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Conventional Wisdom Pre Dragon Con 2013
Aug. 7th, 2013 09:39 amSo Dragon Con is 23 days away.
I have been going to this convention since it was all contained in one hotel rather than the behemoth it has become.
A few tips for making Dragon Con easier/fun from me to you from my years of experience.
1) Comfortable shoes are a must. If your costume calls for uncomfortable shoes, I suggest that you limit your time in them. If you are wearing new boots with a costume, now is the time to start breaking them in. I break in a new pair of boots by wearing them for an hour and work my way up to a day. An hour will tell you where you are going to have any blisters or redness. From there you both work up and break down the boots until they are comfortable. I have been working on mine for a while now.
2) Hydrate! I am not kidding. It is amazing how much better you feel when you are hydrated and the hotels have water stations all over the place. Take advantage of it.
3) Queue-ing up. Yes there are lines for the big panels, not as bad as SDCC to get into the one panel that you want to get into but there are lines. Pick your queues carefully and know that you are probably going to have to line up about an hour or so before the panel if not a little more. Now a favor please, do listen to the line staff that are trying to make it possible for you to get into the room safely and allow the rest of the convention to move to their next activity. They aren’t there to make your life miserable but to facilitate the flow of the whole.
4) Elevators. A touchy subject I know. They are hard to get and it seems like forever. Again I am going to ask a favor, if you see someone who can’t stand for a long time or can’t use the stairs to go up even one floor, can we defer to them on the elevators? I was about to kidney punch some able-bodies folks that pushed in front of those who were not as able and grabbing the elevators. Also regards the Hyatt, the stairs are a good way to get to the 2nd and 3rd floor in that hotel from the ground floor.
5) Extension of oneself. I am talking not only wings and costume props but backpacks, children packs, rolling items, and anything else that makes one wider than usual. Turning suddenly in a packing area when you are wearing a backpack can be very painful for others. Check your surroundings before turning. Also be careful about the little ones, they have badges too and have as much right to space on the convention floor. But I do ask that the SUV strollers be left at home or in the hotel room.
6) Go with the flow. Don’t stop in the middle of traffic and take a picture, check a text message, or anything else that causes things to halt. The sides are good for all these activities.
7) The 3-2-1 rule which is just common sense at something this big. At least 3 hours sleep. At least 2 meals. At least 1 shower. Per day. Your body will thank you as will your fellow congoers. If not a shower, at least freshen up once a day.
8) No means No. We have had a lot of discussion this past year about how we treat people of various genders at conventions. If you see something say something. I have been the person who had stepped in and checked to make sure everything is OK a number of times. I have never had a problem with that. I know we have some really winners in our tribe that think they are being cute or funny and don’t understand how what they are doing is offensive. I don’t care. No one should feel uncomfortable at the convention because of their gender or what they are wearing. So No fracking means NO! End of any discussion. This myth of fake geek girlz fleecing the poor fan boy needs to stop as well.
9) Have fun! This is Dragon Con! It is fun.
10) Feel free to talk to me. I am very approachable and happy to talk to anyone. Tell me that you read my blog. Don’t worry about apologizing about not commenting. I really don’t worry about comments. I do find it very interesting of who reads this.
So there are some of my suggestions for making your Dragon Con a great one.
I am grateful for all the fun I have had over the years at D’Con.
I have been going to this convention since it was all contained in one hotel rather than the behemoth it has become.
A few tips for making Dragon Con easier/fun from me to you from my years of experience.
1) Comfortable shoes are a must. If your costume calls for uncomfortable shoes, I suggest that you limit your time in them. If you are wearing new boots with a costume, now is the time to start breaking them in. I break in a new pair of boots by wearing them for an hour and work my way up to a day. An hour will tell you where you are going to have any blisters or redness. From there you both work up and break down the boots until they are comfortable. I have been working on mine for a while now.
2) Hydrate! I am not kidding. It is amazing how much better you feel when you are hydrated and the hotels have water stations all over the place. Take advantage of it.
3) Queue-ing up. Yes there are lines for the big panels, not as bad as SDCC to get into the one panel that you want to get into but there are lines. Pick your queues carefully and know that you are probably going to have to line up about an hour or so before the panel if not a little more. Now a favor please, do listen to the line staff that are trying to make it possible for you to get into the room safely and allow the rest of the convention to move to their next activity. They aren’t there to make your life miserable but to facilitate the flow of the whole.
4) Elevators. A touchy subject I know. They are hard to get and it seems like forever. Again I am going to ask a favor, if you see someone who can’t stand for a long time or can’t use the stairs to go up even one floor, can we defer to them on the elevators? I was about to kidney punch some able-bodies folks that pushed in front of those who were not as able and grabbing the elevators. Also regards the Hyatt, the stairs are a good way to get to the 2nd and 3rd floor in that hotel from the ground floor.
5) Extension of oneself. I am talking not only wings and costume props but backpacks, children packs, rolling items, and anything else that makes one wider than usual. Turning suddenly in a packing area when you are wearing a backpack can be very painful for others. Check your surroundings before turning. Also be careful about the little ones, they have badges too and have as much right to space on the convention floor. But I do ask that the SUV strollers be left at home or in the hotel room.
6) Go with the flow. Don’t stop in the middle of traffic and take a picture, check a text message, or anything else that causes things to halt. The sides are good for all these activities.
7) The 3-2-1 rule which is just common sense at something this big. At least 3 hours sleep. At least 2 meals. At least 1 shower. Per day. Your body will thank you as will your fellow congoers. If not a shower, at least freshen up once a day.
8) No means No. We have had a lot of discussion this past year about how we treat people of various genders at conventions. If you see something say something. I have been the person who had stepped in and checked to make sure everything is OK a number of times. I have never had a problem with that. I know we have some really winners in our tribe that think they are being cute or funny and don’t understand how what they are doing is offensive. I don’t care. No one should feel uncomfortable at the convention because of their gender or what they are wearing. So No fracking means NO! End of any discussion. This myth of fake geek girlz fleecing the poor fan boy needs to stop as well.
9) Have fun! This is Dragon Con! It is fun.
10) Feel free to talk to me. I am very approachable and happy to talk to anyone. Tell me that you read my blog. Don’t worry about apologizing about not commenting. I really don’t worry about comments. I do find it very interesting of who reads this.
So there are some of my suggestions for making your Dragon Con a great one.
I am grateful for all the fun I have had over the years at D’Con.
