My first convention was a small regional one. Myself and my friend decided to go on a whim. The moment we walked into the hotel ballroom, we were approached by the lady who was the co-sponsor of the con. Within ten minutes (after asking a few questions) she had our whole weekend registered for us. It was at this con I discovered the White Wolf games (Oh, where art thou Naugahyde-Face?), Warhammer fantasy miniatures, and several other games which, without her help, I would never have thought to play.

We attended that con every year for the next 14 years, eventually bringing my wife along and getting her interested in playing.

A good con is a wonderful thing.

A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar con-goer can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for protection as you bound across the heads of the multiple anime cat-girls; you can lie on it on the floor to prevent sleeping where multiple gamer feet have touched; use it to sail a miniraft down the crowded aisleways; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough!

Lovingly paraphrased from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Con prep is definitely important. I know that buddies of mine and I have tried to bring and share food, but it never quite worked out. We fell back on people bringing their own if they wanted, but that resulted in multiple coolers and less car space.

like a towel… I’m such an idiot…

@pseudodragon – I’ve always been amazed by people who think there are fortunes to be made in the RPG industry. The only place you’re finding loads of cash is in the treasure tables and dragons lairs. I’ve always been a fan of anything that is done just for the love of it, no matter how professional the end result. You’ve got to give credit to the people who go out and give it a shot.

@DocRyder – Good advice doc. I know I’ve seen lots of conventions with sub-par organization. People get locked out of games and wander around looking for things to do. Thankfully, there are always enough things going on that you can find something to occupy your time. Pickup games, screening rooms, exhibitor halls, board game rooms, etc.

@Patrick Benson – “I will find the fun, or I will bring the fun.” Awesome advice! It was great hanging out with you as well. Now if you could get a zombie game going without scruffy the wonder pup the Zombies might stand a chance.

@Kurt “Telas” Schneider – Progressing plot? You silly gnome! I’ve had moments like your Monte Cook moment. Gaming is one of those hobbies I love because of the connection between people. Unlike movies and other high budget modes of entertainment, you can generally just walk up and talk to the people who are involved in making the things you love. My buddy chastises me because I always forget to get stuff signed when I meet someone.

Lessons learned: Keep an open mind and a closed mouth, although I don’t always do either.

Favorite moment: Gen Con 2006 – “Talking shop” with a guy at the Malhavoc booth for about ten minutes while a friend looked at the Ptolus book. We chatted away about gaming, GMing, where the hobby seems to be going, etc. And when we left, someone mentioned that it was Monte Cook. *boggle*

Other favorites:
The now-defunct Midnight Zombie Game, which took milliseconds to descend into sexual innuendo, and was great fun.

Having Sean Patrick Fannon give me the “GM’s Award” in his epic Shaintar “Burning Heart” session, where dozens of players challenged a legend from the past. And all I did was drive the plot…

“The food is too expensive.” “No one plays my favorite game at this con!” “The convention center doesn’t have enough coffee shops.” “The event organizers are not giving enough space to the board games.” Etc., etc.

Every con has some problems, but I’ve yet to attend a con that was an outright failure. When you attend a con try to practice this simple rule:

“I will find the fun, or I will bring the fun.”

At Origins there weren’t enough moderators to run “Are You A Werewolf?” across several groups. I decided to bring the fun and grabbed a deck of cards and ran a few games for others. I could have sat around whining about how the event organizers failed to plan accordingly (but maybe they did and the turn out was greater than they could have foreseen?) and that would have done no good.

Instead I stepped up and brought the fun. We had a good time, and that is what a convention is all about.

So when you attend a con be prepared for some letdowns, but because youa re surrounded by others who just want to have a good time I’m sure that with a little effort you can quickly turn any con letdown into an opportunity for a con triumph.

John – Great hanging out with you at Origins this year! See you there again in 2010 if all goes well.

To those ends, I and another friend spend our time in seminars pretty much all weekend long when we go. I’ve spent many hours now listening to Ken Hite go off on some tangent.

What it really boils down to is find what is fun for you. I went to an Orccon in Los Angeles years ago in which three of the four that went had a great time, and the fourth was grossly disappointed as he didn’t know what he wanted to do, so spent his time wandering around bored.

Figure out what you want to do ahead of time. Know yourself and what you enjoy and do that.

That’s the best advice I can give. But what do I know?

Our convention was an all-volunteer affair. No one got paid a dime and the proceeds went to local and regional charities. Every year we’d get three or four newbies coming up to us at the con and asking how they could get involved in running the convention. Their next question was almost always, “How much does it pay?” Their eyes and mouths widened when they heard that we did it for the fun of it and to give something back to the community, but it was true. If you go to a convention with the idea that you’re going to have a good time and not worry about how you place or whether you’re voted best DM, you will have a much richer experience and maybe even form a few lasting friendships. You’ll also come out of it as a better roleplayer and/or DM.