General tips for what it is worth:
-Convention packages (hotel and ticket combos) are sometimes a better deal than cobbling room and board and tickets together on your own. Hotels sometimes offer up blocks of rooms to conventions at a vastly reduced rate and the ticket sellers utlize the lower lodging rates in order to attract more sales. Of course, a heavy dose of reality is necessary when you are figuring out whether or not their "deal" is actually a "deal" At a convention I attended, I did some factoring and realized that the package deal was more expensive than actually staying at a motel a block away from the convention area. Bear in mind that having a hotel in the same complex as the convention is preferrable for convenience, and that convenience factor is probabaly going to be worth the $20.00 cost savings you may earn having to walk a few blocks down the street to get to your hotel to stash your merchandise or use the toilet.
-Use your common sense when dealing with vendors. If some vendor, for instance, is asking for money up front but will ship products to you at a later time, and your spidey sense starts tingling, you are probably wise to pocket you money and move along. Example: I was ripped off by some dudes who had a booth at a convention who were claming to be taking orders for subscriptions to a zombie themed comic book which I fell for but which I never received. Didn't lose that much cash, maybe 20 bucks, but it pissed me off all the same. Always remember that vendors are not always as they seem and convention organizers will allow practically anyone, legit or not, to set up booth space provided they pay a fee. The mere fact that they are at the convention does not make them any more legit than the shell game guy on the sidewalk in front of the Check Cashing place where addicts go to get money to score.
-Take a backpack (or one of those euro man-purses) with you to secure merchandise, AND to smuggle in low cost snacks and refreshments as typical convention fare can be overpriced and super lame. Security will likely glance inside your bag in a search for contraban, so pack your secret stuff with exactly that in mind. Better yet, eat and drink offsite and avoid the convention food and drink all together!
-If you are going to take the time to stand in a long line and pay to get someone's autograph, it is a good idea to use that time to think about exactly what you are going to say. I personally remember standing in line with this dude up in Monroeville at the Comicon waiting an hour to see GAR, and when this guy actually got to the front of the line and was in front of the Man, he was so overwhelmed that he just stood there and silently handed over his dvd cover for an autograph. GAR was good humored, as usual, and offered to shake this dude's hand, but the guy totally unraveled and ran off with his autograph, leaving GAR sitting there with his hand out and a confused smile on his face. I later caught up with this guy, and he was embarrassed having acted so lame in front of the man.
-Say no to piracy as a general rule of conduct. Pirated goods abound at conventions (esp. horror and film) and are not only unethical and illegal, but often of compromised quality.
Most of the above is a matter of common sense, so I don't really think that I have listed anything above that will come as much of a revelation to anyone, but I hope that some of it might be of use.
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