GeekGirlCon ‘12 is a wrap, and the exhaustion is setting in. But we want to be sure to take a few moments to say thank you.
Darth Makenna stole the show at GeekGirlCon ’12
Thank you to the incredible panelists and guests, who helped us discuss incredibly important topics; geek out about comics, video games, science, technology, and pop culture; and discover how we could jumpstart our futures.
Thank you to our individual and corporate sponsors for helping us expand and grow. Without your support, none of this would have been possible.
Thank you to the amazing professionals who spent time in our GeekGirlConnections room and gave advice to attendees on how to jumpstart their careers.
Thank you to our amazing volunteers, who worked hours upon hours to keep the convention running smoothly — always with a smile on their face. You were so professional, thoughtful, helpful, and sincere. Our GeekGirlCon Agents are the best!
Thank you to the families, who came out in droves. The Zelda Family, the Darth Vader Princess (Darth Makenna), the little Wonder Woman, the robot, and every other outfit that left us “ooo”-ing and “aww”-ing. These young children are truly our future, so thank you for encouraging them to ask questions, think critically, and believe in themselves.
Last, but certainly not least, thank you to all of our attendees. You were willing to brave the traffic, you got up early to ensure you could attend every panel, you asked amazing questions, and you wanted to discuss uncomfortable yet important topics. More than 3,000 people walked through our convention doors each day.
If you were one of these 3,000+, you got to see the world premiere of Season 2 of Husbands, the webseries created by GeekGirlCon ‘12 guest Jane Espenson. Nobody else has seen this yet! You talked about sexism in geek culture in standing-room-only rooms. You connected with women from NASA, some who even had the opportunity to work on the project that successfully retrieved images from Mars. Mars, people!
She-Ra, Princess of Power!
You also sat on panels that addressed issues of diversity — in comics, pop culture, and the broader geek world. You got to hear from some of your favorite creators, leaders, activists, and entrepreneurs. And you got to enjoy our special events, including a nerdy comedy improv, a GeekGirlCONcert, a “Once More, With Feeling” sing-along, and a screening of Wonder Women! The Untold History of American Superheroines during our closing celebration.
On the gaming floor, you entered gaming tournaments and designed new games through the Mystery Box Game Design Challenge. You learned how to create a superhero mask. You learned how to play new games you hadn’t even heard of.
And, likely, you purchased a lot of adorable, beautiful, awesome stuff at our Exhibitor Hall. From math as art, to board games, to books, to socks, to jewelry, our exhibitors and artists offered a range of amazing accessories for geeks of any type.
You came in amazing cosplay, proudly representing your favorite characters. We had crossplay Avengers, a few different versions of Carmen Sandiego, and characters from Zelda, The X-Files, Buffy, The Hunger Games, Scooby Doo, and so much more.
Because of you, GeekGirlCon is gaining attention, from a CNN and Reuters article that quickly spread across the Internet, to local stories from KING 5, KIRO, KOMO, The Seattle Times, GeekWire, The Stranger, and so much more.
Because of you, we are continuing these conversations on social media, where you told us you left feeling inspired. You left feeling a part of a community, one where women support other women. You were excited to put together your own panels next year. And you were motivated to take action — whether big or small — to make an impact in the world.
Because of you, we will be able to make adjustments to ensure GeekGirlCon ‘13 is even better. Your feedback is incredibly important to us. So we encourage you to take the time to fill out our post-con survey, which you can find here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NPZCL5R. Tell us what programming and events you loved, and what you want to see more of next year.
Thank you, once again, for being a part of GeekGirlCon ‘12. For those who were unable to attend, thank you for being a part of our online conversations and for continuing to support GeekGirlCon.
Keep that fire — still burning from this weekend — alive. Don’t let it dwindle, as we’ll be back for GeekGirlCon ‘13 (date TBA). And please be sure to keep an eye on our website, as we will be hosting a number of special events in the greater Seattle area that you won’t want to miss.
Hey again! Shubz here and I’m back live blogging at Geek Girls in Popular Culture in room 301/302 with Cecil Castelluci, Sarah Kuhn, Sarah Watson, Stephanie Thorpe, and moderator Javier Grillo-Marxuach!
Questions
Why do you think that level of interest in science and mathematical persuits are less desirable in female characters?
Cecil Castellucci (CC): That character is usually designated as a sidekick.
Sarah Kuhn (SK): Is this female protagonist a good role model?
Sarah Watson (SW): I don’t think geekiness and sexiness is separate.
Is the role-model trope restricting characterization? Stephanie Thorpe (ST): People don’t like feeling stupid in general. When someone comes across as smart, they may put on an air of condescending. We want women to be likeable, adorable, and cute. Smart tends to go with aloof a lot of the time.
Headless Heroine: Has all characteristics that can relate to a wide range of reader.
Nancy Drew as a headless heroine. Many authors have depicted her differently.
Are there any characters that you identify with? ST: I’m influenced by the X-Files. Dana Scully was that lightening bolt – she’s a skeptic, she’s intelligent, and her scientific background. I want to see more strong characters like her.
SW: I loved the Goonies, Martha Plimpton.
CC: I loved Daria!
Thoughts on editing geek girls ST: Depends. Sometimes they want more nerdy, sometimes they want less.
SW: I’m more of the middle man.
SK: Not a lot less nerdy notes [in scripts], but I did make notes like, “What does this mean?” Is it a reference?
CC: Made a love story about a Klingon and a Jedi. Writing a geeky character made it easy to have a demand for more geeky media and characters.
Lisabeth Salander ST: She is a strong female lead. She’s not necessarily someone I look up to or want to be like, but I enjoy spending time reading about her.
Star Trek Characters CC: It’s subjective. Uhura in classic Star Trek, not a nerd. Uhura in the recent film, language nerd.
Love stories with geek girls CC: Amidala falls apart when love is threatened.
SW: Hermione is intelligent and a fighter despite her obstacles.
Changing genders in iconic characters ST: (RE: Elementary’s Watson) If they’re doing it to add a romantic element, I’ll be disappointed.
SW: I’ve seen it and it’s fantastic. Lucy Liu brings a nurturing role to Watson.
SK: There’s a new interest piqued when you introduce new elements or changes.
CC: I’m excited!
Any socially unattractive female geek characters? SW: In TV, everyone’s really attractive. Books offer you to create what they would look like.
Hey again! Shubz here, still kickin it in Room 202 live blogging at Expressing Your Creativity Through Audio with Julie Hoverson, Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard, and Rhys Torres-Miller!
Note: They’re speaking to this from the audio drama perspective, but it can be applied to other genres of podcasting.
Learn to do the tech work yourself.
It is time-consuming. If you want to get it right and share your creativity, take your time, and invest your time.
You can podcast inexpensively. You need (at least) a laptop and a mic.
Find your audience. It will be slow unless you want to pay for advertising. Keep in mind, that paid advertising doesn’t not guarantee more listeners and fans.
Network with other podcasts. Offer to do a review of their show. Be a part of the community.
Voice acting:
Reliability: Don’t over-commit. Commit to what you realistically can do.
Find out how much work you ACTUALLY need to do to complete it.
No one goes into voice acting because you love to entertain.
Hi everyone – Shubz reporting! Come through to Room 202 for How to Do Your Own Kickstarter with Caytlin Vilbrandt and Tristan J. Tarwater!
Planning your campaign: decide if your project will happen “no matter what.” It will determine how you write your pitch and your donation tiers.
Kickstarter vs. IndieGoGo
About 10% of your audience will be willing to donate.
Have a budget. How much will it cost to make product, ship product, etc. Plan for the worst case scenario.
Figure out your tiers. The main price point that most people hit: $25
Treat the people who are backing you as patrons. Give them great incentives for donating.
Make sure you have enough time for your campaign. Check shipping times for people giving things to you.
Communicate with your backers. Stay in contact.
People want to give! If you have a great project and are good to your patrons, they will be excited to be your fans and give you feedback.
Learn from prior kickstarters – what works and what didn’t work.
Promotions: Word of mouth, Twitter, Facebook, Website
Stretch goals: Create them! What will you do if you’ve exceeded your initial goal? If you had the money, what would you do?
Tell people to buy your stuff! Be direct about your promoting, be excited about it, and DON’T BE SHY about your project. Cross-promote with friends that have other projects going.
How crucial is video?: DO IT! Get your face on the video. This creates a human connection.
Points to take home
Budget
Take it seriously
Treat your patrons well. They are your customers.
This is taxable income. It is NOT free money!
Do NOT cold message people about your project. Create rapport first. It is also against Kickstarter TOS.
Research!
What’s up, everyone! Shubz Blalack here! For those of you at the Con, join us in Room 303 for this moderated roundtable discussion with Anita Sarkeesian, Alejandra Espino, Suzanne Scott, and moderator Miley Martinez!
Alejandra Espino (AE): How can we create being politically engaged while not losing the pleasure of creation?
Anita Sarkeesian (AS): How can we be fans AND be critical? What does that mean and how do we actually do that?
Suzanne Scott (SS): Race, fandom, and social justice. Teaches about race, fandom and video game culture. How do you manage the “squee” in a critical fashion? We need to find a meaningful critical ground.
Check out the organization of transformative works!
Topics and questions raised:
How do we talk about representations of economic classes?
Chauvinism in favor of the STEM fields.
Creating characters in a feminist context in a culture of sexism.
Points made: AE: Being critical is what fuels creativity.
Who is being represented in geek culture is not always who is consuming geek culture.
What times of fandom are industrially valued?
AS:There are a lot of interpretations of feminism and what that means.
AE: I create fantastic characters with the idea of the “outsider” in mind, someone that is marginalized.
AS: Storytelling needs to be the way we change the world.
AS: Art is to make change.
SS: More attention towards the industrial structures that promote not promote social change.
It will take a social movement for oppressive storytelling to change.
We need to spend more time to what will create change versus what will pull the focus away from it.
Closing Statements SS: Discomfort often exposes the prejudices people have. Having a conversation about that will be a great step towards social justice.
AE: Don’t let others cease the criticism you may have.
AS: Your anger towards social injustice can be used to create something to fight it.
Are you bringing your child, grandchild, niece, or nephew to GeekGirlCon ‘12 — or are you considering it?
We highly recommend you do. Last year, around 20 percent of all attendees were children under the age of 10. We are an extremely family-friend convention.
Unless specified, GeekGirlCon programming can be enjoyed by all ages (at parental discretion of course). However, some of our programming and events are particularly geared towards geeklings (or geekling-adjacent), their parental-types, and kids of all ages. And we wanted to be sure to call them out for you in one location — so check out some of these kid-focused panels and workshops below. Saturday
11:30 a.m – 12:20 p.m.
Making Science Fun (with NASA)! (RM204)
12:30 – 1:20 p.m.
From Jedi Princess to Sith Witch: An Exploration of Female Characters in Star Wars (RM204)
12:30 – 1:50 p.m.
Girls Leading the Robot Uprising: FIRST Robotics (RM303)
1:30 – 2:50 p.m.
Customizing My Little Ponies: Tips, Tricks, and a Basic How-To (RM202)
2:30 – 3:20 p.m.
A Family that Games Together… (RM205)
2:30 – 3:20 p.m.
Sporty Geek: How Roller Derby and Quidditch Are Changing the Game for Women (RM204)
Stunning Space Science: Voyager — 12,396 days and counting (RM204)
12:30 – 1:20 p.m.
Intro to Costume Craft and Cosplay (RM204)
6:00 – 7:50 p.m.
Closing Celebration (RM301/302)
And, of course, check out the GeekGirlConnections room and our gaming on the Lower Level all weekend long! Fun games for all ages, activities, and interactive workshops.
It is the moment you have all been waiting for, one of our last big reveals for GeekGirlCon ‘12: our exclusive GeekGirlCon merch!
We know you’ll be busy catching panels, checking out games, and networking at the GeekGirlConnections room. But don’t forget to stop by the Exhibitor Hall on the third floor! You won’t regret it. In fact, you’ll likely empty your pockets after you see what the amazing exhibitors and artists have on display.
Find exclusive GeekGirlCon merchandise at Booth 300!
Preview some of the nerdtastic and geekarific products we’ll have available for purchase this year. These are exclusive and custom-designed items, folks! T-shirts, tote bags, and buttons – OH MY! We’ll also have limited (only 20!) dice bags and limited (only 50!) six-sided die, as well as a whole stack of severely awesome GeekGirlCon bumper stickers.
Here’s the pricing for our merch: • T-shirt: $17 • Tote Bag: $12 •Dice Bag: $7 •Dice: $2 •Bumper Sticker: $2 •Buttons: 2 for $1 (We have 12 awesome designs!)
Be sure to stop by Booth 300 to get some Fresh Merch! You know you want some of that geeky goodness!
What else are you hoping to snag at GeekGirlCon ‘12?
We learned a lot from running our first convention last year. We learned there was incredible demand for a con that celebrated the female geek, geared towards geeky girls and women, and with no “geek cred” required. So much so, that we sold out GeekGirlCon ‘11 on both days. We learned that the famous quote from Field of Dreams is true: “If you build it, they will come.”
That goes for attendees, but the same can be said for our guests as well. We learned that experts in science, technology, comics, and other fields were extremely supportive of our mission. And we are so lucky to have a range of amazing returning and new guests coming to GeekGirlCon ‘12 — guests who enjoyed the excitement and vibe last year or who heard all the buzz and couldn’t wait to attend.
Guests like comic book writers Gail Simone, Jen Van Meter, and Greg Rucka. Or local geeks M.J. McDermott, Purple Reign, Jamala Henderson, and Corrinne Yu. Women with incredible experience, like illustrator and Womanthology creator Renae de Liz, or television writer Jane Espenson, or actress and Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein.
Finally, we learned that you all wanted more time with these guests and other panelists, more time to learn how they achieved what they did and get tips for jumpstarting your own career.
That is why we are so excited to offer GeekGirlConnections, a room open the entire convention that will provide a place for attendees to network, make connections, and receive career advice.
It has always been the goal of GeekGirlCon to spotlight, support, and celebrate women in fields like comics and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). This year, we are taking that one step further and giving our attendees direct access to professionals who have the answers to your burning career questions.
This includes professionals like women from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory’s Education and Public Outreach team (perhaps they can talk about Curiosity’s little (okay, HUGE) trip to Mars…), professional designers, technologists, editors from Dark Horse Comics, and more.
Here’s a preview of what you can expect to find in the GeekGirlConnections room:
• Career planning support • The opportunity to networking with professionals • Organizations looking for YOU!
No business card? No problem– use the GeekGirlConnections Card below to share your contact info with all the new GeekGirls you meet at the Con. (Click on the image below and download.)
The biggest thing we learned from last year’s convention was that GeekGirlCon should be a place for you to make connections — with old friends and new friends, interesting careers, cool geeky products, or with your favorite writers, producers, creators, and artists.
So be sure to stop by GeekGirlConnections in Room 101. We can’t wait to help you connect to your future!
One of GeekGirlCon’s strongest advocates is none other than Gail Simone, the fantastic comic book writer at DC Comics who has worked on Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, The Fury of Firestorm, and many other great comics.
We are so fortunate to have her back for GeekGirlCon ‘12, where she’s already scheduled to participate in two panels:
Saturday, August 11, 11:30 a.m. – Gail Simone and the Batgirl of San Diego
Sunday, August 12, 11:30 a.m. – A Fate Worse than Death: The Last “Outsider” in Popular Culture – Disability
However, we knew you couldn’t handle just one panel with Gail, so today, we are happy to announce that Gail will have her own spotlight panel on Sunday, August 12. Check out the details below.
Sunday at 1:30 – 2:20 p.m. (Room 205) SPOTLIGHT ON GAIL SIMONE
This spotlight will start with a freewheeling discussion with critically acclaimed author of comics and animation, Gail Simone, and include a question and answer session at the end. She will be discussing her comics work, from Deadpool to Simpsons to Birds of Prey to Batgirl, as well as her views on females in comics and other social issues. This promises to be a lively hour with this popular and entertaining writer! Moderated by Erica J Heflin
Gail will also be doing a media signing starting at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday (check out our full signing schedule). And just to top off this super sundae of awesomeness with a huge bowl of cherries, Gail will be hanging out in the GeekGirlConnections room from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. During this hour, Gail will be reviewing portfolios and talking to aspiring writers one-on-one.
Gail has been one of our most vocal advocates from day one. She likely convinced many of you to head to our convention (because when Gail Simone tells us to do something, we listen!). Just today, Gail posted this great blog on her website, previewing the convention and its GeekGirlConnections room.
She also had this to say about GeekGirlCon and the GeekGirlConnections room: “One of the most rewarding things, one of the best reasons for me to go to conventions, is to get to meet aspiring creators, and hopefully help give them a little bit of encouragement and real-world advice on how to attain their goals. It’s inspiring to see someone new and watch them learn to share their art and imagination with the audience.”
We can’t wait to have Gail in town for the weekend and are excited to have two more opportunities for you to interact with her during the convention.
