How to survive and thrive working in college housing with a geeky twist.

Posts in category Conferences

A Brief History of geekEd.

Jun15th
2012 2 Comments Written by Tyler

Greetings Reslifegeek readers!  So I am back from vacation in Lake Tahoe.  We’re less than a month away from our San Diego Comic Con Panel and it is time to get ready.  By the way, if you know anyone who wants to sponsor geekEd. T-shirts for Comic Con, we are looking for sponsors.

So – some of you know the story of how our panel came to be, and some of you do not.  I wanted to share it with you, because I think it is a great lesson in how “just try it” AND Collaboration can work for you.

Chapter 1:  Going to Comic-Con for free
About two and half years ago, Ryan McRae and I were talking about Comic-Con.  Ryan had shared that he was looking to purchase Comic-Con tickets as a prize for his “geek Week” program at CSU San Marcos. When he inquired, he was told at the time that Comic-Con was trying to do outreach to Higher Education professionals, and offered him free Comic-Con tickets for himself and a guest to attend.  Ryan was VERY excited about this and posted on facebook that he got free comic-con tickets.  Me, naturally of the “if it’s free it’s me” bent asked him how he did it.  I then sent an email to Ryan’s contact who set me up with a free registration for me, my wife, and my two kids (at the time).  This was 2010.  Ryan offered to allow us to stay at CSU San Marcos for free, so we loaded the family and went to San Diego Comic Con for the first time in July of 2010.

Chapter 2:  An idea is born
During Comic-Con in 2010, as a thank you, our family took Ryan out to dinner.  At dinner, Ryan and I were talking.  We had just finished presenting workshops at the Western Association of College and University Housing Officers (WACUHO) Annual Conference and Exhibition (WACE).  Ok, before I go any further – YES, it is an Acronym that CONTAINS an acronym.  Anyway.  Both of us had just finished presenting at WACE a month prior.  We looked at each other and I said to him – we could TOTALLY present at Comic-Con.  Ryan had presented “Geek Week” programming at WACE and had won the “Best in the West” award for his presentation.  We brainstormed what we could present about – geek culture and higher education and how they mix.  We could speak to geek students who were attending comic con and tell them they could use their “geekness” for their advantage (getting RA jobs, becoming a leader, etc).  We could talk about programming towards geeks. My wife came up with the “geekEd.” Idea.  Geek education.  Geeked.  geekEd.  So meta.  I figured if we can present to educators in our field, we could certainly present to the public.  I said I’d do the research and find out we could submit a proposal to present at Comic-Con 2011.

We left Comic-Con 2010 having a fantastic time!  My wife even was interviewed for a documentary on comic books, which was WAY cool.

Chapter 3: A team is assembled
When Registration came out for Comic-Con 2011 in January of 2011, I noticed on the website a section for programming.  I clicked on it and found a pdf with a panel proposal form which was SURPRISINGLY simple.  Pretty much the same form I was used to for WACE.  I began to fill it out and decided this needed to be more than just Ryan and I.  Sure others would be interested.  I knew people from WACUHO who had attended comic-con previously.  I threw it out there on facebook – “Hey – I am putting together a team for a panel at Comic-Con – anyone interested?”  Immediately people said– “sure, put me down.”  I could tell most didn’t think we had a snowballs chance of being selected for a panel, but I knew we had something to offer.  We spent about 15-30 minutes putting together the proposal form, and we had our team.

I submitted a cover letter to the Comic-Con program committee with our proposal form that basically said – “look, you gave me a free pass to Comic-Con last year, I’d like to return the favor by offering you a diverse panel of educators who would love to be your allies.  You’re reaching out to us, we’ve heeded the call, let us provide you something.”  You see, our passion provided a service for the conference.  Why did they give Ryan and I free tickets to Comic-Con?  My guess is because of what we were working on.  We were giving them exactly what they wanted and hoped for.  Why else would they offer us free tickets to Comic-Con?  What we had to offer them was this:

  • Five college educators with significant professional experience
  • Five college educators from five different educational institutions
  • Five college educators with a passion for pop-culture, comic books, and college students
  • Five college educators who were EXCELLENT presenters

We submitted the proposal at the end of January and basically waited.  Like the one ring to rule them all, many of us probably even forgot.

Chapter 4: A New Hope
I remember it well.  We had gone out to dinner in June of 2011 as a family at John’s Incredible Pizza.  It’s basically Chuck E. Cheese on Steroids.  After dinner, I checked my iphone and there it was.  An email saying our panel had been accepted!  I don’t think I slept a wink that night I was so excited.  I immediately went on facebook to let everyone know.  I sent an email to the team and it was amazing!  Immediately we had six weeks to plan.  With that first email, we didn’t even know if we had tickets to comic-con.  Everything came together so fast.  We got a sponsor for t-shirts.  We developed a power-point.  We made buttons.  It was a true team effort!  Most of you know how it turned out, and we are excited and honored to be asked to do it again this year!

So why tell you this story?  Maybe it will inspire you to live your dream.  I have really learned to embrace rejection.  When the WORST thing that can happen to you is they say “no” you REALLY have nothing to lose.  You are no worse off than before you asked.  It’s not like you went backwards. So you didn’t move forward.  But when you risk a “yes” you give an opportunity for something magical to happen.  AND, more importantly, when you bring people along on your journey, it is so much sweeter.  Our panel last year was special because it wasn’t about any one of us.  Everyone brought something to the table.  In true Avengers fashion – everything worked well to have something magical happen.  It started with Ryan developing geek week programming and doing a cool Comic-Con ticket prize.  He took a risk being rejected.  Then, knowing it was safe, I got free passes to Comic-Con.  Then I took a risk putting the proposal together.  I took a risk of being rejected that the work I put together would go for naught.  I asked people to share the burden with me and share the risk.  They took that risk with me.  Once we were not rejected, others felt safe coming on our journey too.  So not only does your risk expand YOUR comfort zone, it expands the comfort zone of the people around you too.  And I think, overall, that is a good thing to be aware of.

That’s all for now True Believers!

Advice, Comic-Con, Connecting, Dreaming Big, Hope, Organizing

Making the Geekiest Connections You Can.

Jan9th
2012 3 Comments Written by Ryan

Let’s just be honest: I can work a room. If you give me a room full of strangers, and you give me the quest to meet 10 people, I’ll meet 15. I’ll talk them up and have plans later on with them. It’s just a gift I have; I don’t come across fake (or so people tell me), I just geninuely love to meet new people (Strengthsquest: Woo. #1)

But some of you out there are thinking, “Um, Ryan, blog-writer extraordinare, I can’t really do that. I’m in the corner. I’m shy. I make sure my name tag is straightened about a million times.”

Ok, ok. There, there. We will be ok. There, there.

One way you can find great people and connect is through Twitter. Don’t know what Twitter is or how to understand it? Here you go. 

What’s great about Twitter is you can follow people and if they aren’t interesting, you can unfollow them quickly. I follow comedians and TV and movie critics, but mostly I follow housing/college people. I spend time searching on Twitter. When I find someone I like, I find out who they are following. Easy.

One person in particular I found was: Tom Ellet, Sr. Associate Vice President of Student Affairs. You can follow him here. He’s great with Twitter and here’s why.

Tom consistently posts what books people like on his campus. It’s an easy way to share resources. For example:

Of course I’m going to investigate this. And it’s a fantastic idea to ask your Resident Advisors what their favorite books are. Twitter is a great way to announce, “Check this OUT!” Another great way is to ask a question and get a nice crowdsource (I’d recommend this on Facebook as well, you’ll need some followers who are connected to you for this to work out.)

Tom posed a question about building a brand and I responded:

The actual effort it takes to respond can be measured only in words per minute. But the value of creating and maintaing these connections is crucial and invaluable.

Now, I’m not trying to get anything out of Tom. I’m just trying to help. That’s it. And I’ve gained a lot from his posts that I thought I’d give back.

Use twitter to create your own coaching/mentoring circle. It’s much easier than Facebook because you don’t have to friend anyone, you can just follow and “eavesdrop” on their announcements so you can glean some great information and possibly be part of a conversation.

Advanced Connecting Course

Later on that day, I call sir Tom Ellett. On the phone. Live from New York, it’s Tom Ellett. 

I just wanted to connect with him, offer any resources I had in terms of branding or business and he offered to take a look at my resume (which turned out to be a hot mess. Hot. Mess.) Without twitter I would have been this stalky stranger, but instead it turned out to be this fantastic connection. He and I will meet up in Anaheim for a convention and show him the beauty that is California.

Thanks, Twitter.

 

Connecting

A Geek’s Year in Review

Dec27th
2011 2 Comments Written by Ryan

2011 has been one of the roughest years of my life. The theme I wanted for this year was “Freelance” and what I got was “Change”. From work upheavals to family crises this was a year that left my ears ringing. I also risked more this year than I have in the past five years. I accomplished some goals I never thought I’d finish. I accomplished some big dreams. Here’s the highlights.

Comic Con. Me and some of my friends spoke at Comic-con this year for GeekEd. I’ve written extensively about it, but I look back on that time, and think that really happened. We will be having a repeat performance this year and who knows where it will go from there.

Lesson: Dream big and put yourself out there. If someone says, “Yes” it could change your life. 

World Domination Summit I started reading Sir Chris Guillebeau’s blog and I heard about the WDS. I waited too long to get tickets and had to literally wait  by my computer, waiting for an email letting me know tickets got released. I managed to get in and then I ran around my office. I might have slapped my butt. I met some phenomonal people, great speakers, and I won 2 scavenger hunts. It has really opened my eyes to entreprenuership. Here are the three people I met who have greatly influenced my life (you too Chris.)

Lesson: Surround yourself with dreamers. Oh, and register early for where you want to go.

Central RAP  I was the keynote speaker at the Central RAP for the Western Association of College and Housing Professionals. You can read about it here. I look back on that day and it was just amazing, the students and staff. Getting that opportunity meant the world to me.

Lesson: Give yourself away. Give your best out there. Opportunities will burst down your door and slap you in the face. 

This year has given a lot: I have found a church I care about and a ton of new friends. I’ve saved money to jump from this job if that’s what I ever needed to do. I’ve started writing a book and I’ll be doing a webinar in January. I finished one year of Crossfit and it has changed my life (and I’ve written for a fitness blog! Me! Fitness! What?!)

The theme next year is “Risk and Finish”.

I’m committing finishing these goals.

  • Finish my Geek Programming book. It’s about a 30 page ebook and I’m hoping to sell it to a higher education publishing company to get some residual income off of it. (I hope to make about $100-300 from it) Due date: March 1st, 2010.
  • Finish weighing 210. I have this little ponch that I’m so tired of. I’m king of the stress eaters. I work in housing. Why, hellllllo pizza. Due date: May 1st
  • Finish 10 non-fiction books by the end of the year.

I’m committing to stopping the following behaviors:

  • Not buying one single book for the entire year. (That’s right, nerd. Not anything on my kindle, nothing.) I have hundreds of unread books. I gotta get to work.
  • I’m going to stop whining about not having enough freelance work. I just gotta figure it out.
  • I’m stopping being so hard on myself. I’ve caught myself being a sad Eeyore about not spending time with friends or not working out enough. Man, if I was married, my spouse would hate me.

I’ll keep you posted on the rest of them. Until then geeks, I’ll see you next year.

 

 

Connecting, Development, Dreaming Big

The Game Of Thrones: Finding Allies in the Midst of Chaos

Oct24th
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Ryan

I watched the series Game of Thrones on HBO. It was a bit (ahem) risque for my taste, but I got enraptured by the story as did millions. I’m burning through the first book, a mirror of the series, but obviously has a rich backstory (like Harry Potter books vs the movies.)

One of the themes of the book is: who can you really count on? Without going to spoiler town, the answer is simply: those who care but do not owe. The second someone owes someone else in the series, the clouds of doom start to swoop in. If you can find two selfless people who help for the sake of love and friendship, then the bond holds. If it’s based on power or prestige, riches or favor, then it all eventually crumbles away, creating tragedy on the way down.

So here’s the obvious question: who are your allies?

Who are the people at other colleges you can depend on, where your relationship is not based on power, but just on altruism?

If the answer is you scratching your head, well, my friend, you have come to the right place. Grab your wine, direwolf and sit by the fire with me.

Gatherings: When the option of a conference comes up, jump at the chance. Now you might be thinking: I don’t want to spend the money. Don’t you get that we are all broke? Yes, I get it. I hear your cries in throughout the castle walls. But the investment is worth it and it will pay you fantastic dividends.

Now you might be shy, but anyone can network; anyone can shake a hand, offer a smile and start up a conversation (I’m making the assumption that all of you are not crippling introverts; it would be hard to survive in our job if that were true.)

I’m a conference addict (addict!) and I usually make connections at the breakout sessions so I can find people I have things in common with. Through the conferences I’ve met colleagues who are fellow geeks like me. With them I’ve spoken at Comic-Con and have always had someone to call and say, “What are your thoughts on this?” or “How would you go about creating this change?” The phone calls are about 5 minutes tops. The validation and advice: priceless.

Committees: I love committee work. And I’ve done them long enough to know what I like and what I don’t. I like upfront speaking roles or creative design, not handling the money or admin roles. But what I enjoy most is meeting different kinds of people and through them, serving together, seeing their altruistic spirit, I’m much more apt to make connections.

Also, ask your peers at your school to “set you up.” Ask them, “Who has some common interests like me? Could you introduce us?” Come on, us college folk are a friendly bunch.

Get to it. Make your allies. Create your connections. And then go to WAR! (ok, don’t go to war.)

By the way, I put up a new page on my blog great resources I’ve used. Throw me an email or comment if I can be of any help.

Connecting, Development, Mentoring