NerdCon: Nerfighteria! Recapping and Musing

Good Morning Nerdfighters!

A Recap of my Weekend in Boston at NerdCon: Nerdfighteria!

 The Convention Schedule Cover

Not long ago on February 25th & 26th, at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, was NerdCon.  Only the second convention I have ever been to (the first was ConnectiCon last July) and it was AWESOME!

I became a Nerdfighter sometime between 2013 and 2014.  It's hazy because I didn't realize what I had stumbled into until at least 2014, but I know I was watching Vlogbrothers for at least a year before that.  And to be honest, saying I only became a Nerdfighter then is a lie, because those of us who relate to the Nerdfighter community have always been Nerdfighters.  We just didn't know it, yet.  I knew I found something I liked when I first saw a video of John discussing literature in one of my Education classes when I was studying to become a teacher after I had already graduated from Rutgers University.  I made a point to remember the channel and well, the rest, as they say, is history.

I'm very glad I went to NerdCon.  I wasn't sure what to expect and the fact that there was so much going on that I couldn't choose which panel or activity to go to was both awesome and frustrating because I wanted to do ALL THE THINGS!  That said, what I went to I enjoyed, even the somewhat awkward moment when I realized I was in the wrong room (which I had entered a half an hour earlier) and the right room was full.  It freed me up to do something else I wanted to do.  

I got to attend a few panels I enjoyed.  The first was a Q&A with Laci Green & Dr. Lindsey Doe (moderated by Matthew Gaydos) about their sexual education channels.  The audience had many questions to ask in the 45 minutes we had with Laci and Lindsey, ranging from how to reduce stigma about getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases/infections (STDs/STIs) to what healthy sexual discrimination looks like (how a person chooses a partner) to how they deal with negative people online.  They put time into each response, even when that response was to refer to a lengthy video either of them had already done.  At first, I felt bad for the one asking to receive an answer that meant they had to look elsewhere, but since the two have covered so many topics (and let's face it, we all had YouTube pocket edition with us) it was the best way to answer some questions.  Afterward, they spent a few minutes talking to anyone who stayed at the end of the panel.

Having a Job While YouTubing Panel

Another panel I attended was about Having a Job While YouTubing, featuring Craig "Wheezy Waiter" Benzine as moderator with Dr. Aaron Carroll, Ahsante Bean, Kristina Horner, Emma Mills, and Nathan Zed.  Here we had an interesting range of experiences balancing careers and YouTube.  Dr. Carroll has the privilege of having a career in medical research where what he does for his career relates directly to his work on Healthcare Triage, meaning he has almost no conflict.  Others on the panel work for corporations like Microsoft and PBS Digital Studios, and only got started in their careers after creating a portfolio on YouTube.  Their chief bit of advice was to make time.  Even if just a little, and to avoid thinking you need to produce an entire video in one go.  They suggested taking some time to edit, to write scripts, research, and record on different days when short on time.

My Prompts for NERDOWRITO!

One of the events I went to was NERDOWRITO, an idea created by Kristina Horner.  A writer herself and a participant of NaNoWriMo, she wanted to have a super condensed writing session with all willing attendees of the convention, so I made sure to be there.  The exercise was to write as much of a story as possible in 45 minutes.  To get us started, we were given three cards with the parts of a prompt on it: a character; an adjective; and something to be said in dialogue.  Mine are pictured above.  Those in attendance then had the rest of the session (about 45 minutes) to write.  I will be sharing my polished short story on the blog in the future.  I had a good time writing my story.

The other event I attended was a show featuring John and Hank Green, the two vloggers who started Nerdfighteria and Vlogbrothers.  It was a recording for their Podcast "Dear Hank and John."  We were all handed name tags with "Ryan" written on them, the best name in the world (accord to John and Hank).  It was a humorous hour of dubious advice, news from Mars, and plenty of inside jokes.

The rest of the Con I spent in the expo hall looking at different vendors that were there, including DFTBA Records, and few different causes who came to spread awareness such as NaNoWriMo, This Star Won't Go Out, To Write Love On Her Arms, and Partners In Health.  There was also The Giant Pizza to Decrease World Suck.  If you donated to any of the charities present at the convention, you would get a 'topping' to put onto the Pizza.  On the same display, were several places where con-goers could write and draw things related to Nerdfighteria, DFTBA, bridges, and why the day was awesome.

While I don't expect this convention to happen again, due to it being an anniversary celebration, I had a great time.  I hope anyone who went had a great time as well.  I'll leave you with a video I made from a humorous portion of the convention.  As they say, Don't Forget To Be Awesome!