Corflu 32 - Programme Schedule

Full details of the programme schedule will be posted below just before the convention. All times are in GMT/UCT until Sunday morning (see below).

To plan your time at the convention or viewing over Ustream, you might want to know now:

U-stream coverage. We plan to broadcast all the major programme items on CorfluTV which can be found at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/corflutv. Thanks to the heroic efforts of our tech supremo Martin Hoare for sourcing the equipment to make this possible.

The running order for the programme items that we’re planning to broadcast is below.

FRIDAY

2 – 3 pm: Fifty Shades of Fandom
Not many of us came into fandom as fanzine fans; fanzines were something we discovered once we were here. Our first programme item will be a discussion of what attracted Corflu attendees into fandom in the first place and what areas of fandom we actively participate in still. We’ll also look at whether it feels like there’s a core community within fandom any more, what are the happening areas, and has the media representation of fandom turned us all into geeks?

3.30 – 4.30 pm: A Rainbow in Somebody’s Clouds
We might think that any idiot can produce fan writing, even if some of us also think it takes a special kind of idiot to do it well. But fan art remains a rare and enviable talent for those of us who can only write the words that fit around it. In a year where Chunga #23 has taken a step closer to proving that fanzines are becoming delivery mechanisms for artwork, a panel of fan artists discuss their own influences and inspirations – from within fandom and outside.

5 – 5.30 pm: Meet the committee and Guest of Honour
(Not an opening ceremony, you’ll note, since we’ve already had two programme items and the convention is clearly open already.)

9 – 10 pm: Just A Minac              
At Corflu 31 in Richmond last year, four apparently willing contestants submitted themselves to the tender mercies of Sandra Bond to prove who was most able to talk on various fannish subjects for up to a minute without hesitation, repetition or deviation. Some of those who took part, some of those who missed it, and even some of the audience were keen for a rematch; now there’s just deviation and hesitation to go...

SATURDAY

11 am – midday: Before Gender Parity: the early days of TWP (The Women’s Periodical)
When Linda Krawecke and Chris Atkinson set up TWP in the early 1980s, they gave British fandom a successful forum for women while re-introducing and popularising the APA as a format for fannish expression in the UK. Over thirty years later, we look at how and why TWP took off so successfully – was it the message or the medium? Did the women of British fandom need a women-only APA, how feminist was it, and what was the impact on British fandom as a whole?

2 – 3 pm: Kev Williams presents… Gannet Fandom
A short film depicting who, what, when and why the Gannets – which might or might not be visible to those of you watching on Ustream – followed by questions and arguments about what really went on.

3.30 – 4.30 pm: Between the Armadillos
From the early ’90s to the mid-2000s access to home computers, desk-top publishing software, and relatively cheap and convenient production methods like photocopying put fanzine production within easy reach of most fans. The period also saw the rise of the internet, social media, e-fanzines and online groups. What were the classic fanzines of the age, and did they reflect the technological advances and new ways to communicate?

5 – 6 pm: We Get the Fandom We Create
How does the way we behave contribute to the fandom and situations we experience (and complain about), and how can we create and contribute to the fandom we want to exist (or to continue existing)? Our Corflu 50 delegate encourages us to get thinking, before we go back out there and get creating again.

9 – 10 pm: I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Corflu
The antidote to panels. The players are given silly things to do, with some of them set to music – which might be one of the times you want to mute the volume.

10 – 11-ish pm: Auction
We have plans for your money, and those following along on Ustream are not excluded from this. If you want to bid, make yourselves known to us and we’ll clarify anything necessary for online bidding, payment, and delivery of what you’ve then bought. Tune in, bid on, pay up…

SUNDAY

1 – 2 am: British Summer Time begins
(We’re not actually planning to broadcast this, but thought you might appreciate the reminder. Especially if you’ve just lost an hour’s sleep.)

10.30 – 11.30 am: On the Road: writing the ultimate trip report
Trip reports are still alive and well despite the internet, but why do we write them and who actually reads them? Are fannish trip reports an intrinsically flawed medium as the best stories are the ones you can’t tell, or are they oral history in the making? And why do we still insist on our fan fund delegates writing trip reports, when they could simply tweet their progress?

1.15 pm approx: Awards Ceremony
The culmination of the formal Corflu programme will aim to fortify attendees with more food (starting around midday) before the final festivities get under way; we might have some roving reporters while there are captive performers nibbling away at lunch. The formal festivities will include the Guest of Honour having the opportunity to tell us what’s on their mind; we’ll also have a few words from our Corflu 50 delegate, the presentation of the Fanzine Activity Achievement awards for work in 2014, the selection of the Past President of fwa, and site selection for Corflu in 2016 – in some order which might even be this one, to further heighten the element of suspense.

And then the official programme is all over until next year.