GEEKCon, an annual convention for anything you can geek about, is set to take over Davies Student Center on Dec. 7. Rob Mattison started GEEKCon in 2017. He said it was a push with a couple of friends and students as a way to get students out of their dorms. 

“My daughter was going to school, she wasn’t getting out of her dorm and I was thinking, ‘What can we do to make students see us all in a different light?’” Mattison said.

Mattison said he developed GEEKCon to create a positive space on campus. He wanted to foster a student and staff connection, and it’s a space where everyone is even because it’s about passion and positivity.

Marketing and communications students in CJ 351 Strategic Event Planning took over planning GEEKCon after its first convention.

“After the first year, Nicole [Schultz] came to me and said, ‘Hey, I do an event planning class. I’d love to take half my class and have them work on GEEKCon,’” Mattison said. “And, well this is just my guess, but the other half of the class didn’t have as much fun, so the following year it was the whole class doing GEEKCon.” 

Mattison said it is great working with the class and new students on the convention every year. According to Mattison, attendees can expect to see anything and everything at GEEKCon. 

“I do monsters, another friend of mine teaches knitting. It’s everywhere. We are very game-heavy, so we do have a board game room and an e-sports room. We have cosplay all day long and the vendor room,” Mattison said. “It will be a little of everything. We have a comic guy and then vintage clothes right next to him.” 

Marissa Day, the academic apprentice for strategic event planning, said she is excited about the theme “Racing towards joy, geeks in the driver’s seat.” 

“It’s such a cool idea, and it incorporates a lot of different things,” Day said. “There are so many different ways that you can be a geek about racing.” 

According to Day, the organizers are excited to attract community members and students alike. She said it’s a great way for students to feel more involved with things on campus. 

“We are putting geeks in the driver’s seat because this event is all about people who are passionate about geeky things and things they can geek out over, and it’s a cool space,” Day said. 

Evie Zizk, the graphic designer for the event, said she is looking forward to the returning staples of the event. 

“Cosplay will always be a big one, so I am excited to see that this year,” Zizk said. 

Zizk said GEEKCon is for everyone. 

“We are hoping for a pretty diverse crowd. We are reaching out our marketing to an older demographic and a student demographic simultaneously. We are hoping for all sorts of folks,” Zizk said. 

According to Zizk and the whole team, they want to make it a fun day for as many people as they can. 

“It is the most positive day I have on campus, it is fun and you feel good all day long,” Mattison said. 

Visit uwecgeekcon.com to find out more information about vendors, attractions and exhibitors at GEEKCon 2024.

Freeman can be reached at [email protected].