We have now added information on how to get from Arlanda Airport to Uppsala by train, bus, or taxi.
See the Travel page.
Uncategorized
The Program!
The Konflikt 2023 Program Guide is finalized, and now released into the wild!
(Please note that the signing schedule is not yet complete, and will be finished during the upcoming week.)
If you are a program participant, please log on to PlanZ, and approve your panels! There have been changes since the preliminary version was sent out two weeks ago. Also, if you are a moderator, you’ll find the email addresses to your panelists here as well.
(We have been informed that a few addresses seem to be missing, among them to guests of honour, so this will be fixed prior to the weekend!)
You’ll also find a list of tips for moderators here, and in Swedish as well, here.
Call for volunteers
We need volunteers to help us out during the convention. Without volunteers, there can be no Eurocon!
As a volunteer you get groats – vouchers that you can use for buying food and books – and you get to work with a fun group of people who also love sci-fi and fantasy.
Gopher tasks
Our volunteers are also known as gophers. As a gopher, you do all kinds of things. The most common one is to make sure everyone who enters a program room has a convention badge and that the program participants finish on time. But you might also be asked to man the Registration desk at the entrance, to run errands, to move tables and chairs, to brew coffee for our guests, etc. Mostly, you get to choose what you want to do.
Currently, we need more people everywhere, but especially at the front desk in Registration. This is also a fun, social place to work, you get to talk to lots of people.
You choose for how many hours you work, and when. For every hour you get a 25 kronor groat, and after a certain amount of hours, you’ll get a smart looking convention tea/coffee mug! And we will be grateful and love you for helping make this convention a success! We are all members, it’s not just our convention, it’s your con, too!
To volunteer, if you didn’t do it when you registered, email gopher@eurocon2023.se.
Tips till Moderatorerna
Det är två veckor kvar till kongressen, och vi rekommenderar starkt att alla moderatorer kontaktar deltagarna i sina respektive paneler inom de närmaste dagarna. Ni hittar deras epostadresser i PlanZ, och där kan ni också se om någon ny panelist lagts till i programpunkten under de senaste två veckorna sen vi skickade ut det preliminära schemat.
Vänligen logga in och godkänn ert paneldeltagande!!
I Facebookgruppen Svenska sf- och fantasyfans diskuterades det i veckan hur man modererar en programpunkt på ett bra sätt, och tips, särskilt för förstagångsmoderatorer efterfrågades. Vi har därför samlat en lista på förslag här nedan:
- Ca två (2) veckor före kongressen (eller nu i helgen), är det bra som moderator att maila alla paneldeltagare och presentera sig. Ta upp några frågeställningar som du tycker skulle vara intressanta inom ramarna för panelen så de får lite hum om vilken riktning panelen kommer gå i, och fråga om de har något särskilt de gärna skulle vilja diskutera.
- Boka en träff! 1-2 timmar före panelen är det toppen att ta en liten träff hela truppen i Green Room (som är placerad i Chambre Separée nere i Café Alma). Man hälsar, och kan här få veta/fråga om viktig men grundläggande info, (tex hur panelister uttalar sina namn, vilket pronomen de vill att man använder, om det är någon som tex ska ha headset istället för handhållen mic, så att man kan tänka på det när man sätter sig). Påminn dem om att alltid använda mikrofon, och att ni kommer öppna för publikfrågor i slutet.
- Innan panelen börjar, sätt ett (tyst!) larm som kan hjälpa dig hålla koll på programtiden. Försök också hitta en Gopher (de är inte alltid kvar i salen utan kan komma tillbaka mot slutet av en programpunkt), så du kan slänga ett öga åt deras håll ibland och se om de håller upp skyltar som indikerar hur mycket tid som är kvar (10min – 5min – STOPP).
- När panelen börjar – hälsa alla välkomna. Påminn om att alla publikfrågor sparas till slutet! Presentera dig själv, och låt sedan övriga presentera sig själva lite kort (20sek är lagom).
- I en panel med många deltagare ska man inte ta mycket plats som moderator. En personlig anekdot kan vara otroligt rolig men ändå inte platsa här. Fråga, men det är bäst att inte låta panelisterna svara i ordningen de sitter, för då blir det lite ojämnt i fördelningen och den som sitter sist i raddan får inte mycket kvar att säga. Det är OK att fråga öppet och se vem som plockar upp tråden, eller välja någon specifik panelist och säga “vi kan börja med dig XX”, om du känner att någon inte fått säga så mycket.
- Tvärtom i en liten panel, där man kanske är en moderator och två panelister, så finns utrymmet för att agera en mer deltagande moderator och komma med egen input (men kom ihåg – du är i första hand fortfarande moderator! Din uppgift är att leda samtalet och ge andra utrymmme att prata).
- Ha kanske en eller två extra frågor som man kan dra i slutet om samtalet dör ut lite för snabbt. Och oroa dig inte för lite tystnad – ibland behöver folk lite tid på sig för att landa i sitt svar.
Men, det går inte att forcera fram samtal. Är frågorna slut och samtalet börjar dö av efter 25 min istället för 35 min – så är det fine. Släpp in publikfrågorna. - Be åhöraren att vänta på mikrofon innan de ställer sin fråga! En gopher kommer ta sig runt i salen och hjälpa till, det är ingen brådska. Om du är osäker på om du uppfattat frågan rätt, eller om ljudet var lite otydligt, är det bra att upprepa frågan innan ni vänder er till panelisterna.
Lycka till, och ha roligt! Och till er förstagångs moderatorer – det kommer gå bra! Alla var vi en gång nykläckta.
Bevis A: Jag, modererandes min första panel och djupt illamående av nervositet. Syns det? Nej! Ser snarare ut som att jag kommer förgöra Johan om han råkar svara fel.
A few tips for the Moderators
It’s about two weeks left to the convention, and we recommend all panel moderators to get in touch with their panelists.
You’ll find their information in PlanZ, where you can also see if anyone new has been added to the panel since we emailed out the preliminary schedule two weeks ago.
Please make sure to log on and approve your panels!!
In a Swedish Facebook group dedicated to fandom, there was a discussion thread about rules of thumb and good tips and trips for moderators, especially first timers. On recommendation, we’ve gathered some of them here:
- Approximately two (2) weeks prior to the convention (or perhaps during this upcoming weekend), it’s good that a Moderator contacts all their panelists and introduces themselves. Share some thoughts and questions in regards to what you find interesting within the subject matter at had, as to give the panelists an idea about the direction, focus and tone of the panel. Ask them if they have any specific themes and aspects of the subject they would like to discuss.
- Book a meeting! About an hour or two prior to the panel, we recommend that you meet up for a small chatt in the Green Room (downstairs in Café Alma). You’ll get to say hi and ask about important but basic info (like how their names are correctly pronounced, what pronouns they use, if they prefer a headset or a hand-held mic for convenience etc). Remind them all to use the mics, and that audience questions are saved for the end of the panel.
- Before the panel starts, try to make sure to set an alarm (silent!) and make sure you know where the gopher is (if they are to stay in the room. This is to make sure you can sometimes through a glance in their general direction and see if they are holding up signs indicating how much time there’s left (10min, 5min, STOP).
- Greet the audience! Remind everyone that all audience questions are saved for the end of the panel. Introduce yourself briefly, and then ask the panelists to also introduce themselves shortly (20sec is enough).
- In a panel with many panelists, the moderator shouldn’t take up a lot of time and space. Though your personal anecdote might even be hilarious, this is not the best time for it. Also, not everyone has to answer every question! You can ask different panelists about their thoughts and input, or just lay the question out there and see who picks it up. Avoid letting panelists answer in the order they are sitting, this leads to a great inbalance in amount of speaker time.
- And as an opposite to this, a panel with very few panelists is more of a conversation. If there’s only three of you, including the moderator, this is a great opportunity to participate a bit more, perhaps share some own thoughts on the subject (but remember, you are still a moderator, and are supposed to give others room to talk!).
- Have an extra question or so left, just in case the conversation dies out a bit early. Don’t worry if there’s a bit of silence, sometimes people want to mull over a question for a bit!
But if you feel like the conversation has truly died down and you have no additional questions left, open up to audience questions. It’s OK if this happens after 25 minutes instead of say 35. - Make sure the audience member waits for a mic before they ask questions! The gopher will try and get around the room as quickly as they can, there is no rush. Also, if unsure of what the question entailed, or if you’re unsure of if everyone heard them – repeat the question before turning to the panelist.
Good luck, and enjoy yourselves! And to the first timers – you’ll do just fine. We were all shiny and new once after all.
Exhibit A: Me, moderating my first ever panel, sick to my stomach with nerves. Who can tell? No one! I look like I’m about to unleash my greatest displeasure on Johan if he gets the answer wrong.
The Reel!
Katarina Eriksson from Märka Design, who’s re-worked our graphic profile, our bookmarks and posters, created a reel for us that made its round on Facebook and Instagram a while back. Thought we should share it here as well, of course!
Thank you Katarina!
Closing Early Registration May 31st
At midnight May 31st, we will close pre-registration for the convention. It means that all memberships after that can be bought at the door, when the convention starts.
There are a lot of perks to pre-registration, and it goes both ways!
For you as a member, it’s cheaper, and gives you time to plan and prepare your trip. If you are under 26 years old, early registration means your membership is completely free!
Meanwhile, early registration helps us as the planning committee with scheduling program items and panelists.
It also helps us give as correct information as possible to the University, so we can hire technical staff, cleaning and emergency personnel, and other necessities accordingly (pre-registering is good for fire safety too!)
We highly recommend everyone to buy their memberships as soon as possible.
New prices at the door will be:
▪︎ 850 SEK for a full-weekend membership for those over 26yrs of age.
▪︎ 300 SEK for a full-weekend membership for those under 26yrs of age.
You can register for membership here.
FantasyFest
As we wrote about a lot in our social media channels, on the 24th of April, we had a collaboration with Uppsala City Library, and organized FantasyFest for teens and young adults.
There were workshops and VR, games and an author interview with Marissa Meyer curtesey of the English Bookshop!
We held a panel about why we read fantasy and SF, and it was an overall very successful day for the library and the youths.
Thank you to Uppsala City Library /Uppsala Stadsbibliotek for this great collab, and to The English Bookshop, Prisfyndet and Fantastikbokhandeln that in different ways supported it and made it happen!
Progress Report #2
Dear Eurocon members,
Our last Progress Report has been published, and you can download it here: Progress Report #2. The convention is closing in and we are working around the clock (or at least what feels like around the clock!), to make sure all the last pieces fall into place.
In the upcoming weeks, you’ll find further updates on this website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (both in the Eurocon 2023 group and in a new Facebook event).
We want to remind you that the hotel discounts for most of the hotels on our Accommodation page run out in April. After that, remaining rooms in the hotels will be released to the general public and bookable at their standard rates.
And I believe that’s it. For those who know me – I’m a woman of many (many, many) words, but I’ll keep some of them to myself, so you can enjoy the dulcet tones of my voice and my witch-like cackle up close in June instead!
Until then,
Nahal Ghanbari
Convention Chair
PS: The first progress report can be found here: Progress Report #1. And the one before the first one! Here: Progress Report #0.
Join our Program through PlanZ!
Lask week, all members who’ve marked an interest in program participation during their registration process, were invited to PlanZ, our scheduling and program tool! Through PlanZ, each member can send in suggestions for program items, as well as apply to panels they’d be interested in participating in.
Here, you can let us know all the things that help make scheduling run smoothly, while also making participation more comfortable. As an example: if you want to participate, but don’t have any specific panel or subject in mind, you can let us know about your area of interest or expertise under “General Interests”. If you know for sure that you’ll only be attending for the weekend, you can mark that under “Availability”. If you want to use a headset instead of a mic, due to holding a mic for a longer time becoming difficult, let us know by filling in “Personal Details”.
Currently, you can mark your interest for panels only, but the Eurocon program has a vast array of program items to look forward to, including:
• Guest of Honour interviews, kaffeeklatsches and author signings
• Workshops in historical dances, Elvish language (Tengwar) and FILK-writing
• Lectures on Swedish Dystopias, Political Fairies and the subject of Genes and Reproduction in Contemporary Science Fiction
• Guided tours of Uppsala
… and much, much more!
There are guides to using PlanZ on our webpage, in both English (https://eurocon2023.se/welcome-to-planz/), and Swedish (https://eurocon2023.se/valkommen-till-planz/). And as always – you can reach us at program@eurocon2023.se if you have any questions, or if you’d like us to add you as a PlanZ user now.
We look forward to your suggestions and your participation!
Konflikt 