Below you will find a list of all of the programming that has been submitted for CONfab 2022, in alphabetical order by submission title. They are also available in this spreadsheet, in the order in which they were submitted.
You can cast your vote for submissions you’d like to see, at this link.
Voting will run from Friday, August 19th at 10AM Eastern, through Friday, September 2nd at 10PM Eastern.
Quick Links:
Single Fandoms
Title: Goodbye, Good Luck, Good Riddance
Fandom: The Witcher Netflix
Description: The Witcher season two gave us a lot of things, but none more perfect and amazing than the relationship between Yennefer and Jaskier. Let’s chat about our favorite sorceress and the bard who loves to annoy her. From enemies to friends (to lovers?) and why they both deserve better than S2 Geralt.
Title: Insert Your (K-pop) Group Here!
Fandom: K-pop (multiple groups)
Description: Want people to join ARMY? Want people to give TWICE a second look? Come talk about your favorite K-pop group or artist – we gladly accept PowerPoint slides with your arguments – or come to find a new group/see what this K-pop thing is all about!
Title: Locked Tomb Panel the First
Fandom: Locked Tomb
Description: One book left to go! What have we learned from Nona the Ninth? What (probably wrong) speculation do we have about Alecto the Ninth? How have our feelings about the characters, plot, and worldbuilding changed, with time and with new books? Plus, fanwork discussion and more!
Title: MDE in Macrodata Refinement: A Severance Panel
Fandom: Severance
Description: Change your wristwatch and step into the elevator so we can speculate on the what, how, and why of Severance.
Dylan: Okay, if our Outies are up there severing their brains, shit must have gotten pretty bad. Famine, plagues, etc. So, what is a desperate humanity to do?
Helly: Populate the sea?
Dylan: Populate the sea. But first, they gotta send probes down to the sea to clean up all the deadly eels and shit, ’cause we can’t cohabitate with that. So, we send the probes down, they send us the data coded, we sense what’s eels, and then we tell the probes what to blow up.
Title: Not-So-Silly Wee Woo Shows
Fandom: 9-1-1 & 9-1-1: Lone Star
Description: You may laugh, but there is some genuinely good storytelling happening in the 911-verse! Come talk found family feelings & queer love stories on both 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star.
Title: Our Fandom Means Delicacies (and Delights and Fishing Equipment)
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Description: Our Flag Means Death sure has been surprising. Orange cake! Creators who like fans! Middle-aged characters having a first kiss that looks like it’s the first kiss either of them have ever had! Fans twisting a major studio’s arm for a second season! Rhys Darby is a sex symbol? (Still waiting for that to sink in.) Fabulous clothes that are true to period or are from Hot Topic or both! Come talk about this show, from any and all angles. I promise to keep my analysis of how Izzy Hands is the Michael Novotny of this generation as short as possible.
Title: Planet of the Apes
Fandom: Planet of the Apes
Description: This franchise has everything: post-apocalypse dystopia, a nuclear missile worshipping cult, ill-advised time travel, Ricardo Montalban, self-fulfilling prophecy, a reboot that is not good, and a reboot that is a love letter to the original. Come learn why you should watch the Planet of the Apes movies (yes, all of them) or talk about why you love them!
Title: Sandman panel
Fandom: Sandman (TV 2022)
Description: Let’s discuss the 2022 TV adaptation of Sandman! Casting, adaptation choices, updates for the change in time period, how well it works as a TV show, speculation on future seasons, and more!
Title: So, you want to know more about D&D
Fandom: D&D
Description: D&D is hotter than ever. From Critical Role to Stranger Things, it’s everywhere. So maybe you’re interested. But there’s so much media out there! Where do you start? How do you find a group to play with? What should you look for in a DM and group? We’ve got your resources to get started.
Title: We Play Dungeons & Dragons: Meta Narrative in Critical Role
Fandom: Critical Role
Description: Critical Role is an actual play TTRPG, and by the nature of the format, the in-game narrative is impacted and shaped by real world events, and the story develops its own meta narratives as a result. Join us as we discuss how these layered narratives offer new ways to understand the story Critical Role is trying to tell, from the beginning of campaign one up to the ongoing saga of campaign three.
Multi-Fandom
Title: Accidental Accuracy
Fandom: No specific fandom
Description: Accidental accurate depictions in fiction – of sexualities, disabilities, neurotypes, that “peering around the corner” feeling which sometimes is more accurate than deliberate attempts.
Title: Aging Characters
Fandom: No specific fandom
Description: Depictions of older characters in fandom, whether they’re already established as being of an advanced age, or someone who’s lived several more decades post-canon.
Title: Dead Dove: Eat at Your Own Risk
Fandom: No specific fandom
Description: Which siblings are we shipping this year? Are there any new trends in non-human genitalia? Which fandoms are bringing out the whips and chains? (And which ones should?) Bring your kinktomatoes and private AO3 bookmarks; this is the place for our ~problematic~ faves!
Title: Divorcing the Creator
Fandom: planning to discuss HP, Buffy/Angel, and Star Trek, but there will likely be more.
Description: Join us as we discuss the issue of divorcing problematic creators from the media they have created. When is it ok, and when is it not?
Title: Franchise Love: Let’s Talk Trek
Fandom: The Star Trek franchise from the original series through Strange New Worlds.
Description: Let’s talk about what we like about how New!Trek is building on (and yes, sometimes, breaking down) things that are largely considered hallmarks of the franchise as created by Classic!Trek. Let’s talk about how cool it is that the New!Trek slate of shows is giving us so many different stylistic options within the same franchise. Let’s talk about how New!Trek is exploring new views of well-known characters. Let’s talk Trek!
Title: The Marvel Cinematic Universe: What Phase Is This Again?
Fandom: MCU, all movies and TV
Description: Marvel has just announced movies and TV for the next several years, so how do we even begin to keep things straight? Let’s chat about the current MCU offerings (Disney+ shows, theatrical releases, etc.), what we’re excited to see next, and how if they don’t bring Karen and Foggy back in the Daredevil TV show, we riot. 😉
Title: Meet Your Reading Goals: New Reads, Recs, Stats, and Branching Out
Fandom: This is about like any books, so no specific fandom.
Description: From OMG to DNF, books take us a lot of places. Discover new ways to decide what to pick up next, fun ways to track your reading progress, and mini-challenges to broaden your literary horizons.
Title: Our Fannish Pseuds: Keeping Them Secret, Keeping Them Safe
Fandom: None in particular
Description: Join this interactive presentation where we’ll highlight some cool ways to organize and keep separate our multiple fannish identities online and our IRL personal information.
Title: Steampunk Isn’t Dead
Fandom: Steampunk as a genre, which may include discussion of major fandoms such as Marvel and Disney
Description: Some have recently argued that steampunk as a subgenre is dead. It is very much alive (or undead, if you like that sort of thing). Beginners and veterans alike are welcome to come and discuss the media and subculture of Victorian Retrofuturism.
Title: The Super Sekrit Plan for Fandom Recs
Fandom: Any and all fandoms.
Description: Many of us use so-called “social media” to keep tabs on old friends and to find fandom news, but the real conversation is increasingly drowned out by celebrities and influencers. Let’s strategize on ways to bring the community back to fandom. How are folks using watch parties, locked twitter, discord and other tools?
Title: Turn Any Fandom into a Sanctuary
Fandom: No particular fandom
Description: Feel like your fandom is toxic? Or not finding enough stuff in your fandom that brings you joy? This interactive presentation will feature tips & tricks on tailoring your fandom experience online. We’ll cover some userscripts, browser extensions, and open source software for AO3, Fanfiction.net, Tumblr, and Twitter.
Title: Ultimate Screen Adaptation Tier List
Fandom: Many many fandoms
Description: Join us for an interactive panel where we (with your help!) create a tier list of our favorite (or least favorite) on-screen adaptations of print media (books, comics, graphic novels, etc.).
Title: Where’s the Friends-List option? Building your best fannish life in 2022
Fandom: Any fandom
Description: In the age of the algorithm, how do we find our peeps and build community in new fandoms? This is not a rhetorical question — bring your ideas, thoughts, tips, and tricks to this panel, because I need them. Are there any good discussion forums out there? Do any sites today let you separate out your ‘for general consumption’ posts from your ‘only my monkeysphere‘ posts?
Title: WTF/F
Fandom: Multifandom, will include A League of Their Own, Paper Girls, & others
Description: Where is all the f/f? There are so many great female relationships in media nowadays, but AO3 & tumblr still seem to be very m/m-ship driven. Come celebrate your fave f/f ships & maybe find some new ones to watch/read.
Workshops
Title: Archivers of the Lost Art
Fandom: No Specific Fandom
Description: Ever have the experience of wanting to share a wonderful fannish experience only to discover it doesn’t exist anymore? Does the regret of not doing more to preserve the historical fannish work to share with future generations bother you? What can you do as a fan to celebrate and maintain the rich cultural expression of fanworks created during the peak times of your participation. A lot of the hosts of fanworks are transitory especially when it comes to fanvids. You Tube is the equivalent of a pen with disappearing ink that provides a false sense of security. Russia owns an early part of authentic fannish social expression via LiveJournal. AO3 owns the servers but hosts no vidding content. Who takes a leadership role in providing ways the average fan can preserve the culture or do we just accept that fannish expressions are to be enjoyed only in the moment that fade away like cotton candy? What do you remember that can never be experienced again except as a faint memory? What is being done today with contemporary works? Are most fannish works in the hands of corporate institutions driven solely by a financial bottom line that does not value art as part of its financial equation?
Come hear about some current preservations projects and how you can participate in them even if you are not a techie. Top Gun was released in 1986 and is nostalgia. A nostalgia that lives today as the highest grossing movie in 2022. The artistic value of fanworks is on par with any kind of art and deserves preservation just like any other art you would find in a museum.
Title: Bad Crafts With Bryn
Fandom: I’ll use OFMD and Sanders Sides as examples, but all fandoms welcome!
Description: A workshop for people who aren’t good at crafts. Don’t let your lack of skill stop you! All you need is a passion for your fandom and you too can use random junk to make “unique” fandom crafts!
Title: Bingos, Bangs, and Zines, oh my! Event running tips and resources
Fandom: My examples are from Marvel, Witcher, and Leverage, but there’s no fandom to the workshop
Description: If you build it, they will come, but how do you build it, anyway? Bingos, bangs, exchanges, kink memes, prompt weeks, zines… there are so many different ways to make a fandom event, it can be hard to even know where to start! In this panel, mods with experience running all sorts of events will walk you through the various options available, their pros and cons and logistics, and resources to help you manage all the moving parts. And if you’re a mod yourself, drop by to share your own tips and tricks. Come learn from our successes and mistakes so you can join us in creating fandom communities and inspiring the fan creations you want to see in the world!
Title: CONfab Craft Lunch
Fandom: All fandoms welcome!
Description: Gather round during the midday break to show off your craft projects, demonstrate your craft, or chill out with like-minded crafters. This lunchtime event allows for crafting without missing any of that coveted programming! Plus the virtual environment lets us share crafted items not suitable for travel. Join us for some casual hanging out while scarfing down a quick meal – it’s as if you’re actually at con!
Title: Fannish Embroidery 101
Fandom: any fandom
Description: A few basic embroidery stitches and how to use them in fandom-related crafting
Title: Is This Thing On? The What/How/Where/and Why of Fannish Podcasting
Fandom: No specific fandom!
Description: In this panel, hosts of Fic Clique podcast (a book club for fic readers, + myriad shenanigans) break down how Fic Clique came to be, what decisions went into creating a fannish podcast, fandom etiquette and our backgrounds in fandom, navigating what it really looks like to create a massive ongoing project with your best friends, and some logistics to consider if you’re ever interested in starting your own! Fannish podcasting is not new but has gained steam in recent years—and now in year 3 of our own show, we’d love to share the reflections and would’ve-could’ve-should’ves that we didn’t know we needed to hear when we kicked it off ourselves!
Title: Knotting: How to Make Fandom Bracelets and Key Chains
Fandom: Examples will be primarily Marvel, all fandoms welcome!
Description: Come learn how to make fandom-themed friendship bracelets and macramé key chains! I’ll cover terminology (there are Alphas and knotting, but these ones are SFW), where to find the best tutorials and pattern sites, how to adapt bracelet patterns for fandom purposes, and how to create your own chibi character patterns! Bring some embroidery thread or yarn for the tutorial section where you can learn the basic knot that all friendship bracelets are based on.
Title: Rare Tag Squee
Fandom: Could be any fandom, but will probably cover Hannibal and How to Build a Sex Room
Description: It’s August 2022 and another round of “ew, stop writing weird things” is going around again, sigh. So, this is a Kinktomato workshop: a review of the concept that Your Kink Is Not My Kink (And That’s OK). In this workshop the word “kink” will cover both sexual kinks and narrative kinks, e.g., tropes, themes, tags. In fact, it’s not just “ok” but awesome that you’re into something others might not be! In the second half of the workshop, participants will be invited to share their excitement on a rare tag and we’ll support them in squee. (Similar to a con vidshow, content notes will be provided before each discussion begins.)
Title: Trope Reconstruction
Fandom: No specific fandom in mind
Description: After it’s been taken apart, it’s all about putting it back together again now that you understand how it works. For example, what would a soulmate relationship look like 15 years down the line?