What happens when a group of fans with no relevant experience get together to run a three day geek convention? DashCon 2014. It begun its life as Tumlbr-Con, organized by fans who had no idea what they were doing.

While Dashcon was Tumbl-Con USA, they decided to create committees for each fandom to raise money for the convention itself. Their method would be to ask popular fanartists/fanfic writers to donate fanworks so that they could be auctioned off and the proceeds would go to the con. They first wanted to secure a convention area and get hotels. The way the committees were formed was absolutely fucked up, they literally put an open call on the blog and said “WHO WANTS TO FORM A COMMITTEE TO HELP US RAISE FUNDS?” they asked no questions whatsoever. [1]

What about the organizers? Surely they had the chops to handle something of this scale.

None of the main convention organizers appear to have a background in fan conventions or similar events. DashCon owners Megan Eli and Roxanne Schwieterman are a novelist “with 15 years of business experience” and a 20-year-old with “a degree in hospitality management,” respectively. [2]

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