Learn Na'vi Dragon*Con Panel?

[Robert Nantangä Tirea]

Ma frapo, kaltxì ulte fpomhu lu!

I attended Dragon*Con in 2007 and was blown away by the epicness of it. Despite my lack of ability to go these past two years, I have made the ardent and undaunting decision that I WILL be going again this year (native Na'vi costume GO!  ).

Recently it occured to me the idea of having a panel for learnnavi.org. It would be fun to run and a way to attract fellow speakers, but more importantly I think it would be a significant step toward giving the Na'vi language that "pop culture" credibility and significantly raised respect from the non-AVATAR fanbased.

This is not a light suggestion, and as of now I am only making in the slightest of off-handed ideas. To make something like this happen we would need:
1) Clearance from FOX/Lightstorm?/Cameron subsidaries that display and distrobution of language material would not infringe on any rights (Redtape aside, I don't forsee this being a problem on the logistics level, as wikipedia thanks to Frommer's blessing has sort of evolved as a first-source and no one is trying to shut the page down. As well, the presence of this website is testiment ot the fact that dristrobution of knowledge about the language is not illegal. I'm not a lawyer, so I'm unqualified to make any broad claims about Dragon*Con however.)

2) Contact/arrangements/registration/fees?/and more contact with the Dragon*Con administration. Dragon*Con doesn't run on the goodness of the hearts of people who like to cosplay. Panel application to Dragon*Con will no doubt involve fees of likely somewhat substantial ammounts and the funding for this must be arranged. An indepth examination of the process for creating, applying, setting up, and running a panel needs to be investigated and outlined. Attendance in general is not free (even press pay for attendance), or even cheap.

3) Staffing/running/materials supply needs to be arranged. I have the joy of living 30-minutes from downtown Atlanta, enabling me to attend at relatively no impact to my life or transportation needs. It's unlikely however that we could staff it entirely out of Atlanta, meaning anyone who would be interested in participating would need to be willing to pay for their own transportation costs/attendance. This is certainly not out of the ordinary as Dragon*Con is so nationally acclaimed that it receives participation from a fanbase across the US and even the world. You just need to be willing to have your wallet in hand.

4) Coordination Point would need to be selected. Depending on residency arrangements, we would need some point to serve as a staging local for meetup, discussions, and materials organization. We can't just have half a dozen people showing up and hoping everything makes it to the same place.

5) Panel Materials would need to be designed and produced. Things such as flyers or papers or introductory learning materials etc etc would need to discussed and produced prior to exhobition. Keep in mind that panels are not vendors as well we would need to maintain the status of a not-for-profit group. This doesn't mean however that couldn't offer a "catelog" so to speak that details what items (shirts/mugs/bumperstickers/ooooh mousepads anyone?) are available through Seabass's Online Store site.

General Info:
Dragon*Con - D*C is a sci-fi, fantasy and pop culture convention that happends in early September. Fans from many genres such as:
scifi (starwars, startrek, battlestar, stargate, firefly, AVATAR? )
fantasy (lord of the rings, lion the witch and the wardrobe)
anime (EVERYTHING)
video games (halo, kingdom hearts, WoW, final fantasy)
tabletop/card gaming (pokemon, magic, warhammer)
... and many many more attend every year from around te world. There's a little something for everyone and defenitely TOO MUCH to see in the 4 days the convention runs. The entirety of the basement of one of the 3 hotels the convention spans is devoted to the vendors who offere everything from custom made art/weapons/crafts to movie props, comics, action figures.

Panels - They encompass a broad variety of subjects and interests, and there's something for everyone. Some sample panels include:
demonstrations by martial arts experts who show off their skill as well as teach different moves and skills
Anime/AMV viewing, discussions, and and contests
Do-it-yourself advice and tips for costume and a variety of activities.
expositions to show off new products or works
discussions with producers/actors on past and future content.
building/displaying/demonstrating robots
book readings
Science and Fantasy discussions
"Tracks" are collections of panels releated to a similar subject. Dragon*Con also carries a "theme" each year and sometimes this can influence it's primary tracks/panels. A Learn Navi panel would probably fall under "Main Programming" track which is the rest of the non-themed or related panels and miscellaneous subjects.

Other large parts of Dragon*Con include the Parade, Masquerade, costume contests, guest apperances.




ON A FINAL NOTE:
Obviously this is a lot to take in and would be a huge undertaking. As well, when something gets scary big it's very easy for your brain to try to convince you it's not a good idea and would never work out. So basicly, just let me know your thoughts about it and keep it in the back of your mind to mull over. Maybe it's a good idea, maybe not. Maybe it needs another year to mature or will it just be passed off and passed off and forgetten in time.

[Ftiafpi]

Looks like fun but I'm too far away for something like that and, while I could afford it, would rather save the money for other hobbies. Plus I doubt I'd have my costume ready by then.

Oh well, good info (except you forgot the location) and I would love to see this happen.

[Txur’Itan]

Dragoncon has a website with information. Atlanta, GA.

http://www.dragoncon.org/location.php

That is a big planning thing.  I would consider going...  It is far enough out to get cheap plane tickets.

[Nume fpi sänume]

I would also consider going, but before I bought a ticket or anything, I would first want to make sure that we had everything in place/organized. I also have some other things going on in life that may bar me from being able to attend, which is why I cant say "yes im going" until probably a month, maybe two, beforehand.

[omängum fra'uti]

I don't know if DragonCon does these sort of things, but at Baycon aside from panels they also have what they call BOFs - Bords of a Feather - for people of like minds to get together in a smaller peer to peer setting rather than a larger formal panel environment.  If you don't think the resources are available, a smaller setting like that might not be a bad idea as well.

If you do think the idea of a full panel could be workable, I wouldn't mind seeing (and/or doing) something similar at the cons I attend, so this might be something good to figure out as a group, how to approach convention panels such as this should they happen.  Obviously within the time frame of a panel you're not going to get much across to people as far as learning, so I see it sort of as more of a whet the appetite sort of thing...  Give a few common phrases, talk about pronunciation, maybe touch some of the interesting grammatical aspects (Without going into anything too foreign to English speakers)...  Depending on the skill level of the panelists perhaps include some translation of sentences for attendees.  Then maybe have fliers and/or cards to hand out with some useful Na'vi information on one side and information on learnnavi.org on the other...

That was what I had in mind anyway.

It may also be interesting to do a more general conlang type thing, which might be an easier sell for something to fill the precious convention space with.  Invite someone to represent Klingon, Elvish, and perhaps some other not so sci-fi conlangs...  (Esperanto, lojban, etc...)

I think it's time I pinked the programming staff at my local convention again, since I never got a response last time. :/

[Txur’Itan]

Sounds like omängum fra'uti has a plan.

[omängum fra'uti]

Or I fake it really well.

[Payoang]

Man, and I was hoping for a plan that didn't involve martyrdom.

[Robert Nantangä Tirea]

If you do think the idea of a full panel could be workable, I wouldn't mind seeing (and/or doing) something similar at the cons I attend, so this might be something good to figure out as a group, how to approach convention panels such as this should they happen.  Obviously within the time frame of a panel you're not going to get much across to people as far as learning, so I see it sort of as more of a whet the appetite sort of thing...  Give a few common phrases, talk about pronunciation, maybe touch some of the interesting grammatical aspects (Without going into anything too foreign to English speakers)...  Depending on the skill level of the panelists perhaps include some translation of sentences for attendees.  Then maybe have fliers and/or cards to hand out with some useful Na'vi information on one side and information on learnnavi.org on the other...

Precisely, precisely. And what you mentioned about the calfornia con, I would be willing to travel to somewhere else to assist/participate in a a different con if the logistics worked out in it's favor. It doesn't have to be tied to only D*C, this was simply the largest con that I was most familiar with.

[omängum fra'uti]

Ugh, well I wouldn't recommend coming to help with my idea this year...  I was just looking for contact information and I think I found why my previous email was not answered.  It looks like there was a huge shakeup in some of the staff due to some disagreement with the corporate owners of the convention...  So I'm not sure what will be going on this year.

[Txen Seri Unil]

Kaltxi!

Irayo for starting this thread! I have never been to Dragon*Con but I've been to plenty of cons in (GenCon multiple times, PAX, DDXP, to name a few) and was glad to learn how gigantic and wonderful Dragon*Con is!

(Edit: Removed because I was confused about which convention omängum fra'uti was referring to.)

Even if we can't get a panel at Dragon*Con (though that would be epic!) I'm sure we could have an 'unofficial' get together perhaps we could even have a big party! Conventions are all about the parties anyway.

Eywa ngahu,
Txen Seri Unil

[omängum fra'uti]

The shakeup I was talking about was not Dragon*Con, it was another con in my area I was referring to.

[Txen Seri Unil]

The shakeup I was talking about was not Dragon*Con, it was another con in my area I was referring to.

Deleted! Thanks for the clarification.

Eywa ngahu,
Txen Seri Unil

[GoldenMaia]

I am /so/ there for Dragon*Con and would love to meet other Na'vi there   !!  I so want to make a costume, but how in the heck are people going to do it?  Body paint?  Help?

I could make it to BayCon too--and would certainly make a plan to go (It's only a couple hours from me) if there was going to be Avatar/Na'vi goodness there.

[Eaite Randjam]

I am /so/ there for Dragon*Con and would love to meet other Na'vi there   !!  I so want to make a costume, but how in the heck are people going to do it?  Body paint?  Help?

We have a very lovely subforum for costume ideas here: http://forum.learnnavi.org/cosplay-costuming/

[gary7]

:)hi allow me to introduce myself,im Gary and i would love to see somekind of Navi panel at Dragoncon this year or at the very least a meetup
the skinny on Dragoncon is this,the convention is organized by fan groups and interests,rough guess the Avatar/Navi community would fit into the American science fiction sub grouping,a quick email to the main con organizers would solve that group problem and there are all kinds of meeting groups that do events at Dragoncon,it as others obeserve is a LARGE convention,i would like to meet you guys even if in an unofficial grouping,i already have a room at The Hyatt for the week,but i will tell you most of th ehost hotels are already booked

[gary7]

i may also be best reached at my email [email protected]