The Dragon Con Virtual Experience

Yes, you really can keep the magic of Dragon Con alive, virtually, through the convention weekend and all year round. Tune in to Dragon Con from home, live from your hotel while finalizing that last costume detail, or even from the future, long after the excitement of the weekend has gone the way of the Marriott Carpet and the Sheraton: a pile of happy memories and residual cult-like tendencies.

There are so many panels and events at Dragon Con that it would be impossible to contain everything in just two channels. There are cameras in the main ballrooms to capture every detail, so even those events that aren’t broadcast at the convention will be available to catch up on when everyone has returned to their daily lives.

Where can you find this magic portal, you ask? Look no further than the internet! Programming is available on www.dragoncon.tv and your favorite social media platforms; you just have to know where to find it.

How to Sign Up

The streaming passes are now live at www.dragoncon.tv to lock in your access. For just $10.00 per pass, you get a complete list of Dragon Con’s 2023 streaming programming, as well as the main host hotel streams, and a catalog of events from Dragon Con panels going back as far as 2008. You can check out the Dragon Con Quick Start Guide, or the DCTV FAQ at www.dragoncon.tv/pages/faqs for more details.

New in 2023

The crew at DragonConTv always works hard to provide the best in digital entertainment, teaming up this year with Cartoon Network to go above and beyond. On Saturday and Sunday, grab a box of cereal and tune into DCTV between 7AM and 9AM EDT for Weekend Morning Cartoons. For two days only, cartoons will start the DragonConTV programming, broadcasting to the host hotel channels and to DCTV streaming online.

Set Your Con Schedule

The next stop for your streaming con experience is going to be the schedules at www.dragoncon.tv/pages/schedule or on the Dragon Con app. The DCTV schedule offers a complete breakdown, day by day, of what virtual panels will be available on streaming. They are divided into main events and fan track events. Be sure to check the event profiles on the daily schedule in the Dragon Con app for the virtual locations of the panels that may be taking place in person, too.

Main Events

Panels marked as Main Events will be the same telecasts available to the host hotels. This includes:

  • Live and pre-recorded panels filmed at the convention halls
  • Major convention happenings such as the Parade, contests, and wrestling
  • The bumpers and commercials shown in the halls before every event

All new interviews and specials from the Dragon Con Update and Dragon Con’s very own The Late Show will also be featured on the Main Event channels, so tune in for the daily recap. This content will be available for viewing exclusively on www.dragoncon.tv and within the convention host hotels.

Fan Track Events

The Fan Tracks help organize the many panels into more manageable pieces. Customize your online convention experience by choosing the topics that you’re most interested in and attending those specific panels and interviews. The virtual fan tracks line up with the convention tracks, from the Alternate History track to the YA Lit track. (The more musical Concourse Stage events are also available under the Fan Track events listings.)

Every Fan Track will have their own schedule of events and their own hosting streams. These additional events can be watched on YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, Instagram, or even Spotify. For a complete track list from 2022, check out the Daily Dragon’s article at www.dragoncon.org/dailydragon/2022-2/virtual-fan-track-links/  for links to the older content.

These tracks can be accessed without a DCTV streaming pass. You know your friends and family would love to watch the main event streams, too, so don’t forget to get them the DCTV pass when you share the link to the social media panels.

Enjoy Your Con Experience

The great part about Dragon Con is that it is a fan-run convention. The great part about being fans is engaging with our Favorite Stuff whenever and wherever we want, especially on the internet. The Dragon Con virtual experience is here to stay, as just one more way everyone can enjoy the largest multimedia, pop-culture event of the universe. This stuff is better than Netflix. Make sure you lock in your DCTV 2023 membership ASAP to add this media to your viewing options until we’re back for Dragon Con 2024.

Author of the article

Yvonne is a dog-mom, cat-mom, writer, and occasional gamer (who knows too much about videogames for the amount of time she doesn't actually get to play them) from Northern California. Despite the distance, she's been going to Dragon Con for years, even if only virtually. Ask her about 90s TV, especially anything sci-fi, home DIY projects, and she can even geek out about everything SEO. You can find her at www.yvonneharbison.com or follow her at https://twitter.com/YHarbisonSEO for a random mix of SEO stuff, cute critters, and the occasional geek-outs about sci-fi, movies, animation, and comics.