We checked in with The Plaza this morning and the convention hotel is almost sold out for consecutive night stays. A couple of rooms freed up due to some outside cancelations. There are also a handful of rooms that are available for single nights on either Friday or Saturday night if you weren’t going to need to stay for the entire weekend as well. You will need to call the hotel directly (715-834-3181) in order to book any of these rooms though. The good news is the con hotel will still honor the old convention rate of $92 or $102 a night right up until the start of the con in two weeks.

Also, we will be extending a couple of our deadlines for our NoBrand Comic and AMV Contest for any who still need a bit more time until Sunday, April 3: (click on the link below for more info)

AMV Contest – Sunday, April 3
NoBrand Comic – Sunday, April 3
Volunteer Forms – Sunday, April 3

Volunteer forms, AMV Contest entries, and NoBrand Comic submissions must be submitted by Sunday, April 3 in order to participate in any of these events or volunteer at the con.

And as always, if you can’t always check the main site, feel free to follow us on Facebook & Twitter for convention updates!

We’re just here to let you know, that the following deadlines for certain events and submissions are just a few days away at most, so if you want to participate in any of the following, you need to get your stuff submitted soon!

Hotel Convention Rate – Thursday, March 31
AMV Contest – Friday, April 1
NoBrand Comic – Friday, April 1
Volunteer Forms – Sunday, April 3

Click on the link for each for more info.

You’ll need to make your reservation at the con hotel by Thursday, March 31 to insure you’ll receive the convention rate, and at last check, there was only one room left in our block available for both Friday and Saturday nights, and a small handful of rooms available for just Friday or Saturday for single night stays although you will need to call the hotel directly (715-834-3181) to reserve one of those single night rooms as they are outside of the convention block.

And as always, if you can’t always check the main site, feel free to follow us on Facebook & Twitter for convention updates!

Again, we wanted to thank everyone who preregistered for this year. This is definitely one of the strongest preregistration drives we’ve had yet!

Here are the rules and criteria for cosplay at the con this year, just in case you need to make any modifications to your costume or props before the convention. If you’re planning on participating in the cosplay contest, you can help out our judges during pre-judging before the con a bit by posting an advance photo of your costume in this thread here on our forums for reference purposes.

There are still two standard rooms left available for two consecutive nights in our hotel block for those looking to stay the entire weekend as well as one left just for Saturday evening. All these rooms should have either two beds or a single bed with a pull out couch for multiple people to stay. These rooms are $92 per night. There are also still a few single king bed with beside whirlpool rooms left available outside the hotel block available for $102 per night as well as a couple of standard rooms left, but you’ll have to call the hotel directly (715-834-3181) and tell them you’re coming for NoBrandCon in order to get them to knock the rooms down to the convention rate. If you’re looking to stay at the con hotel, we definitely recommend making a reservation in the next few days because the cutoff for the convention rates is this Thursday, March 31. If you try to book a room after March 31, the rates will go up to the Plaza’s standard rates after that day.

And as always, if you can’t check the main site consistently for convention updates, feel free to follow us on Facebook & Twitter for convention updates!

Just a reminder today (Friday, March 25) is the last day you will be able to preregister for NoBrandCon X! Just $30 for the entire weekend and saves you $5 off the weekend walk-in price of $35! Check out our attendees page for more info on how to register!

Here is our finalized programming for tournaments and events we will be running in our Video Game Room and Portable Gaming Lounge. The VGR as usual will feature several tournaments and ever popular events such as “Langland vs. Punch-Out” and a couple of new events this year. The Portable Gaming Lounge will feature meet-ups for a lot of popular multi-player games and three tournaments for Mario Kart DS, Pokemon HG/SS, & Pokemon Black & White! Just a reminder for the Portable Gaming Meet-ups and tournaments that you will have to provide your own system and copies of the game in order to participate. The con will not be able to provide either or during the convention.

List of Tournaments after the jump…
Continue reading Video Game Room & Portable Gaming Events →

Here is the official list of Vendors who will be at NoBrandCon X!

20th Century Books
Anime Fan Zone
Anime Klub
Anime Palace
Anime V
AnimeStuffStore.com
BowenDragon1
Brawl in the Family (Guest)
brentalfloss (Guest)
Button Bard
Buzzy’s Arcade
Cardz Xtcetera
Day-Glow Studio
Eagle Anime
Fast Food Anime
Fountain of Youth
Hedgehog & Otter
MadQueen
No Brand Con Merchandise
Odyssey Anime
RamenCon
ReAnimals
Red Letter Media (Guest)
Toadhill Shops
Wayne’s World

Be sure to check out their tables when passing through the vendor room! Also, just a reminder that there is just one more day to preregister for NoBrandCon X as it closes on Friday, March 25. Check out our attendees page for more info on how to register! Just $30 for a whole weekend and saves you $5 off the weekend walk-in price of $35! You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for convention updates if you can’t always check the site!

We apologize for the delay in getting this up, but our 2011 Volunteer information is now online! You can check out our attendee page or just keep on reading.

“Looking for a way to make your time at No Brand Con even more amazing? How about if you were to get in for free? Once again, No Brand Con is looking for volunteers to help staff parts of our convention, and one of the perks to doing so is that you gain free admission to attend the convention if you work 10 hours or more! But this is only a limited-time offer; please complete the volunteer form (which you can download HERE) and email it to Pink Ranger, Head of Workforce, at volunteering@nobrandcon.org no later than Sunday, April 3. If you have any questions about volunteering, check out the 2011 Volunteer Manual in the No Brand Chat section of our forums (you HAVE joined our forum community, haven’t you?), and email Pink Ranger if you have questions that the manual doesn’t cover. With your help, we can make No Brand Con X the best yet!”

There will be two Volunteer meetings before the start of the con:

Thursday, April 14 @ 7:00 PM
Friday, April 15 @ 10:00 AM

We strongly encourage all potential volunteers to attend at least on of these meetings before the start of the convention as so they’ll better understand the layout of the con and what will be specifically required of them when volunteering at the convention.

Also, just a reminder that preregistration for NoBrandCon X ends in two days on Friday, March 25! Just $30 for the whole weekend and saves you $5 off the weekend at-door price of $35! Check out our attendee page for more info on how to register! And as always, if you can’t check out the site for updates, feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for con updates!

Here is our confirmed list of 19 Artist’s Alley vendors for NoBrandCon X!

Studio Anti Thesis
Prairie Knoll Stitchery
Gypsy Jewels
Verboten
ZiBaricon
Singing Lemur Jewelry
Sam & Sydney
Studio Hush
Stacey Nesseth
Mythic Phoenix
Reeves Illustration & Design
Bandi Studios
Dreamgear Studios
Blue Heaven
KNACC
Elysium Productions LLC
Cellar Skylight
Characters by Design
Staci Powell

If your name or studio is listed here and you have yet to preregister for NoBrandCon X, you must do so by this Friday, March 25 when preregistration ends or risk losing your spot in our Artist’s Alley. We’ve contacted those who haven’t yet. Once preregistered or if you’ve already done so, you can then mail payment for your table to our PO Box address on the bottom of the page or pay when you arrive at the con if you haven’t done so already.

Lastly, all of the double beds in the Plaza have now sold out for consecutive nights on Friday and Saturday night! There are currently 4 rooms left in our hotel block that are single beds with pull out couches that can still accomodate multiple people as well as 2 rooms with double beds in them still available for one night on Saturday. These rooms are $92 per night, so feel free to check out our Location page for more info on how to book a room. Again, we recommend booking soon because these probably will not last as we get closer to the con. There are also a handful of single bed whirlpool rooms still available for consecutive nights that are outside of our block that can be had for $102 a night, but you’ll have to call the hotel directly (715-834-3181) in order to book one and mention you’re with NoBrandCon to get them to knock it down to the convention rate.

And as always, if you can’t always check the site for updates, you can always follow us on Facebook and Twitter for convention updates!

We do our best to bring a unique group of guests to the con every year, but there are also groups of lesser known people that contribute to the con every year that deserve recognition too! These are who we like to call fan guests. We’re happy to announce these well deserving individuals as fan guests for NoBrandCon X!

First up is Taeliac Studio run by Chris Warner (Captain Kellin) and Samantha Lemieux (Taeliac)! Chris and Samantha have been with NoBrandCon since nearly the beginning as vendors, attendees, and great contributors to the convention overall! They’re sponsoring our Cosplay Contest this year and helping out with judging and awards, so it’s only right to bring them to the con as fan guests!

Secondly is Beth Kinderman. She’s been to past NoBrand’s performing her music and we’re happy to have her coming back one more time to share her musical talent with our attendees!

Finally are our two bands who will be performing at our Friday Night Rock Show! They are two local bands named Incriminating Silence and By These Hands who are very talented and we hope you’ll check out when the show starts at midnight!