Art Program

1. Different Visions: Three artists will illustrate one scene as read by the author.
2. Picking a Medium: When to use oils, acrylics, etc.
3. How to Build an Art Collection: Is it enough to simply like something or is there more to look for?
4. You Don’t Just Make It Up? Artists talk about the acquisition and use of models.
5. How to Buy Art: Should you just buy what you like or look for an investment?
6. Protecting Your Art: How to make sure it stays as beautiful as when you bought it.
7. A Tour of the Art Show
8. An Art Auctioneer’s Tour of the Art Show: What does the auctioneer see when he looks at the panels.
9. My Artistic Influences: Why my art looks the way it does? Who do I view to relax?
10. The State of SF & Fantasy Art: Are we past chainmail bikinis and BEMs?
11. Creating a Portfolio to Be Recognized: What should be included in your portfolio to make art directors sit up and take notice?
12. Overlooked Artists: Which great SF/F artists have been relegated to the junk heap of history?
13. Its Art, But Is It Good? What makes SF art great?
14. Beginning Acrylics
15. Beginning Airbrushing
16. Beginning Oils
17. Getting Cover and Description to Match: Why doesn’t the cover look like what the book describes?
18. Color by Pixel: Is computer generated art less legitimate as hand-painted art or is a computer just a fancy paintbrush?
19. Capturing the Feel of Space: If you’ve never been there, how do you know what space really looks like?
20. The Tools and Techniques of Computer Art: What hardware and software is needed for computer artwork? Do the techniques in creating computer art differ from more traditional art forms.
21. Tactile Arts: Leave the paints behind for this discussion of embroidery, tapestry, macrame and other tactile arts.
22. The Care and Feeding of Your Artwork: Now that you’ve purchased art, how can you make sure it lasts.
23. That Isn’t What It Should Look Like: Why artwork doesn’t match the author’s description.
24. Commissioning Art: How is artwork commissioned and created for publication?
25. Settling on a Style: How do you decide what style to use when painting?
26. Breaking Into Art: How do you go from being a doodler to being a professional artist?
27. Eggleton on a Spit: His colleagues have the chance to roast guest of honor Bob Eggleton
28. Interior Design: How interior illustrations for a book or magazine differ from the cover art.
29. Have They Ever Seen a Woman?: SF artists explain why the women in their art don’t approximate the woman in real life.
30. How I Paint: Artists discuss their techniques for painting, both technical and psychological.
31. What Makes SF Art Great: Are the criteria for great SF art different from the criteria for more mainstream art?

Kid’s Program

Children's programming is being run by childcare, not by the Programming division. 

1. Origami
2. Kelnahr
3. Science for Kids
4. Storytelling
5. Juggling
6. Animal Balloons
7. Creating a Costume
8. Miniature Painting
9. A Kids’ Tour of the Art Show
10. So, You Want To Be An Author
11. Under the Greaspaint: What it Takes to be a Clown
12. Create a Mural
13. Dinosaurs and Fossils
14. Magic
15. Dancing
16. Websites for Children

1. Just One Click: Building an attractive internet site.
2. You, Too, Can Be A SMOF: How to get involved in Fandom.
3. SF By Any Other Name: Scientifiction, Sci-Fi, SF, Speculative Fiction. Are there differences? Does the term matter?
4. Is Sci Fi Still a Bad Word?: With the existence of the Sci-Fi Channel, has the term lost its negative connotations?
5. Fan Hugos: Who are the people who win those awards?
6. Science Fiction Fandom Minus the Science Fiction: Fandom for the sake of fandom.
7. Guilty Pleasures: What I read, what I watch with the shades drawn and the lights low.
8. Report from Down Under: What was Aussiecon like? Did it differ from American Worldcons?
9. Project Cancelled: Glorious technological dreams of yesteryear
10. Six Degrees of Star Trek: Can you connect famous actors to the show?
11. Auction Running: Training with Dr. Bob. (Bob Passavoy)
12. Flamewars in Cyberspace: Are flamewars avoidable or just a part of living in the internet era?
13. What Will Technology Do To Sex? A late night panel
14. The Attack of the Fifty-Foot Sex Panel: A late night panel
15. What I Get Out of Fandom: Why are you involved. What does it give you that you can’t get anywhere else?
16. Parasites or Part of Us: Where do fringe fandoms fit into the overall whole? Why does SF fandom attract them?
17. Name My Line: Authors read from their own and other author’s works and the audience has to identify who wrote which lines.
18. Tourist Spots for the Discerning Time Traveler
19. Twelve To A Room And He Snores: Horror tales from conventions past.
20. Fannish Business Ventures: What happens when fen try to go legit?
21. A Few of My Favorite Things: What are some things which fandom seems to have in common outside the world of SF?
22. Welcome to the Worldcon: Division heads tell you what’s in store for Chicon 2000, and explain how you can get involved.
23. Fanzines on the Web: Where to look for electronic fanzines. How do they differ from print ‘zines
24. Crazy Little Things Called ‘Zines? You’ve heard about fanzines and would like to read some. How do you find them? How do you subscribe?
25. Starting a Fanzine: Where does the material come from, how to I get it out, who do I send it to?
26. How to Chat On-Line: The do’s and don’ts of cyberconversation.
27. Becoming a BNF: How to become active in fandom and make a name for yourself.
28. Between the Cons: Is fandom only an occasional weekend event?
29. A History of Chicago Fandom: Old time Chicagoans talk about how Chicago fandom made it to where we are now.
30. Forming a Fan Group: How to find like-minded local folks and what to do with them.
31. Fanzines and Apazines: What are ‘zines? How do they differ from each other? How do I get involved?
32. The Most Dangerous Room of the Con: The Huckster room co-ordinator and Hucksters talk about working a con.
33. Your Web Site - Business Opportunity or Vanity Publishing?
34. A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Convention: Convention funniest moments and horror stories
35. Where I Would Live: In which science fictional/fantasy universes would you want to make your home.
36. Are Fans Slans?
37. Adding Luster to an Aging Con: How do you keep a con fresh after twenty years? Thirty years? Where do you find the young talent needed to keep a con going?
38. Gopher 101: Why you should become a gopher, where to register and what to do.
39. My Significant Other is a Mundane: Should you leave well enough alone, or try to bring your spouse into fandom?
40. The Allure of Neo-Paganism for Fen: What do so many fen find in Neo-Paganism?
41. Thirty Percenters: According to statistics, only 30% of fans are women. What does fandom offer women? Is there a way to increase this percentage? Should it be increased?
42. Where are the minorities? At times, fandom seems overwhelmingly white, where are the minorities?
43. Name That Planet/Alien: A quiz pitting audience members against each other for prizes. Requires a moderator.
44. Come, Join Us: Becoming more active in organized fandom.
45. Name That Villain: Identifying quotes from literary & film SF.
46. Death of a Fan: What makes fen decide to leave fandom?
47. Club Fandom: What, exactly, do clubs do? Is there a difference in clubs of different sizes?
48. Who and Why We Sleep With: Why do fans form friendships with each other? Is it more than just common interests?
49. The Oldyweds Game
50. Neo-Fans: What Do We Need to Know: What do you need to know about cons and fandom if this is your first exposure?
51. Lesser Known Awards and Their Winners: Tiptree, Sidewise, Lambda,
52. What am I Doing Here? When fen bring their mundane significant others to cons, what do they do?
53. Chicons Past. . .And Future
54. A South American Worldcon: Is It Possible?
55. Fandom Around the World: Fans from Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia and South America sound off.
56. What Distinguishes a Reader/Viewer from a Fan?
57. That Pesky Reality: Ingenious ways to avoid it without drugs.
58. My First Con
59. Renfaire Workshop
60. Mendacity Panel: Our panel of confirmed liars (or are they) try to outdo each other.
61. Massage for Couples: Late night, Bob Beese tells how to give a really great massage.
62. Writing and Performing Filk
63. North of the Border/South of the Border: The TorCon and ConCancun committees go head to head to capture your 2003 vote.
64. Fan Funds, Who Are They For
65. Technobabble: Making the impossible sound plausible.
66. Before You Were Here: A look at the history of fandom in Chicago
67. Longevity: Fans active for more than twenty years. What keeps them going?
68. Science Fictionary Incorrect
69. Fandom in the Media: A discussion of how science fiction is portrayed in the general media and what can be done to rectify it.
70. Family Friendly Cons
71. The Soul of a Techie: What are the links between technological interest and SF fandom?
72. Science Fiction and the Libertarian Agenda: Why does SF seem to attract a libertarian element?
73. Chicago Con Extravaganza: Windycon, Duckon, Capricon, Chicon, filling out your local convention schedule.
74. Why Some People Do Panels, and Others Don’t: What makes some fen seek the limelight and others just want to sit back and enjoy?
75. SF: Isn’t That Kinda Like Star Trek? How to explain SF Fandom to the mundanes in your life.
76. Electronic Publishing: Does it have a future? Is there any money in it?
77. Fandom in Chicago: What fannish groups and outlets currently exist?
78. Grudge Match: The Millennium Falcon vs. The Enterprise A: Each ship will have its defenders explaining how and why it would come out victorious. Please specify which ship you would back. (Other possibilities: Red Shirts vs. Storm Troopers, Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine)
79. Walking Uphill Both Ways: Longtime fans explain why fandom just ain’t what it used to be.
80. Crazy Little Thing Called Filk: What is Filk? Why is it on the program? And how do I get involved?
81. Can Anyone Help Me Move: Fannish moving nightmares.
82. Writing Reviews: Are there rules you should follow when writing reviews? Is it more than just saying "This book sucked?"
83. SF Mount Rushmore: Which four science fiction figures (characters, authors, editors, etc.) would you want to appear on a science fictional Mount Rushmore?
84. The One Way Ticket: If you could have a one way ticket to any science fiction/fantasy/horror universe, where would you go.
85. Developing and Promoting a Successful Website: Once you’ve designed the website, how do you draw surfers to it and keep them coming back?
86. Living with a Pro: How to offer support to the professional artist/author in your life. What are some of the trials and tribulations?
87. Special Awards Ceremony
88. First Fandom Meeting
89. SFWA Meeting
90. WSFS Meeting

1. Fairy Tales vs. Fantasy: What sets a fairy tale apart from a straight fantasy?
2. England’s Other Matter: Retelling Robin Hood throughout the Ages
3. Not the Middle Ages: Many fantasies are based on the Medieval period, what other fantastic source material exists?
4. How to Unfairly Judge a Book by Page 268
5. Literary Incest—Are you Reading Fourth Generation Novels?: Is there anything original on the shelves?
6. Media SF for the Literary Fan? What films and tie-ins will appeal to the literary SF fans?
7. Rediscovering Classic SF
8. Discovering the Earth: Science Fiction from non-Anglophonic countries.
9. You Haven’t Heard Of, But You Will: SF authors on the rise
10. From Jubal Harshaw to Obi Wan Kenobi: The role of the mentor in Science Fiction
11. Are Series Necessary? Science fiction and fantasy tend to run to series. Why can’t authors be concise?
12. The Bishop of Alexandria: The alternate history of Christianity
13. The Science Fiction of Jerome Walton: Come add to the mythology of this prolific and influential, if fictional SF author. A short bio will be sent to panelist prior to the convention.
14. A Peculiarly British Form of the Genre: Britain seems to publish more satiric SF and Fantasy than the US. Why?
15. Building an SF Collection: What books are necessary to understand the field.
16. If There Had Been No John Campell: What would Science Fiction look like if this man had not influenced the field? Would it still exist?
17. Why I Love the Slush Pile
18. Write What You Don’t Know: Doing the research to make it sound real.
19. Exotic Location Close to Home: Underused terrestrial locations for science fiction and fantasy.
20. Mining the Classics: Using History and literature as an idea base.
21. Not the Major Leagues: A look at the small press and why they should be supported.
22. Name Magic: Selecting the right names for your characters and places.
23. The Writers Strike Back: Authors review the critics.
24. How to Read: Is there more to reading than just processing the words?
25. Will There Be Another Golden Age?
26. The Importance of Being Hugo: How important was Hugo Gernsback in the history of SF?
27. I Remember Apollo: Using Mythology as a basis for fiction.
28. Speculative Mysteries: How successful is the marriage of mystery and SF?
29. Are Media Books the Salvation of the Industry?
30. Nineteenth Century Fantasy Authors: From Lewis Carroll to William Morris and everyone in between
31. Why Authors Write Media Books?
32. Romancing the Stars: Does mixing the SF and romance genres work?
33. Finding Old Books: A discussion of how to actually lay hands on a copy of all those books you keep hearing about at conventions.
34. North of the Border: Science Fiction is alive and thriving in Canada.
35. Were They the Good Old Days? Do the classics stand up to the test of time?
36. Reading Short Fiction: There’s so much to read, how do you find out what is worthwhile. To which magazine should you subscribe?
37. Killing Off Your Characters: How and when to kill off characters and what to do when the readers complain.
38. SF Poetry: Is it more than just filler in the magazines?
39. Trade Paperbacks: Are these large format paperbacks bastard children of mass market and hardcovers or are they the salvation for the industry?
40. Proposing and Selling and Anthology: What are the steps, how do you buy stories, where does the money come from?
41. Great Aliens I Have Known
42. Regional SF: Is SF flavored by region? Can you tell a Southern SF author from a Western author? How about British from American?
43. The Love/Hate Relationship With Series: While readers frequently complain about series, the sales figures show someone must be reading them.
44. They Wrote SF, Too: Mainstream authors who have written science fiction.
45. Fantasy High, Fantasy Low: The different types of fantasy fiction.
46. Do Women Writers Really Differ from Men?
47. Can You Hear the Dice Roll? Fantasy born of role playing games.
48. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: A look at nineteenth and early twentieth century SF influences.
49. It Began Around the Camp Fire: Oral storytelling and its current role.
50. The Essential SF Library
51. Eroticism in Science Fiction
52. Luddite Science Fiction: Can Science Fiction be anti-technological?
53. Publishing in the Federation: How to publish fiction set in the Star Trek universe.
54. Where the Innovation Is: A discussion of why short fiction tends to show the new trends before novels do.
55. One Hit Wonders: David Palmer, Tom Godwin, etc. they wrote one classic and then disappeared.
56. Book Discussion with Steve Metzger
57. Starting Up a Small Press
58. The Return of New Destinies: New Destinies, the paperback magazine published by Baen, went on a nine year hiatus. It has now come back. What is its future and why was there no issue 5?
59. Creating a Magazine from Scratch
60. Mixing the Genres: Pern, the New Sun, if it looks like fantasy, smells like fantasy and reads like fantasy but the author insists it is science fiction, what is it?
61. Are There Still a Big Three? Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov used to be the "Big Three." With Heinlein and Asimov dead, have they been replaced by anyone else of a similar stature or has the playing field leveled. Did being the "Big Three" ever really mean anything?
62. Humor, Satire and Parody in Science Fiction and Fantasy:
63. The Forgotten Inklings: The writing compatriots of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
64. Sidekicks: What makes a good sidekick? Who are some of literatures memorable partners? What happens when the sidekick is more popular than the hero?
65. Bova on a Spit: His colleagues have the chance to roast guest of honor Ben Bova.
66. Baen on a Spit: His colleagues have the chance to roast guest of honor Jim Baen.
67. Magazines’ Supporting Casts: Who are the people on the masthead who aren’t the editor?
68. The Fiction of the Year. . . So Far: Panelists explain which stories released so far should be considered for next year’s Hugos.
69. NESFA Choice: This small press explains their republishing program and talks about its future.

1. Where No Woman Has Gone Before: Strong Female Characters in Star Trek
2. What I Did On My Summer Vacation: A look back on the films of summer
3. Midnight’s Past: Whatever happened to the great monster movies of yesteryear?
4. At the Movies: A Siskel and Ebert look at some classic science fiction films (Bob Blackwell & Alex Eisenstein??)
5. Let’s Make a Deal: How a movie is made from the first idea to the big screen.
6. How to Improve the Sci-Fi Channel
7. Literary SF for the Media Fan: Was literary SF will appeal to the movie and tie-in fans?
8. Just Blow It Up: Are big budgets hurting the science fiction film industry
9. Disney: Using Its Power for Good Or Evil?: Many fans seem to think Disney epitomizes everything wrong with film-making. Others love their movies. Which is right?
10. Turning a Book Into a Film: Why the film never turns out the way it should
11. Turning a Film Into a Book: The trials and tribulations of writing a novelization
12. Weird Sciences: Scientific Boners in Media SF: Our panel of experts discuss scientific impossibilities in some of your favorite films.
13. The Worst SF Films of All Time: Not even considering satires or B films, these are movies which were trying to be good but just didn’t make it.
14. It’s My World, But You’re Welcome To It: Writing stories set in a media universe.
15. Live Science Fiction in Chicago: In the 1980s, Chicago had a stage production based on Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War. Is there still science fiction on the Chicago stage?
16. Crossover: Leigh Brackett, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, George R.R. Martin, Murray Leinster. A Discussion of their film and literary work.
17. Stanley Kubrick Remembered: A Discussion of Kubrick, 2001, Dr. Strangelove, and A Clockwork Orange.
18. If It’s Space Opera, Where’s the Singing? Do Science Fiction Musicals exist? Are they any good?
19. Saturday Morning SF: Weaning a new TV generations.
20. Leigh Brackett’s Last Work: How does "The Empire Strike Back" compare to "Star Wars" and "Return of the Jedi"
21. Star Trek: The Curse of the Odd Numbers
22. Hollywood Discovers the Past: Why is Hollywood making so many remakes or film versions of television shows?
23. Star Trek: Will there, can there, ever be enough?
24. War in the Pacific: The battle for animation supremacy between Japan and America.
25. Comics to Film: Why do some comics translate to film better than others?
26. Failure to Success: Mediocre films that achieve a new life as great television series.
27. Student By Day, Vampire Slayer by Night:
28. Klingon Love Poetry
29. Quark and When Things Were Rotten: Forgotten and overlooked SF television shows.
30. Mattes vs. Sets: How you can tell the difference and does it really matter.
31. Cable to the Rescue: Does the existence of cable television mean more and better SF is making it to the small screen?
32. Cause and (Special) Effect: Are movies being made simply to show off their state of the art special effects?
33. The X-Files, Over X-posed? Have we seen too much of
34. I Remember Apollo: The resurgence of Battlestar Galactica.
35. What’s Coming to the Silver Screen?
36. The Hugo Winners: How well have the Hugo Best Dramatic Presentation Awards held up?
37. Is Media Fandom Still the Black Sheep of Fandom?
38. 1001 Ways Around the Prime Directive: Did Kirk manage to find every loophole in the prime directive, or are there still loopholes to be exploited?
39. When Hercules Met Xena: Mixing mythology and modernity on the small screen.
40. Hi Fi Sci Fi: Audio science fiction, on record, on radio and on the internet.
41. The Death of Trek: With the end of DS9, is Star Trek coming to an end of its small screen run?
42. Trailers I Recall: A discussion of great Sci Fi film trailers and whether they were better than the actual film.
43. Have Robot, Will Travel: The Wild, Wild, West and The Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr. Bringing science fiction to the Old West.
44. Early Sci Fi Films: Before Star Wars, before 2001, even before Destination: Moon, science fiction was being brought to the silver screen. What was available back then and was it any good?
45. Movie Music: What is the purpose of music in movies? Why don’t you ever consciously notice those songs listed in the credits?
46. From Tobor to R2D2: Robots have gone from being menaces to being companions. The evolution of the android.
47. Star Trek: Next Voyager Nine: Where should the Star Trek universe go in the future?
48. Babylon 5 Forever: Will Babylon 5 be able to sustain a fandom to equal Star Trek?

1. Melissa, Chernobyl and Michaelangelo: The proliferation of virii and how to stop them.
2. Scientific Myths: Science "everyone knows" that is wrong.
3. Mapping the Wild Genome: What is a genome and why is so much research going into it?
4. Nanotechnology and Clarke’s Law: Will nanotechnology live up to the hype, or is it just another word for "magic?"
5. The Reference Shelf: What non-fiction books are essential to have on your shelves.
6. The Ten Greatest Technological Advances of the Twentieth Century That Never Happened: Since the industrial revolution, people have been predicting technological breakthroughs. What are the greatest breakthroughs predicted for the twentieth century that did not actually come about?
7. Ancient and Medieval Economic Systems: Before there was money, there was barter.
8. Preindustrial Technology: Technology existed long before the industrial revolution. A look at windmills and watermills and yokes.
9. Light Pollution: A discussion of the problem and what can be done to solve it.
10. Launch Windows and Orbital Mechanics: Why can’t we go to Mars whenever we want?
11. Favorite Science Authors: Who are good scientists to read to keep up on the latest developments?
12. Mars: Planet of a Thousand Faces? First there was the face on Mars, now there is Happy Face Crater. What’s going on?
13. Space Law: What rules govern the use of space and under whose laws will we live there?
14. Spaceguard: How to get involved in the Spaceguard Project and will it do any good?
15. Return to Luna: What could make a return to the Moon profitable?
16. The Christian Ready Show
17. The Christian Ready Show, Royal Encore Performance
18. From the Distant Past: What do we really know about dinosaurs? How much is out there waiting to be discovered?
19. Burial at Space: If it’s good enough for Roddenberry and Leary, is it good enough for you?
20. The Outer Planets: Mars and Venus have been used ad nauseum in SF, what do the outer planets have to offer?
21. Coming Soon From the Phone Company: An Ameritech representative tells what the future of technology has in store.
22. Web Resources You Should Know About
23. When Will the Privatization of Space Arrive: For years we’ve heard about private space launches. Are they really on the way or just pie in the sky?
24. What Constitutes Good Science Writing?
25. Building a Successful Website: SF Site Case Study: In under three years, SF Site has built its own reputation and hosts all the major SF magazines. Editor John O’Neill, Contributing Editor Steven Silver, and Magazine Editor David Truesdale talk about how the site was built.
26. Weird, Weird Chicago: Ghost hunter Richard Crowe returns for a second triumphal year.
27. Haunted Chicago: Ghost hunter Richard Crowe returns for a second triumphal year.
28. The Future Is Now: Trends and technology which will affect our future.
29. Are Computers Becoming Our Significant Others?
30. Manufacturing In Space: Although certain items can be made better in space, can they be made cost-efficiently?
31. Fiction to Fact: Science fictional devices which have become real.
32. Preaching to the Choir: Why a strong space program is important.
33. The Future of Low earth Orbit: Near Space is getting crowded. It may be time to look for alternatives.
34. The Price of Space: Why spend so much money of space travel? What real benefits do we reap?
35. Earthgrazers: Comets and Asteroids that come a little too close for comfort.
36. Library Acquisitions: You can help your library increase the size and scope of their SF collections.
37. Cancer Research in the Coming Millennium: The new millennium is only four months away. Will this be when we finally find a cure for cancer?
38. Hovercrafts: How do they work, where can they go, and why does my car still have tires?
39. But Heinlein Said. . . : A look at Robert Heinlein’s predictive essay and how accurate he was. Copies of the essay will be sent to panelists before the convention.
40. Alien Intelligence Right Under Our Noses: Are their alien intelligences on Earth right now? Is there a way to communicate with them. Dolphins, whales, chimps, (white mice?)?
41. Cryptography: With the recent publication of Crytonomicon and The Crook Factory, codes and ciphers appear to be popular. How are codes created and broken?
42. Planetary Formation: How to design realistic planets.
43. Lights in the Sky: Searching for UFOs and all those people who have been abducted.
44. I Know What You’re Thinking: Is there any evidence in support of ESP, telekinesis and clairvoyance?
45. Nature’s Clones: The special relationship of twins.
46. Buying a Telescope: What to look for in purchasing a ticket to the greatest show in the galaxy.
47. An Uncharted Backwater of the Galaxy: Once at the center of the universe, what is Earth’s place in the universe now?
48. Claustrophobia in Space: How Astronauts and Cosmonauts deal with being cooped up in a little tin can.
49. If There Were Concrete Proof That UFO's Landed on the White House Lawn, Could We Handle It?
50. SETI@home: How to become involved in the first coordinated lay search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
51. Heaven on Earth: Meteorite retrieval and what these rocks tell us about the Moon, Mars and the rest of the solar system.
52. When Chicago Was a Crater: Long ago, the Chicago area was struck by a meteorite. A discussion of how we know what happened and what it means to us.
53. What is a Planet?: Brian Marsden’s 1998 suggestion that Pluto be demoted to a minor planet opened a very public can of worms concerning the definition of a planet. Where do asteroids end and planets begin? What about stars?
54. Shoot for the Moon: Why are we talking about Mars when we can’t even get back to the Moon?
55. The Sources of Fantasy: Folklore
56. The Sources of Fantasy: History
57. The Sources of Fantasy: Dreams
58. I’m Going to Live Forever: For decades, science fiction has been predicting the coming of immortality. Are we any closer now than we were a century ago.

1. What is the SFRA
2. Using Science Fiction in the Classroom: How can science fiction be introduced in the classroom to promote the study of science?
3. Reading for the Future: Promoting Reading in Children

1. Back to the Keyboard: How to rewrite your work when asked. And how to know when you’re asked.
2. The Kris and Dean Show: Guests of Honor Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith talk about how to become a professional writer.
3. Writer’s Workshop: Run by Richard Chwedyk
4. Plot a Story Now: Returning for its fourth year, Authors take ideas from the audience and weave them into a coherent(?) plot.
5. Where to Sell Next? Finding small market short story markets.
6. I Need An Agent! What makes an agent legitimate and how to avoid scams.
7. Is There a Future in Web Publishing?
8. Breaking Into Anthologies: Is it possible to have a debut story in an original anthology? How do you find out the market exists before it no longer exists?
9. Living with a Non-Writer: If your spouse isn’t a writer, how do you manage the household?
10. Do Writers’ Groups Work?
11. Can Writing Be Taught?
12. Writing Contests: Find out if writing contests are a legitimate way to get yourself published.
13. Internet Writing: Is being published on the internet as legitimate as being published in print?
14. Taking the Leap: Writers discuss how they decided to quit their day jobs and what the negatives of being a full time author are as well as the positives.
15. You Do What for 10%?: What agents do to earn their keep and why its worth paying them.
16. Read Any Bad Books Lately?: Editors explain what their job is, dispelling all those glamorous myths of expensed lunches.
17. Writing for the Juvenile Crowd: Is there room for another Heinlein or Stine?
18. Resuscitating a Career: How to rebuild a career whose sales have decreased.

1. Researching the Past: Getting the details right on fantasy costumes.
2. Not Just the Costumes: A successful costume includes the staging around the outfit. How to develop a masquerade presentation.
3. Sewing Isn’t Everything: Make-up tips for Costumers
4. Unusual Costuming Materials: Forget the fabrics, time to get really inventive.
5. Hairstyles to Match your Costume:
6. Designing a Hall Costume: There are differences between a hall costume and a competitive costume. Costumers explain what they are.
7. What Costume Judges Look For:
8. Media Costumes: How to add individuality to a media reproduction.
9. To Reproduce or Not To Reproduce: What are the benefits to recreating a costume from a source and when should you look to your own imagination?
10. Fashions of the Future: How to design a "realistic" science fictional costume.
11. Critiquing the Films: Costumers explain what science fiction film costumers do right and do wrong.

1. The Comic Connection: What is the relationship between comics and science fiction?
2. Science Fiction at its most Graphic: Comics aren’t just superheroes anymore. What Graphic novels bring to science fiction.
3. Vigilantism in Comic Books: Is the amount of vigilantism in comic books dangerous?
4. Creating a Successful Comic: What does it take to create and market a comic book or graphic novel?
5. A Different Flavor: How do DC and Marvel differ from each other? How do they differ from the more recent start ups.
6. Friends of Lulu: Promoting a role of woman in comics.
7. Non Superhero Comics: How well do comics deal with the average man on the street?

1. RPGs on Paper RPGs on Computer: What are the differences between them?
2. Games of Yesterday: If the names "Tunnels and Trolls," "Dragonslayer" or "Timemaster" mean anything to you, come and discuss what made them great and why they disappeared
3. Gaming in the Media: A discussion of how gaming is portrayed in the general media and what can be done to rectify it.

Moderated Discussions

1. The Best Regional Cons: What do regional cons do that make some better/more successful than others.
2. My Favorite Books: A chance to share with other fans the books and stories which you love and think they should know about.
3. Book Discussion:  Pre-announced discussion groups for specific books.  There will be one for a work by Ben Bova and one for a work by Harry Turtledove at the very least.

Conversations

Conversations will let two authors/fans/editors/etc. discuss whatever they want to discuss in an unmoderated forum.