Join us for GiveBIG 2017!

Written by Jenn Schooley, GeekGirlCon Individual Sponsorship Manager

We’re excited to participate for a second year in Seattle’s GiveBIG and now, more than ever, we need your help!

Just what is GiveBIG?

GiveBIG, sponsored by the Seattle Foundation, is an online fundraising event designed to help Seattle area nonprofits create momentum and excitement about community philanthropy. Now in its seventh year, the program has helped participating nonprofits raise more than $75 million.

How does it work?

This 24-hour giving marathon takes place on May 10 from 12:00am to 11:59pm. Starting now, donors can pre-schedule gifts to their favorite participating nonprofits (including GeekGirlCon). Gifts won’t be charged until the morning of May 10, but it’s a great way to get your donations scheduled in advance without having to worry about it later!

Guest Contributor
“Rock On!”

Make the GeekGirlCon Staff Even Better—Join Us!

GeekGirlCon is searching for some new faces to fill a few important roles here behind the scenes at the con. Our staff is filled with exciting, driven, smart, and creative people with a passion for diversity, feminism, and all things geek. The entirety of GeekGirlCon is run by volunteers and we can always use some new energy. If you’re interested in expanding your social circle, giving some time to a great organization and cause, or developing new skills, check out the position summaries below and apply soon! We’d love to have you!

Liane Behrens
“Rock On!”

Tomorrow: All Geeks, All Games at Mox Boarding House!

Do you love board games? GeekGirlCon has teamed up with Mox Boarding House for a monthly gaming night on the Eastside!

Come to our All Geeks, All Games event tomorrow (Tuesday) night at Mox Boarding House (13310 Bel-Red Rd, Bellevue, Washington 98005) from 6:00pm onward! Admission is free! All ages are welcome.

Check out Magic the Gathering, try some RPGs or check out the newest board games with your fellow geeks! We (and Mox) will provide all the games from our library, but don’t hesitate to bring your own to share!

Attendees at October's All Geeks, All Games event. Photo credit: Kristine Hassell

Attendees at October’s All Geeks, All Games event. Photo credit: Kristine Hassell

New to board games, or looking for a new game to try? Not to worry! All Geeks, All Games is here to celebrate and promote diversity and inclusiveness in the gaming community. We will teach you how to play in a safe and friendly environment!

At our inaugural event last month, we had over 40 gamers come out to play! So if you’re looking for a new group of fun, friendly people to play games with, Mox Boarding House will be the place to be. As an added bonus, if you play a board game from their library and like it, you can buy a fresh copy for 20% off!

If you've never played an RPG with Andy, you're in for a treat! Image source: Kristine Hassell.

If you’ve never played an RPG with Andy, you’re in for a treat! Image source: Kristine Hassell.

We also still have our successful bimonthly Wayward Coffeehouse Nights every second and fourth Friday of the month from 7-11pm on the west side, hosted by our lovely Gaming Event Coordinator, Andy Munich. So, with events on both sides of the lake, that’s double the opportunities to come out and play with us!

You can RSVP to our event here, or, to find out about our upcoming events, sign up on the Meetup group here. We hope to see you soon!

Our event at Wayward Coffeehouse. Image source: Kristine Hassell

Our event at Wayward Coffeehouse. Image source: Kristine Hassell

JC Lau
“Rock On!”

GeekGirlCon in the News!

It’s been a week since the success of GeekGirlCon ’15, and if you’re already missing it, here’s a roundup of some of the fantastic press we’ve received following our con:

Conshark wrote up a recap of the overall event, highlighting that what makes GeekGirlCon unique is our focus on our community, and Persephone Magazine also offers a great summary of our con, including some livetweets from our panels and a cosplay photo gallery. Becky from No Continues Media describes our con as “one of the most immersive experiences as an attendee I’ve ever had at a convention”, and Whiletrue.do has a short but heartwarming piece on three ways she was inspired at GeekGirlCon. Nicole from Across the Board Games has a recap where she also recounts her experience as an exhibitor and panelist, and describes GeekGirlCon as her favorite convention in Seattle!

Photo by Danny Ngan Photography.

Photo by Danny Ngan Photography.

For those of you who like pictures, Jetspace has a great photographic summary of the highlights from the convention, and Bitch Media has a lovely rundown of some of the costumes and events. Of course, GeekGirlCon wouldn’t be GeekGirlCon without a healthy dose of cosplay; GeekMom’s cosplay gallery shows off some of the awesome costumes from the weekend. GeekMom also gives us the lowdown on some of the swag she found on our exhibitor floor, ranging from geeky food, to amazing apparel, to many fluffy, cute things.

Although we hardworking staffers will provide you with panel recaps throughout the coming year, sometimes we get beaten to the punch by our amazing con attendees. [Re]meshed.com has a detailed article on Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn’s packed panel, and Sonja from Soultamer Gaming has produced not one, but three panel write-ups on QUILTBAGs in Geekdom, the representation of Asians in the media, and Elsa S. Henry’s panel, Blind Lady Versus, where she demonstrates what gaming is like for blind and low vision players. She’s also got a piece on our Kick-Off event from the Friday night before the con. Talk about dedication!

Photo by Nicole Tanner of Pixelkin.

Photo by Nicole Tanner of Pixelkin.

One of the things that GeekGirlCon prides itself on is its family-friendly focus. Nicole from Pixelkin did a lovely write-up about how GeekGirlCon was a great way to bond with her daughter. We also even got a whole episode on a gaming podcast! Here’s Epic Drop’s episode discussion what GeekGirlCon is about, and recapping how much fun the family had, including an interview with a five-year-old Geek Girl!

Finally, we also got coverage from MSNBC in a video about cosplay and science, featuring our own Raychelle Burks and Torrey Stenmark!

Have you come across any other press for GeekGirlCon? Let us know in the comments below!

JC Lau
“Rock On!”

Reminder: GeekGirlCon ’15 Kick-Off Party and GeekGirlCONcert on Friday Night!

If you’re in town on Friday night before GeekGirlCon starts THIS SATURDAY, join us at the Hard Rock Café in downtown Seattle to celebrate our 5th anniversary with our kick-off party and annual GeekGirlCONcert!

Join us from 6pm for the kick-off party and get ready for our convention! There will be free food with a cash bar, and you can skip the line on con day and pick up your badge right there. Then, at 8:30pm we’ll have our GeekGirlCONcert! Groove along as the PDX Broadsides and Thundering Asteroids! take the stage. Our event is all-ages, so feel free to bring the whole family.

This event is only for GeekGirlCon ’15 badge holders or by special invitation, so if you want to come and celebrate with us, you’ll need to have a pass. They’re expected to sell out before the weekend, so make sure you buy yours today!

 

Written by GeekGirlCon copywriter JC Lau

JC Lau
“Rock On!”

GeekGirlCon ’15 Programming Highlight: Fandoms, Fandoms Everywhere

Fandom is a powerful thing. It can connect, inspire and frustrate—often at the same time. I’ve my fair share of important fandoms, which I participate in to varying degrees. There’s the movie I’ll reblog any picture from as long as it has my favorite character, the musical I’ll talk about to anyone who looks like they might care, the book series I’ll push on you as soon as we talk. But fandom isn’t just about the actual work of art: at its most powerful, it can also be a source of community.

GeekGirlCon 2015 has, of course, a variety of panels focused on individual fandoms and also a few that will discuss the idea of fandom on a larger scale. Whether you’re a fantasy fan interested in science or a dystopia fan interested in utopian ideals, there’s a panel or two for you.

Liane Behrens
“Rock On!”

GeekGirlCon ’15 Programming Highlight: We’ve Got Intersectionality!

Here at GeekGirlCon, we pride ourselves on promoting the interests of all types of geeky women, be it in the sciences, or in gaming, comics or popular culture. However, our mission is considerably broader than that: we value diversity in all types, and celebrate in particular the space where these differences overlap.

Some of our panels also touch on the intersectionality between gender and another issue, such as race, ability, gender identity and orientation, or size. And now with our schedule available online for GeekGirlCon ‘15, here are some freshly-picked panels at the intersection of geeky lady-ness and everything else:

JC Lau
“Rock On!”

Agent Applications for GeekGirlCon ’15 Now Open!

Looking to meet new people who share your interests and values? Wanting to donate your time, mind and/or muscles to a nonprofit, grassroots organization? Why, look no further than GeekGirlCon, your favorite lady-focused geeky convention, where we’re just happening to be looking for capable, excited and eager volunteers for this year’s convention.

The fifth annual GeekGirlCon will be taking place at The Conference Center at the WSCC on October 10 and 11, and we need you to help run it!

Volunteer for GeekGirlCon as an Agent or Special Agent. GeekGirlCon is an entirely volunteer-run organization, and while we have an incredible, hard-working staff, we can’t pull off our convention without our consistently wonderful army of volunteers.

Agents are the people at the con in charge of seating in panel rooms, wrangling lines, setting up and tearing down the convention, directing traffic, and generally being the best, most helpful, and friendliest people around. When you’re accepted as a volunteer, you’ll get an official, exclusive GeekGirlCon Agent t-shirt and free admission to the convention in exchange for working part of the weekend.

Go to the Volunteer Application today and sign up—and don’t wait, because the application deadline is July 31, and no applications will be accepted after that date!

Written by GeekGirlCon Copywriter Liane Behrens

Liane Behrens
“Rock On!”

When Did I Realize I Was A Geek?

by Elsa S. Henry, founder and author at Feminist Sonar, and the new community manager for Storium.com

It all begins for me with a Sherlock Holmes book. I can remember it, clear as day. A thin volume containing the Hound of the Baskervilles, and another containing The Last Vampire, and another with The Red Headed League. They were marbleized in style with an oval Sydney Paget illustration in the center.

It all begins with Sherlock Holmes, but it certainly didn’t end there. My geekery has always been rooted in the written word. Whether it is my lifelong love of Sherlock Holmes (as a child I insisted that I was going to marry him), I had a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery themed birthday party.

Elsa GeekGirlCon When Did I Realize

But what really makes me a geek is that I have always loved to play “pretend” for lack of a better word. I created a whole world to play in (and yes, sometimes we would play Sherlock Holmes), and as I grew older that love of stories turned into a love of doing theater, roleplaying, and the occasional LARP.

In high school, I spent so much time at the comic book and gaming shops that I made friends. We played RPGs on the “Geek Stairs” (the back stairwell of our high school), where we would eat lunch, hang out, and often roll dice. Prior to those years, I had been teased for loving books and playing pretend, and when the days of free play outside ended, my refuge for open play became the theater.

So, I became a geek because of my love of words, stories, and creating new places from scratch. I guess that’s why, as an adult, I’m a game designer and disability advocate who works fervently to create access for people with disabilities to video games and roleplaying games. Because for me, without the stories and the books and the ability to play, I would have been lost. Without the support of my family to continue doing what I love (even when it got me teased in school), I wouldn’t be writing this article.

I’ve been a geek for most of my life, and as an adult, I now work in the industry of geeks, and I married someone who loves books as much as I do, who also enjoys going to Barcade (a bar with arcade games from the 1980s), and I never stopped telling stories.

AJ Dent
“Rock On!”

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