Back Home Again, After Trip to Australia

[pameladlloyd]

Attending the Conflux 5 minicon was almost like being in Australia. I got to meet, virtually, many authors, members of the con committee, and other guests. The blurb for each session mentioned that they were "hosting guests from four continents," so as you can imagine, it was quite an international event.

The convention format, aside from being an online forum, was as a series of "Meet the Author/Editor/Expert" sessions, with each of twenty-four guests (if I counted correctly) available in individual hour-long blocks of time. This format meant that the whole thing was driven by questions from the peanut gallery, so nutty people like myself were quick to take advantage of the chance to ask plenty of questions.

I loved the intimate feeling of the con--I didn't get to meet any of the participants directly of course, but I didn't have to worry about whether I could hear, or missing something if I had to sneak out for a few minutes. I'd love to see more online minicons like this one. Although the Internet, email, and social networking/blogging sites such as LiveJournal offer us far more opportunity to be in contact with each other, I found this a wonderful opportunity to learn about a group of people interested in and creating speculative fiction that I would never otherwise have gotten to know. I've got a long list of authors whose works I now want to read (far more than my budget can handle, at the moment, alas), and a sense of friendship (or at least acquaintanceship) with people in a distant part of the world. Australia is one of those dream vacation destinations for us Americans, so now I feel I have even more reason to visit one day, and I hope that when I do I will feel less a tourist, and more a visitor.

The minicon forum is still up, as is the forum from last year, so even if you missed the sessions, you can still head over and check it out. I really enjoyed "meeting" everyone there and hope that more people from around the world will participate in the next minicon. Oh, and don't forget to visit the Speakeasy, where much fun, food, and virtual-alcoholic frolicking was had by all.

Comments

[eneit.livejournal.com]

You were a wonderful cyber drinking partner, Granny says you can come drinking with us anytime *g*

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I was inspired by the company. With Granny for a role-model, what's a girl to do?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I had every intention of visiting, and then I stalled out at the last minute... I was feeling down on Friday and Saturday, and for some reason just couldn't seem to get the hang of how best to plunge in.... I'm really glad to hear it was fun though; it was bound to be. It seemed like a great idea.

[satimaflavell.livejournal.com]

That happened to me the first time, too. This year I got one of the committe members to talk me through the procedure in advance and I was right as rain.

If you go back to the site now, read Nicole's article on how to do it. You can then read what you missed and plan to be there next year!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'd like to do that: can you link me to her article?

[satimaflavell.livejournal.com]

Sure: just go to
http://conflux.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=67.0

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

It was much fun. *g*

I'd love to see more of these. To the point that I find myself wondering if it wouldn't be possible to do something similar. Of course, I can see that this took a lot of work from a dedicated group of experienced con creators working together.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Do you have sartorias on your friends list? She frequently sponsors "bittercon" panels at her journal, and the discussions are always lively. I think you'd like her journal a lot if you aren't already reading it.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I do. I think I may have seen a few references to bittercon, but I didn't realize it was an online con.

Even when not doing an online con, I've found she has one of the more lively discussion groups. I love the way her posts often spark discussion and debate, although I have to admit that I sometimes find it hard to keep up, as I like to leave a little time in my life for writing.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You're smart--I tend to get swallowed up by LJ...

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know about that. I think my recent comments have more to do with discovering just how easy it is to sink under the weight of LJ. It's like a constant party, with all sorts of interesting little conversations going on. You can just wander from room to room and find the people and topics you find most interesting. So, I'm really trying to put limits on myself.

LJ, like other venues in which I connect with writers and readers, inspires me and makes me want to write more, but I can't do that if I let it eat all my time. *g*