Below are panels from 10 years ago! Vote for wayback panels here: https://tinyurl.com/Esc33-poll
50 Shades of Crap
Why is it that bad het SM former fanfiction makes a bazillion dollars and well-written m/m is still only in back alleys? Is it worth it for us to try to write that original m/m story/novel that’s been eating our brain?
Back When Fandom Used Bearskins and Stone Knives (Tour of the Zine Library)
Come on a guided tour of the zine library. Learn about fanzine production methods, shifts in fanzine culture and what lies ahead on the horizon for fanzines. Due to space constraints, attendance will be limited.
How Fan Fiction Changed Your Life
Let’s talk about life-changing stories. A story that turned you around, spun your head, made you look at things differently to the point where you could not stop thinking or talking about it. Where you wanted to marry not only the story but the person who wrote it. Wanted to talk to the writer about it until you understood why and how it changed you.
Making Love Out Of Nothing At All
Two recent major fandoms—Inception and Teen Wolf–grew up around secondary character slash pairings. What are the elements that lead fandom to ignore main characters in favor of sidekicks? Come talk about the Other Guy pairings in slash fandoms past, present and future—what makes them appealing, and whether this focus on rarepairs is a fad or a trend on the rise. (So to speak.)
My lawn is your lawn!
New people flood into fandom every day from little kids to drawerfic writers who thought they were all alone. How do we make fandom spaces welcoming for new people without spoiling what was there before? Or would we rather shake our canes? Let’s talk about newbies, for better or for worse.
No More Soundbites, Please: Fannish Consumption in 2013
If you can Netflix your show, tweet your reaction to the TPTB, and read fanfic on your phone, how do you keep your enthusiasm about a show going? Does having more tools available to consume your show turn you into more of a fannish butterfly? Also, does the greater public awareness of fandom and fanfic, especially among actors, change your fannish behavior? Inquiring minds want to know!
No, Don’t!
Noncon: hot or not? From sex pollen to recovery stories, fandom sure does love to throw consent out the window. What makes these stories hot? What makes them offensive? And just where *is* that dubcon line?
Privacy, Secrecy, and the Fourth Wall
The fourth wall between fans and The Powers That Be is shrinking day by day. Are the technologies we’re using changing fannish etiquette (from invite-only mailing lists, to friends-locked journals, to all public all the time tumblr)? Should we run for the hills or embrace the change? Discuss!
Resurrecting The Dead
With Netflix and Amazon Instant Video streaming many older shows (scifi, fantasy, buddy cop shows, etc), completed shows are getting a new chance at life. Come and share what new-old shows you’ve fallen in love with!
Robot Love
Let’s talk about our love for artificial people: Data, David-8, GLaDOS, Hal, Marvin the Paranoid Android, the Terminators, and all their metal-hearted brethren. Where do robot-like characters like Spock, Parker, Abed, or Sidney Crosby fit into all this? What is it about them that makes them so lovable?
Romance Outside the Box
White Collar, The Vampire Diaries, Lost Girl, Haven, Merlin, Leverage, True Blood, Fringe, Star Trek: 2009… what do all these fandoms have in common? Nothing a little OT3 wouldn’t fix. Fandom knows this, and some of us love the idea. Prime time TV flirts with the idea more openly all the time, and Leverage arguably made theirs canon in the finale. Is polyamory the next frontier? A panel to celebrate the threesome (and moresome) dynamic, and the fandoms that give us such shiny toys to play with.
Sports RPF: Balls!
Balls, balls everywhere (except when they’re pucks). Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, and other sports RPF fandoms are as popular as ever. Is it the competitive world full of dynamic relationships and rivalries? The drama of good seasons, bad seasons, drafts, strikes, lockouts, and championships? How hot the athletes are? All of the above (and more)? Let’s discuss our favorite sports fandoms!
The Bromance Network: USA Network & the Marketing of Homoeroticism
With numerous shows featuring bromantic male friendships at the center of both the writing and marketing, USA Network has clearly got our number, and many of us are watching. But how do we feel about this? Exploited by the willingness to court our slashy desires without giving us canonical queerness? Happy to have so much slash-candy to devour? We can explore these questions and save a little time for squee about our favorite USA pairings.
Vidding Aesthetics
Vidders and vid watchers: let’s talk vidding aesthetics. How have styles changed over time? What makes a good vid and what’s just a matter of personal taste? What do you want to BURN WITH FIRE? Let’s get this cage match… err… discussion going.