Progress Report #5 (Program Survey!!!)
KiScon 2022 (entirely online): 4-6 November
Deadline for program booklet submissions: 1 October
Deadline for goodie bag submissions: 1 October
Deadline for art show / auction submissions: 1 October
Deadline for vidshow submissions: 10 October
Deadline for cake contest submissions: 1 November
Upcoming KiScord Pub Nights:
17 September, 3 p.m. EDT
1 October, 5 p.m. EDT
15 October, 3 p.m. EDT
29 October, 5 p.m. EDT
Greetings! We hope you've had a great summer, and we especially hope you are well and unharmed by a certain pesky virus. (It made the rounds in the concom, unfortunately, which is also why there was no newsletter in August.)
And now it's September, pumpkin spice is in and on everything, and we are back with our newsletter/progress report. The countdown on the KiScon website informs us that the con is in fewer than 60 days, and it's high time to address a few important points.
The zine deadline is now in the past, but there are so many other deadlines in the very near future!
If you have a dealer membership and want us to include information on your fannish business (including links to your Etsy, Bigcartel, website, etc.) in the program booklet ("con book"), please get in touch asap! We offer you this advertising space as part of your membership, but we require your input for this no later than 1 October!
The same deadline applies for anything you want us to include in the con book, e.g. announcements of fic fests, fannish events, zine projects, promoting of fannish spaces and communities. Please send your submissions to larissa @ kiscon . org!
b. Goodie bag:
Let's fill the digital goodie bag for our attendees! We've already talked about this in the 2nd progress report, but here's the gist: Anything that can be downloaded and shared digitally is fair game as long as it has a creative or transformative element (which simply means: no episode or movie files, no unaltered stills or publicity photos)!
Here are some suggestions to get those creative juices flowing:
Want to make a podfic or filk or mixtape/playlist for the con bag? Have some cool Trek-themed crochet or sewing patterns that you would like to share? An awesome desktop or phone wallpaper or digital stickers/badges/icons that members can then use on their social media? Maybe a cool recipe for K/S cookies or a lovely manip? A link to your amazing Star Trek picrew maker? Colouring pages or printable paper dolls?
Send your goodies to larissa @ kiscon . org until 1 October, please.
c. Art show / auction:
We talked at length about this in the last newsletter; please see the details there. Again, 1 October is the deadline, and the relevant contact email (both for submissions and any and all questions) is: artshow @ kiscon . org.
d. Vidshow:
Send us your creations, lovely vidders! Deadline for vid submission (preferably by Dropbox or similar download link): 10 October, to larissa @ kiscon . org. Please use the form on the KiScon website for giving us the details (title, length, etc.) on your vids.
Premieres of all genres: these are vids that have not been published on the Internet or distributed on DVDs/tapes yet (we are lenient if the vid has been shown at a convention in the past, as long as it is not available anywhere). Vids created in or after 2020 (and unpublished) are eligible for our competition.
Classics of all genres: vids that showcase the history and rich variety of K/S and Star Trek vidding from the late 1970s to the 2010s.
Fun & danceable song vids for our Disco Night & Sing-a-Long (Saturday night): exactly what it says on the tin – upbeat vids suitable for singing along and dancing the night away!
For more details, please see the 2nd progress report. This seems also like a good opportunity to mention that there are (physical) prizes for the winners of our competitions. K/S notebooks and badges and many other delightful items are waiting for you.
2. Program Survey (open until 30 September):
Which tropes are your all-time favourite? How has the portrayal of the K/S relationship changed over the years? What is the future of K/S fandom? Explore these topics and many more in our panels and discussions!
We've collected your suggestions and also brainstormed many more topics, and now it's time for you to vote! This survey is meant for already registered attendees or those who plan to register for the con. Please let us know which online panels and activities you would like to see and attend at KiScon (this is not a fixed registration for individual panels, just a survey to better tailor the program to your interests!), and whether you would like to moderate/present one or more. The titles are not final – if you claim a panel and have a better title in mind, do let us know. There are a few activities (e.g. vid shows, opening ceremony, cosplay etc.) that are a fixture at KiScon, and therefore they are not part of this survey.
If there is more than one mod offer per panel, we'll get you in touch with each other.
If you do not see your must-have panel on this survey and think that Spock will be sad without it, please add it in the comment field at the end of the survey.
Not all panels and activities will make it into the program – as much we would love a week-long con, we sadly only have a weekend.
For all questions, panel tech requests, etc. – please use the comment field. Panels will be held via Zoom; if you want to offer an activity but are unsure whether you can pull it off online or whether you might need something beyond Zoom's infrastructure (e.g. for an interactive game), just drop us a line in the comment field at the end of the survey. We are happy to hear any and all ideas, and we will do our best to find solutions that work for all.
Big thanks to all of you!
3. Demographic and Feedback Survey:
Lillian created this survey to help the concom get a better feel of the needs and specifics of our community. Important: There are a few questions that are optional (e.g. age, gender, how did you get into K/S etc.) and if you do not want to answer them, this is totally fine. The key questions pertain to the convention itself – are there any access needs or technical barriers we should be aware of, how well informed do you feel about KiScon activities, what can we do better, etc.
We are not going to share the responses with anyone outside of the concom, and the data will only be stored until the end of the convention.
4. Pub Night Shenanigans:
The last Pub Nights at the "KiScord" (KiScon Discord server) were great fun and we were excited to see/hear both new and familiar faces/voices. Some of us opted for joining the chat with video (in T'Lara's experience this makes following the conversation much easier), and some with audio only – either is fine during Pub Night.
One of our games resulted in a K/S Mixtape that you can enjoy on Spotify; listen to the songs that are quintessentially Kirk/Spock for our Pub Night members. The playlist will hopefully grow in the future.
Another game led us through the alphabet, this time on the hunt for tropes / tags. A big thank-you to Lillian for compiling the tropes and creating the playlist!
(You can download a high-res pic of the trope cloud here, for easier zooming and trope exploring.)
The next Pub Nights are on:
17 September, 3 p.m. EDT
1 October, 5 p.m. EDT
15 October, 3 p.m. EDT
29 October, 5 p.m. EDT
For the October sessions, leading up to the convention, we will dedicate a part of each gathering for addressing technical questions. We'll happily explain how to use Conline, Discord, and Zoom. If you feel uneasy about the virtual framework of this year's KiScon, here's your chance to get familiar with all the tools and platforms, and Ask All The Questions. Apart from these dates, you can always reach out to us if you need more assistance (1lostone @ kiscon . org and lillian @ kiscon . org).
Put on your awesome costumes or uniforms for our virtual Saturday night banquet and win a prize. You can take part in the cosplay competition by either showing off your costume via Zoom during the banquet or, if you are more comfortable with this, by posting your cosplay pics (recent ones, please, not from past conventions) to the dedicated Discord channel on Friday or Saturday during the convention. This channel will only be open to registered attendees.
Cosplay is also encouraged all weekend long, for any of the panels and activities; even if each one of us attends the con while sitting in our living rooms, let's do it in Trek style. Or show off your fabulous K/S and Trek tees during our Zoom sessions.
6. Where to find information & announcements:
Official website
KiScon Discord server
Tumblr blog
Twitter
Conline
Facebook Group
Dreamwidth
If you signed up for the newsletter only recently and want to read the issues you missed (there's plenty of useful information in them), you can find the links to the past newsletters on our website in the FAQ section.
7. Last but not least, a reminder: Sign-ups for Kirk/Spock Advent Calendar 2022 are open, and so is the creation period!
(art by Page of Wands)
See all the details regarding schedule, how-to, rules here:
K/S Advent Dreamwidth
K/S Advent Tumblr
AO3 Collection Profile for K/S Advent 2022
Signups will stay open until Friday, 30 Sep 2022, 11:59AM UTC. Let's submit All The Prompts! Also, the AO3 collection is already open for posting, should you want to get your work in early (it will stay unrevealed and in the approval queue until 1 Dec, though). You do not need to post a prompt in order to claim one, and you can also post works that are not based on a prompt. Deadline for posting is Sunday, 20 Nov 2022, 11:59AM UTC. Please see the fest's FAQs and rules for more details.
Yours in K/S,
T’Lara
on behalf of the KiScon concom
