Musings on Cons and Maker

I’ve had an active two weeks. You may not have been able to tell from my posts, which are conveniently pre-queued, but I’ve done two conventions and then some.

One was Maker Faire. Maker Faire is basically “Geek DIY”, where you can hear music played on Tesla Coils, see Adam Savage (no relation that you can prove), buy hand-made soap, and see what happens when people build a dragon out of truck parts (answer: Gwar’s idea of a minivan).  Also there was at least one Naruto.

One was Anime North. Anime North is the insanely huge anime-and-more convention in Toronto I’ve been doing for ages. It looks to have broken 20K attendees this year, covers a wide variety of ground, and has a huge amount of artists, cosplayers, and more.  There were more Narutos, if you’re keeping track.

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Promoting Professional Geekery #23: Start A Pro Section At A Con

The roundup of Promoting Professional Geekery is here.

OK you're speaking at a con about careers.  You might be managing an entire track of career events.  So what more can you do to encourage people attending your convention or conventions to try the route of the professional geek?

Why, by inviting other professionals – but not just to speak.  Give them tables, give them their own area.  Start a Pro Section at your con.

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