people how to run panels. And my genuine suggestion would be:
Multiple of these, in four roughly-15-minute-long segments. (If one is 12 and one is 17 nobody's got a stopwatch, but measuring it out to roughly-this will allow you to fill your hour without running over.)
I'd go, in order:
--a brief history of American Rail Infrastructure and why it matters today
--the new potential for the NA rail network and where it lacks
--local advocacy and how to get involved
--what makes a city livable/open discussion
I'd strongly recommend doing a brief Q&A/"pop quiz" before hitting the history of the infrastructure; I like to use them as a way to gauge what my audience already knows, but also it gets them invested. Ask for some examples of major infrastructure projects; throw out hints if necessary. It only takes a minute or two, but it gets people thinking and in the panel's headspace. As you close, suggest that people write their representatives or look up local advocacy groups when they're done with con for the evening, and that if they submit their action to your blog (e.g., say someone writes a physical letter to their representative and takes a photo of it), you'll share it. It gives them a piece of the panel to take away with them and also ties it back to Tumblr, which is the point of the con.
That actually makes a ton of sense, and would help to make sure people wouldn't get bored of the panel due to too much talking about one topic
Exactly. And designing your subtopics to flow into each other will also help to answer questions as they come up; for example, “wow. We had such good rail in the 40s and then the GM conspiracy happened, that sucks….wait, they’re BRINGING IT BACK?! Back up! Tell me more about that!”
Letting people know at the beginning that there’s open discussion at the end will also make them pay more attention, because they’ll want to remember things so they can talk about and clarify them later. It also means they’ll actually have topics to discuss when you say “so let’s talk about what makes a city livable.”
And finally, I always recommend addressing panels directly to your audience. “Let’s talk about what you feel makes a city livable,” for example. It’s easy to become a talking head if you get nervous, especially if you’re flying solo, and that’s where you start to lose people.
I’m currently trying to find my Box O Con Shit because I need to finish up some research for an upcoming panel, but once it turns up (it’s here…SOMEWHERE, the ADHD national anthem) I can share my notes on the subject if you’d like and I’m extremely sorry I’m absolutely rambling. We can tell where my passions lie.
ANYWAY YES I would attend this, I think it’d be fascinating.
Thanks for the advice, glad to hear people would be interested in this, I really want to run a convention panel now. If I can’t find a way to get to Dashcon 2, I am going to at least try to find a more local convention that I can host this at.
