GeekGirlCon ’15 Programming Highlight: Doing it for Ourselves
As well as celebrating the amazing accomplishments of women in geekery, GeekGirlCon has always had a strong focus on helping women and other marginalized geeks find the tools, contacts, know-how, and resolve to achieve their own goals. In addition to our GeekGirlConnections room (we’ve already highlighted some of the organizations who’ll have tables there this October), we have a range of awesome panels and workshops lined up where you can pick up tips on everything from cosplay to community building to content creation.
STEM
If you’re interested in a future in STEM, we have panels for you. “Everything You Want to Know About STEM Careers But Are Afraid to Ask” will be a casual Q&A session with STEM professionals from several career paths. Pick their brains about college majors, grad school, and nontraditional career paths. In “Follow Your Career Dreams: Wise Words from Young Women pursuing STEM,” hosted by the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship and the Washington NASA Space Grant program, trailblazing women in STEM majors and careers will share their experiences and encourage young women to follow their passions into rewarding careers.
In “Improv Techniques for Communicating Science,” workshoppers will get the chance to mash up the arts and sciences by learning how to become a strong, empathetic, engaging presenter and powerful negotiator, all based on insights drawn from well-designed research studies, of course!

Panel attendees at GeekGirlCon ’14
Image source: GeekGirlCon Flickr
Cosplay
Our cosplay connoisseurs bring you panels and workshops on help step up your cosplay game. “Pockets, Purses, and Potty Breaks: Level Up Your Cosplay Design” focuses on strategies for designing your armor, ball gowns, catsuits, and props around your needs for secret pockets, hidden purses, and trips to the restroom. “Sew Your Own Circuit” is a hands-on workshop. Participants will be provided with conductive thread, LEDs, batteries, and fabric. Bring your imagination and love for all things blinky!
For a more serious take on the cosplay world, “Fatness & Fandom: Reloaded” follows up on last year’s panel to discuss strategies to combat fat oppression and how to cosplay while fat in a geeky world that isn’t always welcoming.
Writing/Creating
We have not one, but two workshops on creative worldbuilding. “Matriarchies, Patriarchies, and Beyond: Depicting Gender in Your Fictional World” offers tips for choosing how your fictional culture approaches gender and describes destructive stereotypes we’d all be better off without. For a more general take on the topic, “World Building 101: Enhance Your Storytelling in Any Medium!” brings together four awesome ladies from four different mediums (an author, a game designer, an artist, and a filmmaker) to explain their methods and, in the process, give you the tools you need to make your own creations shine.
Even if you’re more a reader than a writer, writing reviews can help boost your favorite authors and make sure you get more of the type of content you want to see. A thoughtful and critical review provides suggestions for consumers as well as important feedback for receptive creators and publishers. “How to Write a Good Review (and Why It’s Important)” will discuss what makes a good review and why you should be writing them.
Film
“Women in Indie, Geeky Film” focuses on the growing film scene in the Pacific Northwest and provides a platform for some local producers and directors to discuss the high points—and the challenges—of their calling, ending with a Q&A on getting started, the entrepreneurial side of filmmaking, and why our stories are important for us to tell. “YouTube vs. the Real World” offers a more DIY approach to getting your ideas on camera. They’ll cover how the site and community has changed over the years, how to get into YouTube today, and how to fit running a YouTube channel into your already busy life.
Reel Grrls and Seattle Globalist team up to host “Live at GeekGirlCon: Made by You!” to help you share what you are experiencing at GeekGirlCon and beyond. The workshop will start with a quick panel on getting you inspired to make content with the tools you already have: your smart self, a smart phone, and all the smart people you are going to meet this weekend!
If you want to tell non-mainstream stories that reflect your unique voice, from fanfilms to webseries, in “Make the Media You Want to See – Tips and Tricks to Becoming a Content Creator,” we will share some resources to gather ideas and techniques to help you tell the stories you want to hear and make the content you want to see.

Laboratory Games’ 100 Swords
Image source: 100 Swords Kickstarter
Games
In this age of crowdfunding, indie game developers have more opportunities—and more potential pitfalls than ever. “Laboratory Games” talks about running an independent board game company full-time with no investment and no experience, living Kickstarter to Kickstarter, and the constantly shifting game-making environment and doing it all themselves—for better and worse. You’ll walk away with some real-talk advice on living the impossible dream.