There was plenty to do at GeekGirlCon ‘16–browse the expanded exhibitor’s hall, attend the numerous amazing panels, and socialize at meet-ups. But my favorite activity on each day was Crafting with Feminism, aka meeting up with a few dozen other attendees and Bonnie Burton to create superheroine wrist cuffs and tampon buddies.
Bonnie Burton is the author of several books, including Star Wars and Warcraft crafting titles, and her latest is Crafting with Feminism: 25 Girl-Powered Projects to Smash the Patriarchy. With Bonnie’s step-by-step instructions, you can create a Drinking Dames Flask, Power Panties, or, like we did, Superheroine Wrist Cuffs and Tampon Buddies!
At GeekGirlCon HQ, we’re still on cloud nine as we recount all of our memories from the 2016 convention. Two weeks ago today, our staff and agents were on the floor setting up and preparing for the rush of attendees. Both Saturday and Sunday were spent smiling, laughing, sharing our passions, and inspiring one another.
GeekGirlCon keeps on growing, and growth brings more people who empathize with our mission. More people means more voices, and more than ever before we’re seeing articles across the Seattle area (and beyond!) sharing what they thought about the convention this year. To ignite those post-con feels, we’ve curated a ton of those posts to share with you.
More than 11,000 attendees came through our con to experience our expansive new floor of exhibitors, a collection of diverse panels, and, of course, the fabulous cosplay contest.
Sights from GeekGirlCon 2016! (Credit from left to right: Twitter user @SunbreakGames; Twitter user @SammusMusic, Twitter user @TheYooner.)
GeekGirlCon 2016 is in the books, but for many it is still in our hearts as an incredible weekend as we share our favorite con moments with friends and family.
The final moments of GeekGirlCon are always bittersweet. On the one hand, it is when it becomes very clear very fast just how near the end really is. On the other, it brings with it the Closing Ceremony, which is always such a magical way to conclude the other-worldly experience that is GeekGirlCon.
To start off, GeekGirlCon staff and board members thanked attendees for spending this weekend celebrating socially-conscious geekdom. They also took a moment to address the sheer amount of time and energy staff and Agents voluntarily and consistently dedicate to the mission of making GeekGirlCon a reality. They implored attendees to add their support to the pool as donors and volunteers. It was a moment of true gratitude all around and a real indication of just what sort of atmosphere GeekGirlCon cultivates. Here is a video compiled of scenes and feels from GeekGirlCon ’16.
After the last shoutout was given and the last round of genuinely heart-warming, congratulatory applause had trickled away, the main event was announced and actors from Jet City Improv took to the stage to debut their upcoming show: Periods in History.
This year for GeekGirlCon, we had a secret evening event! Although it took place in the open Garnet space, it was shrouded in mystery, except for a few hints dropped by host and emcee extraordinaire Rebecca M. Davis.
Ready for the #supersecret event tonight at #GGC16! Apparently “It’s going to be delicious and intimate…” what could it be?
I had the opportunity to livetweet the event, so here’s my take on what happens when you get a room of strangers to sing together in honor of everyone’s favorite man who fell to Earth.
My mind is blown by all of the imagination and ingenuity I’ve just seen that I’m not sure how to even write a post about it. Thank goodness I have Indigo, my fellow GGC copywriter to help me out! We’ve decided to tag team the writing of this panel to maximize the awesomeness.
It was crazy! In no time at all, Adrienne and I were drawn to the pure craftsmanship of the host and judge’s costumes. Lauren Bond was charismatic and made for a stellar Evie Frye. Cheyenne, Priscilla, and Li were no less, dressed as our favorite Nintendo and anime characters. The show started off strong, and only got better as it went on.
GeekGirlCon ’16 at Washington State Conference Center in Seattle, Washington, on Saturday, October 8, 2016. Photo by Danny Ngan.
Since my mind is blown, we’re going to hit the highlights of this year’s contest in an effort to paint a picture of this inspiring event. All of the participants were placed into one of five categories: anime, comics, other, film & tv, or video games.
With so many panels to attend and games to play and exhibitors to see, there comes the painful realization that you can’t do it all.
We’d like to help lessen that pain. We’re going to live-blog and live-tweet some panels so you can follow along real-time or review at your leisure at the end of the day (when you visit our super cool Social Media Dashboard!)
Below is a list of panels we plan to cover during the con, along with Twitter handles and hashtags. Just search for the hashtag on Twitter or follow our Tumblr to check out our live blogging coverage.
It’s so close, I can smell it — I can smell that brand-new comic book smell when I hold up our Program Guide, the one that happens right after you crack it open for the first time. I can hear the Harry Potter fans excitedly discussing which Patronus they got at the fan meetup (mine is a swan). I can see my fellow geek’s faces when they walk into our massive Exhibitor Hall and behold all of the goodies, or while they watch on as Rey and Harley Quinn strut their stuff at the Cosplay Contest. I can hear victorious screams from the Gaming Area, the shuffling of cards and well-used controllers. GeekGirlCon 2016 is so close, and we are getting excited.
Organizing something like GeekGirlCon takes a lot of work, and we are 100% volunteer-run. It takes an entire year of long hours, thousands of e-mails, and endless cups of coffee to put it all together, but we do it out of passion. Each member of our team was brought together by a shared mission, and it’s so worth it to hear, see, and experience the weekend with all of you.
In these final hours leading up to con, we’re reflecting on what it takes to put on the show. In a brief Q&A with our Interim Executive Director, Danielle Gahl, we discuss what it takes and how we do it:
Q: How much planning (would you say) goes into making GeekGirlCon happen?
GeekGirlCon’16 took a full year of planning with a little extra spice added in because we have all new leadership and decided to expand.
There are so many things that go into making a Con for 10,000 people, and add in the fact that we’re all volunteers and things get even more exciting. This year, we brought in 30 new staff volunteers, shifted marketing efforts, expanded the space, cultivated more than 150 individual sponsors, and almost doubled the number of vendors and artists.
So how much planning? A ton for the Con itself, a ton for the organizational structures to sustain the Con, and a ton to make it happen as a ‘hobby.’
