While I was browsing through Twitter this weekend I noticed on Shane Dawson's Twitter feed that he was apologizing for something called "TanaCon." I was curious as to why he was saying sorry to all of the people who got burnt in the lineups so I dug a little deeper to figure out what was going on.

I went on the hunt and came across Polygon with the scoop of what went down at TanaCon. This was the first convention that they have held and it did not go quite according to the plan by the looks of things.

TanaCon

This convention, from what I gather, is for YouTubers to meet their fans and was named after the YouTuber Tana Mongeau.

Tana Mongeau has more than 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube, as well as a high following volume on Instagram. She makes a variety of different videos on YouTube, anywhere from daily vlogs to wildly inaccurate stories, according to Polygon.

Tana made a video earlier this year about how VidCon didn't give her a badge and she continued to proclaimed how she deserved one because of how large her following is. The former CEO of VidCon, and YouTuber Hank Green, asked her fans not to harass a VidCon team member who was on the receiving end of the argument. He continued to say that there are so many amazing people on YouTube that VidCon only has so much room for them and their fans, which, unfortunately, means only so many people are allowed in the area at one time for safety reasons.

Friday morning

Around 10 AM PT Friday morning, the fans were told by the management company Good Times that the official registration was ready to begin. Behind the Anaheim Mariott Suites hotel, the parking lot was lined with fans waiting to see their favorite YouTubers. According to Polygon, the lineup started around 6 AM PT that morning.

These fans were extremely dedicated to meet some of their favorite YouTube Celebrities, so much so in fact that they were lined up in a parking lot with no shade on a hot sunny California day. The main YouTubers featured at this convention were Bella Thorne, Tana Mongeau, and Shane Dawson.

Polygon got an opinion from a participant at TanaCon.

They stated, while standing in line in the blistering heat, that TanaCon was a better version than VidCon. This fan was excited about going in because of promises that were given at the time of purchase. For example, the fan mentioned getting more access and that they were able to get more bang for their buck versus the prices at VidCon. Another fan called Emma, said that the atmosphere was better than VidCon and she made way more friends just standing in line for four hours. She commented how she and the people around her were all bonding over supporting Tana.

As excited fans waited and waited to get into TanaCon some started getting a little antsy and TanaCon quickly became a chaotic mess.

In the heat of the late morning and early afternoon, fans were becoming sick, burnt and grumpy. Reported by Vogue Teen, sometime after 1 PM PT, they started rushing to the door and demanding refunds. With all that took place, fans and critics started calling TanaCon the next Fyre Festival or DashCon.

Some of the issues were outside mobs, but fans also found issues with the space in the hotel and the lack of coordination and organization in the building.

Emma said that she kept getting switched from room to room and she felt as though no one knew what was going on. She added that it went from being creepy quiet one minute to feeling like a sardine can the next. Things got so out of hand there are videos on YouTube of security guards running between the teens and young adults trying to get them all into a safe environment. Even the fire marshal came to TanaCon and told Tana to shut it down.

The experience

Even though all of that chaos happened, fans still hung around outside. When Tana and Bella noticed the fans still hanging around they picked up some microphones and tried to fix the situation and chat with their fans who stayed despite orders from the fire marshal.

Some fans were able to grab some selfies with them outside.

This has left Tana holding quite a pile. What the pile is, all depends on who you ask. Many fans are asking for refunds since TanaCon got canceled, which is understandable. Others are still giving their unwavering support to what Tana was trying to accomplish, which was making a convention more affordable and interactive for the fans and YouTubers. Hopefully, with what happened this year, Tana and the other YouTubers who support the idea of TanaCon will learn from the mistakes made and will make better choices for future TanaCons.
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