I'm considering going to the 2007 Xena Con, and I was wondering if anyone here has been to a Xena con or any other sort of con? What are to dos and don't of convention-hopping? What should I bring? How do I prepare? Just curious! Thanks!

Prepare for no sleep and if you are going to take pictures try to get as close to the stage as possible. Don't even attempt a shot from the seat that you're in.(That is unless you got spectacular seats! )

Use a digital camera so you can see right away if you got the shot you wanted, and get one where you can turn the flash off - some places let you take more pics without the flash than with.

Get a decent zoom lense.

Don't line up for autographs if it is a Creation convention. Well, not if there are stars onstage at the time.

If they are only letting Gold class get autographs, sneak down into the back couple of rows as the session goes on and, when they call you through, act casual.

Don't try to make an impression on the stars. Treat them like people and ask if they are having a good time and what they have seen in the city - don't try to engage them in conversation forever. Short and sweet is the trick.

Get your photos personalised eg. get the star to write a favourite character line as well as their name. Or your name. Or take something different for them to sign. I always hand them my "Die Gabby, Die" pic and they always laugh at that.

Be generous to other fans. Get something Xena-ish made up that you can hand out - stickers, badges, posters. I always stamp people with my X stamp. It's a good way to meet new people.

Go in the costume comp. Even if you only have a cheap costume it helps you to feel part of the action. If your costume is clever enough you just might win.

Have good questions prepared to ask the actors, if you have the opportunity.

Talk to the people around you. You might meet someone interesting and go and have drinks afterwards.

Ummm, buy lots of merchandise. Especially any T shirt made for the event you attend (this might just relate to me, of course).

Get a special T shirt made to show who your favourite Xena character is. I got an Argo one made for the Pasadena convention and heaps of people came up to talk to me about it.

Listen carefully to what the people say when they are onstage.

Respect the convention organisers and abide by the convention rules.

That's about all I can think of right now.

Argy covered most everything. I only have a few more things to add.

Before the convention

• It may be worth your while to check out Xena boards and official sites of guests *hinthint* to see if there are any special activities going on that you can get in on. Sometimes there are off-site fan gatherings that take place or even meet and greets with guests that are not part of the official convention weekend.
  
  
• If it is a multi-day convention and you can afford it, it's often worth it to stay in one of the official hotels of the convention or at least one really close by. The days are long and it's worth it to be able to run to your room to freshen up or drop off merchandise. Plus that's where the after hours action is. Book early.

During the guest talks

• If you are going to ask a question of a guest during the on stage Q&A listen closely to the questions being asked before it gets to your turn. There's nothing worse and nothing that gets more groans from a crowd than having a repeat question asked...
  
  
• ...Except asking for a hug during the Q & A. Please refrain.

Other

• Though I've never bid myself, I know that convention auctions are great ways to get official merchandise for a good price (sometimes). At the very least it is amusing to attend one if you've never been.
  
  
• Don't skip a guest talk strictly on the basis of "oh it's just a minor guest. I only want to see Renee/Lucy/Ted/Hudson". I've been pleasantly surprised that some of the most fun stage anecdotes and performances I have seen have come from actors who had smaller roles who I did not really think I'd be interested in seeing.
  
  
• If there is an evening cabaret and you have a ticket, go to it. I've seldom been disappointed. Same goes for a charity breakfast (Creation has these) or meet and greet cocktail hour/fancy dress ball (popular at U.K. events). Fun stuff.
  

That's all that i can think of for now...

Thanks for all the help guys! I think I'm gonna buy my tickets soon!

I've worked and attended several Creation conventions. If you've been to conventions for other genres(specifically non-creation cons), prepare to be disappointed.

My general con rules are: prepare for lines, meet your fellow fans, remember to eat and drink and go to the bathroom(you'd be amazed how these things fall through the cracks for most people), have a nice zoom lens, and don't ever scream into a microphone. Oh, and don't lose your temper on the volunteers, they're given very little instruction and usually thrown into situations they're not prepared for with more people than they can handle.

Specifically for the Xena con. The fellow fans are great, and the bar is usually hopping from Midnight till they kick us out.

Buy Preferred Weekend. General admission only has one row of seats and anything higher than general admission is a waste of money.

Be aware that you pay for everything individually unless you pay about $800+ up front. Autographs, photo shoots, cabaret, everything you pay for seperately.

Be prepared to be bored. There's only about 10 dealer tables and 4 of them are owned by Creation. There's guest panels and auctions and pretty much nothing else to do in between.

Creation is a stickler for the "sit in your space" and "no video taping" rules. Make sure your digital camera doesn't look like a camcorder or you'll get bugged about it over and over again.

Don't poke fun at the drunk standing on a bar stool, that will probably be me.

Actually, some of us from last year's con will be in town for the convention in 2007 and staying in the hotel, but probably not actually attend the convention. We'll be doing the tourist thing around town instead and partying with our friends attending the con at night. If you want to come with for the touristy thing you'd be more than welcome.

Sweet! Thanks for all the info!

wolfe - I've been to those conventions (since Pas. 2003). I don't know who you are, though.

Xexy:

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If they are only letting Gold class get autographs, sneak down into the back couple of rows as the session goes on and, when they call you through, act casual.

- autographs are included in either Gold and Preferred packages.

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Talk to the people around you.

including fellow scrollers from overseas

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it's often worth it to stay in one of the official hotels of the convention

ditto

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Be aware that you pay for everything individually unless you pay about $800+ up front. Autographs, photo shoots, cabaret, everything you pay for seperately.

right but the friday night cabaret has being part of the Preferred weekend package these years

Don't worry, there are lots of info around and more will be available the months before the convention.
For this year's convention, for instance, CorXena organised a "Convention Virgin's Workshop" at the very Hilton hotel and I posted maps of the city / convention on message boards.

All the Gold class tickets are sold out. I don't think I'd want to spend that much anyways.
I'm not even sure if I'll be able to go yet, I'm getting shipped to Ft. Huachuca for my AIT.

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Originally posted by Prof. X:
wolfe - I've been to those conventions (since Pas. 2003). I don't know who you are, though.

I was sort of in charge of the auditorium at the 2006 con, and I was the hole punch person for the autograph line the first night. That was my first Xena specific con since I don't like Creation cons as a general rule but I had worked a few of their other series cons before and they'd asked me to be there.

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right but the friday night cabaret has being part of the Preferred weekend package these years

Really? I thought it was only included in the Gold package.

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Originally posted by wolfe:

I don't like Creation cons as a general rule

Ditto that.