So this weekend I'll be at Orycon. The schedule is up on the web but here is my chunk:

Slusher, Dave
<p>
Fri 2:00 PM, Wilson
    Are Comic Book Plots "Real" Literature?
Fri 3:00 PM, Nehalem
    Luddite SF
Sat 10:00 AM, Santiam
    Code & Crossbones: the E-Piracy Issue
Sat 3:00 PM, Riverview (Table 3)
    Wind Up Toys
</p>

Here's a little insight into the way I go about things. I know a few people who are on some of these panels, so I'll probably e-mail them and see if they have any thoughts on them. This "Luddite SF" one is something I'm being punished for suggesting by being the only panelist listed. I may see if I can draft another participant so I don't have to sit up by myself for 50 minutes. For each of the 3 real panels, I'll make notes similar to what I'd do to prepare for an interview. I'll make bullet points of broad discussion topics, draw lines that link together possibly related points, fill in around with examples where they are available, etc. For all of these panels, I'll walk in to them with possible points to make, things I've thought about, etc.

I hate not being prepared for things, be it meetings at work, presentations, etc. I prefer getting the meeting agenda ahead of time, so I can think through the issues before getting into a room with umpteen other people. Most people seeem to not care and see no problem with filling a meeting with underinformed opinions of something they just heard about for the first time 12 seconds ago. I guess I'm just a different breed of cat. My company was in the venture capitalist process recently, and I was called into one due diligence meeting, not even about the product line per se but about some build infrastructure I and one other guy built. For this, I prepared Visio diagrams of the architecture, of the work flow, etc. None of this was done for the product but I did this for the toolset. Why? It wasn't expected of me but I just didn't like the thought of going into a meeting unprepared.