The Virtual Symposium Returns: Let’s Pick A Topic!

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Our seventh virtual symposium Participants List for The Seventh Virtual Symposium Inspiration What Inspires Us To was the biggest yet, featuring 45 participants. It also marks the first polyglot symposium: Francophones participated for the first time, adding their voices to an international community which features contributors from Greece, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Canada, and that country one encounters when, in the words of John Lennon, one turns left at Greenland. I’m sure I’ve left a country or two out… Ireland, perhaps? Apologies to those I haven’t included here.

We even picked up a few scoops of newbies, thanks largely to previous participants pimping the symposium on their blogs. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who promoted it!

Ready for the eighth? Let’s pick one topic from those listed below, and on the morning of Sunday, May 24 I’ll provide a central landing page which will have links to all contributors’ offerings. No matter which topic we ultimately choose, I hope folks will interpret it as broadly as befits their personalities. Essays, fantasies, poems, image collages, other artwork – the wilder the interpretation, the better!

On the morning of Sunday, May 24, I’ll start a placeholder post, and as participants put their contributions up, I’ll look for their notifications and incorporate links into that central post. Participants are encouraged to note in their posts that they’re part of a communal effort: Doing so allows someone who stumbles on one such blog item to enjoy as many of our pieces as he/she wants… and further strengthens a sense of virtual community.

The only two rules are: A ) Please post as early on the chosen day as possible, to allow for maximum exposure (and, quite frankly, so I’m not glued to my desk all day), and B ) the posts should be entirely original, as opposed to commenting on other posts from the topic. Ideally, posts should be created beforehand, and put on the site on the designated day. (The comments sections, of course, would be fair game!)

A suggestion: Participants may want to refer to either the virtual symposium or the topic itself in their headline. Not a requirement – there are no requirements, save for originality and participation – but a suggestion which will let the wide blog community know what we’re doing. They should definitely let me know, once they’ve posted, that they’ve done so in the comments section on the blog: I get those notifications faster than through the site email system.

And… this is not a contest. No souvenir mugs will be sent, nor ribbons or bling awarded. The idea here is for those interested to, on a single day, offer an interpretation of a single topic for the sheer fun of it.

By all means, encourage other bloggers to participate – and to let me know they’re doing so, either through this post or via email, so on May 24 I can link to their posts. Oh, and consider this permission – nay, encouragement – to the symposium and link back to this post! I’d like to make sure folks interested in participating have the opportunity to do so. , , – and remember, pimping is a great way to influence your topic of choice.

Electioneering is perfectly legal, here… so feel free to leave reactions, persuasive arguments, and snide asides (about topics, but NOT bloggers) in the comments section below.

So what topic will we use for the next virtual symposium? I’ve listed four – I think they’re general enough that, whichever one we end up choosing, most folks should be comfortable offering reactions. One has been generating considerable pre-vote buzz… and naughty person that I am, I was tempted to leave it off and make folks write it in, for the sheer joy of seeing whether a write-in candidate could win. Why didn’t I do so? Because I have no desire to be hung from the highest yardarm in the blogosphere…

At any rate, here are the choices. Feel free to electioneer in the comments, below, for any you find particularly compelling.

Voting for the topic will close at end-day on Monday, May 18.

that vote -- newbie participants are always welcome!

Thank you in advance for your participation! And yes, reading and enjoying counts as participation. Pick that topic!