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BistoCon Virtual Con 2020 Report
Aug. 18th, 2020 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sc_fossilBistoCon 2020 Virtual Convention Report
The BistoCon Virtual Con was held 14 and 15, Aug, 2020, and to me was a success. Full disclosure: I'm part of the con committee and helped organise this with a bit over two weeks of prep time from the crazy decision to go for it! We (the con-com) were missing our con this year because of the pandemic and suddenly decided we needed a virtual con. Crazy indeed.
Notices went out and people started signing up! We had people from all the US time zones, plus the UK, Europe, and Australia. So we raced to create a schedule that "waved" all the time zones of the world in order to give everybody a chance to attend at least a few hours during "normal waking hours".
Friday am and Friday pm there were two "meet and greet" hours, plus episode viewings. Some folks attended both, while others came in the morning or evening. We all introduced ourselves and chatted about where we were from and how we found Pros. Those who didn't wish to join in with video and/or audio were also welcome to lurk. Some had non working bits on their devices and used audio only, or chose to do so. We watched The Purging of CI5 and then Hunter/Hunted.
Saturday the con started for me at 7 am. PFL opened the room and we had our first panel: Disappearing Girlfriends. PFL showed a spreadsheet broken down by episode on how Bodie and Doyle's dating and girlfriends gradually faded away as the series progressed. We discussed why this was happening. Next was an episode. We watched Backtrack.
After that there was another fun panel, Desert Island Fic, run by the evil FJBryan. Why is that, you ask? Because we each were allowed ONE fic to take with us to read for all eternity. There was a lot of laughing as folks tried to sneak in: "... but my second choice is...".
Next was the first vid show, organised by me. An hour of the lads to all sorts of music. I should mention we ran all video on Twitch. It is a really stable platform that we finally discovered after months of trying places. The first, rabb.it, disappeared. The second, Kast, is horribly wonky and after kicking it for months a kind person suggested Twitch. Us non-gamers hadn't used it but after we forced ourselves to watch four or five episodes for a test (ha!), we were hooked.
We put in a con room "break" where people could come and chat with each other. Actually, the "con room" was left open during all Twitch viewings for folks who wanted to chat with other con goers rather than view. Some people did both! In case I wasn't clear, the panels and the con suite were on Zoom and video viewing was on Twitch. Zoom chat was by video and audio, or on the scrolling chat block. Twitch is scrolling text chat only.
After the break, there was the next panel, Why Has It Lasted? And yes, Pros has! 30 December, 2020, will be the 43rd anniversary of the running of the first ep, Private Madness, Public Danger. Super discussion all around!
And we're off for an episode, Everest Was Also Conquered, followed by another vid show which I dubbed "historical". These were older vids from the VCR era which generally might not be online (or well hidden!), plus vids from vidders who have removed their content from the net. On a personal note, I am hunting for the first Pros vid ever made, even if it's just the title. So far, there hasn't been evidence of what that is.
A con suite/room break was next, with much discussion, and then another panel, Does the Friendship Matter? This engendered lively discussion about how Bodie and Doyle's relationship works best, and will they always be friends, with or without sex.
Next episode (I told you it was busy!) was Blind Run. Who doesn't love Doyle's patch? *happy sigh* The final panel of the day was next, Canon vs. Fanon. That's ways fun to discuss. Pros has been around long enough to have lots of "fanon" which readers and even writers might believe was in the series.
The late vid show was a repeat of the first, with the online vids, and the final two episodes were shown, First Night and Discovered in a Graveyard. We wrapped up at midnight for me. It was as close to an in-person con as one can get. A virtual con does have its advantages. No travelling and easy access to the fridge and coffee maker! It's not the same as in person but it was still a grand time!
Thanks to every one who attended! I enjoyed "seeing" you all, old friends and new ones! And hint, there "could be" one next year since it is the off year for Bisto. I'm just sayin'...
(If I messed up something or forgot an important detail, please let me know! chakbalam at gmail dot com. Cheers!)
The BistoCon Virtual Con was held 14 and 15, Aug, 2020, and to me was a success. Full disclosure: I'm part of the con committee and helped organise this with a bit over two weeks of prep time from the crazy decision to go for it! We (the con-com) were missing our con this year because of the pandemic and suddenly decided we needed a virtual con. Crazy indeed.
Notices went out and people started signing up! We had people from all the US time zones, plus the UK, Europe, and Australia. So we raced to create a schedule that "waved" all the time zones of the world in order to give everybody a chance to attend at least a few hours during "normal waking hours".
Friday am and Friday pm there were two "meet and greet" hours, plus episode viewings. Some folks attended both, while others came in the morning or evening. We all introduced ourselves and chatted about where we were from and how we found Pros. Those who didn't wish to join in with video and/or audio were also welcome to lurk. Some had non working bits on their devices and used audio only, or chose to do so. We watched The Purging of CI5 and then Hunter/Hunted.
Saturday the con started for me at 7 am. PFL opened the room and we had our first panel: Disappearing Girlfriends. PFL showed a spreadsheet broken down by episode on how Bodie and Doyle's dating and girlfriends gradually faded away as the series progressed. We discussed why this was happening. Next was an episode. We watched Backtrack.
After that there was another fun panel, Desert Island Fic, run by the evil FJBryan. Why is that, you ask? Because we each were allowed ONE fic to take with us to read for all eternity. There was a lot of laughing as folks tried to sneak in: "... but my second choice is...".
Next was the first vid show, organised by me. An hour of the lads to all sorts of music. I should mention we ran all video on Twitch. It is a really stable platform that we finally discovered after months of trying places. The first, rabb.it, disappeared. The second, Kast, is horribly wonky and after kicking it for months a kind person suggested Twitch. Us non-gamers hadn't used it but after we forced ourselves to watch four or five episodes for a test (ha!), we were hooked.
We put in a con room "break" where people could come and chat with each other. Actually, the "con room" was left open during all Twitch viewings for folks who wanted to chat with other con goers rather than view. Some people did both! In case I wasn't clear, the panels and the con suite were on Zoom and video viewing was on Twitch. Zoom chat was by video and audio, or on the scrolling chat block. Twitch is scrolling text chat only.
After the break, there was the next panel, Why Has It Lasted? And yes, Pros has! 30 December, 2020, will be the 43rd anniversary of the running of the first ep, Private Madness, Public Danger. Super discussion all around!
And we're off for an episode, Everest Was Also Conquered, followed by another vid show which I dubbed "historical". These were older vids from the VCR era which generally might not be online (or well hidden!), plus vids from vidders who have removed their content from the net. On a personal note, I am hunting for the first Pros vid ever made, even if it's just the title. So far, there hasn't been evidence of what that is.
A con suite/room break was next, with much discussion, and then another panel, Does the Friendship Matter? This engendered lively discussion about how Bodie and Doyle's relationship works best, and will they always be friends, with or without sex.
Next episode (I told you it was busy!) was Blind Run. Who doesn't love Doyle's patch? *happy sigh* The final panel of the day was next, Canon vs. Fanon. That's ways fun to discuss. Pros has been around long enough to have lots of "fanon" which readers and even writers might believe was in the series.
The late vid show was a repeat of the first, with the online vids, and the final two episodes were shown, First Night and Discovered in a Graveyard. We wrapped up at midnight for me. It was as close to an in-person con as one can get. A virtual con does have its advantages. No travelling and easy access to the fridge and coffee maker! It's not the same as in person but it was still a grand time!
Thanks to every one who attended! I enjoyed "seeing" you all, old friends and new ones! And hint, there "could be" one next year since it is the off year for Bisto. I'm just sayin'...
(If I messed up something or forgot an important detail, please let me know! chakbalam at gmail dot com. Cheers!)
