Last weekend, I received a last-minute invitation to speak at a small convention aimed at girls who are into gaming. By my own admission, I do not identify as a gamer, which is a story unto itself, but I knew several of the people who were on staff, so I decided to check it out. Despite a rather unfortunate train mishap (and hooray for Himself, who fetched me from one stranded train to take me to another station to get me on my  way), we made it out there on time for our panel.

For a first-year con, I was pleasantly surprised that it had garnered a nice number of attendees. I ended up with anywhere between eight and 10 people in my panel, which was great. Not only were there girls in the audience, but some guys as well as parents.

We talked about everything from tips for attendees to use to keep everyone safe, the myth that is the Fake Geek Girl, the importance of inclusiveness in the geek community, and how to raise up the next generation of geeks. One parent mentioned taking her son to Wondercon this year for the first time, for which she got a round of applause for doing geek parenting right.  And of course, there were ribbons, stickers, and cards to hand out.

Everybody was extremely enthusiastic and seemed to have a great time at the panel, so I am chalking that one up as a win. Looking forward to being back next year!

P.S. Your donations help pay for those ribbons, cards, and stickers. Help us to help geeks keep each other safe.

P.P.S. If you are local to Southern California, please support Girl Gamer Gathering and help it grow in size and awesomeness!