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Zipcon

Zipcon This is the official page for Zipcon. The date can be found on our website. All announcements will b

Operating as usual

02/11/2022

Just wanted to let everyone know, if you haven't heard already.

01/28/2022

We announce with heavy hearts that Zipcon 2022 will be canceled due to a lack of volunteers and COVID-19 restrictions. We were really looking forward to holding it in person this year, but these circumstances are out of our control.

01/25/2022

Hi Everyone!

Zipcon is four weeks away. February 19th. Hope you're ready for it.

See you soon,

12/27/2021

Hi Everyone!

A friendly reminder:
The deadline to become an artist, panelist or dealer is Friday, December 31st 2021.

Hope to see you soon!

12/21/2021

Hello everyone!
Zipcon 2022 is fast approaching! We've got a couple updates to share.

Covid Policy:
The University of Akron's Covid policy dictates that masks MUST be worn in indoor public spaces regardless of vaccination status (except while eating). As Zipcon is a student-run convention, we will expect our attendees to adhere to this rule.
It's unlikely that there will be lockdowns again, but in the case that there are, we'll be switching back to the same online-only format we used last time.
Please keep an eye out for any future updates and more details about our Covid policy, both here and on other social media.

Deadlines:
We'll be closing the application forms for panelists, artists, and dealers next Friday, December 31st. If you want to be one of those but haven't submitted anything, make sure you do so!
Panelists can apply here:
https://zipcon.weebly.com/panelist-registration.html
Artists and Dealers can apply here:
https://zipcon.weebly.com/artist-and-dealer-registration.html

Thank you for your time! We hope to see you soon!

Hey Everybody!! Good news. Artist/Dealer forms are out now and they can be accessed on our website along with other form...
11/13/2021
ZIPCON

Hey Everybody!! Good news.
Artist/Dealer forms are out now and they can be accessed on our website along with other forms for panelists and volunteers.
Hope to see you all soon!

https://zipcon.weebly.com

Official Website of Zipcon

08/27/2021

Vendor forms and volunteer forms will be coming out in October. Zipcon is scheduled for Feb 19th, 2022.

07/16/2021

****UPDATE:
The tentative date will be changed to Saturday Feburary 19th 2022. This was due to the conflict with another con and we don't want to have vendors & everyone to worry about having to schedule between two different events. Zipcon will not be rescheduled going forward.
END*****

Previous Post:
Hello Everyone! I hope everyone is safe and healthy. The next Zipcon is tentatively planned for February 12th, 2022. It will be in person. Changes may occur as we are still in a pandemic. The panelist and vendor forms will be updated shortly on Zipcon's website. Please feel free to reach out to for any questions you may have.
Hope to see you all this year!

Here is the final schedule for Zipcon. More information can be found in the panel description channel on our discord. ht...
02/26/2021

Here is the final schedule for Zipcon. More information can be found in the panel description channel on our discord.

https://discord.gg/r2FJtZC4Yq

Friendly reminder that Zipcon is taking place THIS Saturday (the 27th)! It will be an ONLINE convention! (Yay!) The conv...
02/26/2021
Join the Zipcon 2021 Discord Server!

Friendly reminder that Zipcon is taking place THIS Saturday (the 27th)! It will be an ONLINE convention! (Yay!) The convention will be held on our discord, linked below.

https://discord.gg/8eQduTGaED

Check out the Zipcon 2021 community on Discord - hang out with 327 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

Panel schedule is up! You can find it below and on our discord. We also have panel descriptions on our discord.https://d...
02/23/2021

Panel schedule is up! You can find it below and on our discord. We also have panel descriptions on our discord.

https://discord.gg/7HgfbanAJx

02/19/2021

Emails have been sent out to artists as confirmation for Zipcon! Each artist will have their own chat to talk to people about their products.

02/05/2021

How to get the 18+ role on discord for 18+ panels:
You must send an encrypted email to [email protected]

For Gmail: Click the lock on the bottom right of the draft. It is called "confidential mode."
Set the expiration for 1 week.
DO NOT use an SMS password

For Outlook: click the three dots beside "show formatting options"
Click "Encrypt"

If you use a different email provider AND have trouble encrypting your email, please let us know through our email ([email protected]) or by DMing a staff member on our discord.

Include the following in the email.
In the subject line, type "Zipcon 18+ role"
Attach a picture of yourself, clearly visible, holding up something (like a piece of paper) with your discord username written on it visibly.
Attach another picture with a valid form of ID (such as a driver's license or state ID) with your birth year and name clearly visible. Any other information may be censored if you choose to do so. If you were born before February 27th, 2003 your full birthdate must be visible, including month and day.
If you do not follow the guidelines listed above you WILL NOT receive the 18+ role.

REMINDER! Panelist, dealer, and artist registration close on Monday. Make sure you send in a form if you want to partici...
01/31/2021
ZIPCON

REMINDER! Panelist, dealer, and artist registration close on Monday. Make sure you send in a form if you want to participate. Forms are on our webpage, linked below.

https://zipcon.weebly.com/

Official Website of Zipcon

01/17/2021

Hello everyone! Friendly reminder that artist and panelist applications are due at the end of the month for Zipcon.

Hello! Good morning/afternoon/night. I hope everyone is doing well. For Zipcon 2021, we have made a general interest for...
12/10/2020
General Interest form

Hello! Good morning/afternoon/night. I hope everyone is doing well. For Zipcon 2021, we have made a general interest form about how you would prefer to attend Zipcon! We will be on discord and VRchat, but we want to know how many of people are interested in each, among other questions. VRchat does not require a VR setup, and the app is free on steam. Please fill out the form at your earliest convenience! It is attached below.

https://forms.gle/tqP87NcpFdA6H2MeA

It has come to our attention that Discord is not secure enough to send sensitive information over and are in the process...
11/05/2020

It has come to our attention that Discord is not secure enough to send sensitive information over and are in the process of finding a more secure way to confirm people’s ages. We are in the process of testing more secure methods and will make an announcement about it soon. The previous message about dming on discord has been deleted to avoid confusion.

Panelist, artist, and dealer submission forms are now open! They can be found on our website linked below under "Artist ...
11/05/2020
ZIPCON

Panelist, artist, and dealer submission forms are now open! They can be found on our website linked below under "Artist and Dealer Registration" and "Panelist Registration" respectively. You can also find the rules for panelists, artists, and dealers on those same pages.
https://zipcon.weebly.com/

Official Website of Zipcon

10/09/2020

Important Announcement for Zipcon 2021! This coming year, Zipcon will be held through Discord and VR chat. It will take place on February 27th, 2021. Panel and artist forms will be open October 30th, 2020.

01/30/2020

Starting this year, in addition to the normal form we have you sign when arriving to Zipcon, ALL minors will also have to have their parent or guardian sign a minor consent form for them, at the con. Upon doing so, the minor will be given a wristband to wear that the parent or guardian has to write their phone number on. This is in addition to the normal badge and lanyard.
In addition, starting at 6pm, Zipcon will be considered an 18+ event. Minors will be asked to leave at that point. The time of the Cosplay Masquerade will be changed to accommodate this.
If you have questions, concerns, or want to vent to us please join the discord to do this: https://discord.gg/2BkTvN

The other guest we will be having this year is Tiffany Grant!Tiffany Grant is excited to attend Zipcon! Best known as A...
01/25/2020

The other guest we will be having this year is Tiffany Grant!

Tiffany Grant is excited to attend Zipcon! Best known as Asuka in NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, Tiffany was the first anime voice actor hired in Texas, USA [Feb. 1994].

She’s voiced characters in 1700+ TV episodes, OVAs & movies including AZUMANGA DAIOH (Kaorin), SCHOOL-LIVE (Taromaru), BLUE SEED (Kome), INFINITE STRATOS (Laura), FMP? FUMOFFU (Bonta-kun), INFINITE STRATOS (Laura), FULL METAL ALCHEMIST (Marta), LITTLE BUSTERS (Kud), ONE PIECE (Nojiko), AMAGI BRILLIANT PARK (Moffle), AKAME GA KILL (Koro) and GIRLS UND PANZER (Sodoko). Recent projects include ONE PIECE: EPISODE OF EAST BLUE and videogames WARFRAME and ONCE UPON A COMA.

Other videogame credits include PALADINS, SMITE, UNLIMITED SAGA, DEUS EX II: INVISIBLE WAR, and ESCAPE FROM WADDLEVILLE!

Ms. Grant has adapted English dubbing scripts for TV series such as HELLO KITTY'S ANIMATION THEATER, AH! MY GODDESS 2, THE WALLFLOWER, INFINITE STRATOS, TEARS TO TIARA, PARASYTE-THE-MAXIM and GIRLS UND PANZER - DER FILM, plus scripts for several subtitled projects including MIYUKI CHAN IN WONDERLAND and the live-action TOKYO - THE LAST MEGALOPOLIS.

Additionally, Tiffany contributed to the albums "Voices for Peace" and "Voices for Tolerance" www.voicesfor.org. Profits benefit charities like Doctors Without Borders. CDs and downloads: www.cdbaby.com & iTunes.

Non-anime work includes ARLINGTON ROAD (w/Jeff Bridges) and indie films LAUGHING BOY, DEAD OF KNIGHT & LARS THE EMO KID. Tiffany also has years of experience in theatre, commercials and industrial films. For more, visit TiffanyGrant.net or https://www.facebook.com/groups/2405597801/

Hello, Our first guest is coming back for the third zipcon in a row, it is Megan Shipman!Megan Shipman works professiona...
01/25/2020

Hello, Our first guest is coming back for the third zipcon in a row, it is Megan Shipman!

Megan Shipman works professionally as a Voice Actor and Assistant ADR Director for many different games, projects, and shows. She's voiced characters like Mayuri Shiina from "Steins;Gate 0", Grey from “Black Clover”, Homura from “Dr. Stone”, Maple from “BOFURI”, Yuzu Aihara from "Citrus", Aoba Suzukaze from "New Game!", Camie from "One Piece”, Mare Bello Fiore from "Overlord", Eripiyo from “If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It To The Budokan I Would Die”, Aries Spring from “Astra Lost in Space”, Snow White from "Magical Girl Raising Project", Chibi from "Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits", Rikou Takitsubo from "A Certain Scientific Railgun S", Mio Shimazu from "Yu-No: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World", Yuzuru Yamai from "Date-A-Live", IF from "Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation", Shimakaze from "Kantai Collection", Cassidy from "Dimension W", Arisa Meigo from "A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion", Hibari from "Senran Kagura", and Corriente from "Show by Rock!!". In addition to these characters, she's also been featured in shows like “Fruits Basket”, "Fairy Tail", “My Hero Academia”, "Snow White with the Red Hair", "Seraph of the End", "Kamisama Kiss", and "High School DxD Born".

Her twitter: https://twitter.com/18moptop?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

01/25/2020

Hello, everybody! We hope you had fun over the winter holidays!
We're finally sending out acceptance and rejection emails to panelists, but we had an issue where google ate some of the emails, so if you've applied for a panel but haven't gotten an email by the end of today, please send us an email with the name of your panel(s) at [email protected]
Thank you! We're looking forward to seeing all of you at Zipcon!

Here's a post on our website dealing with a few frequently asked questions about Zipcon.
11/05/2019
Artists and Dealers FAQ

Here's a post on our website dealing with a few frequently asked questions about Zipcon.

Q: Does this convention have artists/dealers? A: Yes, we have artists and dealers. Q: Are artist/dealer applications open? A: That depends. If this page of our website says that...

11/01/2019

Hello, everybody!
Today is just a short post to let you all know that we've updated the information on the volunteering page on our website! It should now be more clear what volunteers can expect at Zipcon.
https://zipcon.weebly.com/volunteering.html

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303 Carroll Street
Akron, OH
44304

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Our 15th Birthday is this Sunday! Most of our performances the past decade and half have been for amazing events in the Society for Creative Anachronism and numerous sci-fi and anime convention!

Here's our top 15!
➢ The Pennsic War
➢ MARCon (Multiple Alternate Realities Convention)
➢ Case Con Anime Marathon
➢ Global Commedia dell'Arte Day
➢ Vancura Art Gallery Renaissance Fair
➢ Cleveland ConCoction
➢ Painesville Party in the Park
➢ A Regular Event in the Barony of the Cleftlands
➢ COWA Anime Club's Woo-Con
➢ Starbase Columbus Out of this World Festival
➢ Northern Oaken War Maneuvers
➢ Zipcon
➢ La Dolce Vita's Carnevale at CWRU
➢ NyanCon
➢ Popular Culture & the Deep Past (Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies)
Tune in at this time, one week from tonight at Zipcon for a series of short plays adapted for the virtual stage from the Japanese comedic theatre of kyōgen! Saturday, February 27 at 6:00pm EST!
Welcome back! Advancing Wall of DOOM here to talk about an act I did at our Zipcon 2018 show.

Something about me: I LOVE Deadpool. Show me anything related to Deadpool and you will have my attention. A few years ago, one of the earliest performances I “choreographed” as part of Final Form Fusion was a drum solo to be performed as Deadpool, later to be lovingly dubbed “Deadpool’s Belly Dance Party.” “Choreographed” is in quotations because, early in my performance career, I would put together a choreography and then forget most of it once I was in front of an audience.

Although I did exactly that at this Zipcon performance, an idea that I’ve come to call “What Would Deadpool Do” (WWDD) became my philosophy for that show and others to follow. If there was something I felt like doing, I did it (within reason, lol). I dramatically jumped off the stage. I did a lap of Choo-Choo’s around the room. And then I twerked in front of a poor woman in the front row. I don’t remember if my ponytail went flying at the beginning or end of that show, but I always know I’ve done well when, once the fever dream is over, I hear a roar from the audience and my pony tail clip is lost to the void.

The audience laughed and interacted with me throughout that performance, and partially due to that, I found I was more confident as Deadpool than I had been in other costumes or choreographies. Performing as Deadpool makes me feel invincible. I can do anything while performing as this character and everyone will go along with it; everyone is part of the joke.

Alas, I can’t wear a Deadpool costume in EVERY performance I do, but I can incorporate the WWDD philosophy into my other performances.

Photo by: The Portrait Dude
Hello! Firequill here to continue our series. I’m going to talk about a performance I personally felt really good about.

I struggle a lot to come up with my own choreographies, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my mind’s eye is completely blank. This phenomenon is called aphantasia, a condition where one does not possess a functioning mind’s eye and cannot voluntarily visualize imagery. If you would like to know more about aphantasia, visit the link at the bottom of this post. Who knows? Maybe you’ll have that same dumbfounded “Ah ha!” moment as I did after learning that something I’ve dealt with my entire life has a name, and that I wasn’t alone.

Our second year at Zipcon in 2018, I did a solo to a song called “Beethoven Virus” by Diana Boncheva feat. BanYa which I had first heard in a rhythm game called Pump It Up back in the early 2000’s. This was the second time I had performed this solo piece, but the first time I felt really good about how it went (even with a prop mishap). Inevitably there will always be performances that we don’t feel great about for whatever reason, and sometimes we can or cannot push through. Each dancer has different ways of coping with this. Some of mine are:

- Practicing the choreo more (including a prop if one is being used)
- Changing the choreo if it’s not working with the music
- Seeking help from fellow members of the troupe if I’m struggling
- Performing the piece again.
Sometimes you just have an off day when performing even when you feel your choreo is fine, and doing it again in a different venue can be a completely different experience.

Because of aphantasia, I have to have a solid method for coming up with and retaining my personal choreographies. I’m not always able to come up with a fully choreographed song, but what I can do is write down what moves I want to do and where in the song they will be. I do this with group choreos that other troupe members have created sometimes as well, and it can be a really long process. I’ve also learned that I need to be more comfortable with being able to improv, because I don’t always have the mental capacity to conceive a full choreo from beginning to end, and that’s okay. Improv is an integral part of belly dance, it doesn’t have to be scary!!

The GIF below is from the aforementioned “Beethoven Virus” performance, of a section where I’m using veil poi (or voi). This is after a mishap with one of my veils, where for a time it was stuck on the poi ball. Thankfully it righted itself, making this GIF super fun to watch!

Link for more info on aphantasia: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-the-minds-eye-is-blind1/
Hey, everyone! Today begins a series of biweekly posts where we’ll be celebrating and talking about our experiences on the performance circuit over the past 3 years. We’re hoping this will help mitigate some of the blues we’re feeling quarantined away from all our friends, as it seems unclear when restrictions for larger events will be lifted.

We’re kicking off this retrospective series with the first official show we ever did as Final Form Fusion: a performance at Zipcon 2017.

Hoo boy, was this a trial by fire. By January 2017 we had finally finished organizing ourselves enough to start performing, so we blasted out emails to basically every event within a 6 hour drive of us in an attempt to start booking shows. Zipcon was only a week away at that point, so we expected a response of “maybe next year.” Instead, we got the greenlight to come perform IN 7 DAYS.

Cue mad cosplay dash and music selection indecision.

Because this was so early on, we had NO equipment: no lights, no speakers, not even a mic to our name. We traveled as a group of only 4 people, something that seems just INSANE to me now, as our total crew size usually numbers between 10-15. We had no dedicated emcee, no videographer, and basically no room for mistakes in our setlist as we only had 3 dancers (more on this later). We also hadn’t considered checking with the event beforehand to see if there would be a place for us to change costumes, so we ended up re-purposing a hole in the wall for storing convention hall room dividers!

As for the performance itself, here are the highlights of lessons we learned:

- I got the song order wrong in my head and starting changing my costume too early. I wasn’t done changing by the time I was supposed to go on, and the other dancers had to cover for me on stage. Now we have our setlist on our phones and as a physical copy at the show.
- A piece of my bra costuming BROKE while changing, but luckily another dancer had a circular brooch and was able to pin it all back together. Now I make my outfits out of stronger materials.
- Our 4th person was running both sound and a camera, which didn’t work. We realized we needed a bigger crew.
- All of the dancers were RAGGED after that show. We realized we needed to think about not just total dance time for each performer, but also rest time in between each of their songs. Now our setlists are better prepared.
- The video from the show didn’t turn out very well, as the lighting was too harsh and didn’t create a good ambience. We also almost didn’t HAVE a show due to technical issues with our computer and the room’s audio hookups. Now we have a pretty solid AV setup.
- The “hole in the wall” was unsafe and nerve-wracking, so now we have several options for portable changing spaces.

It’s actually crazy to think about how far we’ve come since then, how seamlessly things flow now both behind-the-scenes and onstage. Sometimes there are still catastrophic failures, but a mixture of experience and better planning helps us mitigate them much easier.

(Pictured: the only group shot we got of Zipcon 2017 and a blurry photo of Vinca onstage. The third photo is also Vinca, but from Zipcon 2018 after we had our lights. They add SO MUCH mood, it's hard to imagine performing without them, now. Photo credit to Unaru Cosplay)
8 years ago to the JapanCASE CaseCon Anime Marathon with our 8th semester in a row of "Mad Words: the Art of Kyōgen" including the premiere of "Jishaku" ("The Human Magnet") which we recently encored at Zipcon!

Here's another shot from our recent appearance at Zipcon to get you into the mood for our next gig at the Regular Event in the Barony of the Cleftlands TOMORROW!⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We teach the Japanese comedic theatre of kyōgen at 11:00am and then during the noon performing arts concert we'll stage a short play!⠀⠀⠀⠀
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See more: https://buff.ly/2vJrX8E
Here's another shot from our recent appearance at Zipcon to get you into the mood for our next gig at the Regular Event in the Barony of the Cleftlands this Saturday!⠀⠀⠀
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We'll be teaching the Japanese comedic theatre of kyōgen at 11:00am and then during the noon performing arts concert we'll stage a short play!⠀⠀⠀
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See more: https://buff.ly/2vJrX8E
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Here's another shot from our recent appearance at Zipcon to get you into the mood for our next gig at the Regular Event in the Barony of the Cleftlands this Saturday!⠀⠀
⠀⠀
We'll be teaching the Japanese comedic theatre of kyōgen at 11:00am and then during the noon performing arts concert we'll stage a short play!⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀
See more: https://buff.ly/2vJrX8E
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