Category Archives: WisCon 39

Errata for Friday, May 22

3B Impostor Syndrome Training Exercise

Power, Privilege, and Oppression • Conference 3 • Friday, 9:00 am–12:00 pm

Leigh Honeywell and Skud were unable to attend WisCon.

 

18 The Purpose of Human Beings in an Extensively Automated World

Science and Technology • Senate B • Friday, 2:30–3:45 pm

Amelia Dudley is no longer a panelist.

Tamora Kimmitt has been added as a panelist.

 

43 WisCon After Dark 101: How to Flirt with Respect

Fandom as a Way of Life • Senate B • Friday, 9:00–10:15 pm

Na’amen Gobert Tilahun has been added as a panelist.

 

Where Is WisCon Coming From?

By Bronwyn B.
As ever, this year at WisCon 39 we have members coming from around the globe! The countries represented this year are:
Australia
Brazil
Canada
England
India
Japan
Malaysia
Nigeria
Switzerland
United Kingdom
…and, as ever, the United States, which is where most of our members hail from.
Have you travelled far to attend WisCon this year? Consider sharing your story with the Newsletter, telling us what brings you to Madison!

Hashtagging #WisCon

Chris Wallish
Media & Communications

What in the world is the best hashtag to use for WisCon?  There are always a couple of options, each equally good.  Organically, #wiscon is used throughout the year.  As the convention gets closer, people seem to start using #wiscon39 more and more.

This year, we’ve taken the bold step of suggesting a hashtag in advance — something we made deliberately short and sweet so that you can also combine it with a panel hashtag if you want: #wc39

Use and combine them any way you want!  It’s the internet and no one’s your boss.

What’s the best way to follow them?  You can combine hashtags in the Twitter search using “or”, which gives you a real firehose of WisCon chatter if you’re so inclined.

And look in your Pocket Program Book or the WisSched app for the hashtags we’ve set up for each panel!

Don’t need it? Pack it!

Joanna & Gail
The Gathering

clothes & shoes lying on a bed
This savvy WisCon member packed up some clothes to donate to the Gathering.

Don’t forget to pack some awesome clothes for the WisCon clothing swap, happening at the Gathering from 1 pm to 3:45 pm Friday!  All clothes remaining at the end of the Gathering will be donated to the Community Action Coalition.

New this year — the WisCon Gathering will be hosting a nail polish swap! Bring some unloved but good-condition bottles & find new colors! Feel free to take a bottle home even if you don’t bring one.

WisCon karaoke party update

Kristin

Thank you for your patience to everyone who has been asking about music for the party!

I’ve finally resolved our karaoke player software issues on my new laptop and am working on reloading all of our purchased music from previous parties from our CDs and online. A few songs that we downloaded may be lost in this process, so please don’t assume we have something because we’ve had it in the past. I’m hoping to have the list of the songs we have posted in the next few days. If it’s a new song from May 2013 on, it is safe to assume we don’t have it.

We will continue to use the MP3-G format.

We’re asking for donations to cover new songs. Prices per song range from $1-4.

Contact me [klivdahl@gmail.com] if you have requests or want to make a donation.

We are really excited to host this party again!

Open call for RPG participants!

Beth & Mathew
Gaming

We’re about a week away, so we’re opening up online signup for our RPG offerings. We have a very diverse lineup this year, including a workshop! Take a look and see if anything interests you.

  • If you see something you want to play, send gaming@wiscon.net an email with the subject “RPG signup request” and include in the body:
    • Your name as it appears on your WisCon badge
    • An email address (whether the same or different than the one you’re contacting us from) that we can pass along to the person in charge of the game, in case they need to contact you about anything
    • The specific game or game that you’re signing up for
  • We will reply to let you know whether you’re guaranteed a seat or on standby. If you’re on a standby list, drop by at game time to see if you can get a seat.
  • If you’re interested, but not certain if you’ll be able to play, please consider requesting a spot on the standby list, to start. This helps us gauge interest, but lets people who can commit to playing for sure get first chance at a spot at the table and reduces setup and confusion at game time.
  • We will end email registration Wednesday, May 20, at 11:59PM CDT. We’ll have a chance to sign up in-person at The Gathering and you can always just drop by at the beginning of the session to see if there are chairs available.

The games!

Friday

>  Friday 8:00PM-midnight
Bluebeard’s Bride (RPG Horror) – GM: Ajit George | 3-4 players | 18 and older only

Bluebeard’s Bride is a table-top horror RPG based on the original fairy tale. It is a one-shot game with replay value that uses modified Apocalypse World rules, is beginner friendly and easy to learn.

You play different aspects of Bluebeard’s wife; the Virgin, the Witch, the Mother, and many others as the bride attempts to resist the pull to enter Bluebeard’s secret room. The castle tests her sanity, and not every part of her will survive—if any part of her does at all. This game is dark, erotic, ethereal, and filled with creeping terror. It’s about the intricacies of feminine horror, and agency in the face of powerlessness. All materials will be provided by the GM.

>  Friday 8:00PM-midnight
LarpJam (Larp design) – Facilitator: Jon Cole | 5-16 Players | All ages

LarpJam is a workshop where participants create their very own larps (live action role-playing games) in a round-robin format. In a matter of hours people with no larp experience can create awesome, fully-playable larps or the seeds that future larps can spring from! This process folds creative invocation, constructive constraints, and peer feedback into one lightning-fast process. LarpJam is fun for anyone who can read and write, no experience is necessary. All materials are provided for 5-16 players.

Saturday

> Saturday 8:00PM-midnight
*Microscope – Facilitator: Tom Fendt | 3-4 players | All ages

A game of epic histories where you can zoom in and out on the bits you find most interesting. Microscope finds a way to make all players collaborate, even as it prevents players from directly coordinating. Your individual additions add up to a whole greater than the sum of the parts.

*Atlas – Facilitator: Tom Fendt | 3-4 players | All ages
A mapmaking game created by yours truly. This game treads the line between world building tool and roleplaying game. Atlas is a game where you collaboratively create a map with its own story to go along with it. What strange and interesting places will your group come up with? Play to find out!

*note that both of these games will be played in the same room and there may be multiple sessions.

> Saturday 8:00PM-10:30PM
Dream Apart: a storygame of the fantastic shtetl – Facilitator: Benjamin Rosenbaum | 3-5 players | 16+

A GM-less, collaborative, rules-light, historical fantasy storygame of sorcerers and scholars, midwives and matchmakers, soldiers and klezmers, dybbuks, gossip, pogroms, trolls, rebels, betrothals, demons, angels, blood libel, lusts, and secrets in an Eastern European Jewish shtetl, circa 1850. Dream Apart is inspired by Avery Mcdaldno’s Dream Askew. Where Dream Askew queers the post-apocalyptic genre, Dream Apart jews historical fantasy, reimagining fantastical Europe from the perspective of European history’s underdogs; like Askew it’s about otherness, resistance, strife, and survival, beyond the borders of a brutal dominant society.

Sunday

> Sunday 7:00PM-11:00PM
The Dooms that Came to Chaegrae – GM: Rachel Kronick | 3-5 players

The Tomb of Gemenos has loomed over the middle of Chaegrae for generations. All who have dared to enter, or even to approach too closely, have had horrible fates. But now, you and your motley friends have come to plumb the depths of the tomb. You are unafraid of the Tomb’s strange fates, because you already know how you will die. The Tomb is but the next step in your destiny.

A tabletop roleplaying game, using the Blade & Crown system (which I wrote). Themes of fate, destiny and the wrongs of history. No more than five players. No rules knowledge or materials required, though you may want to bring your lucky D10s!

Call to reserve a room at our special price!

Jennie D-W
Hotels

The Concourse Hotel still has some extra rooms to fill for WisCon39, so they’re letting us use our room block prices again for a limited time! If you reserved a hotel room too late before, or if you were waiting for a better price, this is it! Call the Concourse Hotel at (800)356-8293 to change an existing reservation or make a new one; this deal won’t work online!

WisCon 39 schedule is now LIVE on wiscon.info

Tanya D.
Programming

(This was originally published at Tanya’s blog.  She’s graciously allowed us to reprint it here.  Thanks, Tanya!)

Hello all you lovely WisCon folks out there! I am beyond happy to announce that the final schedule for WisCon 39 is now live on the WisCon website!

This link will get you the panels that are running, their locations, etc. If you need a list view;  here is a link if you need a grid view.

Handy info for moderators and panelists is below. You should also have received emails from program@wiscon.net if you are scheduled to moderate and/or participate on panels:

  • If you are scheduled for programming and do not recieve an email, please send a note to us at program@wiscon.info
  • If you are moderating panels as well as being on a panel(s), then you will only get the moderator email.
  • If you are only participating on panels and not moderating anything, then you will get the panelist email.

 

You may also tweet at me (@cypheroftyr) for Programming questions, but sending it to the program email may get a faster response. The official WisCon Twitter is @wiscon39.

Thank you!

Tanya D. aka Cypheroftyr (programming demon, er deputy)
WisCon 39

If you are a moderator!

What do we expect from our moderators?

Prepare. Contact your panelists before WisCon. When? Now would be good. How? Click on the links for panelists below your moderating assignment.

In that email, please:

1. Introduce yourself.
2. Suggest or solicit panel structure: how much time for each
panelist, if/how to solicit and handle audience participation.
3. Describe your understanding of the panel description and ensure
that the panelists agree.
4. Ask the panelists about their interest in the panel topic.
5. Determine if you and/or the panelists are going to cite specific resources.
6. Elicit 2-3 points that each panelist deems crucial.

Ten minutes before your panel, meet your panelists in the green room and get the name tents. Go to the assigned room. Start the session on time. Introduce the panel topic and allow the panelists to introduce themselves and explain their interest in the topic. Introduce yourself as the moderator and explain your ground rules (if, how and when the audience can participate, timing for the session).

Make sure all the panelists have a chance to speak, manage how audience members are included in the discussion, and keep track of the time and the arc of the discussion for wrap-up. You will probably not speak as much as your panelists.

Part of your job as moderator is to ensure equitable participation. Gender, race, class, and ability are some factors that influence participation styles. Be aware of power dynamics and intervene as necessary when panelists or audience members exercise privilege to dominate the conversation. You may need to cut off a panelist who has hijacked the discussion. You may need to cut off an audience member who has raised their hand to ask a question and then tried to deliver a twenty-minute “This is more of a comment than a question…”.  You may need to encourage shy panel members to share their thoughts.

When microphones are present, use them, and make sure all the panelists do, too. Some of us do not hear well enough to participate without microphones, and you can’t tell by looking who we are. Remind your panelists not to cover their mouths when they speak; some of us depend on lipreading to participate.

If you require A/V for your panel, you MUST request it no later than May 11th so your request can accommodated. A/V includes: projector, screens, microphones, pc speakers.

How do I get more information for this gig?

1. For tips on moderating, go to: http://wiscon.net/tipsformods.php
2. For tips for your panelists: http://wiscon.net/tipsforpanelists.php
3. Panels that might interest you: “Join the Mod Squad: Enhance Your Moderation Skills” Friday from 4:00 p.m.-5:15 p.m in Conference 4.
4. Questions?  Ask us via program@wiscon.net

If you are a panelist!

Preparing for the convention

–Your moderator should contact you before WisCon. Please respond to your moderator’s email. This is your chance to define the format, structure, and scope of the panel. Be pro-active: if you haven’t heard from your mod, you can contact the panel by clicking on the link below the program item description.
–Re-read the panel description and raise questions about anything that’s not clear.
–Formulate the things you’d like to convey during the allotted time (you’ll be sharing 70 minutes with other panelists and the audience). Keep this list simple.  You may want to keep the sub-topics to no more than three.
–Do your homework. Gather the names of the works and authors you want to discuss. People in the audience will ask for specifics. Read, view, listen to relevant materials. Prepare notes and/or spend time thinking about the topic. You may do this on your own and in emails with the other panelists, depending on how the group decides to interact before the convention.

At the Con

–Meet up in the Green Room 10 minutes before the panel start time if at all possible; if not, make sure to tell your moderator that you’ll be meeting up with the rest of the panel in the room.
–Start on time! If unavoidably late, quietly enter the room, take a place at the table and wait for your mod to fold you into the panel-already-in-progress.  Don’t apologize for being late. The audience is paying attention to the ongoing discussion, not to you.
–Share the time with other panelists and the audience. WisCon audiences want to get into the discussion as soon as possible. Prepare to answer lots of audience questions. The moderator will let the audience know how soon s/he will start taking questions, while setting up the panel. Defer to the moderator as s/he directs the conversation.
–Bring something to write on. Discussion moves very quickly and it can help to take notes of what you want to cover when the moderator gets back to you.
–Look at the audience. Resist the temptation to address your comments solely to a fellow panelist, even when responding to a specific point.
–Speak one at a time. Use the mic, when provided. Some of us cannot understand your words without amplification. If you refuse to use the mic, you are preventing us from participating.
–Don’t hold your hand in front of your mouth when you are speaking. Some of us cannot understand your words if we can’t read your lips.
–Refrain from whispering with other panelists.
–Respect the moderator’s awesome powers.

And remember to have fun!

More information about being a panelist at WisCon is available at
http://wiscon.net/tipsforpanelists.php

Ellen Klages and the Tiptree Auction

Ellen Klages

Ah, dear friends. This is a hard blog to post, but….

After twenty years of having the honor and pleasure of being the emcee for the Tiptree Auction at Wiscon, I am retiring.

I’m sad, but it’s the right decision. I am no longer a spry young thing. Young at heart, always, but the body is different now, and less able to caper and cavort for hours at a time. Plus, I injured my back in 2014, which has limited my mobility and flexibility, not to mention the ease of traveling. Add to that a general WisConian sense of transition, transformation, and change — and it’s time.

It feels like the end of an era. But what an era it was.

In 1994, on the weekend of my 40th birthday, I was in Worcester, Massachusetts, for Readercon, the guest of my friend, Pat Murphy. Ursula LeGuin was the Guest of Honor, and Nicola Griffith was the winner of the Tiptree Award. I knew nothing much about all that, just that the prize was given by an organization that Pat had founded.

One of the committee members in charge of the evening’s banquet and awards ceremony told Pat that some generous people had donated a few items — t-shirts, a handful of books — to benefit the Award, and asked if Pat was willing to auction them off.

Pat was already emceeing the awards and interviewing Ursula, so she said, “No, but I bet my friend Ellen will do it.”

“Sure,” I said. What the heck? It sounded like fun.

And so it was that, at the end of a very long evening, I got up on stage in a hotel ballroom for an impromptu performance, convincing an audience to buy random objects for startling sums of money. Forty-five minutes later, the Tiptree coffers had a thousand dollars, and I was suddenly, accidentally, notorious.

A man asked Spike, “Who is she?”

A total stranger came up to me. “Where else in Worcester are you performing?”

It was a heady experience.

In 1995, I came to WisCon for the first time. More generous people had donated items, and I did another auction during a Friday afternoon programming slot. It was small, but the Tiptree people were happy, and the audience seemed to have a good time.

The next year, the audience was a little larger. More stuff was donated. The Tiptree Auction was becoming a Thing, and I found myself, a newbie to WisCon, an odd sort of celebrity.

Stuff kept happening. I joined the Tiptree Motherboard, the organization thrived with the support of the community, and the auction and I somehow became an Institution.

In the beginning, I felt like my class-clown, childhood self was finally vindicated. Every May, I got to get up on stage — with a microphone — in front of a huge audience — and make people laugh. I also got to spend time on eBay and at garage sales, looking for items that would tickle the Madison fancy. Old space toys, bottles of Lysol, copies of Alice in Elephantland. I spent June through April trying to find things to delight you.

Which is cool enough. But somehow, it just kept getting better. You all started playing right back. I’ll let you in on the secret to the auction’s success: the audience is the real star.

When it works, it’s an energy exchange. I say something funny — you laugh. That makes me feel good, and relaxed, and funnier, and you laugh more and it grows and grows. After a while, you didn’t come just to watch, but to actively participate in the fun.

I don’t know any better way to build community than by shared laughter.

Backed by a shared mythology.

Space Babe.

She started out as email shorthand for one of the designs that Jeanne Gomoll and I were considering for a temporary tattoo. Another little fundraiser. The female space pirate with a blasting ray-gun was just “the space babe.”

She became so much more.

Growing up as science-fiction readers and proto-feminists, those of us of a certain age had to piggyback our imaginations onto whatever the men who controlled popular culture doled out to us. But from the get-go, Space Babe was ours.

I ran with her, shamelessly, and with a huge grin on my face. I made decades-old souvenirs of a popular culture icon that had not actually existed. A back-story with no narrative, just imaginary collectibles. If I leave behind a legacy from my auction years, I hope it’s her. I found that I love making art as much as I love performing.

See, my Dad was a painter, and a photographer, and a craftsman. And when I was a kid, I kept overhearing my mother say to her friends, “Oh, the girls all take after me, I’m afraid. Jack is the only artist in the family.” I cringed, hearing that, because I liked making things. But I knew — because I was told — that I wasn’t very good at it. I couldn’t draw — still can’t — and my art projects in school were judged as colorful, but inferior, lumps. Never the ones picked to be displayed on the bulletin board.

The first time I dared to make something for the auction, I was terrified no one would want it. But you did. You gave me permission to make art. And those are some of my favorite memories — being down in my basement for hours at a time, messing about with paints and glue (and Photoshop), turning up in Madison with boxes of things that I made myself, and that amused other people.

My mother is long dead, so she’ll never know that today my art is in private collections in Vienna and London and New York. But I do. And I thank you for opening a part of me that I hadn’t even let myself dream might exist.

Performer, artist, author. I would be none of these today without your support. I have loved the applause, the acclaim, the “celebrity, ” and am forever grateful for how that contributed to my recognition as a writer, especially early in my career.

Like most people, I have many personas. The auctioneer is loud, fearless, funny. The words that come out of my mouth on stage are spontaneous, stream-of-thought, in-the-moment, and ephemeral. Your acceptance of her gave me the courage to allow a much smaller, quieter voice to emerge. My writing is planned and thoughtful. The words you see in print are honed and carefully chosen.

So thank you for allowing me the space for both voices to be heard. For reading my fiction, and for applauding when I got up on stage and put on my chicken suit or shaved my head or did The Happy Dance. I don’t know any other performer who has gotten the chance — even once — to and do a three-hour, one-woman show.

Well, sort of. It has never really been a one-woman show at all. Although I’ve been the public face of the auction, I’ve always have had a team behind me doing the hard work — sorting, preparation, and logistics. And other folks collecting the money and doing the math.

Jeanne Gomoll — a national treasure — was, for a long time, the person accepting donations, setting up the display of items, and making sure the trains ran on time. Scott Custis hauled boxes down from their attic every year. Jim Hudson, a mensch if there ever was one, handled the accounting, a most important part of any fundraiser. In recent years, Nevenah Smith streamlined the process and added her own flair to the event.

It’s been twenty years. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of people who have supported the auction, the Tiptree Award, and/or WisCon whose hard work, technical expertise, and enthusiasm made me look good up there.

To them, and to all of you — I enjoyed every minute.

Thanks for a great run.

— Ellen

 

PS-1: Fundraising for the Tiptree Award will go on. We will continue to offer you choice items in return for your support. There will be future auctions, some live, perhaps some online. I may even participate in them, but not as a solo act.

 

PS-2: The auction was one of the centers of my life for a very long time. But because each of them was one long improvisation, happening as fast as I could talk, I honestly don’t remember much about individual moments. I’m hoping that you do, and that you’ll use the Comments to share your memories with me.

Calling fannish mixologists — WisCon needs drinks!

Jennie D-W
Hotels

Once again, the Concourse Bar’s bartender wants cool names for WisCon-centric drink specials! All you need to include is the drink name and any suggested colors/ingredients, plus maybe the reference if it’s obscure — e.g. “Faust,” from Alaya Dawn Johnson’s Zephyr Hollis books; must look dark and bloody.

Suggestions will be accepted through Sunday, May 3, to be considered for the menu!

WisCon is coming! Catch up with our 2nd Progress Report!!

Mikki Kendall & Levi Sable
Co-chairs WisCon 39

WisCon 39 is just three weeks away!  How do I get to the Concourse?  Where can I park?  Where will I eat?  Our second Progress Report is ready to answer these questions — you can download a copy of the PDF here:

PR2 also contains crucial information such as who’s hosting a party,
who’s in the Dealers’ Room, and who’s in the Art Show.  There’s a
handy local map and information on Madison cab companies.

Will you need childcare?  WisCon is happy to provide childcare for
just $1 per child.  The deadline to register is May 6, so look at PR2
now for information!

This is also a great time to double-check your registration before
WisCon.  Make sure you are registered, check that you have the number of dessert tickets you want, and maybe even volunteer for a panel that still needs panelists — just log into your account.wiscon.net account here: http://account.wiscon.net/account/

This is the last Progress Report before the convention!  To keep up
with WisCon in these last few weeks before we all convene in Madison, check us out on the internet:

WisCon, WisCon, Do You Read? (our blog) — http://wiscon.net/blog/
On Twitter — https://twitter.com/WisConSF3/
On Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/WisCon

Want to connect with other fans to get a ride? share a room? schedule a group meet-up?
LiveJournal fan-run community — http://wiscon.livejournal.com/
Dreamwidth fan-run community — http://wiscon.dreamwidth.org/
WisCon Talk Google group — https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/wiscon-talk

See you soon!

Request ASL/CART by April 1st; Create handouts for your panels

Katie Wagner
Access

Request ASL or CART for WisCon 39!

This year WisCon plans to expand accessibility by including CART (Communication Access Real Time) along with ASL (American Sign Language). CART benefits all, including Deaf participants, participants with mild hearing loss, participants who are deaf but aren’t fluent in ASL, participants who learn best visually, and ESL participants. The deadline to request ASL or CART is April 1st.  Bear in mind that due to budget limitations, CART and ASL will be offered during regular business hours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. As usual, CART will be provided for the Guest of Honor Speeches. If you have questions, please contact Katie Wagner at access@wiscon.net.

Request for papers and/or keywords for panels

As part of expanding accessibility, this year WisCon aims to provide copies of papers, keywords, and notes for most, if not all, of the panels. Doing so will help deaf/hard-of-hearing participants, CART providers, and interpreters follow along while increasing universal access.  In order to do meet this goal we need YOUR help!  If you are on a panel, please send a copy of your notes, keywords, or actual paper to Katie by May 20th so she can make copies before the convention. Please do not worry about grammar and spelling. First drafts are fine.  Katie can be reached at: access@wiscon.net.