In Part One, we shared some tips for how to prepare for a geek convention.
But what about once you get there?
The first thing you have to do at most cons is pick up your badge. Generally, there will be a fairly long line, and there’s little you can do by wait.
The good news is that, usually, these lines move fast. But still, if there’s a “preview night” or other time before the events at the con start to pick it up, it’s well worth it to try to get your badge then. Hold on tightly to your badge as, depending on the con, it may be difficult or impossible to get a replace if you lose yours.
One thing you can do while waiting in line for your badge is to learn the layout of the con. Now that you’re in the building, whatever maps might have been provided online or in the program may begin to make sense.
Figure out where the panels rooms are, how the con floor has been organized, where the bathrooms, first aid station, and autograph area is.
And if you’re disabled, find out where disabled services are, and the minute you have your badge, go to see them. Each con handles access for the disabled differently but the good news is that most con organizers have taken seriously the question of how to make the con as positive an experience as possible for everyone. Laura is disabled, so we get to see this at every con.
At various cons, organizers have offered things like a specially designated resting area (very good in a crowded place with no chairs), free wheelchair rental, special arrangements for overly long lines, reserved seating in panel rooms, all sorts of things. And the people manning these stations tend to be friendly and very sensitive to the needs of guests with disabilities.
The Con Floor
Now you’re ready to discover the con floor. Generally speaking the floor will (except at the smallest cons) be separated into sections. Some common ones: big publishers in comics, smaller presses, artists’ alley, media guests, comics-resellers, other merchants, and games/gaming.
Despite the desire to see this or that first, it’s usually a good idea to start at one end and systematically work your way to the other. Otherwise it can be really easy to miss something cool.
The small press and artist alley is often ignored by neophyte con-goers, but make sure you spend some time there.
Among the small presses, you’ll find some of the best and certainly most experimental work being done in comics. Much of it will be crap, but some of it will be more inspired, beautiful, challenging, or meaningful to you than what you’ll find in better-known outlets. Take the time to really check out the work and talk to the artists and writers at these tables. We’ve discovered all sorts of amazing projects from people just getting their start.
Drop a few dollars on something that really speaks to you and get them to sign it. Then, at the very least, when the chosen few are snapped up by the larger publishers, you’ll be able to say you knew them when.
The artists’ alley is very similar, except it will go beyond the comic genre. Here you’ll find illustrators, painters, colorists, sculptors and more. Again, the quality will be uneven. But there will also be things that will blow you away.
Best of all, it’s an amazing place to pick up unique and often original art at a fraction of what you might pay elsewhere. Slap a $20 frame around a lot of this stuff and you have amazing original art decorating your house. Much of the art hanging in our home came from one artists’ alley or another, and our friends have expressed how gorgeous and interesting it all is.
If you’re going to be buying art, invest in a poster tube (preferably with a carrying strap). There’s usually a few vendors selling them (in the general merchandise area). The tube will protect your art acquisitions until you get home. If you buy a particularly heavy or bulky piece, ask if they can keep it at their table till the end of the day. Just don’t forget to pick it up on your way out.
As you interact with sellers on the floor, keep the following in mind:
- Don’t be afraid to haggle. These people need to recoup what they spent to get their table at the con and that means they need to make sales. These people would rather you buy three things from their table than one and will generally be willing to give you a deal to encourage you to do so.
- But don’t be insulting even accidentally. This is may be their sales product, but it’s also their art. Their soul. Treat it as such. Tell them what you like/love about it. Ask them about their inspiration. Give them a reason to want you to own their work.
- Sunday is the best day to haggle because sellers are trying to get rid of stock so they don’t have to shlep it home. But it’s also the day when inventories are the lowest. If you must have something, do not risk losing out on it by putting off buying it till Sunday. If you do want to return to purchase something later in the con, ask for a business card. Write their table number and what you wanted on it. A card gives you two possibilities: You will remember to return to their table on Sunday to haggle, and if they sell out, you can contact them after the con to see if they have more stock at home they can sell you. We have whole relationships built on these cards.
Cosplayers
As you move around the con floor, you’ll hopefully run into a lot of cosplayers—living art. But remember that while beautiful or interesting, they are also con attendees. They are there to have a good time, just like you. So make sure you treat them with respect.
Don’t be afraid to stop cosplayers and ask for pictures if you’re taken with their costumes. But be sensitive in doing this. The girl in the Starfire costume may not want her picture all over the internet. She feels safe to play at the con. Not on some pervert’s Facebook page.
Photographing cosplayers is pretty much the number one reason for traffic jams at cons. Try not to get your pic in the aisle as people are trying to mill past. You’ll have a hard time getting your shot, and you’ll annoy everyone, especially those running the booths you are obstructing. Wait until the cosplayers get to the end of the aisle and try to get your picture then.
Better yet, get such pictures in the lobby.
Most cosplayers will spend time in the lobby for just such a purpose. This is a happiness for everyone. Not only are you not in anyone’s way, but cons are now starting to set up special areas with nice backgrounds for cosplayers to pose in front of. And, since you have so many cosplayers in one place, you’ll not only be able to get a lot of cool photos quickly, but some that you’d never get on the floor. The cosplayers will often interact with other cosplayers, and suddenly you’re looking at amazing group pictures: multiple Doctors, some guy dressed up as rhinestone stormtrooper escorting a bright pink version of Chewbacca, an epic battle between Star Fleet and a troop of Klingons.
Look, but don’t touch.
At least not without express permission. This should be obvious, but trust us, when someone is standing there in a perfect or very imaginative representation of your favorite character, the desire to see what the costume feels like can be overwhelming. These people spent a lot of time and money on their costumes and know their limitations. You don’t. Don’t risk their costume because of your curiosity.
In most cases, it will be fine.
Celebrities
While it’s cool to meet someone dressed up as your favorite character from your favorite show, it’s a very different thing to meet the actor/actress who actually played that character. In fact, these people are often the biggest draw at conventions. So if that’s your thing, best be prepared.
Never assume you need to pay to meet a celebrity.
Yes, often there will be scheduled signing events or they will be at a table on the floor and there’s someone there ready to sell you a picture and an autograph with the star. But this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to buy anything. More and more, actors in geek shows and movies are coming to appreciate their fans. Most are happy to gladhand with you even if you don’t buy—they want you to like them because it makes them more marketable. Ask whoever is in charge of their table/line what is permissible. If they will only shake your hand if you pay for the privilege, ask yourself how much you actually want to meet them.
If you do want to get an autograph, make sure you have cash in hand. While the vast majority of the vendors on the floor will have the ability to take cards, virtually none of the autograph tables will (probably because waiting for card approvals takes time and they are trying to keep the lines moving as fast as possible.
And if you know you want an autograph from someone at a con, bring something interesting for them to sign.
They are signing the same five pictures all day. But the truth is, what are you going to do with that picture you bought there at the table? One or two autographs from your favorite actors and actresses might go on your wall at home, but most such autographs will end up gathering dust and rarely seeing the light of day. Get them to sign something different. We like having them sign DVDs or the sleeves under the clear plastic on the outside of the DVD case. We’ve bought sketches of them in artists’ alley and then asked the actors to autograph them.
At Emerald City Comic Con this year, we got Patrick Stewart to sign the title page of our edition of Hamlet.
Another reason to bring something more personal or unusual is that, if you’re like most people, you’re not paying for the autograph: you’re paying for the interaction. You want the memory of having met this person. So it should be a memory worth having. For most people, that memory will consist of the person asking their name, then scribbling on a photo and saying thanks for coming. They may not even look up. So make sure you’re ready to have a better one. By putting something new under their noses to be signed, it will almost always make them pause and look up.
There’s your opening.
But that opportunity will disappear if the next words out of your mouth are, “I’m your biggest fan.” They’ve met their “biggest fan” before. Thousands of times. That phrase is the verbal equivalent of the photograph. So have a relevant question or thought to share with them. We’ve had great discussions with a lot of celebs, but they always came from us saying/asking something of interest to the celeb.
When we met Patrick Stewart, Laura (who did her Master’s thesis on the use of Shakespeare in the Star Trek universe) asked a couple of questions about the volume of Shakespeare Picard kept in his ready room. Shakespearean devotee Stewart looked up, surprised, from the copy of Hamlet and actually engaged with her. Not only did she have a short but interesting chat, but she cleared up a mystery that came out of the research she’d done on her thesis, confirming one of her theories as correct. These people spend hours and hours doing a repetitive activity for an unending sea of faces.
Break their monotony and walk away with more than an autograph.
But the autograph tables aren’t the only place to interact with celebrities. It’s important to keep your eyes open. The celebrities are people and as such, they too have to get from point A to point B on foot. They may walk the floor (sometimes in disguise). They use elevators. They may even be staying at the same hotel as you. So pay attention. You never know where they might pop up. “I ran into Famke Jannsen in the hall once at C2E2 and…”
But, whatever you do, do not make your con story their con story.
All of the celebrities have one. About the frightening/ridiculous/annoying person who did something so bad, that now it’s grist for the interview mill for years. So remember, if they are in the elevator, on the floor, or running from place A to B, they aren’t there for your entertainment…they are off the clock. Keep this in mind when interacting them. They don’t have to be on their best behavior (and trust us, some of them definitely won’t be) so it’s all on you to make this chance encounter pleasant for both of you.
So keep your interactions short and do not geek out at them. Their handlers will have no problem telling you to fuck off if they even suspect the talent is annoyed. At best, they’ll shorten your time together. At worst, you’ll be escorted off the premises. Don’t give them a reason for either. Just do what you’d do at the autograph table: say something that they will find interesting and see where it goes. If you get the brush-off, take the hint. You don’t want the entire audience on Conan’s show laughing their ass off at your stupidity when the celeb retells the story of your encounter.
And if the celebrity is charging money for pictures or autographs at some booth, don’t ask them to give you one for free because you were lucky enough to share an elevator with them.
Unless it’s Wil Wheaton, one of the ultimate celeb fans. He refuses to take money for signing autographs and is great with fans because he’s one too. So as long as you’re nice, he’s fair game.
And it’s a great opportunity to talk to a fellow fan who really gets it. From both sides.
But then, that’s what conventions are: they are a collection of amazing geek opportunities under one roof. It’s not a packaged experience like Disneyland or Sea World. It’s literally a matter of what you make of it. So once you’ve made up your mind to go, a little preparation will pave the way for a great experience and paying attention will guarantee you really enjoy it.
And hopefully, we’ll see you there.
