Disastrous DashCon
So, I don't know how much everybody knows about DashCon. To say it was a disaster, might be an understatement. DashCon is going down as one of the worst fandom conventions in the last 10 years.
DashCon was marketed as a convention by Tumblr users, for Tumblr users. It was supposed to be a convention to celebrate all fandoms. There were multiple panels, guest artists, and special guests. The big draw was the "Welcome to Night Vale" crew. They had several special ticketed events.
On Thursday night, we went in for early registration. Everything seemed to check out.
On Friday morning, we arrived early to set up our stuff. We had Indiana University swag to give out and a ton of surveys.
When the doors opened, hundreds of people poured in. Most were dressed up in cosplay. However, I noticed a pattern very quickly. Castiel from Supernatural, Sherlock Holmes (specifically, the BBC Sherlock version), and the Doctor from Doctor Who costumes were very popular, even among women. I saw more trench coats there than I have seen in my life. There was also a group wearing Scout Corp jackets from the manga/anime Attack on Titan.
We gave away most of the surveys on the first day. The vendors had a lot of time on their hands when people weren't at their booths and they wanted something to do. So, they took our survey.
After the vendor hall closed Friday night, the group went out for dinner. We returned to the hotel because we wanted to attend the panels, in order to see what happened at fandom conventions. When we got there, we were confused because every door was locked. We eventually found our way to DashProm--a dance party, which was supposed to have a formal dress code. However, they were letting everybody in. Inside, one of the organizers was talking about raising money. After speaking with the attendees, we learned that the hotel had "changed their mind" about the payment schedule and was demanding the money that evening. They were apparently threatening to shut down the convention and kick everybody out of the hotel unless they received $17000. The DashCon organizers stated that they believed that the hotel had changed the schedule because they wanted DashCon out. The guests at the hotels, particularly the wedding groups, did not like the DashCon attendees and didn't understand or appreciate the cosplay. That set off huge warning flags for me. This emotional appeal to geeks, who may have dealt or are currently dealing with rejection and bullying because of their fandom choices, was feeding on negative emotions. It seemed to me like a fishy thing to say.
So, they started a massive social media campaign to save DashCon. They also accepted cash donations from the attendees without writing down names or amounts. Shortly after we entered, they announced that they had made the amount necessary to keep the convention open. By that time, our entire group was having bad feelings about what was going on. My first thought was that it had to be a scam. Hotels have contracts with conventions and they wouldn't just change their payment schedule.
After they made the big announcement, we stayed very briefly to enjoy the prom. However, the music was pretty bad and I had no interest in seeing hundreds of high school girls twerking.
DashCon was marketed as a convention by Tumblr users, for Tumblr users. It was supposed to be a convention to celebrate all fandoms. There were multiple panels, guest artists, and special guests. The big draw was the "Welcome to Night Vale" crew. They had several special ticketed events.
On Thursday night, we went in for early registration. Everything seemed to check out.
On Friday morning, we arrived early to set up our stuff. We had Indiana University swag to give out and a ton of surveys.
When the doors opened, hundreds of people poured in. Most were dressed up in cosplay. However, I noticed a pattern very quickly. Castiel from Supernatural, Sherlock Holmes (specifically, the BBC Sherlock version), and the Doctor from Doctor Who costumes were very popular, even among women. I saw more trench coats there than I have seen in my life. There was also a group wearing Scout Corp jackets from the manga/anime Attack on Titan.
We gave away most of the surveys on the first day. The vendors had a lot of time on their hands when people weren't at their booths and they wanted something to do. So, they took our survey.
After the vendor hall closed Friday night, the group went out for dinner. We returned to the hotel because we wanted to attend the panels, in order to see what happened at fandom conventions. When we got there, we were confused because every door was locked. We eventually found our way to DashProm--a dance party, which was supposed to have a formal dress code. However, they were letting everybody in. Inside, one of the organizers was talking about raising money. After speaking with the attendees, we learned that the hotel had "changed their mind" about the payment schedule and was demanding the money that evening. They were apparently threatening to shut down the convention and kick everybody out of the hotel unless they received $17000. The DashCon organizers stated that they believed that the hotel had changed the schedule because they wanted DashCon out. The guests at the hotels, particularly the wedding groups, did not like the DashCon attendees and didn't understand or appreciate the cosplay. That set off huge warning flags for me. This emotional appeal to geeks, who may have dealt or are currently dealing with rejection and bullying because of their fandom choices, was feeding on negative emotions. It seemed to me like a fishy thing to say.
So, they started a massive social media campaign to save DashCon. They also accepted cash donations from the attendees without writing down names or amounts. Shortly after we entered, they announced that they had made the amount necessary to keep the convention open. By that time, our entire group was having bad feelings about what was going on. My first thought was that it had to be a scam. Hotels have contracts with conventions and they wouldn't just change their payment schedule.
After they made the big announcement, we stayed very briefly to enjoy the prom. However, the music was pretty bad and I had no interest in seeing hundreds of high school girls twerking.
Early Saturday morning, we showed up at the vendor's hall. At this point, we were just taking completed surveys and giving out gift cards. We were in the prime position for hearing everything that was happening. Some rumors started going around about the special guests not getting paid and not being able to afford the hotel rooms. At this point, we were just chewing popcorn and watching the drama unfold.
Around lunch, we received word that the big guests, Welcome to Night Vale, a podcast of a radio show for a fictional town called Night Vale, had left. They had apparently not received payment for coming to the conference and had been stuck with the bill for the hotel rooms, despite promises of housing. At that point, we started seeing the attendees fleeing like rats from a sinking ship.
By the end of the day, we had heard about all the drama; from the special guests walking out to the kiddie pool mess we heard about it all. We had first-row seats to the disaster and, on Saturday night, we decided to see what the Internet was saying about DashCon.
Around lunch, we received word that the big guests, Welcome to Night Vale, a podcast of a radio show for a fictional town called Night Vale, had left. They had apparently not received payment for coming to the conference and had been stuck with the bill for the hotel rooms, despite promises of housing. At that point, we started seeing the attendees fleeing like rats from a sinking ship.
By the end of the day, we had heard about all the drama; from the special guests walking out to the kiddie pool mess we heard about it all. We had first-row seats to the disaster and, on Saturday night, we decided to see what the Internet was saying about DashCon.
So, Saturday night, I decided to see what the Internet was saying about DashCon. I found into a blog post from someone, who knew a bit about law (http://hythe.tumblr.com/post/91619570562/dashcon-legality) . She said that she had decided to do some digging into DashCon's operations. Turns out, the DashCon group hadn't submitted the correct paperwork to be operating a business in Illinois. She advised the vendors to be concerned because, technically, they were operating illegally as well.
We returned Sunday, ready to collect the last few surveys and head home. When we arrived, we saw many of the vendors packing up. The sales from the day previously were not as expected (DashCon said that there would be thousands of people when there were only a couple hundred). A lot of people had left the day before because they had come to see the Welcome to Night Vale cast and, when they left, had no reason to stay.
Also, several of the vendors were really concerned about the legal troubles they could face. Some of the vendors were from other countries. They feared that they could be sent to federal prison for operating illegally in the US.
We stayed and accepted completed surveys until the countdown finished. Some convention workers came around to thank us for coming and expressed their hope that all the vendors would come back next year. The chuckles that went up and down the rows were very noticeable. I don't believe that, even if there was a DashCon 2, anyone would return. I know that all the vendors there have a great story to tell their friends and everyone else they meet at the conventions they attend.
All in all, I had a great time at DashCon. Because Indiana University was footing the bill for our research endeavor, I had nothing to lose. However, my heart goes out to all the kids (and their parents), who got scammed out of money, the vendors, who did not earn much money and, in some cases, lost money, and the first-time convention attendees, who will never want to go to a convention again.
Hopefully, something good will come of this. Perhaps, we will get interesting research results. I am sure that many of the attendees have learned life lessons about risk, both online and offline.
We returned Sunday, ready to collect the last few surveys and head home. When we arrived, we saw many of the vendors packing up. The sales from the day previously were not as expected (DashCon said that there would be thousands of people when there were only a couple hundred). A lot of people had left the day before because they had come to see the Welcome to Night Vale cast and, when they left, had no reason to stay.
Also, several of the vendors were really concerned about the legal troubles they could face. Some of the vendors were from other countries. They feared that they could be sent to federal prison for operating illegally in the US.
We stayed and accepted completed surveys until the countdown finished. Some convention workers came around to thank us for coming and expressed their hope that all the vendors would come back next year. The chuckles that went up and down the rows were very noticeable. I don't believe that, even if there was a DashCon 2, anyone would return. I know that all the vendors there have a great story to tell their friends and everyone else they meet at the conventions they attend.
All in all, I had a great time at DashCon. Because Indiana University was footing the bill for our research endeavor, I had nothing to lose. However, my heart goes out to all the kids (and their parents), who got scammed out of money, the vendors, who did not earn much money and, in some cases, lost money, and the first-time convention attendees, who will never want to go to a convention again.
Hopefully, something good will come of this. Perhaps, we will get interesting research results. I am sure that many of the attendees have learned life lessons about risk, both online and offline.