UPDATE 8/28/2020:
ForceFest 2020 begins today! Here’s how to attend and participate:
- Sign up for a free account on the GetVokl live-streaming platform.
- Visit GetVokl’s official ForceFest landing page, where you can find a full schedule of events across six channels: the Content Creator Stage, the Collecting, Art, and Fandom Stage, the Interviews & Discussions Stage, the Books, Comics, & Animation Stage, the Live Action Stage, and the Cantina Lounge.
- You can also follow along by downloading the GetVokl app or visiting the ForceFest Facebook page or official Twitter feed. Panels will also be viewable on the ForceFest YouTube channel after they air live.
- Don’t forget to donate to Make-a-Wish through the ForceFest donations page.
ORIGINAL POST FROM 8/13:
2020 has been a pretty rough year for just about everybody, and Star Wars fans are no exception. Back in mid-June we found out that the Star Wars Celebration Anaheim event (scheduled for August 27-30) would be canceled, which wasn’t too much of a surprise in the wake of the loss of other major events like San Diego Comic-Con and the SXSW festival, but still stung regardless.
With the next Star Wars Celebration not planned until the summer of 2022– two full years from now– somebody had to step up to fill in the void. Enter ForceFest, a fan-run virtual Star Wars convention put on by our friends at Skywalking Through Neverland. Taking place from August 28 through 30 exclusively online, ForceFest will be chock-full of the type of Star Wars excitement and discussion we’ll miss by not being able to attend Celebration this year.
The full schedule of all ForceFest events across six stages is available on the official GetVokl landing page.
What’s happening:
- A group of dedicated fans have stepped up to create ForceFest, a virtual Star Wars convention taking place the same weekend as the now-canceled Star Wars Celebration 2020.
- The event will include a wide variety of panels and presentations across six virtual “stages”: Content Creators, A Virtual Meetup “Cantina Lounge,” Interviews and Discussions, Live Action, Comics/Animation/Books, and Miscellaneous.
- Participants include author J.W. Rinzler, podcaster Dan Zehr (of “Coffee with Kenobi”), Walt Disney World and Star Wars Celebration mainstay Mark Daniel, and even Laughing Place’s own Star Wars podcast “Who’s the Bossk?”, hosted by Mike Celestino.
What they’re saying:
- ForceFest: “When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the postponement of the official Star Wars Celebration fan convention scheduled for August, 2020 in Anaheim California, a group of fans leapt into action to create FORCEFEST, an on-line event that will bring the fandom together leveraging streaming platforms while raising money for charity. The virtual conference will be held on the GetVokl platform and will take place on August 28-30, to coincide with the dates that Star Wars Celebration 2020 was to be held.”
- “ForceFest: Celebrating The Saga is dedicated to celebrating fandom through our united passion. To hearing and holding discussions from unique voices that open our minds to different perspectives. To bringing out the best of us and unleashing the excitement that keeps fans in the Star Wars galaxy!”
For more information on ForceFest, be sure to visit the event’s official Twitter and Facebook pages, and sign up to watch and participate at GetVokl.