With most conventions and gatherings being cancelled and/or reconfigured to online venues which means they are Vegas events or “where you are” events. Here is a less than comprehensive list of offerings (with a couple live events sprinkled in). I will update the list as things come to my attention. [List in Reverse Chronological Order, Pacific Time zone used]
December 17-20, 2020 Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend. As of this writing the Olympia Expo and competition is still selling tickets. It has moved to a new venue this year, Planet Hollywood for the main competitions and Sands Expo for the Expo. We’ll see if this remains, as most indoor events are cancelling or postponing.
October 24, 2020 – 9am-6pm – Las Vegas Book Festival – Annual event, unknown if event will be held, little information on the website about this years event. Will update if event confirmed or alternate virtual event planned.
October 9, 2020 noon – Rebel Recharge – The History and Legacy of the Las Vegas Showgirl – Su Kim Chung, Nancy Hardy. Learn about the glamorous past of the Las Vegas Strip through historic photos and documents drawn from the UNLV Libraries Special Collections & Archives.
October 8-11, 2020 – New York Comic Con – Presenting virtually, a little unclear if events are planned to all be on youtube, or if other platforms will be used. An August event was at the metaverse, so you can find the metaverse for yourself and let us know what you discover.
September 24-28, 2020 – DC Jazzfest. The festival will be streamed live from our Nation’s Capital from Thursday, September 24 through Monday, September 28 featuring world-class jazz programming to a global stage for the very first time. Lineup includes Danilo Perez, Marc Cary, Matthew Whitaker, Allyn Johnson and Sonic Sanctuary, Frédéric Yonnet, The String Queens, Ben Williams, Christie Dashiell, Nasar Abadey Trio, Jack Kilby & The Front Line, Baby Rose, Cecily, The Chuck Brown Band, Blacks’ Myths, Giveton Gelin, Allison Au, Heidi Martin, and Herb Scott.
September 22, 2020 4:30pm – Syracuse University Lectures – Wilmer Valderrama is the first speaker for this fall series. More information on other fall guest speakers are available at the link. Series events typically take place on campus, but – following public health guidance due to the COVID-19 pandemic – this fall’s lectures will all be virtual, viewable via Zoom. And audience members will be able to submit questions for consideration as part of the experience, time permitting. Connection information will be provided closer to each event.
September 17, 2020 6:00 am – 9:00 am – 15th Annual De Jong Lecture in Social Demograghy – The New Reality at the Mexico-U.S. Border, presentation and discussion from Penn State University.
September 17, 2020 7pm – Visualizing Space Exploration: AR, VR & Emerging Tech – Brian White, host. How Augmented Reality, Virtual reality, and other forms of Mission Ops visualization can influence our Public Outreach and vice versa. As we delve deeper into the synergy of this work, we will see how it affects the way we design our spacecraft and the way we look at the world. Other lectures can be seen at JPL’s Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series website.
September 12-20, 2020 – PAX Online Penny Arcade Expo. Online with three channels of programming. Video Game culture thought they needed an expo of their own in 2004.
September 12, 2020 10am start – DC Fandome – The event that was planned for August 22 was split into two 24 hour online events. The schedule is at the link.
September 11, 2020 noon – Rebel Recharge – “Spiritual Leadership in the Workplace” – Dr. Anthony Gatling – Given the increasing population of people identifying as spiritual, but not religious, and the difficult challenges existing in today’s workplace, it is important to consider how spirituality works in the workplace (at the individual, group, and organizational levels). In his research, Dr. Gatling explores the effects of workplace spirituality and he will share his findings and practical implications related to the employee, leader, and organizational perspectives.
September 3-7, 2020 Dragon Con. Virtual event planned, a little unclear on what platform is being used, but that information may come out the closer we get to Sept 3. A multi-media, pop culture convention focusing on science fiction & fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe – and the best place to celebrate all of these things with fellow fans on Labor Day Weekend.
August 30 – September 6, 2020 Burning Man 2020: the Playa will be empty this year, but apparently there is going to be some sort of online event, dates are a little vague. The website did have a countdown that indicated first week of September.
August 27-30, 2020 – GamesCom 2020. Online virtual and free this year. Annual conference in Cologne, Germany featuring video game companies bringing their upcoming titles to show their marketing muscle.
August 26, 2020 noon- Virtual Lab Notes – “Gods of Power: How Nuclear Energy Will Save the Planet” with Dr. Jason Steffen. Scientists and experts agree that significant changes need to be made in the near future to help combat climate change and reduce the effects of greenhouse gases. The question, however, remains, how do we reduce what we put into the environment and to raise and sustain the quality of life for people in the US and around the world? UNLV Physicist, Dr. Jason Steffen, has been researching the benefits of nuclear power, and how, by making it a staple in our lives, we can curb the effects of climate change and help to protect and preserve the planet we love.
UK Games Expo: August 21-23; if you missed GenCon, then you can catch what is going on in the UK. Don’t know too much about this one, we’ll see what is happening across the pond.
DC Fandome: After Comic-Con@Home last week (where you can still watch the panels on YouTube), on August 22 at 10 am DC Comics does their thing for 24 hours – Virtually.
Penn State Stuckeman School Lecture Series– Architectural and design talks will be virtual until further notice.
Two Party Conventions: The DNC starting August 17, is looking to be virtual this year, don’t know how the system is set up and what you can observe, what registration looks like but you can follow the link. The RNC starting August 21 is looking like a scaled down live event, but who knows if they decide to stream in the days leading up to it. Missed the Green Party (July 9-12) and Libertarian Party Conventions (May 22-24); but you have Howie Hawkings and Jo Jorgensen for your choice in November. We’ll see if any candidate shares a debate stage with the Republican and Democratic candidate in the coming months.
World Science Festival: The May event in New York was canceled, online material has been placed on their website. It continues to be updating videos of different talks. WorldScienceU is also available with interesting topic series.
DefCon 28: August 6-9, it will be hosted on twitch, youtube, discord, etc. Didn’t see any registration details, looks to be come as you are. The Virtual conference is being described as “Safe Mode with Networking” This event usually runs back to back with Blackhat, but now from the comfort of your own home- no coding in your hotel room with your mobile setup.
Blackhat 2020: August 5-6, registration for Business passes are available for free now. Another Las Vegas convention that canceled and went virtual.
Gen Con: July 30-August 2, the Indianapolis gaming convention that got it’s name from Geneva (Wisconsin) is online this year. Interesting stuff if you are or were interested in D&D or other roleplaying games. Some events are free, but most game sessions have a nominal price attached to them.
UNLV Virtual Lab Notes: A monthly talk by the college of sciences from UNLV. You can check the link to see when the August talk is posted.
Join us as we step into the lab with the UNLV College of Sciences best researchers in Virtual Lab Notes. Top faculty, researchers, and scientists in the UNLV College of Sciences will take some time each month to present their award-winning research to the community. Virtual Lab Notes is designed to engage with the community-at-large and present College of Sciences faculty members as experts in the various sciences taught at UNLV. Topics discussed will include everything from biology to chemistry, physics to astronomy, geology, and even math!
Rebel Recharge: An lunch time presentation (may be for Alumni only, don’t know) with interesting topics.
Join the UNLV Alumni Association for the inaugural season of Rebel Recharge. This dynamic new program is a ten-month lunch-and-learn series featuring engaging and timely topics designed to stimulate conversation and develop new skills. The series is presented by faculty, staff, and alumni of UNLV and is open to all who would like to attend.
UNLV Virtual Events Calendar: Here is a new calendar on UNLV’s website, should be updated as events get finalized.
Varsity Tutors: Presentations, some free, are offered for k-12 and college prep over a variety of subjects. We found when schools went online and looking for interesting presentations for the kids. They even have “Virtual Summer Camp” 1-hr per day for 5 days that were interesting, I think most of those offerings have passed.
Free Comic Book Day Summer: This began a few weekends ago, the 2020 titles are being shipped in small batches every week to participating stores. Take a look at the website if you have an interest in any of the books and then you can see when they should be available. You’ll have to leave your house for this one, and buy something while you’re there to support your local shop.
Free MLB.TV subscription : Received this link a few weeks ago. So it should work for a free MLB.TV subscription. This is not an advertisement or paid endorsement, just thought someone might like a free subscription. You can also get a year free if you are a T-Mobile customer and follow their promotion.
Hopefully, one day we will live in a world where people understand feedback and having two devices running the teleconference near each other is not entertaining for those interested in the presentation.
ChaSch 