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Hilton George is founder of Blerdcon. He spent a half hour talking with me at Super Magfest 2018 about setting up the convention and his motivations and goals for the con.
0:45 – Hilton George talks about Blerdcon. It’s a combination of black and nerd and the convention is designed to bring together communities that have been underrepresented in other conventions. This will be the second year. They had 1,800 people at the first one. They expect 3 and 5 thousand this year.
2:20 – Sometimes people wonder if the con is only for black people. Hilton explains that it’s a celebration of many cultures and it’s all inclusive.
3:45 – Blerdcon brings in more emphasis on Afro-futurism than perhaps other conventions do. Black Panther will likely increase interest in Afro-Futurism. 10-15% of their panels are on Afro-futurism. Blerdcon is hoping to bring in a guest connected to Black Panther.
5:35 – Blerdcon has used advisors from Magfest, Otakon, and other conventions to help develop their own convention. Hilton has shadowed con runners to help develop blerdcon. Community members are happy to assist.
7:10 – Hilton is inspired by people stepping out of the box and people who create something new. Geek culture is going mainstream. Disney may buy it all out but STEM outreach and creative inspiration will have been made part of the mainstream. Being weird is a positive thing.
8:45 – People have been the most important thing to make Blerdcon happen. Mutual inspiration makes things happen. The many volunteers and committees get the credit for making Blerdcon happen.
9:43 – Hilton loves working with people. He likes being on panels, representing the con and speaking with people. He loves to spread the message.
11:00 – Every nerd feels disconnected from others. Black nerds feel this disconnection but are also rejected by their own black community. They’ve had a double level of separation.
13:00 – The Stranger Things black character was Hilton. He was the one black kid in all his gaming crews. He was always Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters Halloween groups. There is diversity in fandom but the discussions about these groups don’t happen in conventions unless they’re written into the programming. People may attend conventions and not want to create issues by talking about diversity issues unless there’s a forum for them at the convention.
16:00 – Black female nerds are the most marginalized but most participatory in a sense in nerd culture. Blerdcon tries to highlight black female nerds as much as possible. Blerdcon can also show other conventions the success of highlighting marginalized communities.
18:22 – At the first Blerdcon, they had no idea what would work. There’s no template for a black convention. They tried everything. Some things worked and they know what works now and what resonated with fans. There’s just as much effort in producing it but it’s more focused. They hope to have more of everything this second time around.
20:30 – Blerdcon didn’t have any major problems in the first year due to the guidance they got from others. This time around they’ll have more signage and support better interaction guidance. They know how to do better registration and badge-ing and take care of audio and visual stuff. Scheduling will be better.
23:30 – Conventions and geeks life allow people to get to know each other before they realize that society has told them to avoid each other for some prejudicial reason. Hilton wants more dialogue between people. Geek culture might be the new way of life for people. Geek conventions might be the way for people to learn how to stop mistreating each other.
26:19 – Hilton was born and raised on Star Wars and comic books. He was a black kid growing up in the country in North Carolina. Then Dungeons and Dragons was his most interactive geek activity. He didn’t have this community available to him when he was a geek but kids now will have access. New fans have to be welcomed.
29:00 – Hilton loves Star Trek 2 and quotes it whenever it’s on. His long term plan is for Blerdcon to be Dragoncon of the North in ten years. He wants to grow Blerdcon into multiple hotels. Tourism in the area can be taken advantage of to grow the con.
31:30 – Cons are like a family reunion for Hilton. www.Blerdcon.com is the site for more information. They are on all the big social media sites. The con is on July 27-29, 2018, 24/7 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City.
Links to items mentioned
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrofuturism
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4574334/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084726/
For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Hilton George
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, comic books, conventions, geeks, nerds, black panther, marginalized groups, star wars, empire strikes back, stranger things
