Here are some tips, tricks, and things to remember that will help you survive the massive Atalanta Science Fiction Fantasy media giant known as Dragon*Con
photo by Cayusa
Pre-Con:
6+ Months Prior:
Book Your Hotel:
Either one of the con hotels (recommended your first year) or a very close hotel you are relatively familiar with. The cheap, nearby hotels fill up very quickly, so snag them up as soon as possible.
My wife and I booked late one year a hotel a mile away, thinking “we’ll just walk.” First of all, the hotel was in the ghetto. It’s lobby smelled distinctly of marijuana. And they “lost” our reservation, even though I had the confirmation number and had booked it through their website. But the thug trannies mingling with klingon warriors made the stay worth it, for the stories at least.
Make Rooming arrangements:
Any given hotel room, no matter how pricey, can be made cheap with enough air mattresses. If possible, write up contracts in blood so if they bail on you, you can track them down and wreak havoc on their soul. From past experience, I can also say that non-con-goers are more likely to join the fun if the rooms are cheap and already taken care of.
Make Travel Arrangements:
Make friends with a flight attendant, or someone whose car is less than ten years old.
research guests:
I’ll admit, even as an avid SFF reader, I am often-times not familiar with many of the writer guests. But in reading them, I find that it was my own loss. And just in general, whatever field brings you at D*Con, you’ll get much more out of the panels if you familiarize yourself with a good portion of the guests’ work. It will also help narrow down your choices when it comes to scheduling time.
Start working on your costume:
No matter how awesome you think your costume is, you will be out-gunned. If you have never been to a big Con before, I honestly recommend not dressing up, as you may find that the duct-taped tron outfit went over well on halloween, but the guy with an actual custom-made fiber-optic tron suit blows you out of the water. But know that no matter what your costume is, you will never get the same kind of attention of the girl in the chain-mail bikini.
1+ month Prior:
- Check in with your travel and rooming arrangements.
- Build up your immune system with Airborne, vitamin D or some similar product. Con Crud is not a pleasant thing.
- If you plan on networking, procure nice looking business cards or download Bump on your mobile device.
- Finishing touches on your costume(s) (if you plan on dressing up).
- Keep an eye on the Dragon Con website for the schedule to be posted. I like to take it immediately to your local printing supply store and run off a bound copy to start marking up immediately. Scheduling is pivotal. I cannot stress that enough.
Packing Checklist:
Besides the obvious clothes, some things that might prove useful (depending on room, of course):
- A case of water (stay hydrated!)
- A power strip (especially if you have many people sharing a room).
- Hand sanitizer. Use often to avoid Con Crud.
- Your own booze. Local micro-brew beers can easily win the hearts of nerds, who tend to have particular tastes.
- Sandwich supplies and ready-to-eat snacks.
- A cooler. Preferably a “back-pack cooler”.
- Books and media to have signed and a permanent marker (in case you catch your secret love idling before a panel).
- A CAMERA and a way to either dump pics quickly, or have backup memory sticks on hand. There will be a moment (that I refer to as “is that the Flying Spaghetti Monster?”) when some costume passes by that you simply cannot believe. Don’t miss the opportunity to capture it because you ran out of space on your camera. Though admittedly, if you do, you will likely be able to find it in a few weeks on flickr.
- Over-the-counter anti-diuretics, digestion aides, etc.
- Caffeine options. You will need them. My best advice: Instant coffee+hot chocolate powder+cold filtered water=cheap, delicious iced mocha. As much as I hate to say it, I highly recommend Starbucks Via, which can be purchased at any of their locations. Or the ideal alternative if you have room is a french press. Here is a great method to make iced coffee with a french press.
- Condoms. Though unlikely, nerds should be allowed to dream. Just dream safely please.
- Mini sewing kit/screwdriver/sodering iron, etc. For those last minute costume problems.
During Con:
Scheduling Tips:
- Pre-register as early as possible. And get there as early as possible, as the registration line can take up to four hours at peak times.
- Schedule thoroughly. There are so many interesting panels, you will need to thoroughly weigh your options long before you set foot in the convention. You do not have enough time to decide what to go to in the 15 minutes between each panel. Believe me.
- The extremely popular panels (typically, the movie/television stars) line up very early. Don’t take this lightly. You will need to skip at least one panel before them to wait in line to even get a seat, let alone a good one. My advice: pick and choose a select few “must see” star panels, and ignore the rest. There are plenty of great things happening in the “less popular” tracks.
- Spend the nights checking out costumes and partying. There’s very little panels scheduled past 8pm, but an astounding ‘night life.’ But don’t party too-too hard, or you’ll miss the Stormtroopers marching in the parade because you’re busy puking in a hotel bathroom.
- Get at least 3 hours of sleep a night. Snoring during an interview with Stan Lee will get you black-listed in the nerd community.
General tips:
- Don’t donate blood if you anticipate drinking that night. Being carted, wasted, into the hospital on a stretcher with Darth Maul makeup on is embarrassing to say the least. But a common Dragon*Con experience.
- If she doesn’t seem that into you, look past the fact that she is dressed as your favorite obscure comic book character and leave her alone. Because you’re annoying her and her friends.
- Many of the sellers will mark down their products on the last two days, rather than have to cart it all back with them. So wait off to buy that pewter dragon with the topless witch-elf rider until Monday.
- My personal preference is not to do any table-top roleplaying, unless it is a game you are wholly unfamiliar with, but interested in running. You’ll likely never see these people again, and you can play D&D with nerds at home. But to see panels with pro game designers like Jason Bulmahn, that is definitely worth it.
- Any time a panel’s description says something like “audience participation” or “open discussion” you can safely skip it. From my personal experience, these typically devolve into irritating, rambling audience members sword-fighting over one of a few (depressingly) coveted titles: Most Knowledgeable in the Field, Most Offensive Asshole, or Coolest Person Ever.
- If you plan on asking poignant questions, write them out before hand, and make sure they are short and actually a question.
- If you want to approach any professional or expert that will be present, asking them to look at your work or exchange information or what-not, dress professionally. There’s nothing more absurd than being approached by a nervous wookie with a portfolio of oil paintings.
- Eat off site or pack your own food. The cost of meals adds up quickly. But unfortunately, you must continue to gorge yourself in order to survive the weekend.