We want to do everything we can to make sure that people have an interesting, thought and discussion provoking fun, with new ideas and concepts as well as the old favourites we all know and love. Who said we dont think big at Conflux? 🙂
Heres a list of things weve thought of so far. Have your say, whether youre a member or not. Vote for the ideas you like. Suggest the panels youve always wanted to see. And if you are coming, and theres a panel you really want to do, then let us know so we can book you in.
Panel ideas:
Writers Idyll: our very own version of a certain reality television show. Five panels of writers during the convention will be set tasks, and the members of the audience will vote on who wins each session. On the last day of the con, the five winners of the semi-finals will be set the final challenge, which will be presented in the last panel session of the con. The members of the audience will choose the Writer Idyll.
10 things beginning writers do wrong
What’s the next button? (What new technology do you want to see?)
How to hire henchmen.
Authors’ blogs–necessary PR, or just a great waste of time?
The Dead Body Guy – how to die in one easy lesson.
Women in SF as characters and writers – How has the ratio changed over the years? Ho are women portrayed differently, if at all from in the past? Do subgenres influence how women are portrayed? Are women drawn to certain genres or subgenres as both writers and readers? Are women more likely to read a female author?
Kill it with Kindness. How plots die when the author is too nice.
When Viagra won’t help. Is your protagonist missing passion?
Is “slan” the next stage of human evolution… or a type of elvish waybread? It’s an SF version of Balderdash! Panelists will be asked to define terms from obscure works of science fiction or fantasy, taken out of context. They’ll try to fool the audience, whose votes will determine the winner.
SF Trivia Contest: A preliminary written test with the top contenders doing a event contest.
Portraying Race in SF
The Deep Roots of SF– SF before we had a name for it
Utopia: What would a utopia really be. Would yours look like mine?
The Noble Loser: the valiant schmuck who dies nobly and grotesquely.
How to Deal with Death through SF
How to deal with sex in SF
What is Fear and What is Evil
Dragons in literature and story
Story Creation How to generate ideas.
What makes a good villain in story and real life
The past, present and future of web publishing
The Worst SF and Fantasy in History.
Seducing the Young: How do we grow fandom?
Do you want to live forever?
What is Horror?
Storytelling from other ethnicities: Pitfalls, pratfalls and promise
Structured writing programs like Clarion, pluses and minuses
Literary versus Commercial in speculative fiction: Do some sell out to sell?
Creating your own religion for fun, profit and literary merit
Great Blunders in History
The Niche Society; Will the internet bring us together or tear us apart? Is that good or bad?
Filking 101
Portraying Race in SF
The Deep Roots of SF – SF before we had a name for it
Doctor Who: Where did it start and where is it going.
Alternate Alternate Histories: Not the typical “What if the Hitler had won the War” but more obscure events that might have created a different present.
Do you want to live forever?
SF from the rest of the world
Does War solve anything? Why or why not?
Peacekeeping and peacemaking for dummies
Madness in Leadership. Under what conditions?
Great Blunders in History
Great but unknown: events and discoveries that changed the world but most people wouldn’t know about
Do super heroes have any relevance to the real world? Are normal heroes better or more relevant? Can people relate better to normal?
The Physics of Sci-Fi Battles: Can the Death Star really blow up a planet? How do the Enterprise’s shields protect if from a Photon Torpedo? Doctor Robert Ryans of Queen’s University gives a highly entertaining and informative talk on some of the greatest Sci-Fi battles and weapons around.
Sunday Service: Gods in the Machines: Religions in Sci-Fi. Are they convincing? Examples from DS9, B5, Doctor Who etc
Beasts of Burden donkeys, camels, cattle and so on in fiction
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