TwiCon: Day Two

TwiCon Day Two: Oh girl... so this was my big day. For some reason, the organizers of TwiCon decided to put ALL of the academic programing and panels on the same day. There was simply too much going on. Granted I approved what I set forward, but of course I didn't realize there'd be a massive line for Christian Serratos's autograph and tickets for the 100 Monkeys concert, plus insanely popular informal programming sessions like Alice's Makeover Room, and Jasper's Relaxation Room, so it was manic.!
(pic is Courtney Smith, Genevieve Koski, Marah Eakin, Angela Watercutter, and Sam Bradley)

One of my biggest panels was the 'Music Industry and Twilight Panel.' It was rockin', regardless of our small audience numbers. I had Marah Eakin of Bloodshot Records, Courtnet Smith who worked for MTV2, Genevieve Koski who writes for The Onion/The AV Club, and Angela Watercutter who is a researcher for Wired magazine. So basically, kickin' people who know more about what they're doing than most people, and with all of them combined, the conversation was so insightful.

The industry pro's came out first, talked about how artists get onto labels, what labels mean, how songs get onto soundtracks, who picks those songs, what hurdles may occur... all of that nitty gritty stuff that we just never hear about but most of us think about. Then we brought out Sam Bradley (co-writer of 'Never Think' amongst other lovely credits) and he talked about what it's like from a musician's point of view. He was brilliant. I really appreciated his honesty and humor. He could laugh at himself, the situation, the circumstances...and still seemed to be having a really good time.

So my big gripe was the advertising for the session. If people looked in the program, they just saw 'music panel'...and not who was there. Who wouldn't want to see these people?! So yeah... It was awesome. The audience that attended had possibly one of the best seats in the house and got some stellar inside info on the music industry and Twilight's influence with the music. Of course I wish more people were there, but we had such a good time, I don't think anyone really minded.

So after the music panel (btw, I'm going to post all of the documents, PPs, playlists etc. that I can, as soon as I can, so you can see all that we saw in regards to formal programming), I chaired the Webmaster's Panel (talking to webmasters from HisGoldenEyes.com, TwilightSeriesTheories.com, BellaAndEdward.com, TwilightGuy.com, and TwilightMoms.com), then had a quick break where I ran up to Kalle and Kassie's podcast and did a bit on the 'news of TwiCon' with them, then back down for the Adaptation Panel. (Pocket Edward-wannabe joined in; picture is me on panel, with P.E. in the front)

It. Was. Awesome. Every now and again, I get a feeling that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. TwiCon has been a good experience: networking, learning what works and what doesn't, etc., but overall, I don't really think I want to do this again unless I'm running it. There were too many basic things looked over, and the partners seemed so stressed; they forgot this was a fun, enjoyable, exciting event! But I digress... my panel was great, because once I got started talking about the adaptation of Twilight... it was brilliant! My fellow panelists and I had a great banter, we took lots of questions from the audience, debated with each other, fought for our opinions about actors and scenes, and generally enjoyed all aspects of what makes a book work, what makes a film work, and what were the hurdles that we've witnessed and what do we anticipate for New Moon. SO much fun. I left that flying high, feeling good, and full of fun....that's saying something after two days of nearly no food and nearly no sleep! (Picture is Ashley Benning and Jennifer Dee on the Adaptation Panel)

Afterwards we had a well-deserved break, saw Bobby Long and Marcus Foster play at Poor Davids (oh so much fun; they are hysterical, and they played together at the end... very fun. I'm a fan; I think I like Marcus and Sam better than Bobby, oddly enough, but it was uber fun). Then we bolted back to the hotel, grabbed some grub, and caught a bit of the 100 Monkeys show (where I also met Larry Carroll of MTV, who apparently wants to look at some academic-y elements of Twilight... hi. Rockin'.) (Picture is Bobby Long)

That was possibly the fastest post I've ever written, but those are the immediate bullet points so I remember what to expand upon later if I want to.

Lots has gone wrong which really makes me want to run my own convention/conference (possibly after the PhD thing is done... we'll see), but the things I've been involved with have turned out really well. I've been super happy with all of those efforts. My panelists are great, as are my volunteers, and honestly, those little details about friends, thanks, and fun times can really make all of the difference when organzing something like this.

More soon.... and eventually I'll have all of my pictures up on webshots, but for now, I shall tease you with a couple of random shots. (Picture is Danyelle Utley, Kassie Rodgers, Kallie Mathews, and me).