Becoming A Panelist

Norwescon 37: Elegance and Entropy | April 17-20, 2014

Norwescon typically begins reviewing and choosing panelists and pros around July, sending invites out in the late summer (August-September), and solicits ideas for panels, presentations, and workshops in the fall (September-October). We set the schedule in November-December, and then send the whole ball of wax off to our Publications department so they have plenty of time to proofread, format, and print it up. If you’re interested in participating as a panelist, we recommend contacting us by August to make sure we get it in time.

If you would like to do a presentation or workshop at Norwescon: We ask for a title (no more than 8 words), a description of the panel (no more than 100 words), technical requirements (if any), and information about yourself and why you’re qualified to give this presentation or workshop.

If you’re interested in being a Norwescon panelist: Take the time to introduce yourself, tell us what you’re good for, and why. Programming gets lots of e-mails from people volunteering to be panelists, but what we really want to know is: What kinds of panels can we put you on? Why are you an expert? What qualifications do you have?

Norwescon has a whole new staff every year, fields interest from hundreds of qualified people who want to be panelists, and has space for just over 200, so it can be competitive. We’re always looking for a good balance of skills and specialties, and therefore might turn down impressively qualified people if their skill set overlaps too much with too many people we’ve already invited. Contrary to popular belief, there is no set list of pros who are automatically invited back every year — in fact, we are actively trying to cycle through the large number of highly qualified pros available to allow space for new points of view and to keep our content fresh.

What we’re truly looking for in an attending professional is someone who:

  • Is a genuine expert in their field
  • Is an engaging and charismatic speaker
  • Shows up to their panels on time and prepared
  • Conducts their business with the convention in a pleasant and professional manner, and
  • Lets us know they’re interested!

A brief note from Loree Parker, NWC37 Director of Programming

It’s still far too early to start planning for next year, but if you’re interested in joining us for Norwescon 38 I suggest you drop us an email this summer to programming@norwescon.org with a brief summary of your interests and qualifications. Even if you’ve been coming for years, I and several of my predecessors have delegated panelist selection to our track leads, and we may not be helping you to fulfill your potential if we only know you as a rocket scientist when you’re also a published author/master costumer/award-winning editor/prima ballerina/world champion underwater basketweaver.

While we certainly love hearing from you, we suggest you don’t reach out until July — any earlier and we’re still on break, any later and we may have already selected panelists and track leads for the tracks in which you may be interested. And while I have every intention of keeping a file of panel ideas and interested parties for next year, I never underestimate the potential for random acts of capricious technology to ruin my plans.

Best of luck,

Loree Parker
Director of Programming
Norwescon 37

We are now accepting panelist, presentation, and workshop applications for Norwescon 36. Please submit your ideas and applications to Programming through [our contact page][1] — and good luck!

We will start accepting ideas and panelist requests for Norwescon 37 this summer, but feel free to start thinking ahead! You can always ask questions by sending a message to Programming through our contact page.

Norwescon 37 is over, and we’re enjoying our summer break before starting gathering our lineup for Norwescon 38. In the meantime, if you’d like to be considered, please send us a brief summary of your interests and qualifications via [our contact page][email].