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Conventions, conventions, conventions, oh my! Shaun Duke and Trish Matson join forces to discuss a listener question about the future of conventions. Together, they explore how conventions have changed, how conventions might survive in the future, what troubles conventions now face, and more! Plus, there’s a little bit of love for libraries, books, and more books!
Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Show Notes:
- Send us your comments, questions, and suggestions!
- The Things We Discussed:
- Listener Question: “How are Cons doing- Which ones are thriving? Are any ‘better than ever’? What is working (or initially promising) in 2023 and moving forward? Which are failing? Is there any transparent discussion about why, other than the pandemic? And of course, the big elephant in the room that brought me here- will there ever be an open and unfettered discussion/dissection of why the wheels fell off of Wiscon. Or just longtime congoers slinking off further into their various corners mumbling to their friends and wondering what other people think… Why has it had such a quiet unraveling? So many questions…”
If you have a question you’d like us to answer, feel free to shoot us a message on our contact page.
Our new intro and outro music comes from Holy Mole. You can support his work at patreon.com/holymole.
See you later, navigator!
One Response
I hadn’t ever considered some of the ethical questions regarding conventions.
As a disabled person I lobbied for online access to conventions well before Covid. The fact that this started to be a thing because of covid is one of the good things that has come out of this. Instead of just focusing on covid vs living with covid, I think convention organisers need to be more mindful that online access is a disability access issue.
I for one won’t be travelling to America any time soon and probably not ever. I’d have to leave my seeing eye dog at home, risk the “Mem Fox border control treatment” and more. These days Australians are very aware that America will put Aussies on planes to return home even if they’re not disabled and only changing planes in the US to get to Canada. I’m not going to try to enter the country! Last year my husband flew to Seattle to speak at a Redgate conference (SQL server not sf) and I didn’t think twice. I was all “You’re going SOLO and Silkie can sleep on my bed while you’re gone” lol.
So that’s another reason why online conferences are good, beyond basic disability access.