The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Operational decision · 2014
DashCon asked its own attendees for a $17,000 bailout on day one
A Tumblr fan con projected 7,000 guests on a budget it didn't have, asked attendees for emergency cash, and paid for a cancelled show with ball-pit time.
DashCon · 2014-07
What happened
DashCon ran 11–13 July 2014 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center outside Chicago. Organisers Megan Eli, Roxanne Schwieterman and Cain Hopkins had never run a convention; the event was rebranded from Tumbl-Con USA to avoid implying any official tie to Tumblr. Weekend passes were $65, day passes $30–$50, and attendance was projected at 3,000–7,000 against a budget of well over $100,000.
About 1,000 people showed up. On 11 July the organisers announced the hotel would shut the event unless $17,000 was paid by 10pm, and collected that sum from attendees in cash and PayPal donations that night — later claiming the demand had risen to $20,000. Guests found their rooms unpaid: author Noelle Stevenson checked out, and podcast group Welcome to Night Vale cancelled its live show because DashCon could not cover travel and performance costs.
For the cancelled Night Vale show, ticket holders got no refund — instead a raffle ticket and an extra hour in the ball pit, a small pit holding about six people, photographed half-deflated. The ball-pit photos became a lasting meme for failed fan events. PayPal donations were promised refunds; cash donated in bags, never recorded, could not be refunded at all.
Why it happened
- No capital behind the tickets: passes were sold against a $100,000-plus budget the organisers had not raised, so the venue's first bill became a begging round aimed at the audience.
- The attendance plan was unbuildable: 3,000–7,000 projected, about 1,000 arrived, and only 500 day tickets were even released per day.
- Suppliers were treated as optional: hotel rooms, travel and performer fees went unpaid, and every unpaid promise surfaced publicly mid-event.
The lesson
An event is supplier contracts, not vibes. DashCon sold passes on money it never raised, so its first real bill was passed to the only party that couldn't walk away: the attendees.
Aftermath
Organisers announced a DashCon 2015 projecting 4,500–8,500 attendees at $50 weekend badges. The 'extra hour with the ball pit' survived every promise as internet shorthand for a fan event collapsing on its own budget.
Sources
- Daily Dot — DashCon controversy retrospective (weekend passes $65, day passes $30–$50; 3,000–7,000 projected; ~$17,000 hotel demand raised from attendees; Welcome to Night Vale cancelled over unpaid costs; compensation 'an extra hour with the ball pit'; no refunds for the cancelled panel)
- Wikipedia — DashCon (11–13 July 2014, Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center; attendance about 350 against 3,000–7,000 projected; $20,000 upfront demand and $17,000 donation goal; organisers did not issue refunds)
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