Panel Scheduling at SF conventions:

[jeffreyab]

Prompted by a friend's post I had this thought about scheduling panels at conventions:

I think 1 hour panels with half hour breaks might work.

IE 9 to 10

10:30 to 11:30

12 to 1

1:30 to 2:30

Etc.

This gives panelists time between back to back panels.

Allows for over runs

Gives people time to go shopping or get something to drink and eat.

Comments

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

Half an hour between panels isn't enough time to eat or hit the dealers' room. Unless panels are really far apart and people need the time to get there, a half-hour break means that people will be sitting around waiting for the next panel to start. Except they won't; they'll go away and find something else to do.

Lunch and dinner breaks are worse. You don't want to have large blocks of time with nothing for people to do. People don't all want to eat at the same hour, and if they did, the restaurant would be overcrowded at meal times and emptier the rest of the time; better for people to stagger their mealtimes.

Most people don't want to see something in every single timeslot, so it's easy to find time to eat or do other things.