Balticon, Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention Web Page

How do I get to be a program participant?

Who's Coming

Notice to those interested in being Balticon 48 program participants:

Invitations for Balticon 48 will be going out between September 2013 and March 2014. If you were invited and have not received the Participant Survey link by November 30, 2013, please drop a line to the Program Coordination team to request the link. Please be aware that failure to submit the survey may result in your invitation being withdrawn, since we will not know your availability. We will stop accepting survey submissions on March 15, 2014.

If you want to make sure you get an early invitation before the end of 2013 for Balticon 48 in 2014, please drop a note, including your full name and a brief bio, by the end of September to the Program Coordination team. Michael and Jonette will see that the right person sees your request.

If you want to get a jump on arranging your participation in the Literary and New Media program tracks, please drop a note, including your full name and a brief bio, by the end of September to Literary and New Media Coordinator Patrick Scafficdo. For Balticon 48, Patrick and Jonette will be working hard to make sure the New Media and Literary program tracks play well together!

Watch here for a list of program participants who have accepted our invitation to attend Balticon 48 and have COMPLETED the Balticon 48 PARTICIPANT SURVEY.

If you would like to become a Balticon program participant, contact the department head in your area of interest or send your inquiry to our Programming mailbox. See the Contact Us page for some email links.

What is expected of program participants?

If you have already received your Balticon 48 Participant Invitation, you can find information about submitting program suggestions here.

We ask Balticon program participants to:

You can look at the official Balticon Participant Membership Policy here if you want to, or the following includes the basic points.

Participate in a minimum of 5 program hours (4 hours if you have a dealers or artist alley table, are an Art Show exhibitor or are a Masquerade judge or contestant). Please note that we are a four-day convention and would like to keep our programming strong on Friday and Monday, so please be with us all four days if at all possible. Our goal is to have participants and attendees anxious to get in and get started Friday afternoon and putting off leaving until the last minute on Monday!;

To further clarify the above the program hours requirement:

If you will be at Balticon for only one day to deliver a presentation, we will provide you a one-day participant membership. You will, of course, be offered a chance to participate in other programming in addition to your presentation, but are not required to do so.

Let us know — no later than March 15th, please! — if there are technical requirements for your presentation such as a projection screen, DVD player, computer monitor, ELMO, or sound system;

Let us know — no later than April 15th, please! — if there are display requirements for your presentation such as a a white board with markers and eraser, or an easel pad and crayons or colored markers;

Show up a few minutes early where scheduled to appear, and be ready to start on time when the door closes;

End appearances at scheduled times to facilitate getting attendees and other participants into and out of the rooms with a minimum of chaos;

If you are moderating a panel, treat all panelists equally and try to give them all equal time to be heard;

Bear in mind that everyone (including all staff and BSFS officers) who works at Balticon is a volunteer and be kind — they are working hard to make this event a success for everyone!

What's in it for me?

As a Balticon Program participant, you:

Receive a membership to Balticon in exchange for your program participantion;

Can purchase a membership for one SO, life partner/companion for one half the lowest published membership rate for the Balticon to be attended.

Can purchase children's memberships for your eligible minor children at one half the lowest published children's membership membership rate for the Balticon to be attended, and for your children aged 13 to 25 who are students (student ID required for those over age 17) at one half the lowest published adult membership rate;

Are invited to rest, recoup, snack and meet other participants as well as our Guests of Honor in the Balticon Green Room;

Are invited to have us schedule a time for you (or someone you designate) to do a reading of your work;

Are invited to have us schedule a time for your autograph session shared with one or 2 other professionals;

Will have an opportunity to meet and greet other participants, Guests of Honor and Balticon attendees during "Friday Face Time" on Friday evening at "Meet the Artists" in the Art Show, "Meet the Guests" in Frankie and Vinnie's (the Con Suite) and "Meet the Scientists" in Salon A (the Science Program room);

Acquire fame, adoration and undying devotion from Balticon attendees;

And can filch homemade baked goodies from the Volunteer Desk.

Participant Biographical Information

Index of Participant Biographical Information.
Biographical info is indexed alphabetically by Participant's last name.

XYZ

Back to Index

XYZ

You can read or download the Balticon Participant Membership Policy here.

Please send us your program ideas, including a brief descriptive paragraph and preferred format (round table or panel discussion, presentation or demonstration, or workshop). For Balticon purposes:

A Panel Discussion is a moderator and 3 or 4 panelists discussing a topic and may or may not include input or Q&A from the audience;
A Roundtable Discussion is a moderator amd 5 to 8 panelists discussing a topic. It may be a little less structured than a panel discussion and is not likely to include audience input;
A Presentation is a lecture, with or without a projected (PowerPoint slides, etc.) or other visual (whiteboard, flipchart) element;
A Demonstration is just that -- a demonstration of a skill or technique; and
A Workshop includes handout literature for the attendees, may use projected or other visual elements, and provides exercises or worksheets for attendees.
A Game includes a host and panelists or audience competitors and may or may not have a prize>
A Small Press Publisher Presents event may be structured as a presentation, discussion, game or any combination thereof!
A Launch Events celebrate the release of new works. To be held in a common area function space, a Launch Event must celebrate the release of two or more works of 2 or more authors or artists. Solo author/artist Launch Events will be held this year as room parties. We will be happy to include flyers or ivitations for ANY Launch Event in the Balticon registration packets.

You can use the online Program Ideas submission form or you can email your ideas to the program coordinators or to the appropriate Track Coordinator. Please specify whether you wouild like to be the moderator, presenter, host or panelist for the idea you're suggesting. We will see that your suggestions get to the right track coordinators. While we welcome program suggestions year round, those received after Feb. 28, 2014, will most likely be considered for a program slot at Balticon 49 in 2015. Any suggestions that are not used this year may be carried over to the following year's ideas list.

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