All posts by Trae Dorn

There Won’t Be a No Brand Con 2024

Hey, No Brand Heroes. We’ve been putting off this announcement as long as we could, but as many of you have guessed we’re now making it official: There will not be a No Brand Con 2024.

I’m going to be as transparent as possible. No one is more disappointed that we won’t be running a con this year than we are. While our 2023 event was a ton of fun, and (at least based on attendee surveys) a pretty great little con, we missed our attendance targets by a wide margin. And when I say “wide,” I mean wide.

Like by fifty percent.

It means that there just isn’t the money to run the event this year.

A lot of people don’t realize that running a convention like ours has operating costs that run year round, and our only source of funds is attendance at our events. These operating costs number in the thousands of dollars. Due to the pandemic, we obviously had to cancel any 2020 and 2021 dates, and that meant that those bills ate into the remaining funds we have.

We ran the 2022 event doing our best to keep the costs down without cutting anything from the attendee experience. And our attendance numbers actually were slightly higher than our 2019 convention, which normally would have put us in a good position — but again, we were starting from behind.

Very far behind.

We debated closing up shop in 2022, but a number of our staff decided they wanted to push forward with a 2023 event. We knew we needed to make some big changes though.

In the five conventions we ran in the Wisconsin Dells we saw a marked decrease in attendance every year. The small bump in 2022 was not enough to break this pattern. The spring was incredibly crowded, and we ended up in conflict with other events. Combined with issues we had with the physical facility in the Dells (including a large section of our panel room that was cordoned off due to a leak in the roof), we knew if we didn’t leave there, our convention wouldn’t last more than one or two years.

We moved the convention to a new city. We tried a new time of year. These were not decisions we made lightly, and knew they could end us. But with no future in the Dells, we saw it as our only way forward. These were all massive risks.

They didn’t pay off.

I’m a co-founder of this convention, and we started planning our 2002 event back in the year 2000. We were a handful of nerds with the audacity to think we could run our own convention.

And we did.

We ran twenty conventions. And I’m incredibly proud of that. Most cons don’t make it that long. No matter what does and doesn’t happen with No Brand Con in the future, we can be proud of that. We’re proud of the community we’ve built. We’re an all volunteer run event. None of us make a penny off of No Brand Con, and some of us have given a good chunk of our lives to this event. Our staff is here because we love doing this, full stop. We did something important here. We’re written in the history of the region — a number of cons in Wisconsin  and Minnesota trace their roots to us.

I don’t want to end this on a negative note. A lot of us behind the scenes are hopeful that we can still keep this event going. But there are challenges, and we don’t want to make promises we can’t keep.

But, uh, if you’ve got a spare $30,000, hit us up, okay?

The Complete No Brand Con 2023 Storyline

No Brand Con, besides being an amazing anime convention, is also home to the No Brand Heroes and their adventures. While these stories usually just play out at Opening Ceremonies and the Cosplay contest, since this year’s story was told exclusively through short films shown at these events, we’ve decided to put this year’s story online afterwards — so everyone who missed it can catch up!

The video embedded is the version that played at the Cosplay Contest, which contains all of the segments. Keep that context in mind though when title cards like “yesterday” and “today” pop up on screen.

Enjoy the Return of the Return of BrandCorp!

Thank You For An Amazing No Brand Con 2023! (And Maybe Take a Survey)

Thank you all for an amazing No Brand Con 2023 this weekend! It was amazing seeing you all in Stevens Point, and we had an amazing time.

Right now we’re all recovering, but we’d be remiss not to ask you what YOU think about the con this year. So, as always, we’re rolling out a 2023 edition of our annual survey. So please, give us your thoughts and tell us what you liked the most about this year, and also tell us where you think we can improve.

We want to hear from you.

The Full No Brand Con 2023 Program Guide Is Here!

No Brand Con 2023 is almost upon us! With that in mind, we decided to share with you the official program guide for this year’s con! Whether you want to see when all the guest panels are, want to know when table top games are scheduled, or just are really enthusiastic about wathing the cosplay contest, the guide will tell you everything you need to know!

In fact, this is technically a revised version that’s more accurate than the paper copies that will be at the convention (due to the fact that we had to get the paper version to print a full month ago)! You can download the PDF here, and plan your weekend accordingly!

(And remember, there’s a mobile friendly Google Sheets version of our schedule available here)

Are You Ready For the No Brand Con Cosplay Contest?

Every year the Cosplay Contest is the centerpiece of No Brand Con’s Saturday night — and we’re excited to see what you guys bring to the con this year! At 6PM, it’s your chance to take center stage and show off the amazing cosplay we know you’re capable of!

You can find the full details of the contest here, and we have some amazing judges who will be taking a look at your amazing work: Continue reading Are You Ready For the No Brand Con Cosplay Contest?

The Return of the Return of…

We thought we’d share a quick history of the No Brand Heroes’ interactions with the evil BrandCorp via a news footage montage. Why are we sharing this? No reason. It couldn’t possibly be relevant to this year’s convention theme or story. We don’t know what you’re talking about.

Ready to Get Your Groove On at the No Brand Con 2023 Dances?

What’s the best way to unwind at the end of a long day of panels, shopping, guests, and cosplay? A big dance party like the No Brand Con Dance, that’s what! And what’s better than one No Brand Con Dance? Two No Brand Con Dances!

Once the clock strikes 10:00PM on Friday and Saturday night of the con, the doors to our dance open for our attendees. DJs Drazz, Liquid86, KMKZ, and Dirty lce are bringing the heat to both the Friday night and Saturday night dances. Here’s a little bit more about these amazing DJs… Continue reading Ready to Get Your Groove On at the No Brand Con 2023 Dances?

The No Brand Con 2023 Schedule is Here!

No Brand Con 2023 is just a few weeks away, and we know many of you are excited to plan your weekend of awesome. With that in mind, we’re happy to announce that the official schedule for No Brand Con 2023 is now available to view online!

Like last year, we’ve put it up as a Google Sheet, so you can easily view it on your computer or with the Google Sheets mobile app on your smart phone. To take a gander at it, just click here to view the schedule.

Volunteer for No Brand Con 2023!

Did you know that if you join our volunteer team, you can get reimbursed for your No Brand Con badge? That’s right, if you work for ten hours over the course of the con weekend, the convention becomes effectively free to attend!

One of the best things about No Brand Con is that it’s run by fans like you, and as we’re an event completely driven by people donating their time, it’s a great way to feel a part of it.

To find out more information, check our our volunteer page. If you decided that you’re interested, just make a copy of our 2023 volunteer application, fill it out, and email it to volunteering@nobrandcon.org! You won’t regret it.