Announcing the ‘Women in Webseries Panel’ at Geek Girl Con

When I first heard about Geek Girl Con, which is being held in Seattle Oct 8 and 9, I had two thoughts:

• What a fantastic idea – OMGWTFBBQ it’s going to ROCK!!
• Why has no one thought of it before??

As a sometime born-again geek, brought back into the fold after years of denial (yes, because working in IT is completely not geeky, is it? I was even in denial about that!), the idea of a Con ALL ABOUT ME was fantastic. We really are living in a golden age (/The Master).

After I got over the initial excitement I started to think about what I would love to see there: Geeky women passionate about their geekiness, bringing other people into their sense of wonder.
What is my passion? That would be writing and webseries. I started to hope that there would be programming about webseries, waiting to hear if some of my favourite creators would be there.

And something struck me. If I wanted to meet and share stories, ideas and experience about working on web TV, maybe I should propose a panel.  Our latest webseries, ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ premieres next week and we have lots to talk about…

So on May the 4^th (an auspicious day, always) I asked people on the weekly Twitter #webserieschat hosted by @slebisodes and @minglemediaTV whether anyone was interested in taking part in a panel. The response was immediate. I quickly had a list of women webseries creators who wanted to be involved. I had ideas about what I wanted to do so I sent out a proposal to those interested and within a couple of days we were set. The enthusiasm was amazing from this list of talented women:

Josephine Hoy (Mind My Brains, Darling!)
Vanessa Driveness (Standard Action)
Joannna Gaskell (Standard Action)
Glynis Mitchell (Causality)
Susan Bernhardt (Miss Behave)
Jillian Clare (Miss Behave)
April Grant (Destini) (Indie Intertube)
Amanda Shockley (Shadhavare) (Indie Intertube)
Trin Miller (The Dirty Do Gooders)

I sent off the proposal and then we waited…

On Monday this week I receieved the email saying our Panel “Women in Webseries: Indie TV and Getting Out There” had been accepted – fantastic news! Except for one thing. The maximum number of people allowed on stage was 9, and we had 10 people who wanted to participate. Everyone wanted to be part of the panel and everyone had unique perspectives and experiences to bring. What could be done?

Now, in traditional TVsoapland this would be the cue for infighting, backstabbing and hair pulling, because isn’t that what women do?

No. They don’t. Passionate and professional women set out the options, discuss them and come to a consensus. Trin Miller very graciously came forward first and said she would sit out in the audience instead. This set the ball rolling and the discussion that followed was illuminating. Josephine Hoy, Susan Bernhardt and Jillian Clare also offered to drop out. The truth is no one wanted to miss being on the panel, but everyone wanted it to be fair.

In the end a compromise was reached. Trin Miller will not be officially on the panel (only because we need to fulfill the GGC requirements) but she would be acknowledged by the panel and will conduct the audience participation parts. Because when you come to our panel, you’re going to have fun. And lots of it. Are you excited yet?

I had confirmation today that our panel will be on SATURDAY OCT 8, and will be a 90 minute panel. Better book your tickets for Geek Girl Con soon because it's going to be legendary!