What is WrestlePosium?
Beginning in 2020, the Professional Wrestling Studies Association holds an annual online symposium to discuss various matters related to the study of professional wrestling. This symposium coincides with WWE’s WrestleMania, as that event and the week preceding it have become a touchstone for all of professional wrestling. As such, the PWSA seeks to bring academic scholarship to the festivities by connecting wrestling scholars, professionals, and fans around the world to present and discuss their ideas about the past, present, and future state of professional wrestling.
As an online symposium, all presentations, speeches, and discussions occur via a videoconferencing tool that anyone who registers for the symposium can access. Additionally, the videoconferencing tool allows PWSA to record such discussions for later distribution, allowing anyone who could not virtually attend the symposium a chance to engage with the material.
When is the next WrestlePosium?
WrestlePosium V will happen Saturday, April 13th, 2024, from 8am-4pm PDT
Find the full schedule here!
Who can attend WrestlePosium?
Since we want everyone who is interested in smart discussions on professional wrestling, this symposium is open to all and completely free to attend. We only ask that everyone who attends follows our rules of engagement as discussed below.
Thus, anyone who can use the videoconferencing tool and registers for the symposium can attend. For more information about this tool and how to register, please click this link.
How do I attend WrestlePosium?
You will need to register for the symposium. Registration allows you access to the URL needed for attend the video conference.
On the day of the symposium, you can access it via a computer-based app or a browser-based player. If you are concerned about privacy issues, the browser-based player is recommended. Before entering the symposium, you will be prompted to choose which version you wish to use. For more information, see this FAQ.
If you cannot attend the video conference, then you will be able to find the videos from the symposium on our YouTube channel. Please allow for at least a week to pass after the symposium before checking to see if the videos are online.
How do I present at WrestlePosium?
Every symposium is a place for scholars, fans, and professionals to share their ideas on professional wrestling. At least six months before the symposium, PWSA will produce a call for proposals to gather such ideas. Follow us on this site and Twitter to stay up-to-date with this call as well as other professional wrestling studies calls, news, and events.
You can find the current call by clicking on this link. If your proposal is accepted, you will be notified at least three months before the symposium.
Additionally, each symposium will feature two keynote speeches: one from an academic and one from a professional. If you would like to nominate an individual for one of these keynotes, please email us at prowrestlingstudies@gmail.com.
How do I participate when I attend WrestlePosium?
Every symposium is meant to be a place to gather, discuss, and brainstorm about professional wrestling’s past, present, and future. To make this virtual symposium work as well as possible, we do have some rules of engagement we ask all presenters and attendees to follow.
First, to ease the load on the videoconferencing tool and to reduce possible confusion, we ask all participants who are not speakers to exist in the virtual meeting room with muted microphones and webcams.
Second, we encourage everyone who is interested in chatting with each other and asking questions of the presenters to use the text chatbridge feature built into the videoconferencing tool. Everyone can access this chat through the bottom menu bar in the Zoom tool.
Third, when engaging in this text chatbridge, please do so following respectful netiquette. The chat will be monitored. Anyone who engages in harassing behavior will be asked to stop or leave the symposium. If the harassment continues, they will be removed from the symposium.