What I'd like to see at ANY convention...

...Is a panel or presentation on HOW to speak extemporaneously. There are 2 great story tellers who frequent our conventions. Jim Groat is the other ne - just watch as a crowd settles around him in a lobby, when he is not in the dealrer's room selling stuff. But Jim just tells tales, and sometimes I suspect that the details change depending on the reaction of the audience.

The true master, however, is AnthroCon's chairman. I don't know what preparation he actually puts into his story hour, though he does make reference to a 3x5 card for memory aids or for points of order in the presentation - but it is the WAY that he effectively conveys the ideas and the settings and the moods, and with a great economy of words - he chooses just the right words and uses no more, like fine writing. He either does this through expert rehearsals, or he has just developed a habit of being concise and direct in his speech and thought.

Either way - I notice that many fans have great difficulty getting any idea or message across when they speak with someone. Conversationalists, we are not. But I am sure that something could be done, tips offered, a panel established, that can make us better and more interesting communicators.

I don't expect a panel that can make us all master storytellers, - but perhaps something that can make us a bit more glib, or at least at ease with the idea of speaking before others.