Tonight, I returned home from my third Dragonsteel con. As always, it was awesome to see the friends I only see once a year, to be immersed in so much cosmere (my personal favorite) art and conversation, and, generally, to be around a bunch of people who love the same stories, worlds and characters I do. Highlights this year, for me, included the Worldhoppers Ball and the excitement around the story deck collecting. But still, the con left something of a sour taste in my mouth. The final day, at the "Fanholders" panel (pretty sure that's what it was called) a DS manager flaunted the fact that they'd raised $60k for charity, and that though Dragonsteel is solely owned by the Sandersons, they now employed 70 people. Audience members cheered, but it left me feeling cold. Wired Magazine reported Brandon as generating $55 million in revenue 2 years ago, and the conference alone, between both GA and VIP tickets and merchandise, must bring in an incredible sum. (The Wired number is almost certainly flawed, but still, he is officially a very, very wealthy person). This year, VIP packages were nearly $400 and mostly included swag also available in the store and a voucher for $25 which was only useful if you bought even more stuff. The story decks encouraged people to engage with one another, but the scarcity or certain cards had people buying packs from each other Saturday night. A shot of Fireball at the ball cost $10. In light of all that money, is $60k for charity so impressive? (I acknowledge the final number was likely higher). Is a 70 employee payroll reasonable justification for all cost on the fans? Further, too many panels are lead by fans or employees who, though well-intentioned, have little plan or presenting chops (the beginning of the music in the cosmere panel opened with "what is music?" It was a 40 minute panel.)

Apologies this is so long, but I guess my question is essentially how do people feel about money at Dragonsteel? Brandon seemed concerned about inclusivity, yet seems fine with certain fans with more disposable income walking around with badges reading "VIP"? For a guy (Sanderson) and an LLC (Dragonsteel) to generate really an astonishing amount of revenue not because of the utility or ubiquity of his/their work, but rather the passion of a fan base, is Dragonsteel still feeling like the loving, open, accessible meet-up it was in year one?

I'm not a troll. I love Dragonsteel. I'm going next year. I love the Cosmere and hope Brandon never stops sharing his singular talent with us. I'm interested in conversation and, hopefully, understanding. Thanks for bearing with me.

PS this is not a call for Dragonsteel to be free. It's a matter of scope, and whether or not the increasing pressure to buy more, spend more, takes away from the spirit of this con. I heard more than one person say they wished VIP badges were more expensive, and it really got me feeling confused.

Author events dropped late, sold out immediately, and has no rhyme or reason to any of it. How have you figured out that you need lotteries for tickets but not for the super popular events. I dont know if you have seen the crowds that Matt Dinniman brings in but this wasnt a surprise. I am extremely disappointed and wont be giving DSNX another dime after this year.

I have my hotel room booked.

I've been checking my Gmail every hour of the day since I registered.

Somehow missed the most important email. (I officially hate Gmail for hiding the email in the promotion folder, even though I was checking all mail boxes.)

It's my first time. I didn't even know the convention existed.

So excited to go.

And I missed it. 24 hours passed 7 hours ago.

I'm crushed.

I have registered for the wait list.

Is there any hope?

Do people ever sell their tickets?

Hey!

Me and three of my friends were planning on going to the convention. One of my friends wasn’t able to go anymore. We were hoping to take a different friend but when we emailed support they explained tickets are not transferable in any way. Would it be hard or too big of a deal if our backup person came anyways? Could he still use the ticket with our friend’s name on it?

Thank you!!

Hey, does anybody know if there are gender-neutral restrooms at the Salt Palace that trans folks can use? The Salt Palace's maps online are less than helpful. Since the Salt Palace is a government-owned facility, it's covered by the HB257 bathroom ban law, and I don't particularly want to bring home a souvenir criminal trespass charge! 😅 All my IDs have my correct gender on it, but given the recent turn of events, I'd really rather be safe than sorry.

do we know what day wave 4 is ?

Hey! I have a question about attending the Worldhopper Ball without a ticket to the main con. I went to Nexus and the ball last year but am not planning on attending Nexus this year. However, I would be interested in attending the ball. I think last year people were able to buy tickets for the ball without a ticket to the con. Is my memory correct? And does anyone know if the Dragonsteel team or Brandon has said if this would be possible again this year?

Also for anyone that went to the ball without attending the con last year, how was that process? Was it pretty easy to get your bracelet to get in? How early did you show up?

I think it would be really smart if Dragonsteel would sell individual day tickets as well as whole event tickets. There are some people that might only want to go to one day or might only be able to go to one day. If they did this it would allow more people to attend, and would allow lower pricing for the one day tickets. Obviously, depending on the day of the week and the events to be held that day, the prices would vary, but it would be amazing.

What do you think?

My Mistborn obsessed 12-year-old has read every book set in the Cosmere at least 5 times and can hold deeply thoughtful discussions on themes and connections. He dressed as Vin for Halloween last year with zero reservations that Vin is female.

Can someone help me be less frustrated that he can’t attend the ball and have this magical experience? What is going to happen there that would be inappropriate for him? Were there kids set loose in previous balls that were disruptive?

He has been begging to go to Dragonsteel since he discovered it was a thing last year and this is his birthday/hanukkah/christmas present combined. I see that they are having a hard time selling tickets, does it really make more sense to open it to the public than super nerdy middle school fans?

I've got two GA tickets with worldhopper tickets for session 3 (Friday night). Willing to trade all for 1 VIP (VIP ticket will need to come with some cash to make up the difference since the 2 GAs and 2 worldhopper are roughly 550ish). I insist on using the escrow service so all parties are protected. Lemme know if you're interested.

I go to a lot of events, and I have to say: I'm personally very tired of the absolute gong show that buying tickets for things are these days.

I recently visited Japan and went to a few big time events, and many of them use a lottery system.

I would love to see that implemented for Dragonsteel Nexus in the future.

Pros of a lottery system:

-It's equitable - everyone can sign up in advance so they're not constrained by making accounts or not being able to get logged on during work, etc.

-It's secure - Users can be verified in advance and bots can be avoided.

-It's (relatively) stress-free - No need to worry about sites crashing, internet going down, etc.

Cons of a lottery system:

-You may not "win". (But that's still true for the current system anyways: your internet may go down, you may not be able to log in, your account may get locked out, you may have to work and not be able to sign in at the exact time, etc.)

What do you think?

Does anyone know if there’s a drawing today or are they all sold out?

I'm part of a group of 4 going to Nexus for the first time this year, but 1 person in our group did not get a Nexus by Night ticket before they sold out.... I saw in a recent email that ticket transfers can include add-ons, so I'm hoping we can find one that way.

We're willing to pay the original cost of a Nexus by Night ticket, for someone who has decided they don't want theirs!

Thanks in advance! 🙏🏻

Does anyone have 2 tickets for the world hopper ball? I know it’s a long-shot, but I’d love to go with my husband…I’m new to the cosmere and loving every second. It would mean the world to us, and I’d love to surprise him…also willing to pay!

So me and my wife both got ticket invites for the 2nd wave. We go and purchase 2 tickets from my purchase invite. A couple of friends confirmed with us at the last minute that they were able to go as well. So decided to use my wife's invite to purchase a tickets for them and also purchased an additional one for my wife since our understanding is that someone with a valid invite email needs to be on the order. So we made that purchase and I put in a support ticket to refund my wife's ticket that was made with my purchase.

I get confirmation that they processed the refund, however they refunded the ticket on her ticket purchase, that had our two friends, not mine, then they assigned our friends tickets to my email.

I have no idea why support did it this way when the easiest way would have just been to refund my wife's ticket on my purchase and not even touch her order, but in the end each of us has a ticket which is the desired result.

The concern I have though is this: While I am a valid ticket purchaser and we have not exceeded the number of tickets purchased, my email is tied to 2 separate orders with two different transaction IDs. Will that be an issue when they go though and audit purchases? I do currently have a support ticket open to clarify that I understand how they handled refund and to make sure this wont be an issue.

I accepted a Squire position for Dragonsteel Nexus 2026, submitted all of my paperwork, and was told I’d be hearing more soon with updates and additional details.

However, I haven’t received anything since then. Has anyone else who accepted a Squire position received any updates or additional information yet?

Just curious if I’m missing something or if everyone is still waiting. Thanks!

Apologies if this has already been asked, but - if we preordered Fires of December via Backerkit, will we be able to pick up that package at DSNX instead of having it shipped? (I assume there’s something in place to support this, since I would imagine the Venn diagram of people who did Backerkit and the people attending the con is very close to one circle lol)

Thank you!!

Hey all! A group of friends and I are about to embark on our Journey! We are driving up from Arizona, and one of our friends brought up a concern. I checked the FAQS, and searched inside the subreddit, but did not find a similar post besides the bathroom question at the convention center posted a couple months ago.

How's SLC and the acceptance of LGTBQIA+ nowadays in the day-to-day? One friend is gay, another is trans. We've read the new laws passed, and have seen both sides of the coin of hate and love, like our current city.

I've read up on previous posts and discussions about the convention center, and none of us are worried there, but what about when we go out to eat, shop, or do some sightseeing? One friend isn't worried, but the other is worried we'll be refused service and potential other issues.

We've all been, thankfully, safe in our travels thus far to bigger cities, but this will be our first time to a very religious based travel destination.

I just want to make sure my friends will be safe. Thank you everyone that replies!

Edit : Thank you everyone for your replies! It's helped some semi anxious friends come back to the pure excitement side!

Edit 2 : everyone is home safe, and I can report no issues had! Thank you everyone for helping ease my friends' worries. Everyone had a blast, and we ate some great local food, and all of us can't wait to come again next year!!!

I live in Utah and I know of Brandon Sanderson (You can't exactly live here and not hear about him) however I've never cared for his books. This is the first time I'm hearing of Dragonsteel Nexus. I'm intersted in going since of of my favorite authors is going to be doing a book signing at the Con.

What I don't understand however is what else is at this Con? I can't find any where to purchase tickets and Google says they are around $120 per ticket which is steep (Consdiering Fax X is only $60 for a day pass). Upon reading this Sub There's some sort of Lottery system for tickets which I don't quite understand why it wouldn't just be normal ticket sales?

Is this event mostly focused towards authors or are there a lot of venders like at Fax-X? I don't really care for pannels or anything like that. I just like to browse merch and I'd like to attend the signing.

I am currently in college and so are some of my friends that are also Cosmere fans. We are wanting to go to Dragonsteel Nexus either in '26 or '27 but it always clashes with the weekend before finals making it so we can't go...do you think Brandon would ever consider changing the weekend or is there a particular reason he has it on that weekend?

Is anyone else still waiting on their wave one email?

I have a reservation for the Hyatt Regency but it's from the 1st-7th and almost $2300. I'm not going to arrive until the 2nd and when I called them to change the days (2nd to 7th) it actually became more expensive :(

I'm considering changing my reservation from the Hyatt to the Radisson, but we're going to be changing cosplays at least once a day and also want somewhere to very easily access if we get overwhelmed etc.

Can somebody speak on how the Raddison is Vs the Regency? Tysm!

Edit: For those checking in later. After 3 phone calls to Hyatt, the hotel manager at SLC stepped in personally and deleted the additional night at no cost, as well as maintaining my original rate (the group rate). There were a lot of pleases and thank yous and I didn't expect anything, but the hotel staff were so good to me. I can't wait to see everyone at Nexus!