NerdaCon
NerdaCon is a multi-genre fan convention (first seen as a "gaming, popular arts, and crafts convention") held annually since 2007 at Columbus State University by the school's "Campus Nerds" group, a campus organization that describes itself as "an organization that embraces all special interests and gives its members a community of like minded invidiviuals". Each year, the con is titled "NerdaCon vX", where "X" is the number of the con (The first was "v1", the second was "v2", etc.). As it is a multi-genre convention, it has no general focus other than that of the Nerds , in that the panels, guests, and dealers each add a focus toward anime, manga, science fiction, gaming, comic books, zombie apocalypse, or a combination of these or other generally nerdy or geeky things to add to the atmosphere. NerdaCon was a free event to the general public until NerdaCon v9, in which it switched to a paid admission system in order to support its move from Columbus State University to the Columbus Convention and Trade Center in 2015, where it has been for NerdaCon v10 and for all future events. NerdaCon has helped support organizations such as Children's Miracle  Network and the Hero Initiative through donations, and has also helped other organizations in the past and will continue to do so for the life of the event. By tradition, the convention is held on a Friday and Saturday in November, from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM on the Friday, and 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM on Saturday. However, since NerdaCon v6 was held on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11), each day was extended by 11 minutes, making it end at 11:11 PM. Events. NerdaCon holds many events throughout the span of the convention, including boffer, trading card, and video game  tournaments (and casual play), a costume contest to judge the best Cosplay, and the Saturday night dance with music from guest DJs. NerdaCon also offers a vendor hall with many vendors and artists selling goods, multiple panel rooms hosting a variety of topics, an anime viewing room, and a variety of special guests.