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Panel Suggestion Box Open for 2027

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Panel Suggestion Box for in-person WisCon 49  in 2027  OPEN (now through Halloween 2026)!

Submit those delightful panel ideas you got during this year’s WisCONline here!

SUGGESTION BOX

(Wait, I can suggest panels?!)
YES! WisCon is unusual in the way that we develop panel programming: collaboratively and democratically, among our attendees. Help WisCon reflect your feminist and inclusive values in the speculative fiction realm by sending an entry to the box:

  • Submit once for each idea, as many ideas as you want!
  • Share the link with friends and other feminist and speculative fiction spaces!

What’s next?
Once the Panels Interest Survey is published in November, you can use Your WisCon Account to fill it out and help decide which panels make it into the schedule and even offer to participate in ones you’re qualified for!

Sounds Fun! How can I Help?
If you’d like to help develop Panels programming, check out the Panels Team Member role description: https://wiscon.net/volunteer/concom/
This role will take 3-5 hours per week of editing in November and December with a break in late December. Then, you’ll spend time in January and February sending and answering emails to support the Panels co-Leads as they arrange the panels part of the schedule itself. For the rest of the year, there’s light email maintenance and a few meetings to coordinate. Email personnel@sf3.org by Halloween of this year to express interest!

Uncategorized, WisCONline2026

How to WisCon

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Wiscon 48 round sticker featuring Rachel Quinlan's artwork The Gatherer - a mysterious figure with a staff, lantern, and a bulging sack of intriguing items on their backThere’s a lot of moving parts, but here’s your list of resources for participating in 2026’s Online-Only WisCon 48.

First, REGISTER!

CODE OF CONDUCT and STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
Please familiarize yourself..

SIGN UPS/ASSIGNMENTS
Once you’re registered, you should be able to log in by clicking ‘YOUR WISCON ACCOUNT’ on the upper left of the main website navigation menu. There, you’ll be able to see what panels or programs you’re volunteering on.

four bookworms of different colors having an animated discussion at a table

SCHEDULE 
This is public. You don’t have to be logged in to see it. Review what programs you might want to attend and plan out your weekend. NOTE All times are in CST. (If any of the pages say EST, they’re lying.). Always check at the beginning of the day in case there are last-minute changes.

ZOOM & DISCORD
This is where you’ll participate in the programming. All registered attendees should receive an email shortly before the con begins (was emailed 5/21 a.m.) with links to the rooms, as well as an invite to this year’s Discord server. Please be sure to check your spam folder if the email does not appear in your inbox.  Reach out to registration@wiscon.net if you’re unable to find it.

CART (real-time captioning) will be provided for Zoom Rooms 1, 2, and 3 unless otherwise noted. Zoom Rooms 4, 5, and 6 and some specific programming will have automatic captioning enabled.

YOUTUBE Note that many of the programming sessions will be recorded and available for 1 week as unlisted videos. So if you can’t get to a program, you can view it later.

HOW ZOOM WORKS  – A general guide to getting started. All the programming will be in the Zoom Rooms.

DISCORD at WISCON
All WisCon attendees will have access to the main WisCon 2026 Discord server.

  • You may request access to safer space servers in the #safer-spaces-access channel.
  • Check out #first-time-at-wiscon channel if you’re new (and WELCOME!). Meet other new attendees and ask questions.
  • There’s also a different channel for each event, so be sure to log in for side conversations, real-time reactions, posted resources, answers to questions, etc.

VOLUNTEER
Volunteering is a great way to get involved with the WisCon community, make friends, and learn what makes the con happen! We’re especially in need of Zoom Production Assistants and Discord Moderators.  

If you’re interested in taking a shift or two during the con, contact onlinecon@wiscon.net.  

For post-con volunteering and helping us make WisCon happen in 2027, check out Volunteering, or email personnel@sf3.org,

Additional Channels and Spontaneous Events

If you would like to request a Discord channel for a specific topic, you can do so in the #suggest-a-channel channel!

You can also request a spontaneous event (for example, a chat on a certain topic) over Zoom by pinging @moderator. 

Spontaneous events will not be moderated or in any way supervised by WisCon volunteers. Think of it as the virtual equivalent of meeting up with others in the hotel lobby for a chat. By requesting a spontaneous event, you accept all responsibility to follow the WisCon Code of Conduct and report any issues by pinging @moderator, @admin, or @safety in Discord. 

Need help?

Contact chairs@wiscon.net

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2026 Panels Staffing Call

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UPDATE May 19, 2026: PANELS CLOSED! The Panels Team has now finalized the schedule! 
We need panelists and panel moderators!
On May 19, the WisCon Panels team will pare down the schedule based on what we have not been able to staff. That means, we need you to get the word out to all the cool people to come be part of this con and make it awesome.
Please email Panels@WisCon.sf3.org if you are able to participate! Also, get a Your WisCon Account so we can match you to your chosen panel!

We are particularly in need for people on the following:
    • Anarchist Tech (panelists and moderator needed) **This panel will be cut if we do not get at least one more volunteer**
    • How Not to Do Copaganda (panelists needed; attendees who have studied the topic with an ACAB focus only)
    • The Social Media Landscape: It’s Bleak! (panelists needed)
    • What SpecFic Says about Resistance and Mutual Aid (panelists needed)
    • You Got That Wrong (your expertise done wrong in fiction) (panelists needed)
    • Premee Mohamed: Queering the Apocalypse (panelist needed)
    • Horror in Color (additional fan panelist of color needed)
    • Fantasy ER (panelists with medical background needed)
    • Intro to Speculative Fiction in Translation (panelists needed)
    • GoH Panel: Climate Change & Climate Fiction (moderator role open)

four bookworms of different colors having an animated discussion at a table

Filled:

      • General Strike! (moderator & panelists who have studied the topic needed) FILLED! 
      • Where Are All the Asexual Voices (moderator needed; Ace-spectrum mod preferred) FILLED!
      • Stepladder Speculative Feminism (moderator needed, panelists optional) FILLED!
      • Liminal Spaces in Speculative Fiction (moderator needed) FILLED!
      • Gender Neutrality In Gendered Languages (panelists needed; speakers of languages with grammatical genders only) FILLED!
      • Androids and Cyborgs and Robots, Oh My! (science fiction vs. reality) (panelists needed) FILLED!
      • The Man Wants You to Drink the GenAI Kool-Aid (mod needed, panelists optional) FILLED!
      • Self-Publishing While Avoiding Kindle Unlimited (panelists neeeded) FILLED!
      • Writing and Publishing in a Post-Microsoft World (panelists needed) FILLED!
      • NEW Caremongering (panelists needed)
      • Gender Diversity in D&D (mod needed) FILLED!!
      • Darcie Little Badger: Multicultural Magic (panelists needed) FILLED!!
      • Bug/Insect Tropes in Speculative Fiction (mod needed) FILLED!!
      • Nested Storytelling (especially in GoH works; panelists needed) FILLED!!
      • NEW Our Dreaded TBR Piles (roundtable, mod only)  FILLED!!
      • NEW The Impact of Good Representation (disabled panelists, queer panelists, & panelists of color especially) FILLED!!
      • NEW Modes of Queerness in The Summer Hikaru Died (fan panelists) FILLED!
      • NEW My Favorite Book When I Was Twelve (how did it hold up?) (panelists) FILLED!
      • NEW Heated Rivalry and Other LGBTQI+ Sports Stories (queer fan panelists) FILLED!
      • NEW Wicked From Page to Stage to Screen (fan panelists of any version) FILLED!
      • Stand or Fall Together: Coop Games (can be roundtable, fan panelists optional) FILLED!!
      • Liminal Spaces in Speculative Fiction (compared to myth) (panelists needed) FILLED!
      • NEW Were the Luddites Right? (moderator needed) FILLED!

       

    • In Your WisCon Account, you may also sign up to be a general substitute in case others can’t be on panels. Go to Participant View and select Yes from the drop-down menu next to “Do you want to be a panelist and/or moderator?” on the landing page.This list is subject to change as some panelists join and other panelists’ schedules change. 
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Letter from SF3 Treasurer Kit Stubbs

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Hi everyone,
I’m Kit Stubbs — you may know me as a WisCon Co-Chair from 2020, 2022, and 2023; I’ve also served as Treasurer of SF3, WisCon’s parent nonprofit, since 2021. I’m writing to let you all know that it’s time for me to take a break: I’m officially stepping down as SF3 Treasurer. It’s been extremely rewarding to serve this community, and I am grateful for all of the wonderful volunteers and WisCon members I’ve met and worked with along the way. Thank you so much for supporting me and giving the time, energy, and financial gifts that continue to make WisCon possible.
As I step back, we now ask for someone new to step forward into the Treasurer role. We are legally required to have a Treasurer, so this is an important position that we’re looking to fill quickly. Please take a look at the job description below and consider whether you might be a possible fit. You’ll have the support of the rest of the SF3 Board; and I’ll be available to walk you through our documentation, help get you trained, and answer your questions. If you think you might be interested, or if you have additional questions about the position, please reach out to personnel@sf3.org.
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TOP PRIORITY VOLUNTEER POSITION: SF3 Treasurer

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The treasurer is a member of the SF3 Board of directors and reports to the Board and the SF3 President.

Time Requirements: 1-2 hours per month for Board-member duties plus 3-5 hours per month for Treasurer-specific duties (closer to five hours generally between April and June when a con is running)
Presence at WisCon: Optional: Can designate another person to be at-con representative
Term: Generally 3 years
Role summary: The Treasurer drafts the SF3 annual budget; submits all forms/licenses/permits to keep our organization in compliance; facilitates purchasing; obtains our insurance; and works with our professional bookkeeper.
Main Tasks:
General responsibilities as a member of the SF3 Board:

  • Must hold SF3 Membership at the time of appointment and maintain that Membership for the duration of office
  • Attend Annual Membership Meeting
  • Contribute to all board conversations outside of Annual Membership Meeting in good faith
  • Undertake 1-2 hours of work pertaining to Board responsibilities for oversight and direction of the organization
  • Conform to Conflict of Interest Policy
  • Remain aware of all SF3 project policy; propose and participate in creating policy as appropriate
  • Vote on all issues before the Board at monthly one-hour Board meetings
  • Review, vote to accept or reject, and sign contracts on behalf of the organization
  • Whenever a vacancy occurs on the Board, the treasurer participates in appointing officers (President, Treasurer, Secretary) each year from the current Board, per Wisconsin nonprofit law
  • Inform the Board when you will be unable to respond to communications (vacation, illness, life events, work demands, etc.)
  • Respond to all WisCon communications as outlined in the volunteer Code of Conduct

Responsibilities specific to the Treasurer position:

  • Submit annual SF3 budgets to the Board for approval, including those for all Committees, soliciting input as necessary
  • Submit SF3 taxes and other licenses/permits
  • Maintain D&O Insurance for SF3 annually and acquire event insurance for all in-person events
  • Monitor PO Box; delegate collection of mail to a secondary, local Board member if necessary
  • Serve as main admin for Board-specific secure online document storage (Google Drive); set access & permissions appropriately, and conduct general oversight regarding the contents of the account
  • Give advice regarding requests for one-time purchases (including durable equipment) made by committees including the ConCom, in terms of SF3’s total financials
  • Oversee purchasing and paying invoices, which may include issuing debit cards (physical or virtual) to designated volunteers; reimbursing individuals who have made approved purchases for WisCon or SF3; and sending artists their proceeds from the Art Show
  • Before the con, withdraw cash needed during the con, and store at-con cash overnight (can delegate to an at-con representative)
  • Liaise with and supervise the work of SF3’s bookkeeper, who maintains financial records and prepares reports (involves monitoring of SF3’s bank and other financial accounts)
  • Maintain the roster of individuals who have purchased SF3 memberships for the current fiscal year
  • Create new email forwarders as needed (e.g., if a new department is created, you’ll log into our web host to set that department@wiscon.net forwards to department@wiscon.sf3.org)
  • Serve as backup for the Secretary’s duties in cases where they are unavailable

Skills & experience (should have):

  • Excellent organizational skills.
  • Excellent one-on-one communications skills (for communicating with other Board members and Committee/Department members).
  • Basic knowledge of Google Sheets, including how to use formulas for arithmetic and how to open and copy data from CSV (comma-separated value) files.
  • Time and ability to check email on a frequent basis.

Helpful skills (can be learned):

  • Written communications / public relations skills for communicating with volunteers in Basecamp and providing occasional updates to the general WisCon community.
  • Exporting CSV reports from PayPal, Stripe, and from the WisCon registration system for communication with the bookkeeper.

Exclusions:

  • It is preferred that the Treasurer is not a WisCon Co-Chair.

Training Plan:
SF3 Orientation
Basecamp Orientation
Walkthrough of Treasurer Guidebook and key files in Google Drive

Ongoing:
SF3 Board Meetings
Outgoing Treasurer Kit Stubbs will be available to answer questions

If you are interested in being our SF3 Treasurer or if you have questions about the position, please contact Personnel at personnel@sf3.org! 

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Volunteer Position: Communications Committee Co-Chair

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The communications Committee Co-Chair is part of the Communications Team (online and print) and reports to the SF3 Board President
Time Requirements: 5 hours per month pre-con, increasing to 6 hours per month around April-May and availability during the con
Presence at WisCon: Beneficial, but not required.
Term: One year. Alternatively, if other Communications team members are interested, the chair role could rotate throughout the year so that there’s a safety net if the current chair needs to step back.
Role summary: The Communications Committee Co-Chair maintains the flow of information between SF3 projects and the community. The Co-Chair manages communications team projects, deadlines, and team member assignments.

 Main Tasks:

  • Ensure the department report is completed prior to each ConCom meeting
  • Attend ConCom meetings to represent the Communications team
  • Monitor how each team is doing and checks in to provide support
  • Ensure team role descriptions are kept up-to-date
  • Upload and update Communications project documents as needed
  • Facilitate communication among Communication teams and between Communications and other departments as necessary
  • Decide whether to cancel tasks that can’t be completed due to a lack of time, resources, volunteers, or all three
  • Receive media queries and handles as appropriate
  • Make posts to newsletter/website/social media if other Communications members aren’t available
  • During WisCon, assist various departments in communicating to attendees throughout the weekend.
  • Oversee efforts to promote WisCon attendance, including advertisements, marketing campaigns, etc. Assign associated tasks to committee members as needed and track progress.

Skills & experience: Organized, responsive to deadlines and communications requests via email or Basecamp, available to attend monthly ConCom meetings and other team meetings as needed, working knowledge of how to maintain a WordPress site.

Beneficial skills (can be learned): Project management experience, experience working with communications tools or serving on a communications/marketing team.

Exclusions: Ideally, the Communications Co-Chair is not serving on the SF3 Board or as a Chair of any other SF3 committee.

Training provided: How to access and post to media and communications streams, including Basecamp, email newsletter, WisCon website + blog, and social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram). Will be provided access to the Communications Co-Chair email address and Communications team general email.

If you are interested in being the Communications Committee Co-Chair or if you have questions about the position, please contact Personnel at personnel@sf3.org

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Volunteer Opportunity: Documentation Co-Lead

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Our Documentation Team (part of the Communications Committee) needs a Documentation Co-Lead.

If you enjoy organizing information and have experience (or a desire to learn) project management and volunteer coordination, this position is for you. As Documentation Co-Lead, you’ll coordinate the team creating and maintaining role descriptions and other vital documents that allow volunteers to produce WisCon.

Duties include: collaborating with other Documentation Team members; helping ensure that role descriptions and other important information for running the con are extant, accurate, up to date, and easy to find; respectfully responding to all WisCon communication as outlined in the Volunteer Code of Conduct (provided); and letting the Communications Chair know whenever you’re unable to respond to communications due to other demands on your time.

Mentoring will be provided.

Contact personnel@sf3.org (subject: Documentation Co-Lead) for more information.

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Vounteer Opportunity: Server Migration Working Group

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We need 3+ volunteers to form a Communications Server Migration Working Group.

Duties include: find a suitable cloud server and work with the current physical server owner to migrate our data and video to the new server. This temporary working group will report to the Gap Planning committee, which meets twice monthly. Prior service migration experience helpful.

Contact personnel@sf3.org (subject: Server Migration Working Group) for more information.

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Hotel reservation deadline, Room Rate Discount Lottery, and Finding Roommates

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Hotel reservation deadline coming up soon on April 25!

If you’re attending WisCon in person this year, there’s not a lot of time left until our discounted room block closes! Please make your reservation by April 25 at the latest so that you can get our special discounted rate and so that your room counts towards our hotel contract. (Cancelled reservations don’t count towards our contract, so please only make a reservation if you plan to use it.) You can make your hotel reservation by visiting the Concourse’s front desk, using the Concourse’s reservations link for WisCon, or calling the Concourse at 1-800-356-8293 and telling them you’re part of WisCon’s room block. If you have a hard time getting a room using the web link, please call! For more information, visit our Hotel page.

6th Floor Room Rate Discount Lottery

Being able to stay in a room in the Concourse Hotel is one of the pleasures of WisCon — and also one of the biggest financial barriers to attending the convention.  As part of our commitment to affordability, each year WisCon is able to provide a limited number of rooms with discounted rates on the 6th floor.  We hope that offering this discount can help just a few more people get to WisCon by making your stay a bit more affordable. More information on our page about 6th floor discounted rooms.

We are accepting requests through April 25 (closing at 11:59pm Central Time), which is also the deadline for reservations under the WisCon room block.  After the request window closes, we will get in touch to let you know if your request is filled.

To enter, please complete our Room Lottery Google Form. Entries are limited to one per party – that means if you have roommates for the booked room, only one of you should apply. If you received funds from the WMAF, you are still eligible for the room rate discount as well! Please don’t self-reject!

Looking for a roommate or a ride share?

We have a Google Group that, in the past, members have used to find roommates or ride shares. You can join by going to https://groups.google.com/g/wiscon-talk .

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Construction in Madison

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If you’re driving to WisCon or plan to be traveling around the city by car, bicycle, or bus, please be aware: The city of Madison has some major road and utility construction projects that will be active with moderate to substantial impacts on all modes of transportation (pedestrian, bicycle, public transit, and motorized) in the area. There are also private construction projects and construction at the University of Wisconsin that disrupt sidewalks, bike lanes, and vehicle lanes.

Some notable impacted areas:

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WisCon 2022 schedule live!

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The WisCon schedule is now live! We have a full weekend of panels, readings, workshops, kids programming, academic papers, parties, gaming, and more: https://program.wiscon.net/PublicSchedule.php

Can’t make it to Madison this year? There’s still time to register for an online membership! Register today at https://reg.wiscon.net/.

For 2022 we have two tracks of online panels, and another of other online programs. Our big events, including the Otherwise Auction and Guest of Honor speeches, will also be streamed. And we’ll have a WisCon Discord server for both online and in-person members.

Want to see our online offerings expand? Once we know we have enough volunteers to staff our all-online panels, we can start to add some in-person panels to our streamed offerings (starting with panels scheduled for “Assembly” in the program). If you are comfortable hosting a Zoom call, sign up via our at-con volunteer interest form to hear about training sessions for this role!

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News from our Board

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WisCon is a project of the Society for the Furtherance & Study of Fantasy & Science Fiction (SF3 for short).  In an effort to not be strangers to volunteers or to the public, the governing Board of SF3 has decided to release a little summary of what we’ve been up to at each monthly meeting.  Here are our updates for the past few months:

April 2022

  • We welcomed De Ana Jones and LaShawn M. Wanak as our co-chairs of the newly founded POC Outreach Committee. We’re thrilled to have them aboard! You can reach them by email to poc-outreach@sf3.org .
  • We are continuing our search for con co-chairs for WisCon 2023. If that could be you, please get in touch with the board at board@sf3.org or the current co-chairs at chair@wiscon.net! We are especially looking for people who have past WisCon experience.
  • The board unanimously voted to reallocate unneeded funds from our Guest of Honor budget to our COVID-19 supplies.
  • WisCon is now offering comped memberships for all BIPOC pre-con volunteers.
  • WisCon members can now donate a membership to a BIPOC volunteer through the Registration system.
  • Next month is WisCon 2022! See you there!

March 2022

  • Our treasurer, Kit, met with our new financial team and confirmed everything is in order (as expected).
  • Last month, the Board presented the ConCom with a list of action items generated from the town hall on racism in Nov 2021. The ConCom has responded to us with the ones they can tackle this year.
  • We discussed other ongoing business re: getting the POC Outreach Committee founded, updates on budget, and cementing our anti-racist values in messaging that we can replicate across communications as needed.

February 2022

  • We discussed hiring for the position of POC Outreach Committee chair.
  • We talked about SF3’s financial responsibilities and goals, including updates on tax status and fundraising.
  • We discussed meeting with Con Chairs to assign out responsibility for action items generated from the November 2021 Town Hall (centering on combating racism at WisCon).
  • We discussed drafting social media guidelines and policies.
  • We talked about compensation for sensitivity reading for panel descriptions.