WASHINGTON, D.C.—If the preliminary numbers are any indicator, CatalystCon East is already a successful conference.
“We have almost twice as many attendees registered for this show than we did in Long Beach in September, and we have more speakers scheduled for this version,” explained conference creator and organizer Dee Dennis.
CatalystCon is a conference created to inspire exceptional conversations about sexuality. It is about reaching out and stimulating those who attend to create those important conversations in their own communities, changing how society talks about and treats sexuality.
CatalystCon East is scheduled for March 15-17 at the Crystal City Marriott at Reagan Airport. Full weekend tickets are sold out, but there are some Saturday/Sunday tickets still available at CatalystCon.com.
“Those who attended CatalystCon West will see more people at this version, and some similar content,” Dennis told AVN. “I wanted to take some of the sessions from CatalystCon West that were extremely popular or that I thought were really groundbreaking and repeat them here to give more people a chance to experience them.”
Dennis said while much of the conference will feel familiar to those who attended the Long Beach, Calif., event, there will be some changes inspired by the inaugural event.
“At the West Coast event, we noticed that people really bonded and connected, so I wanted to find a way to cement that more for CatalystCon East,” she said. “So we have Carol Queen and Robert Morgan Lawrence in an ‘afternoon tea’ type of setting. They will have a conversation and then it will open up to anyone else who wants to talk about being a catalyst for change or to ask questions of the two.”
Another highly anticipated aspect of CatalystCon East, Dennis said, is the discussion that will center on Measure B and Prop 35.
“I don’t normally create sessions for these conferences but these were instigated by discussions and comment from CatalystCon West,” she said. “Too many people seem to think that these pieces of legislation are Los Angeles-based or California-based and they don’t apply to them. But the reality is that these are the first step down a slippery slope. These are about legislating our personal freedoms and I really think this is something people all over should be paying attention to before it’s too late.”
For more information, or to register, visit CatalystCon.com.
