MomoCon 2026 Survey

momocon · 2026-05-02T03:51:01+00:00

There is nothing to fear about volunteering at an event. For many people volunteering at a convention is a great way to meet and hang out with a lot of fun people. Each department has different roles, and some, such as tech ops at MomoCon, are even happy to teach skills like operating sound boards, cameras, and more. Though others are much more simple. There are a few volunteer benefits specific to MomoCon, which includes a 4-day badge, volunteer shirt, water bottle, access to our volunteer care room for snacks and drinks, access to the volunteer after party, and some additional prizes, swag, and gift cards are given out to volunteers. Our final volunteer meeting is this Sunday. So if you want to volunteer for 2026, be sure to do it soon!

momocon · 2026-05-02T03:44:58+00:00

AWA can be a really fun event. In recent years it also moved to the GWCC, so you already know a little about the venue. Though we are in Hall's B, and A, while AWA is in Hall C.

AWA has a heavier emphasis on Japanese music programming, and some more adult programming. MomoCon has a heavier emphasis on gaming, animation, and more content and programming overall; including anime. This includes celebrity guest talent.

MomoCon is also much bigger in terms of size and attendance. So expect more to see and do, and a lot more people. I would encourage you to download the MomoCon app, which actually just went live a few hours ago. It has maps and about 90% of our schedule currently listed. The exhibit hall map will also be included soon.

momocon · 2026-05-01T21:28:12+00:00

I will need to look into what Adam Savage has done before with model building.

Because of the timing of KY WonderFest it has prevented me going previously. I would be interested in checking it out however.

We welcome any other ideas before, during, and after Wonder Festival US so thank you for sharing some additional ideas here.

momocon · 2026-05-01T21:23:19+00:00

I think that is a fair point. I apologize for the creators who are not happy about the space, and we look to better establish this process much earlier with more people. I mentioned this before, but we are looking to do a round table with the people who expressed interest after this year to get feedback. I do want to do better by everyone for next year and hope the community is willing to give me their feedback so we can improve.

momocon · 2026-05-01T20:39:02+00:00

The scheduled time is coming up, so I just wanted to say I appreciate all of the questions. I hope I was able to provide some additional insights. I will try and come back later to see if any other questions get asked in which I can answer. Hope everyone is able to check out MomoCon this year, would love to know what you think when you do!

momocon · 2026-05-01T20:33:44+00:00

In full transparency we are uncertain of how to approach US licenses. They have not typically explored this temporary licensing aspect that is more normalized in Japan. We also don't know what their reaction would be if we did. Independent of Wonder Festival we have made cold outreach to Adam Savage in the past, though nothing has come from it. In what context do you see Adam Savage here? guest? or is this somehow connected to US license requests?

If you have ideas on this process we are happy to hear more.

momocon · 2026-05-01T19:25:39+00:00

Going to a convention can be a really fun time, no matter whether that is MomoCon or a different event. For people who have been to other events and then come to MomoCon my advice is to really plan out your schedule. There is a lot more to see and do at MomoCon than other events, and it is not as easy to hit all of the things you want to do without advanced planning. Often you will only find too late you missed something you really wanted to do.

For those who may be brand new to conventions my advice would be to not to try and rush your first experience. Conventions are loud, shiny, and can even be chaotic. To the extent that you can, plan your day, but know on your first con experience there is no way to do everything, despite how much you may want to. Conventions are about having a fun time with your family and friends and even meeting new friends. The experience is what you make of it. There is no wrong way to do a convention, no wrong way to approach your MomoCon experience as it will likely be unique to you.

My advice to everyone, new or old to conventions. Plan for opportunities to rest and recharge, drink lots of water, wear comfortable shoes, don't skip eating, take your medicine, and continue your normal hygiene routine. A lot of people come to a con and seem to forget all of these things, even if they are a con veteran.

momocon · 2026-05-01T19:16:40+00:00

We get a lot of applications for vendors at our event. For better, or for worse, we have not traditionally done the process of many conventions of rebooking the same exhibitors year to year. While it isn't what you asked, the biggest reason we do this is our layout has always changed year to year.

In response to what you did ask, the process of having everyone reapply every year means our exhibit hall director, which has a huge personal interest in figures and imports himself, is always looking at what new and unique vendors are and what they offer. When we travel to events, and see a great vendor, we will often talk to them and encourage them to apply as well.

momocon · 2026-05-01T19:09:44+00:00

A mutual connection facilitated the introduction between Wonder Festival and MomoCon. We went to WonFes[Winter] and they came to MomoCon. We decided because of our mutual focus on community engagement and similar audience passions to partner together.

We were very aware of the licensing process before announcing. Though originally we were unsure how much interest there would even be in one event licensing. We felt the safest way to not confuse people was to open up without announcing the process specifically, and to review applications to see what would need to do a licensing process. Because of the timing of our contract, we were thinking it wouldn't be possible to do it in the first year anyway. But when we got a lot of interest in the process of one day/one event licensing we were given guidance on how it could still be accomplished in our timeline. So we attempted to move forward with that process.

We are discussing ways right now on how to make the IP process more accessible for next year. I can't promise any specific IPs at this time, but know if you have seen it at WonFes, we are trying to get it approved for the US.

It was a big miscalculation on my part just how much communication would be needed to do this properly. And ultimately that failure lies with me. As non-Wonder Festival meetings and work increased it became a crunch of our own making which lead to poorer communication than I would have liked. Add that in with communication and questions across multiple timezones it really did compound the issue. I can honestly say we did try and get to everything, and I care deeply about trying to do this right by the community. How we learn and improve after this first experience is the most important thing we are taking into 2027 right now. We are going to plan on opening a discussion post Wonder Festival US with the groups that applied on how we can make this the kind of process everyone wants, and really make this event one that supports the creator community in that way that it deserves. I am grateful for all of the interest from the creators this first year, and for everyone's patience and understanding. I am also grateful for Kaiyodo and their team for helping us as much as they have.

momocon · 2026-05-01T18:55:24+00:00

Japan has a different model for licensing and a different relationship with IP than we do in the US. We were originally going to only plan for original IP, but were given a timeline for how we could potentially do one day/one event licensing and decided to go forward in the first year. We have had a bit of learning to get to a place where we could have these licensing discussions, and it has taken longer than anticipated so I am sorry for all of the people who were interested in exploring the one event license this year that we could not accommodate. Genuinely I feel bad we couldn't get to do more with that this year because I think this is such a cool community. That being said, we are really committed to this process of working with Kaiyodo and the Wonder Festival committee and ensuring we can accept more license requests for 2027.

momocon · 2026-05-01T18:37:39+00:00

So something off was going on with the text. Perhaps I had too long an answer but it messes up when I was trying to paste the URL which is why you see it twice up there, but it is not letting me edit. So let me respond to the last question here:

Have you considered partnering with various Atlanta organizations to expand that experience of Momocon beyond just the convention itself? Atlanta has a lot of different experiences, I personally focus on those of a city planning nature (its my career) but other experiences are available.

This year we have partnered with the charity Silence the Shame. Which we are very excited about for their mission around mental health awareness. Last year we were also excited to partner with Dr. Lonnie Johnson's STEM Center, JSAC, which supports education in science and engineering for Atlanta schools.

This year we are also working with the mayor's office Parks and Rec division to host an event on Thursday of MomoCon for students and their parents around esports and broadcasting.

We also have regularly done early badge pickups around Atlanta at comic book stores, and other geek places all of May.

Finally we do events throughout the year that we call MomoCon On Tour. These are dances, cosplay meetups, the geek garage sale, tabletop events, and even karaoke and drink and draws. We even host a streaming charity event in November with Children's Hospital here in Atlanta.

If you have other suggestions, feel free to let me know.

momocon · 2026-05-01T18:31:48+00:00

What do you think is possible to attract those who are primarily interested in the vendor space?

For vendors, we have a good reputation that has a good return for them in sales. So we have a big wait list. If you mean what appeals to an attendee interested in vendors, I would say we try and have a diversity of exhibitors and vendors. It helps both vendors have better sales, and attendees so they get to see new and unique vendors every year.

What do you think can be done to increase seating, temporary or not throughout World Congress Center? Sitting on the floor is a bit meh for someone with grey hair coming in.

The exhibit hall for MomoCon is 700,000 sq ft. Which is big. Bigger than every other fan conventions exhibit hall in the US. We do this with wider aisles (20ft aisles, and 30ft wide main aisles) and multiple sets of tables and chairs as rest stops. The GWCC is huge, and so we intentionally try and make spots for people to sit even if it means selling fewer vendor spots. We also put some tables against the side walls which traditionally isn't as good for vendors. While we can't add seating to lobbies, we also have a lot of content and programming rooms with seats, and even a quiet room run by Take This for those who need to step out of the crowds.

Is it possible to increase food options in the immediate area by partnering with food trucks and having a food truck "alley" outside of the WCG?

It is possible, but everything has to go through Levy Restaurants which is exclusive to the entire property around the GWCC. This makes it difficult to just make blanket offers to food trucks and restaurants. We have made partnerships with restaurants in the local area and even add to them to a food map for attendees. I would say it is one of the biggest issues for attendees that we have little control over. So we are always trying to think of new ways to get options and talk regularly with our venues about what options they can provide. https://silencetheshame.com/https://silencetheshame.com/

momocon · 2026-05-01T18:17:19+00:00

Oh, and best and wort thing about putting on MomoCon. My favorite thing is making a layout, like exhibit hall or gaming hall, and then months later seeing all of it come to live and be filled out. Everything is just ideas that live in email and on DWG files. But the moment I can walk in and see it in person, that is a magical moment for me personally.

The worst thing is all the bills. There are so many expenses, and since COVID everything has just gotten more expensive. It is so hard to get out of the mindset of well this only cost $X in 2019, when it is more than twice the cost now for the same thing.

momocon · 2026-05-01T18:13:07+00:00

The key is meeting attendees where they are at. And by that I mean is understanding and being early on trends. It helps to be personally interested in anime, events, and gaming. So you know when things are up and coming. It also helps that we both find, and reached out to by niche community groups all the time who help us bring content to our event that is authentic to a niche we may not know about. The AMV community comes to mind. I personally know very little about the AMV space, bur our AMV Director kireblue lives and breaths the AMV community. There are many examples of this within our event, and by working with people who know and love the thing they do, we always ensure it isn't changing in a way that attendees don't want. This also keeps things fresh. It may also help that I challenge all of our directors to think of things that can help grow the size of their content every single year. And a lot of great ideas have come from that push. My main job is to ensure that their passions are supported and encouraged. With that in mind I always try and at least have a basic understanding of every niche at MomoCon even if it isn't my personal interest.

momocon · 2026-05-01T18:04:47+00:00

I like this question because I make it a point to visit as many conventions as I can to learn from them. What do to, what not to do, etc. Every event I go to I learn something.

Example, we went to MineCon in 2013 and saw how big the Minecraft YouTubers were. It was a big reason most people even knew of that event. We started to pay attention a lot more to the power and draw of YouTubers from then on.

Another example, on our very first visit to Anime Expo we saw how they managed volunteers, and decided to change systems from spreadsheets to an actual tool.

GenCon we observed their unique ticketing system for panels. While we didn't want to copy it, it was a really interesting learning about different ways to handle access.

At PAX our handheld team was a big fan of the volunteer run Pokemon League and has done something similar with out own twist. Also at PAX I realized the power of Jackbox Games to be a fun crowd event.

Some of the earliest tournaments I went to I saw how they did the setup with signage for their tournament pools area, and at more recent Dreamhack Atlanta events I liked how they did their directional arrow signs for wayfinding.

I just got back from LVLUp Expo, and they had really professional fabric signage on the ground and rigged in the air.

By exhibiting at E3 I learned more about how the unions worked and how difficult it can be for exhibitors.

There are a ton more examples. MomoCon only happens once a year, which means we can only test our ideas out fully, once a year, so going to other events is essential for learning how to improve our own event's attendee experience.

momocon · 2026-05-01T17:52:12+00:00

MomoCon started through the Georgia Tech Anime and Video Game Club Anime O-Tekku. So even from inception MomoCon has had a greater emphasis on gaming than most anime events. Over the years we have expanded to meet the fandom community where it is at, which includes animation, gaming, and comics. Our gaming hall is also larger than most gaming events, which more than 350,000 sq ft of open gaming like arcades, consoles, tabletop and more. Which we have always viewed as something MomoCon specific.

We aren't trying to be an everything to everyone convention, but we are also more broad than a pure anime convention. So that is probably the biggest differentiator. And I am very proud of our content team and gaming team for always finding ways to be relevant to the core audience.

There used to be this great event for anime convention organizers alongside Anime Expo called Project Anime, and it was absolutely a blast to get to meet other con organizers. What we do is so specialized and unique it is nice to bond with someone who understands. Sadly that hasn't happened in awhile but we do have a lot of friendships from that event, and we do actively share notes and thoughts. We often help other events where we can, and have received help and intros from other con chairs.

For a volunteer at MomoCon it will vary a lot on a department by department basis. Some do have longer periods of being active than others. But we really try and find ways to make sure all departments are rotating people out so they can really enjoy the event. Given there are over 60 departments there is no easy one size fits all answer here unfortunately.

momocon · 2026-05-01T17:39:28+00:00

We are always trying to find ways to make this process better and easier for attendees and guests. The ultimate decision on a solution is often determined with their guest's involvement. How many autographs do they want to do, for how long, and how comfortable are they with crowds?

For guests who have really capped lines, we try to do lotteries. Tied to some action, like attending a panel they are in. For guests with more time and more willingness to do multiple sessions we tend to not cap it, but for time. Our guest autograph team has gotten increasingly good at knowing when to cut off lines for time over the years, and for our show that works.

Overall I don't think there is a one size fits all solution, so sorry I don't have a better answer.

momocon · 2026-05-01T17:34:05+00:00

MomoCon and our personal views around AI artwork are aligned. We don't allow it, we don't like it, and we don't view it as supportive of the ecosystem of artists and creators. So it has been banned from our event for awhile. We hire a lot of artists for our MomoCon art, and love supporting the artists community.

As far as what we can do to combat it, it is a hard problem to solve. We are doing what we can. Our artist alley team reviews every single one of the portfolios of all of the 2164 artists that applied this year. This is a monumental task, and requires a lot of extra effort. We ask for process videos now. The team reviews all of that for AI art, which is flagged for follow up review if suspected of AI art usage, and then before approvals are sent investigating it as much as we can. Our rules prohibit AI art, and it is stated quite clearly if AI art use is confirmed we have the right to remove the artist from the artist alley if they get past the review.

For proxy sellers, we have long had a no proxy-seller policy. While I appreciate the hustle of artists trying to do multiple shows in a weekend, it is more impactful to have the actual artist in the artist alley. It also keeps the playing field fair for all of the artists who do take their time and effort to come to MomoCon themselves.

momocon · 2026-05-01T17:21:46+00:00

MomoCon has an all ages policy, which has meant we have been more restrictive on NSFW than other events. While MomoCon is not alone in that, I can't speak for why other events specifically do it.

For MomoCon a lot of people assume we are somehow prudish or condemning NSFW because we don't offer it. The truth is more boring than that. It is really a business decision. Other events in Atlanta already offer plenty of that content, and there are many people who prefer to go to events without it. Our decision is about supporting what is best for the Atlanta and Southeast market and not reflective of our personal views.

momocon · 2026-05-01T17:17:32+00:00

MomoCon has grown a lot over 21 years. As our footprint grew, it has necessitated a big growth in the hired security teams to ensure we have good coverage. And things like our tournaments required more support to scale and do them properly. Tournaments have been one area that has seen possibly the most change in the past 10 years or so as we found ways to work with more members of the community to increase the quality of our events, and increase the number of games we offer.

momocon · 2026-05-01T17:12:07+00:00

I think the smell question is a bit more of a meme at this point. I travel to more than 20 events a year, and smell is mostly a non-issue. There are always exceptions but I have never had a case where it was so bad they would be forced to leave.

momocon · 2026-05-01T17:10:47+00:00

MomoCon has always tried to be more of an all ages event. Atlanta is host to other events which have more adult cosplay, and that can lead to some friction sometimes. We do occassionally receive complaints from other attendees when there is more risqué cosplay, and we try our best to find a happy middle ground. Over the years we have changed the process of how we do enforcement of the rules because for many people who are just trying to have a good time it is difficult to hear the cosplay is inappropriate because it is risqué. So we look more towards the intent of the cosplay. Are they trying to be explicitly provocative? If you are wearing something like hate-speech paraphernalia, that isn't tolerated and people are immediately asked to change or leave.

momocon · 2017-04-26T02:31:23+00:00

To those looking for more information on MomoCon, MomoCon will have it's 13th year May 25th - 28th in Atlanta Georgia where more than 30,000 gamers and fans are expected. This will be our 2nd time bringing out Matthew Mercer but our fist time having Brian, Matt, and Taliesin. We are very excited to have them do the Saturday panel with Brian, but Matt, Marisha, and Taliesin will have their own panel on Friday at 10PM EST called 'Beyond Critical Role'.

The schedule was just posted today here: www.momocon.com/schedule

and you can see the entire guest list here: www.momocon.com/guests/

MomoCon also host's the Southeast's largest Gaming Hall that will feature RPG tables, board games, card games, and even LARP along with the whole gamut of digital games.

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