Programming
Programming is the function that creates the various panels and events at the convention, and recruits panelists and hosts to make them happen. The programs may follow the theme of the convention, if there is one. They also may be organized into "tracks", with a consistent theme running among them.
There are two main strategies for creating programming:
- Start by generating or collecting Great Ideas, then find people to participate in them.
- Start by looking at the people who are available and your knowledge of who plays well together and how their areas of knowledge and interest overlap, and then produce ideas for your program that build off of these synchronicities.
This is analogous to the process of cooking, where you can start with a recipe and then go shopping for ingredients and hope you find them, or you can start with the ingredients you have and then figure out the best things you can make with those ingredients. Note that you can combine the two approaches in both cooking and programming. In either case, the more you know about the characteristics of your ingredients, (i.e. your people), the better you are able to produce a pleasing result.
If there are program participants, including your Guests of Honor, with whom you are not familiar, try to recruit into your process someone who does know them well. This can include that person themselves. A simple though not always helpful way to try to find out what they would like to do and talk about, what they don't want to talk about, who they do and don't want to be on programming with, and what topics and program formats they really shine on, is to ask them. These days that is commonly done with a survey by email. You may or may not want to ask these questions of all your prospective program participants, but you should always ask your Guests of Honor.
Note that you should recruit or assign a Moderator for any panel that has more than three people on it. Some say every panel should have a moderator, but at the very least every panel with more than three people should have one, preferably someone experienced at Moderating Panels.
See also:
