Dreamcon Sets The Bar For Blerds

I must admit that I was surprised at just how good Dreamcon was. For a newer convention and on the back of a pandemic, RDCWorld definitely showed out. We are standardizing on the same rating criteria for at least the rest of the year which is: The Venue, Event Schedule, Vendors & Special Guests, Wait Times, and Overall Vibe. Scores of 10 mean near perfection and are going to be especially hard to obtain. So how did Dreamcon do on each?

The Dreamcon 2021 Venue

Dreamcon 2021 was held at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This was an extremely smart choice for location as it was spacious, lit well, and modern. An esports arena is going to instantly have an appeal to a younger crowd, especially with the increase of popularity in gaming. Choosing this venue shows that the Dreamcon team understood their audience and the marketplace. The layout kept congestion low and getting to events on the schedule was mostly intuitive.

The Dreamcon 2021 Event Schedule

Dreamcon’s event schedule was heavily focused on anime and gaming, the two largest areas of growth in the nerd space. There were meet and greets, gaming tournaments (video & card), screenings, and educational sessions. Hosts of the events were especially welcoming and interactive. Dreamcon was smart to leverage technology utilizing Fan Guru to make building out your personalized schedule extremely easy.

Dreamcon could benefit from a slightly more diversified schedule including more sessions revolving around television, comics, and tech. This would draw in older attendees as well who have more disposable income to spend on event vendors and sponsors. Dreamcon is also only 2 days and not a 24-hour convention which makes the event feel like it goes by extremely quick. As Dreamcon continues to grow considerations for a Thursday-Sunday or at least Friday-Sunday schedule should be considered.

The Dreamcon 2021 Special Guests & Vendors

The Dreamcon team flexes their muscle with special guests. RDCWorld are some of the most popular blerd content creators in their own right, but Dreamcon was also able to get headliners such as Maile Flanagan (voice actor – Naruto), Sean Schemmel (voice actor – Goku), Gabe Kunda (voice actor – Rock Lock) and Zeno Robinson (voice actor – Hawks & Ogun) which supplemented the lineup. Dreamcon pulled no stops to bring some of your favorite blerd content creators on the web to the event:

Dreamcon was also able to pull in high quality vendors with varied merch including apparel, manga, art and even gaming furniture. The vendor hall was lit up brightly showcasing products well and the vendors were friendly and helpful.

The Dreamcon 2021 Wait Times

Wait times for badges at Dreamcon were extremely short and their process was incredibly efficient. The Dreamcon team did prioritize safety by checking bags and scanning with metal detectors when entering the main area. Lines for most panels and events were reasonable as well.

A few areas of improvement would be figuring out how to reduce wait times for meet and greets. Attendees were drawn to these events because of the quality of guests, but this also contributed to the increased wait time. This is only going to be compounded with an increased number of attendees as the event grows. Points were also docked for the extremely long wait time for the Saturday night after party.

The Dreamcon 2021 Vibe

Vibe is the overall “feel” of a convention and how the atmosphere comes off. Dreamcon was hands down one of the most fun conventions that I have personally attended. The special guests were interactive with the crowd both at panels and while just walking around. The attendees were all sociable with each other and fun to be around. Most of the attendees seemed to age from late-teens to mid 30’s which added an extra feeling of energy. Random contests and dancing would happen out of nowhere which contributed points to the vibe category as well. Dreamcon had a special feeling to it; you would have to attend to understand fully.

Dreamcon 2021 Photos

Did you get a chance to go to Dreamcon this year? If so, let us know how you liked the event on our social media @blerdofficial