| ROFLCon | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Internet Culture |
| Venue | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Location | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Country | United States |
| First held | 2008 |
| Organizer | Harvard University Students |
| Attendance | ~600 in 2008 |
| Official website | http://www.roflcon.org/ |
ROFLCon is a biennial convention of Internet memes that first took place April 25–26, 2008, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The meeting was first announced in late 2007.[1]
Various Net celebrities attended, such as the authors of the webcomics xkcd, Questionable Content and Dinosaur comics, Jay Maynard "The Tron Guy", moot, Leeroy Jenkins, The Brothers Chaps, and many others.[2][3]
ROFLCon was organized by a group of students from Harvard University led by Tim Hwang.[2][4] According to Hwang, the inspiration for the conference was the September 23, 2007 meetup of fans of xkcd with its creator in a park in North Cambridge, MA.[2][5] The ROFLCon team spent months tracking down people associated with memes, but many of the invited guests did not attend.
Attendance was open to the public after pre-registration and a fee. The primary events of ROFLCon were moderated panel discussions with the Internet celebrities, and question and answer sessions with the audience. Several guest speakers gave talks on issues pertaining to internet culture. The convention ended with the ROFLConcert, featuring live performances by Group X, Leslie Hall, Lemon Demon, Trocadero and Denny Blaze.
In 2010, the conference took place from April 30 to May 1 at MIT. Passes were available from $45 for a student to $500 for a "Mystery Pass."[2]
The conference will occur again on May 4-5, 2012, again at MIT.[6]