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It could be argued that geeks now rule the world.
No longer are they the pencil-necked, awkward kids attached to computers and obnoxiously answering the teacher's every question.
Now, geeks are creating, operating and repairing the world's most popular gadgets.
In the era of the iPhone, personal GPS, home computer, digital television and MP3 player, if you're not a geek, it's probably smart to have a friend who is.
"We're in every facet of business, industry and education, and now people have a digital lifestyle," said Adam Brooks, co-founder of this week's THE Geek Fest at Central Piedmont Community College's Levine campus in Matthews. "It's great for us geeks who've been here the whole time. It's like the world is catching up with us."
THE Geek Fest, now in its sixth year, features cutting-edge technology in everything from video gaming to sustainable housing.
The slogan on the event's sell-out T-shirts says it: Geek is Chic.
"At some time, people were thinking that geek and nerd were synonymous, but that's no longer the case," said Barry Gilmore, THE Geek Fest's other co-founder and a punster who got the idea for the event when driving by a sign for Charlotte's annual Greek Festival. "Knowledge is becoming cooler and cooler."
'Meet and geek'
Gilmore describes the event as a "meet and geek," where geeks and wannabes can get a taste of a world that technological advances have opened for everyone from welders to environmental activists to artists.
An early indication the festival might catch on was when Gilmore and Brooks proposed the idea to Apple Computer, and the company agreed to sponsor the fledgling event in 2005.
"I think they saw something that was a celebration of all of these different (technological) developments and not just computers," Gilmore said. "They saw this was different than the standard trade show."
The event has since attracted such speakers as Louis Foreman, an inventor and judge on television's "Everyday Edisons," to Will Wright and Brian Eno of the Long Now Foundation in San Francisco.
CPCC students and faculty also have provided plenty of geek "wow" factor over the years.
Welding students built a statue for the fest that stands at the CPCC Levine campus. The welders hooked up a helium tank to a bubble blower one year, producing helium-filled bubbles that were "almost like a daytime fireworks show as the sun was hitting the bubbles," Gilmore said.
Another group contributed whipped cream frozen with liquid hydrogen, which, when eaten, made smoke come out of the eater's mouth.
Gilmore convinced a visiting museum exhibit to showcase a freeze-dried human brain, and last year festival goers played Guitar Hero.
THE Geek Fest is also focused on serious learning, holding workshops and breakout sessions on relevant technological topics. Gilmore encourages students and job seekers to attend. A teenager who would rather do nothing than play video games may be surprised to learn that a whole world of jobs - including programming video games and creating animation for movies - awaits.
"Kids may have no idea they could make a living in that," Gilmore said. "It's a good thing for people who were laid off to look at what's happening next, what might be good fields to get into that are exciting."
Far beyond computers
Gilmore describes the geek world as a system that has built upon itself, ever widening its ring of influence. In other words, it's moving beyond computers.
This year, the festival offers sessions and information on gaming and sustainability, two areas now heavily influenced by technology.
Red Storm Entertainment professionals will lead a daylong gaming laboratory, talking with people about all aspects of video game industry. People also can attend a session on "how to create a video game in under an hour" and "making 3D models with Blender." Both are taught by faculty from CPCC's gaming and simulation program.
The geek world has quickly invaded the world of sustainable living, once typecast as back-to-the-earth types who grew their own food, composted and lived without technology.
"People have realized as you look into sustainability, there are a lot of technical elements to it," said D.I. von Briesen, a CPCC faculty member who is building a prototype in a storage container of a self-sustaining building. "Even an energy auditor will have to have a pretty solid understanding of basic engineering concepts."
Von Briesen will talk about his ECObox at the festival, and CPCC faculty member Rodney Jackson will discuss how technology is recording and analyzing changes in the Catawba River watershed.
For career seekers, classes will be offered in "green" jobs and careers, and in using social networking to advance careers. Attendees also can learn about Microsoft Windows 7 and Google applications.
CLEAR will present information about a new tower in Charlotte that activated on Nov. 1, providing super-fast mobile G4 Internet service at hot spots all over Charlotte. People who bring laptops can try it out.
Gilmore said that THE Geek Fest is free and open to anyone, regardless of their geekiness.
"Everybody sort of has a little geek in them," he said.
