CONfabulation

Thanks again to everyone who submitted programming for CONfab 2026, as well as to those of you who voted on what you want to see this year. The schedule will be released in early October, but for now we have a list of everything that you'll see at this year's CONfab below the cut, organized by programming type and alphabetical by current title. If the title doesn't make it clear what the programming is, we've provided a little context in [brackets]. Onto the list!

Panels
Family Comes First [the incest panel]
Fic Rec Friday
Hockey for Heated Rivalry Fans
I Ain’t New to This: I’m True to This: When Your Longtime Type Becomes a Trend
Is It Old Man Yaoi?
It's Dot Com! How A Children's Book Named Homestar Runner Took Over The Internet 20 Years Ago
Refining Your TBR

Group Discussions
2026 Books In Review
BloodyMary (with optional rocks!) [Project Hail Mary/Iron Lung]
Broadway Adaptations Tier List
Fannish Food, Cooking, and Eating [tie-in cookbooks, etc.]
Grace Rocky Save Stars [Project Hail Mary]
Heated Rivalry - Past, Present, and Future
Only Fangs [Vampire Fandoms]
Ryan Gosling Cinematic (& TV) Universe
Star Trek Fandom: 60 Years of Boldly Going
To Binge or Not To Binge [binge watching vs. weekly watching]

Workshops
Beaded Bezel Button Workshop
Intro to Amigurumi
Make Friends and Friendship Bracelets
Notebook Making
Plushie Workshop: Poke Some Fun At Yourself!
Speakeasy: Flashdrive Exchange [*insert pirate flag emoji*]
Your Art Is Junk! [Junk Journaling]

If you missed your chance to submit programming for this year's con, or if new fannish interests come up before October that you want to talk about, we will have flash panel signups during the con itself. Hour long time slots will be available each day, first come, first served.

We're still accepting activity submissions! Activities can include group games, watches of movies or TV, themed vid shows, and more. They're hosted in CONfab meeting spaces on Friday from 7-11pm or Sunday from 3-6pm. You can submit your activities using this form.

Next up, our Saturday Night Dance Party! This year's theme is Gothic Horror. You don't have to get dressed up, but you are welcome to use the theme as a jumping off point to plan a fun outfit or a costume. Or, just come in your pajamas; we don't mind. :D

You can register for CONfab 2026 and find details about the hotel on our website. We're looking forward to seeing you there!

Haven't registered yet? No problem!

Register here!

Hello everyone, your Programming Team here with some announcements!

Programming submission time is almost here! Submissions will open on Wednesday July 1, 2026 and close on Sunday, July 26, 2026. We are accepting submissions for any of our three types of programming: panels, group discussions, and workshops, all of which will be hosted in two tracks on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the convention. Sessions are held in 50-minute blocks with a 10-minute break in between. After the submission period ends, attendees will be able to vote on what programming they want to see.

To get you started, here's a handy guide to the types of programming we have (note: both panels and group discussions can include single fandom topics or more general/multi-fandom topics):

Panels: Presentation by 1-4 panelists, including a moderator to guide the panelists, ensure the panel runs on time, and lead the audience Q&A (this can be the same as the presenter if only one person wants to run the panel). Choose this format if you'd like to have a more structured presentation with specific times for taking audience questions. Previous panels have included problematic faves, the OTW, sex writing, D&D, and video game adaptations.

Group Discussions: Roundtable conversation led by 1-2 facilitators. More loosely formatted than a panel. Choose this format if you don't want to do a formal presentation, and instead want the entire program to be a conversation between the facilitator(s) and attendees. Previous group discussions have included hyping small fandoms, fictional detectives, fidget toys, Interview With the Vampire, Greek mythology, and incest.

Workshops: A hands-on experience! If you want to teach attendees a skill or game, this is the format you want! If you think you'll need more than fifty minutes for your workshop, you may request a second time slot, either as one double-sized workshop or two separate sessions. Previous workshops have included crafting together, plushie making, embroidery tutorials, kandi bracelet making, upcycling clothing, and improv.

We look forward to hearing your amazing ideas for programming! We will be accepting submissions for all types of programming from everyone, whether or not you have already registered for the con. This is your chance to get the programming you want by submitting your ideas. What are you excited about? Share it with the group!

Comment on this post with your programming ideas and questions. Find friends and strangers to help you flesh out your ideas, or offer assistance in planning your presentation, and get ready to submit your proposals starting on July 1! A new post will go up here with submission instructions and a link to the submission form on Wednesday, July 1.

The comments on this post will be open throughout the submission period, so feel free to use it as a resource and a sounding board for new ideas that you want a second opinion on before submitting. We can't wait to see what you come up with.

Did you know there’s a dedicated channel in our Discord for brainstorming? You can drop ideas there at any time, but we’ll also be hosting live brainstorming sessions throughout the month of June if people would prefer to talk their ideas out. The events will be on our Discord calendar.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment on this post, or email the Programming team at programming@confabcon.com. We're happy to be a sounding board!

Just dropping in this Saturday to remind you that before long the price for CONFab 2026 will be rising.

But there's still time to register at the lowest rate! CONfab is being held October 22-25, 2026 at the SpringHill Suites Chicago O'Hare!

Don't procrastinate! We don't want you suffering from fomo!

Click here to register for confab at our lowest price of the year!

It's time! Registration is officially open for the 2026 CONfab, to be held on October 22-25th at the Springhill Suites O'Hare in Chicago!
Register now with the Early Bird Special at $145!

Click here to register!

CONfab 2026 will be held in-person in Chicago, IL at the Springhill Suites Chicago O'Hare from October 22-25, 2026! More information about pricing, registration, and programming to come. We're really looking forward to seeing you in Chicago this fall!

Vid show submissions are open!

If you have a vid, or you want to make a vid, that you would like us to include on our playlist, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/wqKxbWQFyfC3nxVi6

Submissions will close September 28.

We need the Drama, the Angst, the Slash!

Hello fellow fanpersons, your Programming Team here with some announcements!

We will be accepting programming submissions for this year’s Virtual CONfab starting on Monday, June 30, 2025 and closing on Sunday, July 13, 2025. We will have two tracks of panels over three days: All day Friday and Saturday, with evening time slots available for attendee-run activities, and Sunday morning, with the afternoon reserved for more attendee-run activities.

After the submission period ends, all programming will be voted on and chosen by you, the attendees, as usual. Activities will not be voted on unless we receive a very large volume of submissions and need help narrowing them down. You will basically be signing up for time slots to host your activities (read more about this below!).

All panels will run in 45-minute time slots with 15-minute breaks in between. All panels can have multiple presenters, and the con will provide a volunteer to assist with modding, monitoring the chat, etc. Here's a handy guide to the types of panels we have to get you started:

• Multi-fandom Topics — Programming about a topic that applies to multiple fandoms (tropes, vintage fandoms, RPF, diversity in media, book recs/genre discussion, femslash, incest) or a more general fandom universe that has multiple smaller fandoms that fall under its umbrella (Star Wars, K-Dramas, Video Games, BL, the MCU/Marvel TV). Recent topics include aging characters, reading goals, monsterfucking, and finding community in modern fandom.



• Single-fandom Topics — Programming about a single fandom (like Stranger Things, Our Flag Means Death, Murderbot, The Last of Us, Interview With the Vampire, Critical Role, or Andor), or a niche topic within fandom.
  
  
• Workshops — Programming where attendees get a chance to learn something new or hone their skills. Past workshop topics have included things like live beta reading, cross-stitch, embroidery, fandom stitch 'n bitch, making fannish plushies, tabletop RPGs 101, and more, but they can be about anything you're interested in! If you submit a proposal for a workshop, you must be willing to run it. Workshop sessions also run for forty-five minutes, but if you feel like your workshop would benefit from more time, please let us know!

For activities, we will be providing a platform for you to organize and run group activities on Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sunday afternoon. Want to host a group watch of your favorite movie? Want to incept people into your TV fandom by showing the first couple episodes of the show? How about party games, like Gartic Phone, Codenames, Jackbox, Among Us, etc.? Or you could run a TTRPG one-shot! Or submit a themed vid show! The options are endless.

Activities will be allotted time slots based on the length of the activity, with breaks factored in. More details will be available when submissions open.

We look forward to hearing your amazing ideas for programming! Help make this year's Virtual CONfab an awesome experience! We will be accepting submissions for all types of panels from everyone, whether you have registered for the con yet or not, but you must have someone to run any activities you submit, whether it's you or someone else. This is your chance to get the programming you want by submitting your ideas. What are you excited about? Share it with the group!

Comment on this post with your programming ideas and questions. Find friends and strangers to help you flesh out your ideas, or offer assistance in planning your presentation; just make sure you get your submissions in before July 11!

The comments on this post will be open throughout the submission period, so feel free to use it as a resource and a sounding board for new ideas that you want a second opinion on before submitting. We can't wait to see what you come up with.

We also have a dedicated channel on our Discord to talk about programming ideas, so come join us there if you'd like!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment on this post, or email the Programming team at programming@confabcon.com. We're happy to be a sounding board!

The submission form and instructions on how to submit will be posted when programming submissions open on June 30.

Welcome to another year of CONfab! We're throwing a virtual party this year, and everyone is welcome!

The con is going to run from October 17th through the 19th on Discord and Zoom.

Registration starts 2 weeks from tomorrow on June 1st!

What is CONfab? It's a fan run multi-fandom conference. We have panels, games, trivia and so much more! It's a full weekend hanging out with fans from around the world and talking about the things you love.

Putting on a con every year is a lot of work, and we couldn't do it without your help! With that in mind, we're looking for some volunteers! If you're interested, please let us know on your registration form!

More information is to come, but for now, it's time to start getting excited and telling your fandom friends! We'd like to make this the best Virtual con we've had! (until the next one.)

We can't believe the con is in less than two months! What even is time?? We have a few programming-related announcements for you today.

Thanks again to everyone who submitted programming for CONfab 2024, as well as to those of you who voted on what you want to see this year. The schedule will be released in early October, but for now we have a list of everything that you'll see at this year's CONfab below the cut, organized by programming type and alphabetical by current title. If the title doesn't make it clear what the programming is, we've provided a little context in [brackets]. Onto the list!
( 2024 Programming List )

Next up, our Saturday Night Dance Party! This year's theme is Star Studded. You don't have get dressed up, but you are welcome to use the theme as a jumping off point to plan a fun outfit or a costume. Or, just come in your pajamas; we don't mind. :D

You can register for CONfab 2024 and find details about the hotel on our website. We're looking forward to seeing you there.

CONfab 2025 is a virtual convention, held on Discord. Here are the important dates to remember:

June 1 - Registration Opens
June 15 – Vid Show submissions open
June 30 – Programming submissions open


July 13 – Programming submissions close
July 25 – Programming voting opens

August 8 – Programming voting closes

September 1 – Vid show submissions close

October 17-19 – CONfab weekend!!!!!

Please check out our other posts in the community for links to registration, programming submissions/voting, and other things as those dates arrive. You can also find this information on our website! Any questions about the convention, please feel free to contact us at info@confabcon.com.