My personal Keycon 2025 thread (not associated with the Keycon organizer group)

[CPTBadAss]

Keycon 2025 Recap

Hi all,

In the tradition of documenting my experience with Keycon, here's my Keycon 2025 post. Please note that this is a personal update and I'm not speaking as a Keycon organizer.

Also unfortunately as I was one of the staff working that day, I took very little pictures. So I'm borrowing other people's photos. Let me know if you want me take them down. Looking back I regret it but I was trying to put out all the little fires that day to make sure the meetup went smoothly.

One more thing, geekhack is acting weird so I had to break this up into a few parts and post it in multiple replies. Sorry for the spam.

Thank you to the random mom who helped us take this pic

Thursday

Thursday evening was a travel day for me. I worked and then drove to DC. I thought I would get a chance to stop at some Lego stores to collect some more passport stamps but that didn't work out sadly. Even worse, I had to take a detour and passed a Waffle House. I was so tired and not hungry so I didn't turn around even though I've been wanting to try it for a while. They don't exist in the Northeast! Got to the hotel in time to get a solid sleep. Which I was very thankful for as I had been stressing about the meeting and if the military parade would impact anything. Also I've never helped put together such a big meetup before or been so involved in the organization. So lots of first time nerves.

[CPTBadAss]

Friday
Friday I met up with Possum and we headed to get some food and to Costco to grab some drinks. Rmendis hosted an unofficial get together as a test run for a potential future Artisan only meetup. I didn't want to show up empty handed...or show up late. Because there was a casting workshop where we got to make our own artisans! I have had the chance to cast a few times but it never gets old. Special thanks to Zearoh, Binge, and of course alheckz who shoved an Ass V1 mold in my hands so I could cast another one. I made a one at Keycon 2024 but it didn't set right and is still squishy.

Thanks hoffmanmyster for the polaroid!



I cast the Ass V1 at the bottom of the artisan stack

I really enjoyed hanging out with wishful_cynic and family to tell them about keycaps. And it was amazing to see people's kids cast too! In addition to the casting workshop, I really really enjoyed artisan Jeopardy game. Of course LightningXI won lol. We went to a brewery after.

It was a really great day of catching up with old friends, making new friends, and checking out artisans. Also I learned that it doesn't matter that we went to Costco on a Friday morning. I thought it would be quiet but it was SO busy.

[CPTBadAss]

Saturday
I don't remember if I slept well from Friday to Saturday. I think I was just anxious to see how the meetup would go. I know we sold out all the tickets but I wasn't sure what the actual turn out would be.

Banner with the misprint. Sorry CK! (Thanks Prime for the photo)

Made it to the venue to find a few people standing around. Check in was confusing even as an organizer at first unfortunately. I spent a bunch of time trying to figure that out and trying to get as many tables put out as possible. And running around to make sure the sponsors had all their questions answered, And checking in on the people in line to make sure the line was moving. Andelping to hand out shirts and helping out there. Probably some other stuff too. And forgetting to eat breakfast lol. I'm so thankful for the other volunteers who helped make the check in process relatively smooth. Wish the start of the day wasn't so chaotic but I think it worked out.

Still can't believe we were right outside the security zone for the parade. Literally.


Volunteer crew hard at work <3 (photo by Xeon)

I kinda knew going into the day that I'd be very busy so if I'd got to see at least one panel and get an hour to just walk around, it'd be a win. I'm happy I got to catch most of the 2 artisan panels which were a lot of fun. And I did get an hour to walk around: I got to chat with CKC about his displays, checked out Joe Scotto's table of custom boards, played with some of the EC components at the Clever Keebs table, and tested out an Alyssia. I've been kind of obsessed with Alice layout for my MX boards. The Alyssia was pretty high on my wishlist to grab but the budget didn't work out and I regret it now. Hopefully I can hunt down a unit later. I'm still so upset I missed testing out the 21xx prototype at the CK table.

Link to my video of Keycon in full swing. The moment I felt like the meetup actually worked out.


Alyssia


Joe Scotto's table!

After figuring out and working through the giveaways, I was wiped and needed some time to recharge. I bailed on the Lightningcord dinner (so sorry again) so I could go to a low key dinner. It was nice to catch up with Hoff and Booper as we've been friends for like a decade now. Still can't believe we're all still into the hobby after this long. Also thank you so much for arranging dinner because I couldn't make any more decisions that evening.

Got invited to an afterparty and felt super out of place when we pulled up in the Uber. But it was super fun to see more people and actually enjoy some time looking at artisans. RIP Oni's keycaps which got dyed due to a spilled drink.

[CPTBadAss]

Sunday

After an amusing morning of trying to wake up some folks in our Airbnb and watching a poor Uber driver try to fit Hoff into his car, we ended up enjoying a nice brunch. I tried out a hot brown which was yummy. Now sure how Father's Day brunch was so chill but I'm thankful for it. Then hit up the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum. Afterwards, along with apparently most of Keycon goers, we ended up at the Natural History museum. And to fulfill Oni's dream, we walked from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Saw some super cute ducks next to the Reflecting Pool too! Shoutout to Vakaris for the camera swap pictures haha.

Afterwards I ended up hanging out with some of the Chicago folks at an Airbnb before passing out.

Monday
Ended up having breakfast with some folks before driving through a terrible storm on the way home. Looking back I still wish I stopped at Waffle House or some Lego stores on the way home....next time.

I had heard that people were having an awful time with their flights and drives south. So even though I was exhausted at the time, I'm glad I drove home and had no issues. I was so tired for the next few days it felt like I was jet lagged and was taking 2-3 hour naps after work. It was all worth it though.

At the time I couldn't really reflect on everything. But scrolling through Instagram after and seeing so many people posting selfies with friends felt nice. That I had a small part in helping bring these people together. And I tried to enjoy that feeling at all the events surrounding Keycon too. The hard work and stress was worth it. I'm already looking forward to next year. Sorry if it was hot in the venue.

Thanks
* Thank you to everyone I talked to over the weekend. Sorry if I was grumpy because I was so stressed or tired.
* Special thanks to anyone who traveled. I know it wasn't easy, especially traveling home. So thanks for putting in the time and effort.
* Thank you to all the sponsors who were super friendly and understanding
* Thank you to all the speakers at the panels. I'm so sad I couldn't sit in on more of them.
* Thank you to the amazing volunteer crew who really helped with my stress and anxiety day of
* Thank you to all the giveaway providers for the incredible support and enthusiasm
* And thank you to all the new and old friends I met. Ya'll are my favorite part about this hobby


Albums
Because I wasn't able to take a lot of photos of the meetup myself, I've taken the time to compile as many albums as I could find. If you took pictures and made a photo album that I missed, please add yours to the thread and I'll update the OP!

• My Photos
• Ennui Apathy - ArtCon
• Prime
• MaxF
• xeon
• Zach Adams
• marcusant
• woodentoilet
• Nahcttam
• splodeybaloney - film 35mm
• splodeybaloney - gameboy camera
• splodeybaloney - phone pics
• cozyghost - people
• cozyghost - boards
• ThePanduhh - artisans only
• Keycon 2025 Panel Playlist on Youtube

Old Keycon Writeups

• Keycon 2013
• Keycon 2014
• Keycon 2015

[HubertThemad]

Looked like you had a lot of fun! Thanks for all your work and for helping host and set everything up.

Also, sidenote, I'm imagining Hoff getting shoved in a car like those clowns trying to fit in a beatle lol

[3tonjack]

Great writeup.  You more than lived up to your handle CBA.  <3

[Booper]

Great writeup and photos!! Can't believe it's been 10 years since the first time you kicked my ass in Metal Slug!! 

You guys killed it this year. Thank you for all the hard work making it happen!

  Here's to many more Keycon shenanigans!!