What is Penguicon?

Penguicon is a three-day event where we all learn from each other (as well as from our Guests of Honor) about hacking, building sci-fi universes, soldering, painting miniatures, gaming, coding, music, incredible costumes, and more.

Our two pillars are Science Fiction and Open Source, but we cover as many diverse nerdy interests as possible. We have a consuite with free soda, coffee, munchies and other real food, which makes it easier on your budget. You can find all kinds of original artwork and non-commodity crafts in our enormous Maker Market.

Over 1,300 nerds, geeks, and fans attend Penguicon every year to celebrate and share in what we all love. We are an all-volunteer, not-for-profit convention which brings together every kind of geek – software developers, moviemakers, authors and their fans, hackers, foodies – for a weekend of sharing in panels, workshops, and parties.

Dozens of people work on the convention throughout the year, for no more than a pat on the back as people come ‘home’ to Penguicon each year. Penguicon has helped people collaborate on new art projects, meet life-long friends and change careers.

To those of you familiar with Science Fiction conventions

Imagine all the convention features you know and love.  Now add decent wi-fi, tracks involving DIY everything, soldering your own badge, open source learning, programming, hacking your game consoles, nerdy cooking, Rock Band and more.  Penguicon inspires people to make things, start businesses, and create art. Expect liquid nitrogen ice cream with exotic and adult flavors, and robots dancing in the lobby.

To those of you familiar with the Linux and the FOSS community

Think of a weekend-long Linux Users Group meeting with hundreds of other very curious geeks, nationally acclaimed guests, hotel room parties, debates about world-building and the practicality of ion drives, video games and gaming tournaments, nerdy makers selling t-shirts and hardware, anime, costume contests, and free caffeine and snacks always available in the ConSuite.

Still not sure? Check out our video, “What is Penguicon?”, and come join us at one of our monthly SMOS parties.

We’ll see you at Penguicon!