Prompted by a recent email and phone call, I realize it is past time that I post my expected programming schedule for next week's convention. As Fan Guest of Honor, I asked them to load me up with as many program items as they thought I would be a good fit for, so this is more than I usually do, but not at all an unreasonable amount.

Schedule is preliminary and certainly subject to change. Descriptions may well be just the first draft as well, but they look fine to me.

Thursday, Feb 11

Opening Ceremonies - 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm - Ravinia A, B
Welcome to Capricon 30: Celebration. Join us as we kick off this year's event and get some idea of what to expect, meet our GoHs, and meet the people who make it all possible.

Celebrating Local Artists - 9:00 pm to 10:30 pm - Birch A
Home to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, our city has produced a plethora of great SF artists, from J. Allen St. John to Randy Broecker. Come and learn about the rich artistic heritage of Chicago and learn which current artists call our city home.
Alice Bentley, Walt Boyes, Curtis Taitel

Friday, Feb 12

Anime: Giving Voice To Animated Characters - 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm - Elm
There is a lot that goes into creating a successful anime character. Not only must the look be right for what the character does, but the voice must also match. In same cases, this is obvious, you wouldn't want James Earl Jones to provide the voice of Sailor Moon, but what type of girl's voice do you want? How do you determine what vocal qualities will make an anime character an instant classic?
Brian Babendererde, Alice Bentley, Rana George, Daniel Levin ,Tim Vaulato

What Technical Advances Will be Accepted by the General Population? - 10:00 pm to 11:30 pm - Birch A
Are there certain kinds of technical advances that are more likely to be accepted by the general population than others?
Alice Bentley, Dermot Dobson, Jim Plaxco

Saturday, Feb 13

Celebrating the Greatest Villains in SF and Fantasy - 11:30 am to 1:00 pm - Ravinia B
From Snidely Whiplash to Darth Vader, the villains are frequently the most interesting characters in science fiction and fantasy. What draws us to the men in black? Are they more nuanced than the heroes? Is it our hidden desire to break the rules? Or is it that black capes are the height of fashion.
Alice Bentley, Dave McCarty, Kathryn Sullivan, Tim Vaulato

The Best in On-line Comics - 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm - Birch A
Alice Bentley, Mike Cole, Deb Kosiba

A Look Back At The Earliest Capricons - 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm - Ravinia A
Some of the people who were there at the beginning talk about Capricon I (the con, not the movie). Hear old stories of those days of long ago.
Alice Bentley, Dina Krause, Phoenix, Neil Rest, Joseph Stockman

Bookstores Through the Years - 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm - Elm
What economic and social trends allow independent bookstores to thrive. What is the future of the big-box stores? If they go belly-up, what will take their place?
Alice Bentley, Greg Ketter, Dina Krause

Sunday, Feb 14

Closing Ceremonies - 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm - Ravinia A, B
All good things must come to an end and that includes Capricon 30, the best Capricon you'll attend in 2010. But come to closing ceremonies to help us ring out the old con and usher in the new when the Cap31 chair gives a hint of what will happen when we convene in 2011.

I hope to see a lot of you there!