Below you will find a list of all of the programming that has been submitted for CONfab 2020, in alphabetical order by submission title. They are also available in this spreadsheet, in the order they were submitted.
You can cast your vote for submissions you’d like to see, at this link.
Voting will run from Monday, September 7th at 10AM Eastern, through Sunday, September 20th at 10PM Eastern.
Quick Links:
Single Fandoms
Title: Dragonfucking 2020
Fandom: Multi-fandom – topic is dragons, so will cover canons with dragons and canons that could have dragon AUs
Description: Join us to discuss dragons, sex, and the magical alchemy when those things combine to form dragonfucking. We define dragonfucking as including dragon/dragon, dragon/person, and Pern-style dragon/dragon person/person. We’ll talk about classic examples of dragonfucking, co-occurring tropes, why dragonfucking is great, and share recs!
Title: I Am Not A Happy Planner, Really
Fandom: Planning/Journalling/Scrapbooking
Description: Come fellow paper addicts living in the digital age. Show me your stickers. To be discussed: types of daily planners and apps vs Scrapbooking and Memory Keeping journals. Digital planners welcome too.
Title: I Don’t Remember Life Before Supernatural
Fandom: Supernatural
Description: After 15 years of blood and tears, Supernatural is ending. Some of us left, some of us stayed, and some did both, but I can’t not say something at the passing of a show that has changed my life. Come pay respects as we all Carry On.
Title: Jingyan, why are you unhappy? A Nirvana in Fire Panel
Fandom: Nirvana In Fire
Description: Let’s talk about the many aspects of trauma and grief depicted in this amazing show and how its characters bear up under them. We will also touch on the few things that don’t make Jingyan unhappy, like Mei Changsu and their fractured but strong network of friends and family.
Title: MCU: The Billion Dollar Elephant In The Room
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Description: Love it or leave it, the MCU is *the* model studios are trying to follow. And then 2020 happened. Come discuss what works, what doesn’t and how 2020 ruins all our fun.
Title: Murder Family Through The Centuries
Fandom: The Old Guard (History)
Description: The Old Guard stars a team of immortal warriors trying to fight for what they think is right, and avoid capture. Features Charlize Theron with an axe and literal Unkillable Gays. With over 6,000 years of history to play with, what historical events have the team lived through? What would life have been like for them 1000 years ago, 500 years ago or even yesterday? Join us for a whistle stop tour through the ages through the lives of Andy, Quynh, Joe, Nicky, Booker (and new friend, Nile), for fun and profit! (hopefully with a focus on queer history and history outside of Europe!)
Title: Queer Romance Book Club
Fandom: Original Queer Romance
Description: Many fanfiction readers also enjoy the queer romance genre. We’ll discuss similarities and differences between fanfic and original queer romance, as well as our favorite works. Come to this event to share recommendations or to get ideas for new things to try!
Title: Star Wars, Nothing but Star Wars!
Fandom: Star Wars
Description: One of the origin fandoms, back again! Whether you were there in ‘77 and can sing the panel title or just fell for The Mandalorian, join in! General SW discussion.
Title: Starfleet Legal Principles 201
Fandom: Star Trek (all Treks)
Description: Seminar covering legal systems encountered throughout the quadrants during Starfleet exploration missions, and discussion of interaction with foundational Federation laws and Starfleet regulations. Special topics include strict liability on planets where no one wears pants, rules of evidence for introducing an android witness’s detachable arm, and criminal procedure in the Cardassian Empire. No prerequisites. Recommended upper-level course for attendees of Introduction to Starfleet Legal Principles (CON.TXT 2020). Satisfies 1.0 credit hours of legal studies requirement for cadets in all tracks.
Title: The Great WinterHawk Panel
Fandom: WinterHawk (Clint Barton/ Bucky Barnes)
Description: Do you like Clint and Bucky? Let’s talk about our favorite disaster boys and the shenanigans they get up to. From MCU and Comics to Fanfic and the Great WinterHawk Escape!
Title: The Old Guard: The Highlander/A-Team Mashup You Didn’t Know You Desperately Needed
Fandom: The Old Guard (General Fandom)
Description: They live forever (mostly)! They have a canonical m/m couple and a strongly subtextual f/f couple! They Fight Crime Through History! Come talk about your favorite canons, headcanons, facts, and fanworks for this kickass movie.
Title: The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty
Fandom: The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty
Description: Do you like The Untamed, detective shows, and/or lovingly rendered food porn? Then Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty may be for you! Come for the mysteries and political intrigue, stay for the weapons-grade found family feels. (You’ve heard about “They have a son” from The Untamed? Well get ready for “They have a daughter!” …and she’s a genius.)
Title: The Untamed: All the hair and all the feels
Fandom: CQL / The Untamed
Description: So much to love in this story, from the book to the Netflix show and all of the associated media. It has epic heroes and villains, family loyalty (and family secrets), magic and mysticism, and of course true love. Come talk about why this story and these characters are so compelling!
Title: Today has been a very long week for us: a decade of 1D
Fandom: One Direction
Description: This summer marks ten years since Simon Cowell and company matched together a group of hopeful, fresh-faced children into one of the most successful boy bands of all time. Let’s talk everything One Direction: music, reality TV, post-1D careers, fanfiction, headcanons, the fever dream that was 1D Day…
Title: Toss A Coin To Your Witcher
Fandom: The Witcher (TV, books, games)
Description: Let’s talk about The Witcher and why it’s so great! Favorite characters, favorite moments from the canon, what you’re excited about for season 2 of the Netflix show, etc. Fans of the show, games, and books all welcome!
Multi-Fandom
Title: An Incest Panel Is My Present This Year
Fandom: Any and all
Description: Looking for that Folgers feeling all year long? Let’s talk about reading and writing incest in fandom, and reminisce about incest ships past
Title: Ask A Tag Wrangler!
Fandom: No specific fandom, more fandom-at-large
Description: You submit a work to Ao3, tagging “he’s cute idk” and then POOF (give or take a week) you hit that tag and all the works tagged “cute” come up. So here we are! Ask your burning questions about tag wrangling or the crazy tags we come across.
Title: Canon, Fanon, Fever Dream
Fandom: No specific fandom
Description: Based on @svy_fish’s tweet, in this quiz game participants will guess whether “something is official information, widely accepted fan interpretation or just bullshit.” Fanon, canon, fever dream sets will be collected beforehand but participants are also welcome to take a turn as the host with a set they create during the panel.
Title: Does Binge Kill Fandom?
Fandom: HBOMax Weekly Shows vs Netflix Season Drop Shows
Description: It’s never been a better time to be a fan, but the overwhelm is real. Open discussion on the merits of season drops or weekly feeds. From Critical Role and Lovecraft Country to The Umbrella Academy and Lost in Space. Open discussion on how the fandom experience changes when there are flashes in the pan or when there’s such a delay in content release it “drops from the radar”.
Title: Fandom History
Fandom: Multi
Description: Come on down and talk about fandom past and maybe even future – do you remember zines or newsgroups? Geocities and Live Journal? Come and tell your stories!
Title: Fanfic Trope Showdown
Fandom: No specific fandoms!
Description: Let’s vote our way through a single-elimination bracket of the most popular tropes on AO3. Before the convention, the organizers will put together a seeded bracket a la March Madness. During the con, we’ll hold a quick debate on each pair of tropes with debaters drawn from volunteers among the attendees. Then we’ll vote for a winner on our way to choosing the best trope of them all!
Title: Fannish Pictionary
Fandom: Generally multi-fannish panel
Description: Fannish pictionary brings characters from disparate fandoms together under strange and often sex-ay circumstances. Ever felt a deep yearning to draw Alexander Hamilton and Black Widow having a threesome with Pete Wentz? Join us for fannish pictionary to make your dreams come true.
Title: From No Screen to the Big Screen: Comics Adapted for Movies and TV
Fandom: Comics
Description: Let’s talk comics and graphic novels! Specifically those adapted for movies and tv. What works? What doesn’t? What’s a good adaptation? What’s a crap adaptation? What’s a better format, movies or tv? Does it depend? What do you want to see on the big screen next? (Note: this is non-Marvel, non-DC, so Umbrella Academy and The Old Guard are in, but the Berlantiverse and Justice League are out.)
Title: How to Fandom Discord
Fandom: Truly multi-fandom, but panelists especially have experience in Good Omens and Roswell New Mexico
Description: A lot of fandom activities have shifted to Discord over the past few years, and the pandemic has sped this up. In this panel, we’ll talk about the advantages and problems of Discord as a fannish platform, and about making the most of Discord as all the fun stuff seems to inevitably move there.
Title: How Well Did ApocaFic Prepare Us For 2020?
Fandom: Supernatural, Discord, AO3
Description: Who knew being a fangirl with an AO3 reading list and fandom friends I mostly communicate with online was the best survival skillset I had? Come discuss how surreal it is to be “forced” to stay home and watch the Umbrella Academy S2 with fellow fans. Or did you find yourself feeling isolated and alone? All fandoms and experiences welcome. 2020 happened to us all. Let’s hear each other out.
Title: Law in Science Fiction and Fantasy Worlds
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, The Expanse, Traveller RPG, SF and Fantasy Westerns, many others
Description: Join bestselling SF author and lawyer J.R.H. Lawless to explore why the legal systems behind some of our favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy worlds are so important, and how to design great worlds as a creator by making conscious choices in how to design legal systems.
Title: Our Monster Boyfriends
Fandom: Multifandom
Description: Calling all monsterfuckers! We love sexy monsters, but what makes a monster sexy? And what counts as a “monster” anyway? Let’s talk about why we love this trope, our favorite monsters, and which monsterparts are the sexiest! We will reserve some time to share fandom/fanwork recs.
Title: Random Fandom Lightning Round!
Fandom: Any Yuletide-eligible fandom
Description: We all have that one fannish obsession – the show, movie, book, or RPF-able celebrity that all of fandom would love, if only they had ever heard of it. This is your opportunity to raise awareness of your obscure fave and/or achieve solidarity with the one other person who has seen it. Participants will sign up in advance, then have three minutes to pitch the fandom of their choice. Time limits will be enforced humorously. Prizes may be awarded.
Title: Video Games
Fandom: Video games of all flavors
Description: Let’s talk video games! Console games, PC games, mobile games, whatever you enjoy playing is welcome here. We’ll talk about what we’re currently playing, what we’re excited to play in the future, what favorite games we think everyone should play, and anything else you might like to discuss. Tell us how many hours you’ve spent on your Animal Crossing island this year! Let’s talk about the best new game of this year and why it’s The Last of Us Part II! Anything goes in this discussion!
Workshops
Title: Advanced Fic Finding
Fandom: no specific fandoms
Description: Have the basics of AO3 tags and filters down but want to learn more? Prepare for your quest by learning about Advanced Search, hidden search operators, and tips on using tools like Google, the Wayback Machine, and Fanlore to find the fic of your heart.
Title: Animal Crossing Island Tours!
Fandom: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Description: Has Animal Crossing saved your sanity during the past couple months? Want to make new Animal Crossing friends and show off your island? Come hang out with us!
Title: Crafting For Fandom
Fandom: No specific fandom
Description: A discussion/overview of different kinds of fannish crafts (examples: embroidery, knitting/crochet, sewing, plushies) and the benefits/fannish products of each.
Title: Pinyin Crash Course
Fandom: Chinese fandoms/language learning
Description: So you joined the Ancient Chinese Pyramid Scheme, but you don’t speak Mandarin, you aren’t sure how to pronounce all those names, and it seems like the romanized spellings aren’t doing much to help you? Then this brief introduction to Hanyu Pinyin may be for you! Of course, we can’t cover everything in less than an hour, so we’ll focus on the tricky bits where “sounding it out” based on English pronunciation can lead us astray.
Title: Playing D&D Online
Fandom: Dungeons & Dragons
Description: Welcome to the fandom that does not believe in Mary Sues and in fact encourages you to make the best, most powerful version of you that you want to explore. In this workshop, we can walk you through character creation and finding the right game for you.
Title: Wheat googling 201: Research for fic
Fandom: No specific fandom
Description: Tips and tricks on doing research for fic writing purposes, with a focus on free online sources.