Becky Potter is the president of the Nebraska Japanese Animation Society and convention chair of Anime NebrasKon, the oldest and largest Japanese animation (anime) convention in the state of Nebraska. Becky's leadership in the anime community started while serving for four years as the president of Otaku Jinrui: The UNL Anime Club. In 2004, the club decided to host a one-day event for a fund-raiser. When 300 people attended, the club committed to the event's continuation and expansion.
The event, Anime NebrasKon, now in its eighth year, has over 2,000 attendees, over 150 activities, and 60,000 square feet of convention space at the CoCo Key Water Resort - Convention Center in Omaha, NE. Becky has served as the convention chair since its inception, and works with 30 preplanning staff and an additional 45 staff members the days of the convention. All of the staff members are volunteers who work diligently for the convention attendees. "Our goal is to offer a great event that has something for everyone, no matter how much that person knows about anime. We're all fans of something, and it's great to come together to share that fandom. We want to build more than an event; we want to create lasting friendships and a strong community." To fortify that community, NebrasKon has networked with conventions such as OSFest to offer free mini-events and to promote other local organizations and activities.
When she's not working on Anime NebrasKon planning, Becky can often be found at events around the region as an attendee. She has served as a panelist on the topics such as the state of local fandom, the process of running clubs and organizations, and perhaps most notably, the strategy of becoming an effective evil overlord. Outside of the fandom scene, Becky works on her "real life" (but cool!) job as a Human Resources Project Manager at Union Pacific, and spends her spare time creating a fantasy-genre novel.
So learn more about this industrious local fan at OSFest 4.0:System Upgrade this July 22-24, 2011. We hope to see you there.
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