Far West Popular Culture Association

Thank you for your patience as we get all of the session videos and papers uploaded to the digital commons. If you have not already, please submit your paper to the digital commons. We will not be posting as frequently as we take the time to start planning for the next conference. We will keep you updated with any important information. In the meantime, please reach out with any questions and we hope to see you again next year!

For those of you who presented at the FWPCA 34th conference and have a paper to go along with your presentation, please upload your paper to the same portal that you used to upload your presentation and apply for the conference. Please upload as soon as possible so that we can publish the digital proceedings. Your paper will then become available to the public along with the recording of your presentation.

A BIG thank you to those of you who attended the 34th FWPCA conference. We appreciate those of you who shared your brilliant work and those who joined in as audience members. We could not have had such an amazing conference without you all. Please be on the lookout for more correspondence about getting your papers submitted for the digital proceedings. Thank you all again!

Hello everyone! It is conference week. For those of you that are located in Las Vegas, you have the option of going to "The Hard Row" and participating in some local popular culture. For the conference, we look forward to gathering Saturday remotely. Please let us know if you have any questions about the upcoming conference and we look forward to seeing you in less than a week!

Be on the lookout for the conference schedule which will be published soon. You will be organized by presentation categories. Much like an in-person conference, there will be multiple sessions occurring simultaneously. You will want to make sure you know when you are presenting. Along with knowing when you are presenting, make sure to check out other presentations you want to attend. We have presentations on Las Vegas, sports, media, and so much more.

We are looking forward to our virtual gathering in just a few weeks. Just a reminder if you are presenting you will be asked to present a 15-minute presentation with time for questions after. If you look back to last week's announcements you can see what we expect out of your visual aid. The abstract you submitted for the conference can be a useful starting point in thinking about how you would like to approach your presentation.

Remember to upload your presentation and final paper to the registration portal before the conference. After the conference, we will be able to attach these to the digital proceedings so that your work is public. If you have questions about this process please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected]

Using a visual aid during your presentation is a great way to engage with your audience. I personally use Powerpoint, but you can use any platform to create a visual aid. When making your visual aid for the conference make sure that you do not overcrowd your slides. Remember you want the audience to pay attention to you and not just read off your slides. Also, because we are dealing with popular culture this is a great opportunity to add pictures to help your audience visualize what you are talking about.

Now that our conference moved to the online format, it is time to get thinking about your presentation. The first thing you should consider is what presentation format you are most comfortable using. Then you will want to narrow your presentation to fit within a 10-15 minute window. Practice before the conference to see how long it takes you to get through your presentation. While presenting online is unconventional, we know from our previous conference that it does not take away from the amazing content you all are bringing.

We hope you all had an amazing holiday break! We are excited to be back and continue the countdown to our 34th annual FWPCA conference. We have just over 45 days before the conference. Over the next several weeks we will go over some strategies to get you prepared for the conference. This will also reflect the recent change to the virtual conference format. For those of you who had reservations made for hotels and flights, most places will refund you will proof of event cancelation. You can use the email we sent out discussing the move to a virtual conference as proof. Another important note is that we have extended the submission deadline until January 31st. If you have not already submitted you have some extra time. If you have any questions or if we can be of any help please reach out by commenting on this post or emailing us at [email protected].

Happy holidays to our FWPCA attendees and supporters. Thank you for contributing your time and knowledge. We hope you get to spend the holiday season with your loved ones. We will be taking a short break from posting updates to spend time with our families. We will resume posting on January 24th. After we get back from our break we will be in the final stretch before the conference. Those who have submitted can expect to be hearing back about submissions around that time. We still will be available over email if you have any questions or concerns. Again, Happy Holidays!

The conference is quickly approaching. We have a little under 3 months before we all get to join together to talk about popular culture. Remember to register for the conference as soon as possible to get the early bird pricing. We look forward to seeing you all soon!

The FWPCA proudly fosters an environment for all different types of conversations regarding popular culture. One of the sessions from the 33rd conference focused on how we learn from fiction. I think this session is a great example of how we can translate the information from our conference into new contexts. You may be a teacher, mentor, or parent trying to understand the impact popular culture can have on learning. Check out the digital proceedings to this session to gain some inspiration and see what amazing scholars our conference welcomes https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/fwpca/33rdannual/twothree/1/

The FWPCA fosters conversations in many areas of popular culture. One of the most fun presentation areas is "Comics". Visit the digital proceedings from the 33rd FWPCA conference to get some inspiration from some amazing scholars who talk about your favorite comics and Marvel heroes. You can see the video here: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/fwpca/33rdannual/fourthree/1/

This is just a reminder that you can register for our conference even if you are not presenting. If you are presenting you will need to register for the conference in addition to submitting your paper. We have early bird registration and if you register now your registration fee goes from $150 to $130. Please reach out with any questions. Use this link to register today: https://fwpca.square.site/

As you may have seen from last week's post, Dr. Bill Kirtley and Patricia M. Kirtley were able to reach people internationally with their paper. That is one of the perks about presenting at the FWPCA, your paper can reach a wide audience. Not only can you network with other scholars at the conference, but your work will be posted for others to access digitally. How far can your paper travel? Submit your paper today and find out!

Dr. Bill Kirtley and Patricia M. Kirtley participated in our conference last year and had an amazing paper and presentation titled “Happily Ever After: An Analysis of Romance Novels.” Their paper not only highlighted the value of discussing popular culture but also intersected with important discussions about COVID-19. Dr. Bill Kirtley and Patricia M. Kirtley also found that their scholarship has been widely accessed across the world. If you would like to read their paper you can find it using this link https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=fwpca

We have been getting plenty of submissions and we look forward to reviewing them. If you have not already submitted make sure that you get those in before the due date. As for everyone else, there are only 130 days left until the first day of the conference. See you all soon!

Early bird registration (until January 1, 2022) is $130

Standard registration (after January 1, 2022) is $150

To pay for the conference, please visit the FWPCA’s Square site or send a check by mail, payable to “NSHE Board of Regents,” to:

Far West Popular Culture Association
c/o Lied Library Business & Finance
4505 Maryland Parkway
Box 457001
Las Vegas, NV 89154-7001

Please indicate that the check is for FWPCA registration in the subject line.

As many of you are already aware this year's conference will be hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada. Las Vegas is often known for its lively nightlife and numerous casinos that offer 24/7 gambling. One potential paper topic or panel idea could be about gambling and popular culture. How do you see the two related? What impact does popular culture have on gambling or vice versa?

There are endless possibilities when it comes to paper topics for our 34th conference. One topic that is particularly fascinating is "video games". Video games emulate and are a part of popular culture in so many ways. Possible paper topics could explore how video games depict real-life scenarios, impact our consumption of popular culture, or offer new ways to think about video games in general.

As the current COVID-19 pandemic is still looming over us, popular culture continues to change and adapt. A great paper for the upcoming conference could analyze how COVID-19 has impacted popular culture and how we interpret information in the media. There are a plethora of other possibilities regarding paper topics and COVID-19. Focussing on our resilience and perseverance aligns closely with our conference theme of "Crisis, Culture, and Communities". We cannot wait to see what you all come up with.

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update. Registration fees for the conference have been set. Early bird registration will be $130 and normal registration will be $150. We will be using square for payment. Please let us know if we can help you with anything.

This year the FWPCA has a large list of potential topics that you all can submit. One new topic area is family and popular culture. We often consume popular culture with our families and watch popular culture that involves families. Many TV shows, movies, and songs touch upon the topic of family. One TV show that centers family is the show This is Us. This is Us is a fictional television show that highlights the value of family relationships and the process of coming together. There are many other shows that would fit this topic area. What shows have you watched recently that discuss family?

We are taking a week off from posting information for our upcoming conference. Thank you for your understanding. We will be back next week with more interesting paper ideas.

One of the areas of popular culture that presenters can choose to present on at the FWPCA conference is film/television. A great new show on Netflix called "The Chair" talks about secondary education and the complexities that come with being in a department. We thought this might be an awesome opportunity for you all to plan a panel to discuss the show. If you are interested please send us an email at [email protected]

As you may have seen in previous announcements our in-person conference option is going to be held in the new Hospitality college building on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus. The Hospitality college offers rooms with updated technology for presenting and a beautiful space for us to share our ideas. Along with these amazing conference rooms, they also have communal areas for us to network with each other. Here is a picture of the entrance to the college that you will get to enjoy in March.

Thanks to Felicia Campbell the FWPCA has had 33 successful conferences that have expanded our knowledge of popular culture and created a truly amazing community of scholars. Last year we had a special keynote to honor the legacy she built for us. New to the conference or have been coming for years? Check out this video: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/fwpca/33rdannual/33rd_opening/1/ to hear all about the amazing person who started it all.

Visit our webpage at FWPCA.com or use this link https://youtu.be/PlaAohx37Ps to to see a short walkthrough of how to submit to our conference. Please reach out with any questions.

One of the coolest parts of our annual conferences is what we get to take away from them. This year's conference is sure to bring new and exciting ideas to the table. Last conference we had some really awesome presentations on learning from popular culture. You can check out the video here: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/fwpca/33rdannual/twothree/1/
Let us know what you think.

33rd Annual FWPCA Session 2.3 Video By Mallory Szymanski, Jason Olsen, and Todd Jones, Published on 03/03/21