I finally got around to cutting and uploading the footage from the two C2E2 2016 panels I was able to record: “Fight the Power,” which I moderated with authors Rachel Caine, Arwen Elys Dayton, Michelle Hauck, and Lisa Yee, talking about themes of revolution in science fiction and fantasy; and “With Great Power: Mentoring the Next Generation of Geeks,” where I joined Wesley Sun, Lynne M. Thomas, Ytasha Womack, and Aaron Amendola (moderator) to talk about leadership and encouraging the growth of inclusive, vibrant geek communities and professions.
Of note: both Aaron and I decided to try one of Mary Robinette Kowal’s moderating techniques, which involved opening the panel by soliciting questions from the audience for the panelists to address. This theoretically addresses several points:
- It helps the panelists shape a discussion more able to address audience interest in the topic/panel scope;
- Panelists are able to have a little more time thinking about how they want to answer audience questions;
- The moderator is able to order audience questions to help shape a dynamic conversation and can often combine overlapping questions from different audience members;
- It helps sidestep the issue of “please ask questions instead of making statements.”
It seemed to work very well in our C2E2 discussions, so this is a technique I think I’ll try integrating into my panels a bit more!
Thanks again to Patty Garcia from Tor for inviting me to moderate “Fight the Power,” and thanks to my fellow “With Great Power” panelists for agreeing to be on the panel when I submitted it to C2E2 for consideration. Also kudos to the audience for rolling with our different panel format and for giving us great questions to shape the discussions! I had a great time and I look forward to the chance to work with these amazing creators again.
(I’m going to do my best to have a transcription/captioning for these videos up as soon as I can, I appreciate everyone’s patience with this.)