#WWCYYC2020 Online August 2020

Written by Jennifer Cockton

Community Connector, We Are Calgary and Founder of Online For Authors

Two weeks ago today, August 16th 2020, concluded the 1st online event of its kind, for readers and writers of the When Words Collide community. A 3 day festival, know as When Words Collide: A Calgary Readercon became an online reader/writer con, that for the previous 9 years was only held as an in person gathering. A gathering that brought a literary community of 800 people together, at the Delta Hotels Calgary South in Canada. 

On March 11th, 2020 when news hit and a global pandemic was declared, organizers had to make a heart wrenching decision, and the in person event was cancelled. This was happening to events around the world. Organizers, host location providers, volunteers, presenters and attendees were mandated not to gather. The plans for an epic 10th anniversary celebration were well on the way, and when the cancellation news was announced a community morned. 

As the days went on and news that the pandemic was not ceasing were increasingly evident, the WWC community came together. With out previous experience of hosting online events, facilitating or programming a new type of event began to come to life.  As hundreds of people had already set aside the 3 days to connect, it was decided, online event it is. Flabbergasting – the event was 100% volunteer operated and entirely free. 

“Tips for Attending an Online Meeting or Webinar” were shared with the 5 tracks of programming. Coming together were 100s of presenters and attendees, panelists, the Blue Pencil Cafe, Pitch Sessions, 1-1 consultations, the Aurora Awards ceremony, a Hidden Art Show, Merchants Corner, and a virtual pool party. As attendees we soaked it up like sponges, taking in as much as possible, online live. Most sessions were limited to 100 attendees and we all adapted and absorbed. The chatroom and Twitter lit up with conversations about #WWCYYC2020, for 3 days straight. 

The online event was not with out adversity. As with anything involving people, there were expectations to manage, and much to learn. When trolls hacked presentations, some were unhappy about the locking of rooms to prevent re-invasion.  Yes we were trolled, also known as ‘zoombooming’. What is it? It’s when an uninvited guest uses a public link that, if clicked, allow anyone to join. 

“Trolls have been collecting these links and sharing them in private chat groups, and then signing on to other people’s calls to cause mischief.” The Verge

It was handled with speed and professionalism. 

Randy McCharles https://randymccharles.com/ 

“Hello pandemic! Like all other large in-person events, our 2020 literary festival was cancelled. Undeterred, some events decided to move online. We thought we’d try it as well. After all, what could go wrong? 

Four highlights:

1. We Don’t Know What We’re Doing. We, the organizers, started an in-person festival in 2011 because we had all attended many and even helped organize a few. We felt confident and had strong ideas of how to go about it. However, none of us had any experience with online festivals or the tools required. We went about it as an experiment and waited to see how the chips fell. Fortunately, it didn’t blow up in our faces.
2. You Want It When? We spend almost 2 years planning and producing each in-person festival. For Online 2020 we had less than 4 months. By necessity, we did not attempt many things we might have had there been more time. Most of our effort was divided between choosing and learning to use online software, and working with volunteer presenters and online hosts to create content. We were still updating the program during the event.
3. Do Not Feed The Trolls. In-person festivals don’t have trolls and ghosts (crashers) very often. Going online, we underestimated the problem. Our hasty look into security revealed that any solution would be complex, onerous for the attendees, and could still admit trolls if they jumped through the same hoops legitimate attendees would need to. We opted instead to try a rudimentary deterrent of releasing URLs very late, and then buried in a PDF. This proved inadequate, and we did see the occasional troll. Our session hosts (most of whom were new to hosting) had to learn quickly how to identify and eject trolls.
4. To Err Is Human; To Really Foul Things Up Requires A Computer. Despite tech checks, there were some sound problems (tiny microphones; interesting background noises, speakers on mute, etc.), the occasional video glitch, and even hasty reissuing of new meeting URLs. A couple of times, a presenter’s Internet went down. But overall the technology Gods were kind, and attendees even kinder.

Every coin has two sides, so how about some very good things that came out of the festival?

1. 100% Volunteer Run. Our community did an excellent job of volunteering and putting on some high quality programming. We had hoped to put on 3 concurrent tracks of sessions, and ended up with 5. Over 30 people volunteered to host sessions. And over 100 presenters volunteered to provide content. Many attendees eagerly await the posting of reviewed and approved sessions to our YouTube channel. It is our presenters and online hosts who made the festival a success. I applaud their generosity.

2. A Free Lunch. We were able to offer the festival free of charge, something we wanted to do as a way of giving to the community during these difficult times. Because we did not require a registration system, the final cost of running the online festival was very low, and something we can manage with our rainy-day fund.

3. And There Was Much Rejoicing. Feedback from attendees, presenters, and hosts has been very positive. People enjoyed themselves, learned lots, saw distant friends (in the socials), and made new contacts. While there was no dollar cost to enjoy the festival, it was a large time commitment. People tell us it was time well spent.

4. Lessons Learned. We learned enough, and our attendees experienced enough, of how online festivals work, that we will be including online content going forward, even once we are able to resume in-person festivals. We envision having an online lead-up to the in-person festival, featuring select presenters who are unable to attend in person.

I think many will agree that the 2020 pandemic has changed the world. Remote meeting capability, which has been available for decades but hardly used, is now a staple of our society, and not just in business. Families and friends now keep in touch by video. Students en masse are receiving education online. Every “social” group I am a part of now has online instead of in-person meetings. I suspect some in-person literary conferences may move online permanently. When Words Collide will not. Our number one mandate is networking, and most of us would rather do that in person. Yet one cannot deny the benefits of the online experience. Our Online 2020 Festival had presenters from the U.S., Greece, and even India. A hybrid event offers the best of both worlds. Going forward, we’ll prudently add online content to our in-person festival. The world is now our oyster.”

As you can read, on theWhen Words Collide website, “…on August 14-16, 2020, a miracle happened.”

Testimonials only scratch the surface of what this new online experience was for the community. 

New relationships and old come together, against the odds, and had a fabulous online celebration weekend.

Here are a few, of the many, testimonials raving about the #WWCYYC2020 online event.

“What a wonderful online event this WWC was! 

My heartfelt thanks to Randy McCharles and all the organizers, volunteers, moderators, and hosts for putting in so much effort in making this happen despite ‘the virus that shall not be named’.

As many of you know, I was caught in India, watching in horror as the pandemic swept through the world while I was visiting my mum. My husband and dog are waiting for me in Black Diamond, and I’m 11,746 km away from them while the world burns.

So you can imagine how isolated I was feeling. 

But this online WWC got me out of my shell again, and I’m very grateful to all who made it possible. It was so wonderful meeting my Calgary writer buddies—friends from IFWA and ARWA—and making new friends from other parts of the country. 

Thanks also to Mark Leslie Lefebvre for the super awesome Aurora hosting, and to Joe Compton and Joshua Pantalleresco for the exciting pre-Aurora red carpet event. It was the proverbial darkest hour before dawn in India from where I was attending, and I was so sleepy and tired, and could barely string words together to form a sentence. But you made everyone feel so special that it was worth staying up for the fabulous time.

Special thanks to all the people who attended my panels and presentations. Your insightful questions energized me when ‘jet lag that was not literally a jet lag’ was dragging me down! 

A special round of hugs to all who stayed behind and actively listened to my ‘Science of Branding’ presentation, even though I had managed to delete the PowerPoint and had to wing it. I’ll recreate the slideshow soon and put it up for you on YouTube.

Hope you’re all getting good rest and enjoying the remaining days of summer. See you soon in person next year.”  Swati Chavda www.swatichavda.com

“Go Indie Now and myself, Joe Compton have been so fortunate to be invited to be a part of When Words Collide now 3 years in a row. While this year was unlike any other, the spirit, camaraderie, and essence of what the WWC is every year, were there. What makes this incredible weekend is not just the setting, it’s the community it has grown to be, and the number of opportunities to learn, network, and celebrate the written word are infinite. It doesn’t stop growing and this year especially a lot of people who have only ever heard me rave about it got to experience firsthand what is so magical about this weekend. That’s something Go Indie Now is very proud to be a part of and if we gave a little taste through the small bit that we had a hand in, to a world that hadn’t had that experience before, well we feel amazing to be able to celebrate something that has given us so much. It has not only given Go Indie Now so much but me, Joe Compton so much. I have made so many friends and always make new ones through this event and have new experiences and learn so much. I look forward to continuing the experiences and hopefully in person in 2021 and beyond. Thank WWC and everyone who we got the pleasure of speaking to, interacting with, and watching and learning from.”    Joe Compton, www.GoIndieNow.com

I typically attend between fifteen and twenty different writer conferences every year. When Words Collide has been, since I attended my first one in 2014, a consistently MUST-GO-TO conference in my annual schedule, and among the ones I rate at the very top. 

This year, though virtual, is no exception, because the heart, the dedication to learning and sharing, the community spirit, and the inclusiveness of the conference were all still there. Sure, it wasn’t the same getting to interact in person or one on one, but I came away with the same sense of warmth, inspiration, and with pages of notes of things I learned or needed to apply either to the craft or business of writing and publishing. 

Looking forward to WWC 2021, regardless of whether it’s an in person event in Calgary, or a digital/virtual event I attend from my home. I will be there. That you can count on. Mark Leslie Lefebvre http://markleslie.ca/

“This year’s version of When Words Collide was not average at all. No one attended the Delta Hotel. There were no in persons, meetings, presentations and panels. It was all digital. As an experience, it was unique. Everything was digital. I zoomed out my three presentations and my appearances on other shows went off by and large without a hitch. 

Zoom messed up my Advertising in the Apocalypse Panel, but otherwise it was seemless. Everyone put in a great effort on the WWC staff, and everyone chipped in to help everyone else. I actually attended a panel this year with Suzy Vadori, Jonas Saul, Dwayne Clayden and the last person (the agent ironically) escapes me.

The Aurora Awards was the highlight for me though. Mark Leslie did a fantastic job with them and made sure it went relatively well. There are some interesting applications this media could do to help make the awards feel bigger and more like an awards show. Some of the digital ideas were fantastic and the staff, as always did a marvellous job.

That said, I miss the fort night. I miss seeing people I only see once a year. I wish I could have seen them again. If there was one downer to this whole event, is that I do miss everyone and no screen can do that quality time justice.

Here’s hoping we go back in person next year. I plan to be there. Let’s do it proper next summer.” Joshua Pantalleresco https://jpantalleresco.podomatic.com/

“In a year where “normal” does not exist, it is so refreshing and rejuvenating when we can continue our social traditions, even if those look a little different than they used to.

When you work in isolation, it’s so important to know you are not alone. (The reality the world is living has been writers’ realities forever.)

This year’s When Words Collide literary conference, normally held at the Delta Calgary South, was just what I needed after five months of near-total hermitage at home. For me and the many writers like me, for whom this annual event is our chance to come out of our caves and meet with like-minded people who get our particular brand of weird, it may be what saves our sanity this year.

The best part? The conference was extraordinarily well-run, with the volunteer organizers, hosts, and presenters tackling a virtual conference and all the challenges that presented with the same creativity and enthusiasm they apply to their work. The variety and quality of the information was top-notch, as always, and there were plenty of social and networking events to connect and let our hair down. The atmosphere of the conference was overwhelmingly supportive, as always.

Virtual or in person, WWC is my favourite writing conference. I can’t recommend it highly enough.” 

Talena Winters www.talenawinters.com

“Randy (McCharles) and the organizers and volunteers did a great job. They saved our con, bringing together an engaging and informative slate of online sessions. It was great to see old friends and make some new ones.” 

P.D. Workman https://pdworkman.com/

Click to view:A review of When Words Collide on Amazing Stories.

In the true spirit of, the community that is, When Words Collide, the following words were taken from the When Words Collide website.

“Thank You One and All 

Monday 2020 August 17

On March 11, 2020 a global pandemic was declared that changed the world, and not for the better. Part of that change was the cancellation of large gatherings, including the annual When Words Collide festival. Then, on August 14-16, 2020, a miracle happened. The WWC community came together and put on a 3-day online festival. None of us knew what we were doing, but we reached out to the community, and the community reached back. With 5 tracks of programming, there was lots to choose from. Add to that opportunities to socialize and participate in Blue Pencil Cafe, Pitch Sessions, and 1-on-1 consultations. It was almost like being at the in-person festival. We even hosted the Aurora Awards. (Congratulations to the winners and finalists.) Thank you everyone who contributed to the festival, whether it be as a program participant, online host, or attendee. Thank you for making possible the festival that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

One of the benefits of an online festival is that most of the sessions were recorded. Some are available now. The rest will be made available over the coming days and weeks as they are processed. The Hidden Art Show and Merchants Corner will also remain open for the next little while. Check out the After Festival here.

2020 Aurora Awards Video  

Sunday 2020 August 16 

For those who missed it, here’s a link to the online Aurora Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to all the winners!

That’s All, Folks!

Sunday 2020 August 16

Another year, and another When Words Collide has wound to a successful conclusion. Thank you to everybody who went above and beyond to make this year’s festival a success despite the pandemic!

Inspirational Music with Lyrics “

The 2021 When Words Collide, August 13 to 15, 2021, is already 80.4% sold. We won’t be missing next year . Be sure to register and join this powerful literary community.