BONUS 09: The Convention (DashCon)

I was just thinking, “Compared to Fyre Festival, this is nothing!”

Savvy B

Was on a Strange Aeons binge recently, and she has a video essay on DashCon. It seems like there's two very different perspectives on what happened at DashCon.

Serial Experiments PT

Note: I worked security at Dash; it was the first con I ever worked.

A. Hannan

1. The "otherwise empty room" the ballpit was in was the registration hall. 2. No, minors weren't allowed in the 18+ panels. Staff did card. I attended the BDSM panel myself; it focused on "safe, sane, consensual". Reports about minors being let in were posted on tumblr BEFORE that panel even happened. 3. Oh god, I swear I can hear my voice in that Bohemian Rhapsody clip. That's the cringiest part for me. 4. The thing that got me about the Night Vale crew is that they chose to stay in downtown Chicago, a solid 40 minutes away from the con hotel.

A. Hannan

Hearing you say "superwholock" in a casual, academic way triggered my fight or flight response

Ellie Seelye

The irony of a dude who went to bully 14 yr olds at dashcon for fun teasing children for having fun on a bouncy castle

Adrian

Fascinating. It’s like watching a wreck as it happens. I’d be really curious what the organizers are up to now.

Carmen

New Patreon supporter here... and wow, the audio for this story this is some of the cringiest stuff ever. Excellent job!

See Delaney

I never knew Dashcon was so bad...or that it still somehow still succeded in raising money despite itself. I think the Queen songs had something to do with it, those songs transcend dimensions. Also, that bully was a godforsaken child.

MBA

Precursor to TanaCon...

Dani

This reminded me of how many years ago, I saw a some what similar thing happen. A person I knew organized a fan event, she rented a venue for about 1000 people but less than 100 people showed up. She then walked around trying to sell people a book she wrote to get some of the money back. Unfortunately for her, this was before the age of GoFundMe and similar sites, so she couldn't beg for the money online and was stuck paying the bill herself.

RPGFan

What is you deal, man? Are you alright?

Shaw den froid

Jeff white

Well, that brought back memories. I remember talking with one of the dealers in the vendor room as she was packing up early, and recall her particular reason for leaving being that after all the drama, she was doubting the validity of Dashcon's vending license and didn't want to risk deportation over it. Can't blame her one bit. I was one of the lucky ones who, along with my friends said, "screw this" after the Nightvale announcement and decided to figure what else to do around town instead, so we missed the "pledge drive." Still got to meet one of my favorite celebs at a side panel, and found the experience of being in the eye of an internet ****storm to be strangely entertaining, so I got some silver linings out of it. Heh.

Keith Walker

Haha loved the picture on Instagram. Great visual of the saddest kiddy pool I've ever seen.

Danisa Arias

Just became a Patreon supporter after finding this podcast a week ago! Love it! Thank you, thank you!!

Kimberly Ness

As always awesome thank you.

Eiður Marvin Axelsson

Did Fyre organizers use this as inspiration? :)

VH

Ha, this is funny af. Oh man. Great listen!!! Thanks!

Danielle Gardner

Was it incompetence or a scam??? A perfect short - full of meaty content that creates hefty outrage. Cheers!

luckyjeane