One of the missing aspects of many of this year’s handful of virtual comic cons is the social element. Creators love to meet with other creators. Diversity Comic Con at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) will have interactive panel discussions and Q and As and will feature virtual speed networking sessions on Friday and Saturday nights where attendees get to meet and talk to each other one-on-one. The convention will use a service called Meetaway that matches participants with other attendees and will have a set amount of time to get to know each other. A prompt will be given to help the conversation along.

The FIT Diversity Comic-Con itself is in its third year, growing by leaps and bounds. This year’s keynote speaker is artist Shawn Martinbrough. Publishers joining many for the first time include Scholastic, MacMillan/First Second, Magnetic Press, Ahoy Comics, and Random House.

This year also marks another inescapable issue, the Black Lives Matter movement. The con has always been part of FIT’s Civility Week which has as it’s theme this year “Social Justice.” In fact, some of the panels will be dealing directly with the Black Lives Matter movement. As part of the event, a comic anthology will also be produced called “Black Stories Matter.” Comic creators are invited to contribute.

Diversity Comic Con is happening n October 16-17. The event is completely online which means anyone, anywhere can attend.