Change and the ConCom (10am, Sunday)
 We've all got stories about conventions that had to make changes/decided to make changes and how well or badly their concoms and/or members have dealt with those changes.  What do you need to know if your committee is contemplating a major (or even not-so-major) change?  What kind of reactions might you expect? Is there anything that'll make the process of change easier? 
Particpants:  Pam Fremon, Dave McCarty, Geri Sullivan

Congratulations, You've Just Become an Emergency Holographic Con-Runner! (11am, Sunday)
 It's three weeks (or three months) before your convention, and you've just gotten a phone call and been asked to take over as hotel liaison or as head of volunteers or (gasp!) as con chair because somebody else has had to bail.  You've never actually *done* the job in question, and you don't know exactly what has (or hasn't) been done so far. But you say yes, and then start trying to figure out what to do next...
Particpants:  The emergency holographic participants will be announced closer to the  panel.

Contingency Planning (2pm, Sunday)
 Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition ... or a hurricane, flood, snow storm, or any of the kinds of things that can go wrong at a con.  Is there a way to plan for coping with those things you'd rather not have happen?  Or a way to give people skills to think through how to deal with the crisis/problem? 
Participants: Margene Bahm

ConSuite (11am, Saturday)
 Why do we have con suites?  What makes a good one? 
Participants: Pam Fremon, Nancy Nutt

Fannish Inertia (3pm, Saturday)
 Ever do something as a one-off, only to have it be such a success that people want it done a second time?  And then you've suddenly got a “tradition” on your hands?  When you want to kill off one of those traditions, you're suddenly confronted with the mob that chants, “But we've always done it this way.” What happens when your con has developed such a tradition of traditions that there's little room for innovation?  What next?
Participants: Seth Breidbart, Susan Satterfield

Public Relations (10am, Sunday)
 What's it all about?  How can you make use of cheap/free  resources?  How can you get info about your con/what're you doing into places where it hasn't been before?  Or how to take advantage of passive (t-shirts! Other merchandise!)  And flyers – we all do flyers, but what makes a good one? 
Participants: Jim Murray, Allison Stein, Barb Van Tilburg

Holding Better Meetings (2pm, Saturday)
 "What a stupid meeting!"  "I don't know why I wasted my time being here ... I didn't get any of the things I needed done."  "Can you *believe* how he/she/it behaved?  They totally dominated the conversation aned didn't let anybody else get a word in edgewise!" 
 You've all heard (or said) similar sorts of things, right? 
 This will be a combination meeting/workshop, as we review the list brainstormede in the "Things We Hate about Meetings" and demonstrate some of the techniques professional facilitators use to try to combat some/many of them.  (Attendance at "Things We Hate About Meetings" not required...)
Facilitator: Elaine Brennan

Managing Difficult People (11am, Saturday)
 Every group has them ... in fact, all of us have probably been the difficult person at one point or another.  How can a concom harness the skills and talents of "difficult" people ... or at least make use of their willingness to help? 
Particpants: Elaine Brennan

Sparkle! Making Your Convention/Event Stand Out (4pm, Saturday)
 What makes your con different from every other con?  Do you have events/activities that people talk about for weeks or months afterwards?  Do you *want* to do something different at your con, but don't know where to begin?  This is the panel for you ...
Participants: Sherrie Dean, Geri Sullivan

Stupid Hotel Tricks  (4pm, Friday)
 Many of us have been there and done that (or at least heard about) some of the silly things hotels and their staff can do if your attention slips.  But some of us haven't ... this is your chance to have/give a light-hearted look at/brainstorming about some of your favorite/most infamous situations, for those folks who haven't (yet) had the pleasure of being the hotel geek.
Particpants: Mark Herrup, Inger Myers, Bob Palmer

Things We Hate About Meetings (5pm, Friday)
 In preparation for the "Holding Better Meetings" session later this weekend, come and help us brainstorm a bunch of the things that make too many meetings annoying, bothersome, or just a nuisance that can be gotten around. 
Participants:  Everybody in attendance 
Facilitator:  Elaine Brennan

WebSite Accessibility and Other Topics (10am, Sunday)
 For some folks, “accessibility” means “assume that everybody's working on a machine from 1995 – or earlier”.   Is accessibility (or usability) even a concern?  Or take the discussion into whatever interests the group, whether it's managing multiple people updating your website, only one person having access to the website, or anything else that catches your fancy. 
Participants: Sharon Sbarsky, Keith Stokes

What Drives Your Program Development and Why?  (10am, Saturday)
 How important is programming at your convention?  How do you set it up, make it work? Do you start with people, areas of interest, specific topics somebody suggests, or something else alltogether? 
Participants: Margene Bahm, Alex von Thorn

What Skills Do You Need ... (5pm, Saturday)
 I've heard people saying, “we need somebody to take over X from so-and-so, but we don't have anybody who does that stuff” way too many times recently.  Let's look at (and do some brainstorming about) what skills it's useful for the person who's going to be dealing with Publications, Volunteers, Registration, etc. for the first time to have.
Participants: Elaine Brennan, Ben Yalow
 

Philosophy:

 There's lots of space in this schedule for program items to run long (if they need to). 

 There's also lots of space where we can add program items if something you'd really love for us to talk about isn't here (and I can figure out other folks who might be interested...). 

 If you're dying to be on a program item later in the weekend, come find me.  We'll talk - Elaine M Brennan