pornokitsch

10 Tips for Moderating a Panel

The SFX Weekender saw me moderating an SF convention panel for the first time. With that in mind, this list is presented not as my own attempts at sage wisdom, but as good advice belatedly gathered from the real experts (most of which I didn't learn in time, dernit).

Please add your own tips & tricks in the comments below. 

Joe Abercrombie explains where the final parantheses went. (Picture courtesy of Jon Green.)

1. The audience is not there to listen to you. The key part of being the moderator is that you moderate - you stand outside the panel, not on it. Granted, sometimes this is a crying shame: the moderator generally may be (and often is) an acknowledged expert in the subject area. It still doesn't matter. Your role is to make it all about the other members of the panel: they're the guests. 

10 Tips for Joining a Gaming Group

The secret cabal met again with the idea of spreading some tips and truths for better geekery. This time, the subject was gaming.

We've all moved around a lot (geography, lifestages, whatever) - and finding a new, compatible group of gamers can be a real chore. 

Similarly, from the point of view of an established group, auditioning new members can be be a pretty risky roll of the dice.

We'd like to pretend that this is the sort of thing that can be handled with maturity and common sense, but then, who are we kidding?

As always, please chime with horror & success stories, suggestions, comments and bullying.

One of our favorite bloggers - Sarah from Bookworm Blues - has attended two Brandon Sanderson signings over the course of a month. One was badly organized and miserable, the other was well organized and enjoyable. This makes a better case study than any of our "Post-Scripts" series. We harp on a lot about how fans should behave, but booksellers, please remember that just getting the author into the venue doesn't mean your job is done - any more than sending out invitations makes for a good party.

"Aziraphale collected books. If he were totally honest with himself, he would have to have admitted that his bookshop was simply somewhere to store them. He was not unusual in this. In order to maintain his cover as a typical second-hand bookseller, he used every means short of actual physical violence to prevent customers from making a purchase. Unpleasant damp smells, glowering looks, erratic opening hours - he was incredibly good at it." -- Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens

10 Tips for Moderating a Panel or Interview

The not-so-secret cabal gathered to discuss one of our pet peeves: terrible panel moderators. (The same applies to interviewers).

Too often it feels like an event or venue scores the famous author and then calls it a day. Why worry about the moderator? Who couldn't interview Stephen King? Or get a good quote out of China Mieville? Shockingly, a lot of people can't. 

There's nothing worse than getting hyped up to see a favorite author, only to have the experience ruined by a lazy, ill-prepared or just-plain-bad moderator. And we've seen some appalling ones in action.

Not to belittle the effort: moderating a panel or interviewing a guest is very, very difficult. Which is why it should be taken seriously, and not left to chance and/or the intern. In devising our tips, we've combined fan experience and professional experience, so, for once, we're not just completely making shit up. 

So, without further ado, 10 tips for those in the nerve-wracking position of moderating the panel or interviewing a guest author....

6 More Rules for Better Readings

We did some more thinking about the rules for book readings posted by Gail Carriger. Which, incidentally, is an absolute must-read for fans and authors alike.

From the audience perspective, here are six more tips for authors (we've got advice for organizers as well, but those can wait...):

1) No poetry. The tiny minority of fans that want to hear your verse is thoroughly outnumbered by the rest of the audience, who are dying inside. The one, possible, exception, would be something short and humorous. And even then, err on the side of caution.

2) Don't read the ending. It seems obvious, but there are authors that spoil their own books. (My favorite example of this was John Irving, reading the climactic reveal of Until I Find You. That's 800 pages I'll never read.)

Gail Carriger, who we seem to name-check daily, just shared a brilliant column: Advice for Hosting an Author Event, with an emphasis on genre writers. Brilliantly timed for us, as the Pornokitsch team are stepping off the sidelines and throwing our first launch party in May. (No, not our book, but it is a proper book from a properly-published proper author. Consider this foreshadowing.)

Gail Carriger x Sartorial Excellence

The courageous Gail Carriger comes out and says what needs to be said. Folks, don't wear pajamas to conventions:

You are disrespecting the authors and presenters (if you're a fan) and the fans (if you're an author), not to mention all the other important individuals who have arranged for and attended the event (con organizers, editors, agents, producers, actors). Most importantly, you are shaming yourself and the SF/F industry as a whole. Yes you are. Suck. It. Up.

It isn't all vitriol and shame - she offers tips & links to snazzy, geeky fashion advice. We all don't have to look like Lord Akeldama, but, as she points out, there's still no excuse for an 'untended beard'.

10 Tips for Comic Book Signings

With the British International Comics Show on the horizon (see you there!), here are a few more tips - carefully gathered from the geek community. I got most of these from die-hard collectors, interviewed while they were standing in line at comic conventions (MCM and BICS). 

Although familiar with the conventions of book signings (pun intentioned), the different rules for comic book signings & artist sketches took me by surprise. 

More tips to share? Suggestions? Disagreements? Horror stories?

Gilbert x Autograph Seekers

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list — I've got a little list 
Of society offenders who might well be underground, 
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed! 

There's the pestilential nuisances who write for autographs — 
All people who have flabby hands and irritating laughs — 
All children who are up in dates, and floor you with 'em flat — 
All persons who in shaking hands, shake hands with you like that — 
And all third persons who on spoiling tête-á-têtes insist — 

They'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed!

- W.S. Gilbert (The Mikado)