Iâve decided to republish the series of posts about conventions and convention life that were originally published over at Speculative Chic. This particular post was published on May 11, 2017. You can find the original here!
Convention Life
Iâve talked a lot about Conventions this past year and Iâve got one more set of important topics to touch on. You might hear some of these terms from seasoned con-goers:
- Con Prep
- Con Crud
- Con Drop
The last two, especially, are things you’ll hear regular con-goers talk about. Prep is just really what happens before a convention and can vary, depending on the type of con youâre going to and the level of immersion (ie — cosplay) youâre looking for.
Con Prep
My staging area is significantly larger than this đ
When people think about prepping for an event, they often just think about packing. Maybe travel logistics. Certainly those are important things (weâll touch on packing in a bit), but if youâre going to be doing fan, comic, or book/writing conventions regularly, there are some other things youâll want to think about, as well.
When going to a new convention, youâre going to want to hop on Google Maps and check out the area around the con for restaurants. If you have the budget to eat out during the convention and there are suitable restaurants around the hotel, this will affect what you pack.
If there are no restaurants, youâll want to try to bring a cooler with food to the convention, if possible, and/or a lot of good snacks that can live in bags for several hours. You may still want to bring these things, to some degree, even if there are restaurants. The ratio of eating in to eating out, just like at home, will depend a lot on your personal budget for the convention.
Speaking of money, note that most conventions have vendor rooms. These are magical places which will be hawking your favorite books, games, DVDs, comics, and even autographs from authors or stars that turn you into a huge fangirl/boy. Unless money sprouts from your ears, think about how much youâre willing to spend in the vendor room. Set a convention budget for yourself so that you will have money for your rent next month. đ
When youâre packing, youâll want to make sure to remember some key items for the convention that you might not consider when youâre packing to go visit your folks, say. Things to think about bringing:
- day bag: could be a fanny pack, a wrist bag, a messenger bag, a purse, whatever — I tend to
- prefer something small and light
- hand sanitizer (more on this later)
- pain meds: for headaches, body aches, etc.
- personal meds
- water bottle: most cons will have water stations with cups; itâs often more efficient and environmentally friendly to have your own bottle
- snacks: particularly the sort that you can carry around in a bag
- ear plugs: especially if youâre sharing a room with others, but itâs a good idea in general too, since hotel room walls can be thin and people in hotels tend to play their tv on max volume (why do people do this?)
- immune system stuff (weâll talk about this in a minute too)
- books or other memorabilia you might want to have signed by convention guests
- if you’re cosplaying, a small sewing kit (or whatever would be most effective if you have a wardrobe issue — hot glue gun, duct tape…)
Forgot my pants. Luckily, hubby wasn’t far away!
If this is a convention that encourages cosplay and youâre going to be dressing up as your favorite Marvel character (or Game of Thrones or Doctor Who or whatever đ ), make sure youâve made a list of all your costume pieces and checked them off as you put them in your convention suitcase. You donât want to be in the middle of getting dressed, then realize you left your pants at home (I say this from experience!). Itâs a real disappointment if youâve put all this time and energy into creating an amazing costume, but then canât wear it at the actual convention because you donât have all the pieces.
I mentioned immunity system stuff above. About two weeks before the convention, start taking something for your immune system. Some folks swear by Airborne; others love Vitamin C and Zinc. I use standardized Elderberry, myself. You want to bolster your immune system because conventions can be a lot like school in regards to germs. Youâve got a lot of people from all over in a somewhat confined place. Someone in that giant group will be sick, getting sick, or just getting over being sick. And those germs are gonna get passed around.
Another thing that will help your immune system pre-convention is to make sure you get enough sleep, enough food, and enough water in the weeks prior. This will set your body up for the crazy stressors of being at a convention for 3-4 days — an event that can feature bad eating, half your usual sleep, and a ton of fun.
Con Crud
So what happens if your immune system doesnât prevail over all the germs at the convention? Well, then youâll likely end up with a case of Con Crud. Itâs a mystery illness that usually shows up a week to two weeks after attending a convention.
Con crud – It’s not *usually* this bad đ
Keep taking your immune-boosting stuff throughout the con itself and for a week or two after. Even if you end up getting Con Crud, symptoms will likely be lessened if your immune system is stronger.
Con Crud can be anything, really. It might be the flu, the common cold, an infection of some other sort. Seriously, just about anything.
During the convention, you can use hand sanitizer and other things to help with the germs. A lot of people swear by them. Personally, I donât use hand sanitizer, but itâs mostly because Iâm terrible at remembering to use it! I pack it, then forget to put it in my convention bag. Or I put it in my bag and forget to take it out of my bag to use it. It’s just a lost cause for me. But I also believe that being exposed to some germs is good for the immune system because they cause it to work, rather than not work. So instead of hand sanitizer, I just wash my hands whenever Iâm near a sink and let my body do the rest.
Whether you use hand sanitizer or not is entirely a personal call, just like what you decide to take to bolster the immune system itself (if you take anything at all!). Itâs all down to personal risk management. No one else can make that decision for you. Try different things and see what works for you.
Con Drop
Okay, so youâve come home from an amazing convention. Youâve unpacked and youâre back to work or school. Things are going along great! You’re telling fun stories about stuff you did at the convention to all your friends and talking them into going with you next year! And then, three days after youâve come home, youâre super emotional, youâve got all the feels, and you just cried during a Kleenex commercial. Wtf?
This is Con Drop. First, understand that itâs completely normal. Most people have some form of Con Drop, even if itâs mild, such as just being unmotivated to do anything productive.
Con Drop is a physiological reaction that often has emotional or psychological symptoms. Essentially, itâs the endorphins and other happy chemicals your body has been spewing out at the convention for the last 3-5 days drying up. Itâs the crash after the high.
Con Drop generally happens two to four days after the end of the convention. Some folks get it as early as 24 hours later, but I think most people get it right around the 3 day mark.
So how do you get rid of Con Drop? The bad thing is that you donât. The good thing is that it usually only lasts 24-36 hours. So you wonât feel this crappy forever. Know that thereâs an end.
The best way Iâve found to mitigate Con Drop is to simply be kind to myself. If you find yourself dropping, do things that you like, that bring you comfort. Read a book. Take a bubble bath. Go biking. Whatever brings you joy and comfort in the world, do those things for a while. And, again, know that this isnât going to last forever. Itâll be over soon.
Hopefully youâve gotten some good stuff out of this convention series! And hopefully you wonât let the idea of Con Crud or Con Drop keep you from heading out to a convention and enjoying the hell out of it!
Do you have questions or comments about any of this stuff or conventions in general? Drop them down below! đ
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Before you head out for your shift, think about what youâll be doing and how long your shift is. You might want to bring a snack if youâll be working for more than a couple hours or if your shift will require a lot of physical energy. Definitely bring a water bottle. Most conventions have stations in the hall with either water pitchers or water coolers, so you can refill. But itâs always good to have your own container for your drink.
But right now, weâre going to talk about how to get a volunteering gig at your favorite convention. This is Part One of a two-part series. In Part Two weâll talk about how to actually work the convention as a volunteer.
Some conventions have a central volunteer coordinator whose responsibility is to gather the info for all volunteers and assign them to various departments. This can be helpful because the volunteers have a single point of contact and there is a certain uniformity to the initial volunteering sign up.
Remember, if you did Step 1 above, you identified a place where you can be useful and where you do have skills that will benefit the convention. So just keep that top of mind when you’re doing the ask, whether in person or not. You have the skills necessary to fill the position you’re requesting.
It used to be that the only way you really connected with other writers was by going to writing conferences or taking writing classes. And if you wanted to put together a support or critique group, you had to find a few people local to you. And just finding those people didnât mean youâd have a good, quality group. There were still other obstacles, such as skill levels, personalities, scheduling, etc. It was easier just to find one writer and mail pages to each other.
