# A nub's first con...any advice?



## Fauxglove (Jan 9, 2011)

So I'm going to Further Confusion this year.  It'll be my first convention, and I'm getting kinda excited about it. X3

I'm staying off-site with a friend to keep costs down.

Any advice or recommendations for the first-time con-goer, aside from "Bathe" and "Observe standard social etiquette"?


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## Xipoid (Jan 10, 2011)

1) Have fun
2) Have company
3) Have a plan (not necessarily a thorough plan, but a plan nonetheless even if as simple as items 1 and 2 listed prior)


That's sort of a catch-all, though.


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## Fay V (Jan 10, 2011)

make sure to eat regularly, 3 meals or whatever. get at least 6 hours sleep. Bathe often (not to reduce smell but to avoid con crud) make sure to stay hydrated, again for con crud, and have loads of fun


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## Monster. (Jan 10, 2011)

Are you planning on suiting? Not everyone suits, so that's why I'm asking.


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## Fauxglove (Jan 10, 2011)

No, I'm not planning on suiting.  Maybe one day when I'm rich and famous and have a couple thousand to spend on having one commissioned. :3


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## Monster. (Jan 10, 2011)

Fauxglove said:


> No, I'm not planning on suiting.  Maybe one day when I'm rich and famous and have a couple thousand to spend on having one commissioned. :3


 
Oh; okay, then just have fun, make sure to keep washed (as cons are DIRTY and you'll get really sweaty), keep a hold of your wallet and your valuables (if possible, leave bags at your hotel/home, keep your cell in your front pocket, and keep your wallet on a chain attached to your jeans. Better safe than sorry!), and be careful. I doubt anyone will get killed at a Furry con, but I meant be careful about bumping into fursuitters, etc. etc.


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## dinosaurdammit (Jan 10, 2011)

1. Keep wallet contents to a minimum. A debit card would be wise- though most places only accept cash.
2. Bathe for the sake of your own safety.
3. Take breaks often.
4. Eat at least two times a day- best to keep a snack on hand, never want to get sick from not eating enough.
5. Plenty of rest- at least 7 hours- for everyone's sanity and yours.
6. Stay in a group or with a buddy- no one needs to get lost or turned around and end up with the wong crowd.
7. Take a camera and batteries or at least the charger- take lots of pictures- cons are expensive and sometimes once in a life time though do remember to be polite and ask if you can have a photo of someone.
8. CELL PHONE WITH EMERGENCY CONTACT INFO!!!- it is really a must- should you get lost or need help it is wise to have it on you and with you at ALL times. Cannot stress this enough.
9. Medication- If you use medication bring it with you and remember to take it. Also have a list of allergies on you should anything go wrong and the hospital needs to intervene- no need in getting a penicillin shot when you are allergic.
10. Clothes- Bring a good set of nice clothes for dinner out as well as enough clothes to cover the con with a few extras in case. Always bring underwear- lots of it. No one likes "swamp butt", if you have had SB then you know what I am talking about...
11. Please remember a toothbrush- No one wants to smell your morning breath at 5pm.
12. Good walking shoes- Cons are a lot of walking best to have something comfy to walk around in.
13. Fun- have it.


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## Ricky (Jan 10, 2011)

condoms and mace


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## Pine (Jan 10, 2011)

Don't pick any fights. You don't want it to end up looking like the music video for Savior.


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## Deo (Jan 10, 2011)

Don't grope anyone you don't know. Ever. 


*ALSO AS YOU'LL BE ENCOUNTERING FURSUITERS AND WILL NEED TO KNOW THE CON-ETTIQUETTE AROUND THEM.*

*Interacting With Fursuiters*

When it comes to touch, treat fursuiters like you would any other person: if you don't know the suiter, ask first before hugging, scritching or touching the suiter in any way. If you are given an okay to scritch/petting/hugging a fursuiter, be gentle - it's not polite to pull out clumps of fur while scritching a suiter, and unlike with a real animal, that fur will not grow back in.
Wearing a fursuit is *NOT* an open invitation to get unduly personal and intimate with the person in the fursuit! Absolutely do not touch any fursuiter whom you do not know in any inappropriate places - even if a person is wearing a suit that looks "hot", that does not mean that the person inside the costume is wanting to be hit on. If you do know the person in a fursuit and the two of you do want to get unusually friendly, take it to a hotel room, please! Never in public!
Suiters may appear larger than life and thus indestructible, but remember that there are real people inside those costumes. Please don't tackle suiters, run across the room and pounce on them, or engage in rough horseplay with them. The worst thing for a suiter is to get injured and be unable to suit for the rest of a con.
Please be gentle with ears, noses, tails, etc - remember that fursuits are fairly expensive items, and damages are not going to be cheap for the fursuiter to repair. Gentle petting and stroking is fine - yanking and tugging is not. If you have children with you, please restrain them from yanking and tugging on costumes as well.
Don't go hugging or cuddling a fursuiter if you haven't bathed in the past twelve hours, please! Also please stay away from fursuiters if you are smoking or have just been smoking recently. Ventilation in fursuits is limited enough, and unpleasant odors do have a way of lingering on fabrics. Fursuits are also highly flammable.
If you've just had that greasy pizza or chilidog, or been muching potato chips or powdered donuts or the like, please remember to wash your hands before interacting with the fursuiters. Leaving grease or stains on a new fursuit is not a nice way to thank a fursuiter for taking the time to greet you.
When photographing suiters, please make sure that your camera is ready before asking the suiter to pose. When you've taken your picture, please give some kind of signal (thumbs-up, OK sign, nod of the head, etc.) to let the suiter know you are done. It is very hard at times for a suiter to know that a picture has been taken, and one of the hardest things for a suiter to do is to maintain a pose.
*Suiters Moving Around the Con (and Moving Around Them)*

Remember that suiters have a more limited range of vision, hearing, and sense of touch than you do. Please don't sneak up on suiters from behind, as they won't have any idea that you are back there.
Suiters also need more elbow room when they are moving around, so try not to crowd up against them. You don't want to accidentally get hit because a suiter didn't realize that you were standing in their blind spot.
Please don't be afraid to let a suiter know about an approaching hazard, like a step up or down, or a foreign object on the floor. Many suiters really can't see all that well and truly appreciate getting such warnings.
If you can, open and hold doors for suiters, as it can be really difficult for some suiters to work doorknobs when they have large hand-paws.
If a fursuiter ignores you, don't assume that you are being slighted. The person in the costume may simply have been unable to see you or hear you, or may need to get to the headless lounge quickly due to heat or thirst. If the suiter stays in the general area, approach him/her from the front, and if you still can't get the suiter's attention, try speaking a little bit louder than normal.
When suiters are waiting for an elevator, let them go first and don't crowd into the elevator car with suiters. It's already hot and stuffy in an elevator car, and crowding the car makes air flow worse while also delaying the trip to the destination floor, which only increases the difficulties on the suiter or suiters. Also the suiter may be very hot and need to immediately remove the costume.
*The Fursuiter Headless Lounge*

The fursuiter headless lounge is a place of refuge for fursuiters to take breaks with their heads and paws off. Please respect this and do not come into the headless lounge unless you have a specific fursuiting-related reason to do so. We just don't want streams of non-suiters passing through the lounge, as that destroys the sense of privacy for them that lets them relax on their breaks.
If you are a non-suiter visiting the fursuiter headless lounge, please reserve the cups and water in that room for the fursuiters. There should be water and cups available in all of the other con rooms, and it's much more inconvenient for a suiter to have to try to run around to other rooms to get more cups and water than it is for a non-suiter to take the time to walk down the hall to get water.
Do not take pictures inside the fursuiter headless lounge! There are plenty of other places to take pictures, and it really makes suiters uncomfortable to think that someone's snapping photos in the lounge, even if you are only wanting to photograph a single fursuiter. Regardless of where you are taking photos, never photograph a suiter with his/her head off (or otherwise partially out of costume) unless you have that person's explicit permission.
*Assisting Fursuiters Who are in Trouble*

If you see a suiter out anywhere who looks to be sick, injured, or in trouble in any way, please take the time to check on the suiter and help in any way that you can. If necessary, please do not hesitate to help a suiter get back to the lounge and if needed help the suiter with getting out of his/her costume. If a suiter needs medical attention, simply locate any staff member and ask him/her to radio for the con medic.
If you see anyone harassing a fursuiter, either get someone on staff to handle the situation, or if you feel okay in doing so, try to help escort the suiter away from the problem. If the suiter is outside of the convention spaces, the best thing you can do is to help the suiter get back to a security checkpoint, as con security willstop any outsiders from entering into con space.


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## Xenke (Jan 10, 2011)

Deovacuus said:


> <3


 
Deo, if/when I ever suit, I'd love to have you as my security detail.


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## Trpdwarf (Jan 10, 2011)

It helps try to consciously keep in mind that during your time there you still have to eat. So try not to blow all your money on stuff at the artist alley/dealers den.
It also helps to try to keep any spending on stuff like that to the second to last day or last day. Shouldn't be necessary to tell people this except time and time again furs will spend all their money on art(or porn) and have nothing left to buy food.

Also wearing comfortable shoes to walk around in goes a looooong way towards being happier. Nothing sucks like having feed hurting real bad because of all that walking in non-walking shoes. 
If you intend to meet up with people ensure you get their contact information way ahead of time and plan it ahead of time. That's my advice.

The biggest thing though is EAT AND SLEEP. Make sure you get enough food and sleep. It goes a long way to your mental state of being and generally happiness.


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## Deo (Jan 10, 2011)

Xenke said:


> Deo, if/when I ever suit, I'd love to have you as my security detail.



If you'll be mine. And _*oh *_what a security detail I'd make.


Also, I'm so excited. I'm getting a new head! It's done my MagpieBones and hopefully I'll get pics of it finished tommarrow! *typical furfag squeal*


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## Ricky (Jan 10, 2011)

Don't hang out with Ricky.  He's a psycho, and will probably be high on drugs.


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## Fauxglove (Jan 11, 2011)

Good advice, thank you all.  :3  
Especially for the fursuiting etiquette, common sense only goes so far for that sort of thing.


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## Bayou (Jan 12, 2011)

136 rule
1 shower (Or more dependiong if its more then 3 days, take one everyday though considering you'll be in a fursuit all day)
3 meals (Every day, at conventions people tend to not eat, keep snacks around also)
6 hours of sleep (Being sleep deprived is not fun)


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## Istanbul (Jan 12, 2011)

It's actually the 6-2-1 rule, because you can reasonably subsist on 2 meals a day. Three is optimal, but not required.


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## Grendel (Jan 12, 2011)

How about lots of showers. One shower every three days is disgusting and hygiene is a good thing.


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