PLAYER PANELS AT SOE LIVE – FIRST TIME EVAH!

By Linda "Brasse" Carlson

We know you come to SOE Live to hear us rabbit on about our various areas of expertise, but I bet you'd just love a chance to get up behind a microphone yourself, to offer advice, information, share your opinions and help out your fellow players. This year, we've set aside a room that holds up to 76 people and blocked out several spots on the schedule for both Friday and Saturday, ready and waiting for YOU! That's right. We're inviting you to create and host your own Player Panels.

Sessions can be presented by an individual or a panel of up to four people. We'll do our best to accommodate as many submissions as we can, but we do anticipate a lot of interest, so please don't be crushed if yours is not selected this year!

Here are a few general guidelines to keep in mind while you put your thinking caps on. All sessions must be open to all SOE Live attendees (no private events), and must be rated "T for Teen," unless you are addressing Free Realms or Clone Wars Adventures, which need to be "E for Everyone." We encourage open and constructive talks, but please… no dev bashing. It is Vegas. They might bash back.

Presenters and panelists will gain a free all-access pass to SOE Live (does not include add-ons such as laser tag or Dev Brunch). If you've already paid for your pass this year, we'll refund your fee!

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• We will have microphones for speakers and panelists
• A large TV monitor will be provided for display.
• The room will be laid out in lecture style, with a table at the front for speakers and chairs arranged in rows for the audience. Unfortunately, we won't be able to accommodate other layouts this year.
• If you are using a PowerPoint presentation or other media, please bring your own laptop. We may not have internet connectivity in the room, so kindly have everything pre-loaded on your laptop and (this is muy importante) a backup on a USB stick. Trust me. Been there, failed that before.
• We will assign a Community Manager Volunteer Guide to assist and to serve as your "go to dude" for your session.

HMMM, WHATEVER SHALL WE TALK ABOUT?
To get you thinking, we'd like to suggest a few ideas that WE'D love to see:

• Guild Management – Best Practices and Pitfalls
• Costume Design and Creation
• Creating Successful Player Run Events
• Running Raids Right, Not Rong
• Roleplay – Dead or Alive?
• Class Throwdown Debate – Who's OP Now? (Devs will love this one!)
• Trivia Contest for Fun and Profit
• How to Run a Fab Fansite
• Why Dwarves Should Rule the World (ok, ok, so I added that one myself)
• The Vanu Sovereignty: A Pre-History of Domination in PlanetSide and PlanetSide 2

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR MOST AWESOME SOE LIVE SESSION:

Deadline: 11:59pm PDT on Friday, September 14, 2012.

Please email us at communityevents@soe.sony.com with the following information:

1. TITLE of SESSION:
2. Is this a lecture or panel?
3. Is this session specific to a single SOE game? If so, please specify!
4. Session Description (30-100 words):
5. Will you have a PowerPoint presentation or other media?
6. Speaker information
   1. Name:
   2. Station Name:
   3. Tell us a little about yourself:
7. For each Panelist (up to three in addition to the main speaker):
   1. Name:
   2. Station Name:
   3. Bit of info:

Yes, you may submit more than one idea!  We'll respond to your email during the following week after we review all submissions, whether or not yours is selected.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to welcome you all as guest speakers at SOE Live this year!