After the Resounding Success of CatalystCon East, Founder Dee Dennis Announces CatalystCon West, September 27-29, 2013
Over 350 attendees from around the U.S. and Canada – and as far as Sweden and the Netherlands – gathered in Arlington, VA March 15-17 for the sold-out CatalystCon East sexuality conference. Created to inspire exceptional conversations about sexuality, the event featured 40 sessions and workshops on sexuality-based topics such as erotic writing, “toxic toys”, body image and sexuality, homophobia in communities of color, and sex and disability. Described by founder and organizer Dee Dennis as a “melting pot of sexuality,” CatalystCon unites sex educators, sex workers, health advocates, writers, activists, and others with a passion for creating change.
CatalystCon continues to be such an important meeting of the minds for sex educators, thinkers, academics and community members,” said Carol Queen, staff sexologist at Good Vibrations and co-founder of The Center for Sex & Culture, who spoke at the Closing Keynote with her partner Dr. Robert Morgan Lawrence. “It was a real honor to bring some historical perspective to some of our colleagues who’ve recently gotten involved with sex community, sex ed and CatalystCon.”
The official hashtag #ccon was used so often that it became a trending topic on Twitter on Saturday evening. The conversation continued during and after the conference using the main hashtag and customized hashtags for each session and special event, and many of the best tweets from the conference were curated using Storify. For more information, visit catalystcon.com/press/live-tweets.
Dennis is also proud to announce that over $900 was raised for sexuality education organization Scarleteen (scarleteen.com) at CatalystCon East, thanks to fundraising efforts by conference staff and attendees and representatives from sponsors artpulp, Tantus and Sportsheets International. Other official sponsors of CatalystCon East included ANEROS, Pleasure Chest, Wet, EROS, the FC2 female condom, Good Vibrations, Sex Out Loud with Tristan Taormino, Sexquire and The Smitten Kitten. Find more info on the sponsors at catalystcon.com/sponsor/sponsors-east.
“Tantus Inc has always been an education based company,” said Tantus President and Founder Metis Black. “We were the first business to educate the industry about material safety and silicone sex toys, and when a sex positive conference that reached out to sex toy bloggers, sex educators, health workers and sex workers came we were one of the first to jump on board. Sponsorship at Catalyst isn’t a vending opportunity; it’s a chance to talk with peers and experts, hear their voices and ideas and share common ground. We get one on one time with store affiliates, meeting the movers and shakers and social media’s who’s who. I feel so energized and full of ideas each show. Really, there are other educational conventions around but there’s only one CatalystCon.” CatalystCon West 2013 will be the third CatalystCon Sponsorship for Tantus.
CatalystCon returns to the west coast September 27-29, 2013 at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, CA. Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service under President Clinton, is already confirmed as the Closing Keynote Speaker.
CatalystCon West is accepting speaker submissions until May 15, 2013. The conference welcomes anyone who has something to share and the desire to spark conversations in the realms of sexuality, activism and acceptance. To apply to speak at CatalystCon West, visit catalystcon.com/call-for-speakers.
“At CatalystCon, everyone is welcome, everyone is respected, and everyone is encouraged to share their knowledge and experiences,” Dennis said. “Everyone has something to offer, and the more participants, the better the experience — for everybody.”
Dee Dennis co-founder of the revolutionary Momentum Conference held each spring in Washington DC is now bringing her talents and determination to spark open communication about sexuality, activism and acceptance to the west coast.
CatalystCon will be making its debut at the Hilton Long Beach & Executive Meeting Center in Long Beach, California September 14-16. “This conference is meant to energize, enlighten and exhilarate a positive discussion about sexuality, the current state of women’s rights, and to encourage people to take action in their local communities” says Dee Dennis founder of CatalystCon “Now more than ever we need to continue to educate ourselves and share that knowledge to help ignite change.
CatalystCon is focused on reaching out and stimulating the activist within everyone to help transform the way our friends, neighbors, and politicians approach and discuss one of the single most important aspects of humanity. CatalystCon welcomes everyone to partake in the discussion and help to influence change in how our communities approach sexuality. “The fundamental principal of CatalystCon is that knowledge is power and sharing that knowledge is the first spark to igniting the change in conversations” says Dee Dennis “CatalystCon will bring that spark and energy to the west coast.”
CatalystCon will be accepting application for speakers until June 1st from anyone who has something to share and the desire to spark conversations in the realms of sexuality, activism and acceptance. Individuals, therapists, educators, media specialists, bloggers, activists, women’s rights advocates, health professionals, and others are encouraged to submit an application. To find out more about becoming a speaker at CatalystCon please visit Call for Speakers page.
It was time to close the blog that began it all and begin something new. I’m no longer that person who created a blog as a joke and it grew into so much more in the last three years. I’m ready to move on and this is the beginning.
I’ve transfered the content from my blog. Imagine me, the tech dummy being able to do that. It was so much simpler that I ever thought possible. I’m still adding content to the pages and side bar but hope to have it finished before I leave on my Island vacation next week.
Now I need to go figure out how to do that automatic forward thing from blogger……..
Welcome to the home of Dee Dennis, founder of 
