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EXP Convention is a weekend long all ages event to be held at the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village and St. Johns County Convention Center. The main purpose of EXP Con is to celebrate and promote American and Japanese video gaming, Japanese animation also known as anime, manga which are Japanese graphic novels, cosplay which is the act of creating and modeling costumes based on characters from Japanese and American media, and the melding of Japanese and American pop-culture.
The first EXP Convention which carried the tagline of "North Florida's Video Game and Anime Convention" was a weekend-long event which occupied all of and took place in the World Golf Village's Renaissance Resort and St. Johns County Convention Center during the weekend of October 17-19 2008. Last year's participants were given the opportunity to meet popular industry guests such as Steve Blum, Beau Billingslea, and Johnny Yong Bosch, take part in fun and informative industry and fan driven panels related to their interests, free play and compete in tournaments in our 5,000 square foot video game lounge filled with 40 consoles and 40 high definition televisions, view both old and new Japanese media screenings, and attend multiple fan and industry driven events such as stage shows, fashion shows, contests, and live music. In the event's inaugural year an attendance of close to 1,000 was achieved, which was no small feat for a first time event. EXP Con returned to the St. Johns County Convention Center and Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village for the weekend of October 9-11, 2009 for our second year. Attendance was been tallied and we more than doubled this year to 2,200 total attendees. Fans got the chance to meet popular industry guests such as TC Carson, Steve Downes, Troy Baker, and Vic Mignogna as the convention built upon last years success. Taking what worked from year one and improving everything from badges and convention guides to guests and programming, EXP Con has developed a strong base going forward. The staff promised to continue the grind so that the experience gets better and better every year. |
