Frequently Asked Questions

Black Nerd Con is an independent convention directory and resource guide created by Blerd, LLC. We curate and spotlight the best conventions, festivals, and events serving Black nerd culture across the country. Anime, gaming, comics, cosplay, streetwear, creators, tech and everything in between. We are not a convention ourselves and are not affiliated with any specific event unless explicitly stated.

There are several reasons an event may not appear in our directory. The most common ones:

We haven’t attended or vended there yet.

Our listings are based on firsthand knowledge, not press releases. If we haven’t been in the room we can’t personally vouch for the experience.

We simply haven’t gotten to it yet.

We are a small independent media company with limited resources. Black Nerd Con is a constant work in progress.

We haven’t established a relationship with the showrunners.

We prioritize events where we know the people running them and can speak to their values and intentions firsthand. A cold listing tells you nothing about what it’s actually like to be in that room.

The event doesn’t meet our PIQ standards

Poor execution, disorganized programming, safety issues, or an environment that doesn’t hold up to our standards for the community, regardless of the people behind it.

The showrunners don’t meet our PIQ standards.

We evaluate the people behind the event, not just the event itself. A well-produced convention run by people who don’t share our values for the community won’t be listed here. Track record, reputation, and how organizers treat their attendees, vendors, and guests all factor into our assessment.

The event has a track record of mistreating its community.

Including late payments to partners, poor communication, hostile environments, or failure to deliver on promises made to attendees and guests.

The event actively works against the interests of the Black nerd community we serve.

Not being listed is not necessarily permanent. Events can earn their way onto this site by demonstrating a genuine commitment to the community over time.

What about conventions and events that steal ideas, concepts, or intellectual property from other creators and events?

This is a real and documented problem in the convention space that doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The history of Black creative work being taken, repackaged, and profited from without credit or compensation is long. From music to fashion to culture, Black creators have consistently built things of value only to watch others extract that value while the originators are pushed out or written out of the story entirely. The convention space is not immune to this pattern. Some organizers have built their brands by appropriating the concepts, names, aesthetics, and community goodwill that independent Black creators spent years developing without credit, compensation, or permission. This is not just bad business practice. It is a continuation of a broader extractive relationship with Black creative labor that this community has every right to reject. We don’t platform that. If an event’s foundation is built on taking from the community rather than contributing to it, it has no place in this directory. We support originators. We don’t amplify extractors.

What about unofficial afterparties and events that profit off a convention’s community without compensating the organizers?

This is one of the more complicated dynamics in the convention space and it’s worth addressing honestly. Unofficial afterparties and satellite events have become a real part of convention culture. Done right, they extend the experience, give the community more ways to connect, and create opportunities for local promoters and creatives to build alongside a convention rather than apart from it. We support that.

The problem arises when the relationship is purely extractive. A promoter who markets directly to a convention’s audience, profits significantly from the draw that convention created, and has no relationship with or regard for the organizers is taking something without giving anything back. That pattern, especially when it’s deliberate and repeated, is something we pay attention to.

We also recognize the other side of this. Some conventions have attempted to demand percentages or exclusivity arrangements from independent promoters that make it difficult to impossible to run a profitable event. That overreach is just as real and just as worth naming. Organizers who try to financially control every satellite event in their orbit are not acting in the community’s interest either. There is normally a fair middle ground.

Our standard is simple: are the people involved acting in good faith toward the community? Is there mutual respect between the convention and the satellite event? Are attendees being served or just monetized? Those are the questions we ask. We don’t have a blanket policy against afterparties, but we have a blanket policy against bad faith.

Doesn’t Blerd, LLC profit from the Black nerd community too?

Yes. And we think that’s worth addressing directly.

Blerd, LLC has built a business serving this community starting in 2014 unofficially and officially since 2019. We generate revenue through media, marketing partnerships, merchandise, and events. We are not a nonprofit and we don’t pretend to be. Profiting from a community you serve is not inherently extractive and it depends entirely on how you do it.

The distinction we draw is this: we have spent over a decade creating original content, building infrastructure, and investing back into the community we came from. We hold registered trademarks for “Blerd” in clothing and entertainment, not to gatekeep a cultural identity, but to protect original creative and commercial work that we built from the ground up. “Blerd” as a cultural term belongs to the community. “Blerd” as a brand, which is the platform, the content, the events, and merchandise is something we created, invested in, and have every right to protect.

There is a meaningful difference between building something for a community and extracting from one. We have competitors who have used our brand equity, our audience relationships, and in some cases our actual intellectual property to build their own platforms without acknowledgment or compensation. That is what we are speaking to when we talk about extraction. Not the act of doing business but the act of taking what someone else built.

We will always be transparent about who we are, what we own, and how we operate. If you ever have questions about our business practices, our trademarks, or our relationships with the events we list, our contact page is always open.

And bluntly, we aren’t some crazy profitable enterprise. We are still a small, 100% Black-creator owned brand and media company.

Most convention directories are exhaustive lists with no editorial filter. We don’t work that way. Every event on this site has been personally evaluated by The Blerd Team by people who have attended and vended at 50+ conventions. We only list events that meet our PIQ standards: Positivity, Inclusion, and Quality. If an event doesn’t create a safe, welcoming space for the Black nerd community or businesses it won’t be here regardless of its size or reputation. This isn’t a database. It’s a curated guide from people who actually live this culture.

PIQ stands for Positivity, Inclusion, and Quality which are the three values we use to evaluate every event we consider listing. Positivity means the event creates an environment where attendees feel welcome and celebrated. Inclusion means the event actively serves diverse communities and doesn’t treat Black and multicultural attendees as an afterthought. Quality means the event is well-organized, delivers on its promises to attendees and vendors, and treats its community with respect. An event can be large or small and still meet PIQ standards. Size is not the filter, but culture and execution are.

We don’t accept open submissions at this time. Listings are added at our editorial discretion based on our PIQ standards, firsthand experience, and community relationships. If you’re an organizer who believes your event belongs here, the best path is to build a track record with the community. You know how to find us. We’re watching.

Editorial listings on Black Nerd Con are never paid placements. An event cannot buy its way into our directory or influence our editorial assessments. We do offer featured placement opportunities at the top of our event calendar that are clearly labeled as sponsored or featured content. We also offer broader advertising and sponsorship opportunities through Blerd, LLC. If you’re interested in reaching the Black nerd audience through Blerd’s marketing services, visit blerd.com.

Yes in some cases, and we disclose it. There are three types of relationships that can exist between Blerd, Black Nerd Con, and the events we list. We are transparent about all of them.

We vend at or partner with some listed events.

Blerd, LLC attends and vends at conventions as part of our business. Events like Awesome Con and Dream Con are listed here in part because we have a direct vending relationship with them. That relationship does not buy a listing , the event still has to meet our PIQ standards, but you should know the relationship exists.

We provide marketing services to some listed events

Blerd, LLC is a marketing agency and some events on this directory are paying clients. Virtuous Con is one example. A paid marketing relationship does not guarantee a listing and does not protect an event from being delisted if they violate our standards. But we disclose it clearly here and on each relevant event listing so you always know when a financial relationship exists.

Our founder has an ownership stake in a listed event.

Terril Fields, founder of Blerd LLC, is also the founder of Lore Con and Lorehous, LLC. Lore Con is listed and featured on this site. That is a direct conflict of interest and we are telling you upfront. Lore Con has not yet taken place so we cannot evaluate it on the full range of our PIQ standards the way we can an established event. What we can say is that we know the people running it, we know the values behind it, and we are invested in it delivering on those values. We will hold it to the same standards we hold everything else, including our own work. If it falls short we will say so.

Black Nerd Con is a directory built for the Black nerd community. That does not mean every event we list is Black owned or Black run. What it means is that every event we list has demonstrated a genuine commitment to serving this community with positivity, inclusion, and quality. Awesome Con is one example; it is not a Black owned event but has consistently created a welcoming environment for Black attendees, cosplayers, and vendors including Blerd. Ownership matters but it is not the only thing that matters. An event can be Black owned and still fail this community. An event can be majority owned by others and still show up for this community consistently. We evaluate both. What we will never list is an event that treats Black attendees as an afterthought or a demographic to extract from rather than a community to serve

Blerd is a cultural media platform and marketing agency ideated in 2014 and formally founded in 2019 by Black nerds that celebrate the culture. Over 12 years we’ve built one of the most recognized brands in the space with 1,200+ pieces of content, 10,000+ monthly visitors, partnerships with HBO, Meta, AMD, and more, and registered trademarks in clothing and entertainment. Black Nerd Con is a Blerd, LLC property. Learn more at blerd.com.

We update the calendar on a rolling basis as we confirm events, establish relationships with organizers, and verify that listings still meet our standards. Follow @blacknerdcon & @blerdofficial on social media for real-time updates and announcements.