Sinpozium - slash con in Sydney

It's just over 2 months until Sinpozium 2014 \o/ While half the fun is just getting to hang out with other fans, we do like to have some semi-structured content planned in advance. We need people to lead discussions, pimp slashy fandoms and more, so the big question is - what do you wanna do at Sinpozium?

++ Fandom pimps will probably be limited to a maximum of half an hour (if you want to do less, that's fine, and they don’t need to be fancy). We strongly recommend keeping video portions of pimps (if you wish to include them) to only about 15-20 minutes - this should be enough to give a feel for the fandom, anything longer and interest can really start to lag (always leave 'em wanting more!). If you can get someone else to look over a presentation, a second pair of eyes really helps, particularly if you’re having problems trimming it.

But we can't emphasis enough - you don't need to be a video editing expert to do this and you don't have to do a long presentation - you can take 5-10 min to tell us why Fandom X rocks, and show us 1 clip if you want (or do a slideshow, or whatever suits the source material). Your love for your fandom is the important thing, and if you need help with technical side making some clips or something, just holler!

++ Presentations/videos/slideshows will be shown via a laptop hooked up to a data projector, so will need to be brought on disc/USB stick/external hard drive (we don't want to be switching laptops around if we can avoid it). A variety of file formats will be acceptable (but if it can be played by VLC, that's a good indication it will be ok).

++ Suggestions for games are welcome, but from experience, they need to be simple and interactive. Participation is strongly encouraged but not mandatory in slash pictionary, but no one is excused on the grounds they can't draw (that's the point).

++ New or old, it doesn't matter - some of the most interesting fandom pimps we've seen at past Sinpoziums were for shows from before we were born, take us down nostalgia lane from 10 years ago, or introduce us to the hot new thing.

++ Discussion topics that are multi-fandom are particularly good (as they're inclusive). Topics might range from serious discussions of writing or fannish trends, to which characters look the best in tight jeans. Lengths will be 20-60 minutes, depending on topics, number of suggestions and structure of final timetable. For example...
- We believe people found the tech panel in previous years helpful/interesting, so please comment if there's topics you'd like to see addressed (using sites, gadget recs, what are indispensable plugins/hacks etc)
- A few years ago we had a fun discussion where various people pimped book fandoms/books of slashy interest, and may do it again if there's interest. Since these are often small fandoms, it can be a great way to lure more people in, or at least introduce them to a new author. Please let us know if you want to participate, and what book you'd like to talk about.

++ Suggestions for discussions/panels are more than welcome, even if you don't feel like leading the discussion yourself. If you're having a complete mental blank, I find reading about other fannish events and cons can really get me thinking about what I'd like to participate in.

++ Vidshow - more info to come later, but there will be one co-ordinated, but you're of course free to use vids during fandom pimps etc.

Please don't be nervous if you've never done something like this before, it's not gonna be a HUGE group of people (and no one is allowed to bite without permission), and we're happy to help if you want to do a pimp but aren't sure how to go about it. Just ask!

And remember, if you don't volunteer and/or suggest, you don't get to complain afterwards! :) We'll try and incorporate as much as possible from all the volunteers/suggestions, but the final timetable will be based on what we have found has worked at previous events and think is the best possible mix of everyone's interests. If there’s something you’d like to do that doesn’t seem like it’d fit with these guidelines, talk to us about it, and we’ll see what we can figure out.

erilyn and alasen will be at the Sydney Slashers meet up on Saturday 6th of April if you'd like to brainstorm in person! (If you're local and haven't been to the meetup, a bunch of us hang out and talk about whatever comes to mind on the first saturday of each month, from 3pm to about 6pm. Sanctuary Hotel in Kent St, City (behind Event Cinemas). You'll find us to the left of the entrance!)

xposted from LJ. So that all comments are together, please leave them on the LJ post.

We're excited to open registration for Sinpozium 2014!

Dates: Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June. (Long weekend for most of Australia!)

Venue: Sydney Central YHA (on the corner of Pitt Street and Rawson Place, Sydney), in the function room on level 9. This is the same venue as last year.

Cost: $25 for the weekend.

2014 Registration Form along with direct deposit payment information (please contact us if you wish to pay another way).

Further information

As it has been in the past, we hope it’ll be a great weekend of fannish fun and friends, with games, fandom pimps, discussions, vid watching and more. We will be starting to ask for volunteers/content suggestions in a separate post soon, along with posts for people looking for roommates, organising dinner on the Saturday night and a getting-to-know-each-other survey.

More information about the venue and about Sinpozium in general is available here. Please ask us if you’ve got any questions at all, either in the comments here (anon comments are welcome) or via sinpozium(at)gmail.com.

Registration cost is only $25 for the weekend. Registration includes the hire of the venue and equipment, but not food or accommodation. Payment is required up-front, your registration will not be confirmed until we have received payment, and attendance numbers are limited to 35 people only. Full refunds will be available until May 15th. International attendees, please contact us at sinpozium(at)gmail.com to arrange payment.

We will be crossposting all LJ admin posts here and to our new Tumblr. We'll tweet when there's an announcement on @sinpozium. Please feel free to follow one or more of these accounts!

Please pimp Sinpozium to fannish friends who may be interested. We hope to see you all there in June!

xposted from http://sinpozium.livejournal.com/24696.html