It may seem like a long time until OSFest 5 over July 27-29th weekend, but we need to start on the program schedule now if we are to have one worth your attendance. So Nick Schneider and I sat down and began pulling together interesting ideas that would make great events for you to be a part of. But we can't do it alone, nor can we prepare a schedule in a vacuum. We need you input. While I will be bouncing ideas through this blog over the next few months, now is the time to brainstorm, now is the time to come up with the ideas that can be fleshed out into great panels, and most importantly, now is the time for you to tell us what you are interested in and would like to see. After all the Omaha Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival is YOUR convention, now ours.
Yes, several old favorites will return: the Ultimate Starship Challenge, the Militarization of Space, and the Dating Auction to name a few. But the OSFest Programming staff is not plugged into YOUR network of influence and we can only guess what trips your trigger. We are looking for anything right now that falls under the genre of SF/Fantasy, Horror, Anime, Costuming/Cosplay, Gaming, or generally interesting to fans of the above. This is the brainstorming phase of programming, so no idea is too outrageous, we may not use it but we will consider it. Maybe with a little tweaking???
We are also looking for people who are knowledgeable in the ideas you suggest. So if you are an expert (or just someone with an informed passion) please let us know so we can keep you in mind for that panel. Also let us know if this is something you would just like to learn, that way we can look for the experts for you and have them available at OSFest.
Where should you make your suggestions? Posting a comment on this blog or on its Facebook site might get the word to us. The best way to do this is through the OSFES Forum at: http://osfes.org/Forums/index.php. This will allow Nick and I to rapidly find everyone's suggestion and others to give their feedback to what has already been suggested. Be an active forum participant and OSFES can keep bringing you great conventions year after year.
I hope to see you in July.
you came to me at NEBCON about myself and my friend (the ladies who were steampunk hogwarts students @OSFest last year) to host the wizarding duals, we have been doing our research and will be ready to host that panel if you want us to do it still.
ReplyDelete-Shana M Eastberg
I would like to see a panel about Minecraft (www.minecraft.org). It's rise in popularity in the past year, in my opinion, is a fascinating phenomenon and it appeals to a large age range of players. My 10-year-old son is currently obsessed with it. I have a brother who has been involved with it a lot who might be available to participate in a panel.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the physics department at UNO has a wonderful summer program for young students called Aim for the Stars (aimforthestars.unomaha.edu). One of the most popular programs is Lego NXT robotics, in which kids design and program robots. I think it would be fascinating if you could get someone from that program to do a presentation.
-Tudor Lewis
I also have info for a program that UNO does called Kapow , the fellow who does this travels about to Schools and does chemistry shows which are a lot of fun to see.
ReplyDeleteand yup its called Kapow as he makes loud noises and thing go Boom lol
Kevin Carroll
Those all sound great! How about another Philosophy of Star Trek panel? It was cool last year.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Steampunk panel to where we learned what it was all about. Maybe more on steampunk weapons?
Are you guys going to have another Con planning meeting one evening this month?
ReplyDeleteChris Edmunds
Shana: Could you email me at jshoberg@cox.net
ReplyDeleteI just added the Steampunk weapon workshop, I have a Star Trek 101 panel already on the planning schedule. Is there something specific about the Philosophy of Star Trek?
We have checked into Kapow in the past and found it both impractical and cost prohibitive for the convention.
Tudor: do you know someone knowledgeable enough to run a minecraft panel, or two or five? And I will look into the program you mentioned, especially since you included contact info.
Keep those ideas coming - John
Furry Panel(s). I know we have had a table for at least 2 years now (Furbraska) but maybe a Furry 101 and/or Fursuiting for Beginners type of deal would be nice. I honestly cannot remember if there was such a panel at last years convention..
ReplyDelete