Arisia: 50 Panels in 75 minutes

Description: You write down panel titles at the beginning. We’ll draw them out of a hat, and try to get through 50 panels in 75 minutes.
Kate Nepveu (moderator), Mark Oshiro, Chris Brathwaite, Ashe Samuels, Jennifer Pelland, Andy Rosequist

This was ridiculously fun. Mostly I just curated the order of the panel titles, because I'm a control freak, and tried to stay out of the way.

For obvious reasons I cannot provide a summary, but I did keep the notecards, and I'm fairly sure they're in the correct order, too. There were about twenty we didn't have time for.

Thanks to Mink for passing--and bringing!--the hat.

( The List )

Arisia: Steven Universe: We'll Always Find a Way

This may not be a great idea because I literally ended the last panel I was on by saying that I was done with brains—I am very tired—but I need to stay upright for a little bit and I don't have a lot of notes for this, I don't think, looking at my notebook. So:

Description:
Steven Universe continues to be a show that deals uncompromisingly with issues around gender, childhood, and family in ways both unexpected and delightful (if not without the occasional problem). It's also telling a great long-form adventure story. We'll talk about all elements of this show in a panel that, like the show itself, will appeal to fans of all ages.
Kate Nepveu (moderator), Brian Liberge, Julia Rios, Hannah Simpson, Rachel Kenley

( SPOILERS for all episodes )

So, it was pretty great. But tiring, it was an active panel, and I was spending so much energy on moderating that I lost the ability to speak slowly, for which I also apologize.

Arisia: When the Panel Goes Rogue...

I'm not doing real notes on this at all, just a few quick comments and some useful tips I want to stash for later.

Description:
An off topic panelist. An audience member who seems to think they're on the panel. An ineffective moderator. How do you address these situations when they arise? What is the role of the moderator, other panelists, and the audience itself?
Jonathan Woodward (moderator), Heather Urbanski, Christopher K. Davis, Michael A. Burstein, Kate Nepveu

This was interesting because I didn't realize I was such an outlier in taking questions regularly throughout the panel, at topic changes! However Heather pointed out that expertise-focused panels, like science ones, often need different structures and much tighter control of the Q&A portions, which makes perfect sense--I basically never do those.

(I previously posted my philosophy on moderating.)

Things I wrote down because I want to use them myself:

A very quiet panelist, or one who professes a relative lack of knowledge (aka the dreaded "I have no idea why I'm on this panel"): "What question would you like to ask?"

Someone who really wants to talk about something else: "That would be a great panel next year, please suggest it."

If you've been asked to moderate on short notice and haven't been able to prep: ask the audience what they want to talk about, say you'll add those topics to your list.

Someone busts out a hateful or offensive term: "We don't use that term here."

And then I was done with brains, and now I am going to bed. Feel free to ask about your own moderation challenges!