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Several GeekDad writers will host a panel at PAX East. The panel, titled “Geek Parenting,” will include Dave Banks, Natania Barron, Matt Blum, Curtis Silver, John Booth, Doug Cornelius (that’s me), Michael Harrison, and Corrina Lawson. We described the session as:

How young is too young for The Hobbit? Why is LEGO Star Wars the best console game for your child? What’s the best way to deal with bullying? How old should your child be before you stop letting/helping them win games against you? As a parent, how do you deal with smart phones, texting and technology in your kids’ lives? These questions and many more will be discussed by writers for GeekDad.com, GeekMom.com, and geek parents in the audience. Come share your stories and advice for how to ensure our kids grow up to be geeks like us! Don’t have kids? Show up and find out what may be in store for you if you ever do!

What is PAX East?

“PAX East is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers. We call it a festival because in addition to dedicated tournaments and freeplay areas we’ve got nerdcore concerts, panel discussions, and an exhibitor hall filled with booths displaying the latest from top game publishers and developers.”

It’s happening March 11th to13th. Our Geek Parenting session is in the Merman Theatre, Saturday the 12th from 1:00pm – 2:30pm.

This year, Pax East will be in the luxurious Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on the South Boston Waterfront.

An unprecedented collection of GeekDads descended on the first edition of Pax East. Somehow we had convinced the organizers that their attendees would be interested in hearing from us about raising the next generation of geeks.

This was the first east coast edition of Pax, a hugely popular gaming convention. The 60,000 tickets for the Boston event were sold out in a week.

Would be the attendees be interested in hearing from us. Frankly, I thought the only people in the audience would be the few who wandered in while trying to find the bathroom. That opinion was emphasized when I saw that the panel’s room was in the Wyvern Theatre in the far corner of the expo’s top floor.

Matt Blum, Dave Banks, Natania Barron, John Booth, Michael Harrison and I gathered for dinner and wandered up to the distant room of the panel. We bumped into the back of a long queue of people pointed in the opposite direction from our room. “Clearly, we are scheduled opposite some other popular session.” When we got the doors, we turned and saw that the long queue wrapped around the stairwell atrium and ended up in front us.

“HOLY CARP, they’re waiting to see us!!”

The room had about 250 seats, all filled, plus a few dozen people standing along the walls.

We were all stunned that so many people had come to see us. The room was full 15 minutes before the scheduled start time, so we figured we may as well start. Of course that meant we would have to somehow manage to be interesting for an additional 15 minutes. I was sure that most of the audience would empty out with seconds after we started talking.

Me, John, Matt, Natania, Dave and Michael

There were six contributors to GeekDad on the panel. That was the largest gathering of contributors to the blog in one place. (At least according to the six of us.)

We each began by giving our geek credentials and our parent credentials. The same as we do when someone new comes on the GeekDad podcast. Then we spent the rest of the time talking about the joys and challenges of raising the next generation of geeks.

About half the audience raised their hands when we asked how many were parents. The audience was great. They were very engaged and had lots of questions for us. Way more questions than we had time for.

Most of the audience stayed for the whole 75 minutes, they even applauded at the end. Fairly loud applause. “They liked us. They really, really liked us.”

Other Media Coverage:

• News Broadcast from Boston.com
• Pax East kicks off in Boston News Broadcast from New England Cable News
• Photos from Boston.com
• Video game culture, lifestyle take center stage in Boston
• Geek Out!: Wheaton wows gamers on CNN
• The Highway Calls by John Booth
• Images from the GeekDad Panel
• PAX East 2010: Six GeekDads, One Panel, Much Fun on GeekDad
• Matt Blum’s Pictures from Pax East 2010
• PAX East lookback, part 1. by John Booth (fellow GeekDad) in Cornfield Meet

Friday night, I will be in the Wyvern Theatre at Pax East speaking on Bringing up the Next Generation of Geeks. If you are attending Pax East, please stop by at 7:00 and pretend to be interested. (We’ll pretend to be interesting.)

How young is too young for The Hobbit? What should my kids’ first LEGO set be? How can I control my disgust if my child tells me he likes Jar Jar and the Ewoks? When should I buy my kids their first non-six-sided dice? These questions and many more will be discussed by writers for Wired.com’s GeekDad blog and other geek parents. Come share your stories and advice for how to make sure our kids grow up to be geeks like us! Don’t have kids? Show up and find out what may be in store for you if you ever do!

I’m part of a panel with some fellow writers for Wired’s GeekDad.

Panelists Include: Matt Blum [Assistant Editor], Dave Banks, Natania Barron, John Booth, Doug Cornelius [that's me], Michael Harrison, and Corrina Lawson [Who is not going to arrive in time for the panel].

The schedule for Pax East has been released. What is PAX East?

PAX East is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers. We call it a festival because in addition to dedicated tournaments and freeplay areas we’ve got nerdcore concerts, panel discussions, and an exhibitor hall filled with booths displaying the latest from top game publishers and developers.

It’s happening March 26th to 28th at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

I will be on a panel with several of the GeekDad writers on Friday night at 7:00. The panel, titled “Bringing Up the Next Generation of Geeks,” will include Dave Banks, Natania Barron, Matt Blum, John Booth, Doug Cornelius (that’s me), Michael Harrison, and Corrina Lawson. We described the session as:

How young is too young for The Hobbit? What should my kids’ first LEGO set be? How can I control my disgust if my child tells me he likes Jar Jar and the Ewoks? When should I buy my kids their first non-six-sided dice? These questions and many more will be discussed by writers for Wired.com’s GeekDad blog and other geek parents. Come share your stories and advice for how to make sure our kids grow up to be geeks like us! Don’t have kids? Show up and find out what may be in store for you if you ever do!

If you are coming to Pax East, please stop by the Wyvern Theatre on Friday night and say hello.

There is also a story in the latest edition of the Boston Business Journal: Geeks and gamers to descend on Hub. Rodney Brown notes that Pax East will be the third largest recurring event in the first quarter, after the Yankee Dental conference and the International Seafood Show.

Several GeekDad writers will host a panel at PAX East. The panel, titled “Bringing Up the Next Generation of Geeks,” will include Dave Banks, Natania Barron, Matt Blum, John Booth, Doug Cornelius (that’s me), Michael Harrison, and Corrina Lawson. We described the session as:

How young is too young for The Hobbit? What should my kids’ first LEGO set be? How can I control my disgust if my child tells me he likes Jar Jar and the Ewoks? When should I buy my kids their first non-six-sided dice? These questions and many more will be discussed by writers for Wired.com’s GeekDad blog and other geek parents. Come share your stories and advice for how to make sure our kids grow up to be geeks like us! Don’t have kids? Show up and find out what may be in store for you if you ever do!

What is PAX East?

“PAX East is a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers. We call it a festival because in addition to dedicated tournaments and freeplay areas we’ve got nerdcore concerts, panel discussions, and an exhibitor hall filled with booths displaying the latest from top game publishers and developers.”

It’s happening March 26th to 28th at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The three-day pre-registration rate is $50. You should register soon, because they’re expecting a sellout)

Read More http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/02/pax-east-2010