I attended A-kon 20, the anime convention. I discovered they had a few gaming panels and writing panels. Despite horribly planning them (two Friday, back to back, one Sunday at almost con's end.) I had a great deal of fun.
The gaming rooms consisted of RPGA (five-seven tables), Battletech had two mostly empty rooms, a Naruto CCG room, A Palladium Room (Heroes Unlimited and Rifts at least.) There were also a number of people playing Apples to Apples, and Magic the Gathering.
The guests consisted of Keith Baker (Eberron), Anthony Gallella--Theatrix creator, Jonathon M.Thompson, and S.John Ross. They attended the two Friday Panels which were Worldbuilding in RPG's, and the State of Tabletop Gaming.
Attending the State of Tabletop Gaming only was a gent who talked about his companies game "Witch Girls Adventures" which also has a licensed comic book.
The number of people who were interested in Eberron, and I think D&D world producing was high based on the world creation panel, little of it focused on tips and tricks, but I think this had to do with the number of attendees. (S.John had mentioned wanting to do a map making class which I'd have loved, his maps are great.)
I was unable to attend the "Writing RPG's" panel as it was late Sunday and we left very early in the morning.
I was able to play a game of Uresia powered by Risus with S.John Ross and it was quite interesting and fun. We had me, a chap named Guy, if I caught it right and a couple whose names vanished with the morning sun, I'm afraid. The young lady of the couple seemed a bit new at role-playing but I hope she enjoyed it. Our GM was S.John Ross himself and it was enjoyable little romp. It gave me some clear concepts on how RISUS is played. I mean I understood it in principle but the ease of use really blew me away.
The Witchgirls Adventure crew ran games as well, but they were deeply embroiled in one when I stopped by and I didn't interrupt. I was glad to see them promoting their game which is very visually appealing and seems thematically appropriate for younger teen girls, as opposed to say the very boys heavy games like D&D (I think I saw one maybe two girls in the RPGA room the entire con.)
That of course segue into the State of Tabletop gaming conversation where one young woman brought up the "selling RPG's to her girlfriends" (who she stated are very ahem "girly.") Another young woman (a bit older and a parent) who brought up getting her and her friends young sons into gaming. I actually appreciated their questions to the panel (even if I was not behind the table) because it does point out that there may be a barrier to some TYPES of rpg's because certain themes just aren't encouraged towards girls as much as boys. This creates a bit of a riff, between those who game now, and those who MIGHT game if they had some form of game thematic to their desires for imaginary fun. Witchgirls adventures seems to be aimed at this market and I really am not selling it--I don't know if its good or not, but I do know they are trying hard to bridge a gap that some people DO perceive as exiting.
The number of men to women in the various con-panel rooms was significant, but it did seem there were more interested women in the "State of.." over the larger number of attendees in the Worldbuilding Room, of course this may have to do with my perception and the lack of women asking questions. (I had a girl on either side, one a friends wife, one a young lady who came late. Whoever you may be thanks for offering me pocky. Its nice to meet people who are friendly in their own ways.)
In general I had fun at the con--it was my first con. (Sort of, but that's a long story.)
If anyone has questions I can answer, fire away!