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Post by miliyah on Jan 23, 2018 19:38:02 GMT -5
It has been mentioned a few times already, but creating a Google Doc and linking it to your fellow panelists can provide an easily accessible place to discuss ideas, outlines and so forth, and doesn't rely on everyone being available at the same time, for an extended period of time (we all have busy lives, afterall). I've also used FB messenger, but that does necessitate that you friend other panelists (or at least one other panelsist who can friend the others), but this only works if you're willing to do that, and not everyone is (which is perfectly reasonable, imho). For what my nickle is worth contributing to this topic as an event organizer - GoogleDocs is definitely the way to go. Data may be spotty in the panel hotel during con-time (depending on which cell phone carrier you're with of course) but it has offline mode function too!
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Post by undertheinfluence on Jan 23, 2018 19:52:12 GMT -5
That's a good point Richard as I am pretty busy myself.
I've worked through google docs and messenger app before but neither are as productive as meeting up in person.
I think if your panel is serious, you should at least meet up twice. Once to familiarize yourself with one another and get a good portion of work done and another to discuss the subject and see how long it takes.
Also by doing so people will feel more committed and attached to the panel and less people won't show up.
Google docs is definitely functional in that aspect if it's impossible to meet.
TIP: Going in on the panel day I would have those documents downloaded as a pdf so you don't have to worry about the internet connection.
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Post by richardthebald on Jan 23, 2018 20:05:35 GMT -5
I think if your panel is serious, you should at least meet up twice. Once to familiarize yourself with one another and get a good portion of work done and another to discuss the subject and see how long it takes.
Also by doing so people will feel more committed and attached to the panel and less people won't show up. I see your point, but as a veteran panelist who takes this seriously, I've never once met up with fellow panelsist, outside the con (for panel planning). Last year I was on a panel, and two of the panelsists lived several hundred kilometers away, not exactly an easy thing to do. I've also done very successful and well recieved panels (at least insomuch as the audience seemed to be engaged) without any prior planning or contact with other panelsist. Not that it's ideal, it's better to coordinate, but it's not impossible.
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Post by starglazeddonut on Jan 23, 2018 20:06:31 GMT -5
RIP people who live far away T_T
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Post by emeraldlatias on Jan 23, 2018 20:09:31 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice! I find myself to be a sort of overplanner as I need details about everything to be comfortable (probably should try to change that). I really suck at public speaking and presentations aahhahahhahhaa........ Also some of my co-panelists last year went MIA until right before the con or just sucked at communication. So what are the preferred methods ya'll tend to use when planning? Like do ya'll stick with email or do you move onto other platforms like Messenger, Skype, etc.? (Yo I feel like such a noob here) And if someone is lacking in the communication dept. what do ya'll do? Same boat here! I like having a plan versus flying by the seat of my pants - especially when trying to anticipate what would go over well versus what'd get crickets and so forth. I didn't know my co-panelists last year and it was perfectly fine to keep things via e-mail/google docs if you're not keen on friending people you have not met irl yet. The only caveat to that is that sometimes tone can be misinterpreted if you didn't know them beforehand (this happens to me all the time unfortunately as matter-of-fact, to-the-point sentences sometimes get taken the wrong way >_< ). But I would still recommend that you meet sometime at the con before your panel if you're in a situation where you can't meet up just to work out any last minute wrinkles - as mentioned, it does seem somewhat faster problem-solving wise. Honestly, insofar as the communication thing, I think the only thing you can really do is ask what everyone's schedules are like in general so you can set general expectations for when they're likely to be busy/unresponsive. People who disappear like you're describing sound like a pain - I only had this happen to me in university so I guess my general advice is to assume that if they're this unreliable in the planning process (excluding isolated cases of understandable emergencies/life things), expect them to be unreliable later and plan accordingly if attempts at getting them to reasonably respond don't work. And if you're feeling like you're taking crazy pills and unsure of what constitutes a 'reasonable response' from someone else, ask a friend/sounding board to lend an impartial ear. Sometimes it requires impartial feedback (especially if it's a case of Type-A people dealing with Type-B co-panelists lol).
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Post by crownowa on Jan 23, 2018 20:37:23 GMT -5
I've had panelists who are in university never respond to emails, or not have any time to prep, because school is too busy for them until the end of April. If you think this is going to happen to you, then you should think about not signing up as a panelist. It's very unfair to the other panelists, and to anyone else who signed up after you and didn't get selected as a panelist. It can take months of good planning and preparation to run a successful panel, and if you're trying to run a presentation, your idea may be rejected because you don't have your material submitted by the deadline.
I've never met panelists in person for planning unless they happen to be my friend, but I try not to do panels with friends. We often meet for the first time at the panel itself, and as long as we all prepared, the panel goes well. I like the idea of a google doc though. You don't need to write an essay for each possible talking point, but it will help you not overlap.
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Post by richardthebald on Jan 23, 2018 21:12:02 GMT -5
It can take months of good planning and preparation to run a successful panel, and if you're trying to run a presentation, your idea may be rejected because you don't have your material submitted by the deadline. Speaking of which, is there currently a deadline for presentation submissions?
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Post by crownowa on Jan 23, 2018 22:19:46 GMT -5
No deadlines yet. I hope to have preliminary deadlines next month.
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Post by darkinsanity13 on Jan 23, 2018 22:53:29 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice! I find myself to be a sort of overplanner as I need details about everything to be comfortable (probably should try to change that). I really suck at public speaking and presentations aahhahahhahhaa........ Also some of my co-panelists last year went MIA until right before the con or just sucked at communication. So what are the preferred methods ya'll tend to use when planning? Like do ya'll stick with email or do you move onto other platforms like Messenger, Skype, etc.? (Yo I feel like such a noob here) And if someone is lacking in the communication dept. what do ya'll do? Same boat here! I like having a plan versus flying by the seat of my pants - especially when trying to anticipate what would go over well versus what'd get crickets and so forth. I didn't know my co-panelists last year and it was perfectly fine to keep things via e-mail/google docs if you're not keen on friending people you have not met irl yet. The only caveat to that is that sometimes tone can be misinterpreted if you didn't know them beforehand (this happens to me all the time unfortunately as matter-of-fact, to-the-point sentences sometimes get taken the wrong way >_< ). But I would still recommend that you meet sometime at the con before your panel if you're in a situation where you can't meet up just to work out any last minute wrinkles - as mentioned, it does seem somewhat faster problem-solving wise. Honestly, insofar as the communication thing, I think the only thing you can really do is ask what everyone's schedules are like in general so you can set general expectations for when they're likely to be busy/unresponsive. People who disappear like you're describing sound like a pain - I only had this happen to me in university so I guess my general advice is to assume that if they're this unreliable in the planning process (excluding isolated cases of understandable emergencies/life things), expect them to be unreliable later and plan accordingly if attempts at getting them to reasonably respond don't work. And if you're feeling like you're taking crazy pills and unsure of what constitutes a 'reasonable response' from someone else, ask a friend/sounding board to lend an impartial ear. Sometimes it requires impartial feedback (especially if it's a case of Type-A people dealing with Type-B co-panelists lol). And of course sometimes you just kinda gotta take what you can get ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There was one panel I had where I was made the moderator, but the other three panelists were friends who knew each other in person and had done the panel on previous occasions so they didn't really communicate all that much with me. I did manage to pester some info out of them sort of last-minute so I wasn't completely out of the loop, but it did make me consider worst-case scenarios for the future. I can probably count the number of times I've met up with other panelists beforehand on one hand. Most of the time it's been fine to just communicate through email/google doc/FB messenger, it gets the job done when everyone's got different schedules and live who knows how far from each other. Once or twice we've met up maybe a half-hour to an hour before the panel and further discussed things then, but by that point we've usually had everything hashed out so it's just a matter of properly introducing ourselves to each other.
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Post by ashleyashes on Jan 24, 2018 9:51:43 GMT -5
So, in much more seriousness, I've been scheming up ways to better integrate AV elements into a panel. I work in film and VFX so part of me thinks 'I can do something really cool' but then again, I work in film and VFX so part of me thinks 'Everything breaks right when you don't need it to!'
I feel that for a lot of panels, AV clips are usually integrated in a pretty clunky way, but that clunkyness brings with it a reasonable amount of reliability.
"Blah black, talking point, blah blah. And this clip is an example of blah talking point." *everyone pauses while someone presses play on a laptop and the clip begins play*
I'm not COMPLAINING since it's a pretty hard thing to screw up and any AV is better than a dead screen while someone tries to figure out why nothing is happening and the audience starts to chatter.
Mainly something software wise that allows much tighter triggering and queuing where when tied with knowing what to say as it's bring triggered so it really 'snaps'. Presentation clickers are just little handheld do-dads and can send generic keyboard presses to the laptop are already a thing so that's easy enough. Clips of course would have to be cut down fairly precisely though.
I guess I'm a sucker for documentaries when a talking head is making one point and say music is coming up before it cuts to a full clip of something for context. I think something like that can be implemented in a panel and make it more snappy, at least for a panel that can benefit from AV.
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Post by crownowa on Jan 24, 2018 13:31:38 GMT -5
So, in much more seriousness, I've been scheming up ways to better integrate AV elements into a panel. I work in film and VFX so part of me thinks 'I can do something really cool' but then again, I work in film and VFX so part of me thinks 'Everything breaks right when you don't need it to!' I feel that for a lot of panels, AV clips are usually integrated in a pretty clunky way, but that clunkyness brings with it a reasonable amount of reliability. "Blah black, talking point, blah blah. And this clip is an example of blah talking point." *everyone pauses while someone presses play on a laptop and the clip begins play* I'm not COMPLAINING since it's a pretty hard thing to screw up and any AV is better than a dead screen while someone tries to figure out why nothing is happening and the audience starts to chatter. Mainly something software wise that allows much tighter triggering and queuing where when tied with knowing what to say as it's bring triggered so it really 'snaps'. Presentation clickers are just little handheld do-dads and can send generic keyboard presses to the laptop are already a thing so that's easy enough. Clips of course would have to be cut down fairly precisely though. I guess I'm a sucker for documentaries when a talking head is making one point and say music is coming up before it cuts to a full clip of something for context. I think something like that can be implemented in a panel and make it more snappy, at least for a panel that can benefit from AV. I'll ask if we have presentation clickers. AV panels are called presentations, by the way. There's a different preparation and approval process for presentations.
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Post by ashleyashes on Jan 24, 2018 14:55:33 GMT -5
So, in much more seriousness, I've been scheming up ways to better integrate AV elements into a panel. I work in film and VFX so part of me thinks 'I can do something really cool' but then again, I work in film and VFX so part of me thinks 'Everything breaks right when you don't need it to!' I feel that for a lot of panels, AV clips are usually integrated in a pretty clunky way, but that clunkyness brings with it a reasonable amount of reliability. "Blah black, talking point, blah blah. And this clip is an example of blah talking point." *everyone pauses while someone presses play on a laptop and the clip begins play* I'm not COMPLAINING since it's a pretty hard thing to screw up and any AV is better than a dead screen while someone tries to figure out why nothing is happening and the audience starts to chatter. Mainly something software wise that allows much tighter triggering and queuing where when tied with knowing what to say as it's bring triggered so it really 'snaps'. Presentation clickers are just little handheld do-dads and can send generic keyboard presses to the laptop are already a thing so that's easy enough. Clips of course would have to be cut down fairly precisely though. I guess I'm a sucker for documentaries when a talking head is making one point and say music is coming up before it cuts to a full clip of something for context. I think something like that can be implemented in a panel and make it more snappy, at least for a panel that can benefit from AV. I'll ask if we have presentation clickers. AV panels are called presentations, by the way. There's a different preparation and approval process for presentations. Oh, I was just planning to buy my own.
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Post by crownowa on Jan 24, 2018 16:05:55 GMT -5
I'll ask if we have presentation clickers. AV panels are called presentations, by the way. There's a different preparation and approval process for presentations. Oh, I was just planning to buy my own. I've asked if you can bring your own if we don't have any. Its best not to assume that you'll be allowed to bring your own accessories.
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Post by ashleyashes on Jan 24, 2018 16:29:45 GMT -5
Oh, I was just planning to buy my own. I've asked if you can bring your own if we don't have any. Its best not to assume that you'll be allowed to bring your own accessories. Wait, before I respond any further, as it's been a few years since I've done a panel at AN: One is allowed to bring their own laptop for AV presentations in panels... Right?
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Post by crownowa on Jan 24, 2018 16:31:50 GMT -5
I've asked if you can bring your own if we don't have any. Its best not to assume that you'll be allowed to bring your own accessories. Wait, before I respond any further, as it's been a few years since I've done a panel at AN: One is allowed to bring their own laptop for AV presentations in panels... Right? Maybe as a backup, but AN has their own laptops that are loaded with the presentation files (remember that the presentation needs to be submitted to and vetted by Fingers before the con), and those are the laptops you are supposed to be using for the presentation.
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