Penguicon

Penguicon
Tux visits the Penguicon Consuite
Status	Active
Genre	Science fiction/Linux User Group
Venue	Westin Southfield Hotel, Southfield, MI (April 24-26th, 2015)
Location(s)	Southeastern Michigan
Country	United States
Inaugurated	2003
Attendance	1,377 (2014)
Organized by	Penguicon Staff
Website
http://penguicon.org

Penguicon is a convention in the midwestern United States designed originally to mix the communities of science fiction fandom and Linux User Groups. In addition to educational panels on science fiction in the media, attendees participate in professional and beginner-level panels on Linux and Open-source software.

Penguicon expanded its focus over the years to include panels and events for foodies, cosplay, filk music (the folk music of science fiction fandom), gaming, and makerspaces. Penguicon is a place where "hackers, makers, foodies, open source software junkies, anime buffs, and science fiction fans of all ages and backgrounds come together in a hotel for a weekend and totally blow the roof off."

Along with the panels, the convention hosts a "geek prom", a film room, swordfighting demonstrations, a cosplay contest, OpenCola (open source soda making),live action role-playing game, computer, board and cards.

Working alongside local makerspaces i3Detroit and All Hands Active, Penguicon has offered instruction in learning to solder electronic components, which allowed attendees to create their own LED badges.

Over a thousand participants have attended past conventions, which have featured Guests of Honor from Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi to Jon "maddog" Hall and Eric S. Raymond.

For the 2014 convention, the Penguicon tech track's focus was on privacy and cryptography, with panels on installing cryptographic software, GPG encryption, and setting up a physical firewall on your home network.Cory Doctorow is returning as a Guest of Honor Emeritus to talk about privacy in a post-Snowden world.