If you love video games and talking to people online about video games, your next step might be to go to a video gaming convention where you can meet others in person who love gaming as much as you do. You might even get the chance to meet some gaming superstars. However, it can feel intimidating to attend your first convention, especially if you are on your own. The tips below can help you enjoy that first time and leave you eager to return for more.
Choose Carefully
Do you want a convention that is exclusively focused on video games, or would you prefer a broader media con that also has tracks for anime, comics and related fields? Would you rather go to a huge national event or something smaller and more local? The latter might feel less challenging, but it might not have much going on that interests you. At a bigger event, you’ll be spoiled for choice as far as things to do go but you might also feel overwhelmed. Do some research and see what people say about the various conventions before you make your choice.
Make Your Budget
Cost will also be a factor in which event you choose to attend. While it might be tempting to go on a shoestring, sleeping on the hotel room floor of someone you met online and eating junk food out of the vending machines all weekend, it’s actually really important that you take care of yourself, trying to get some decent food and sleep. The nonstop fun can be exhausting, and you’ll enjoy it more if you introduce some balance.
You may need to tighten up your spending for a few months beforehand to ensure that you’ll have enough or to afford fun extras, such as photo ops with celebrities. You could drop some streaming subscriptions, say no to dinner invitations and even look into reorganizing some of your payments. For example, refinancing your student loans with a private lender can save you money on interest rates and leave you with some extra cash each month. You can check out your options online to get an idea of how a refinance might impact your education debt repayment timeline and start the path to financial success.
Connect
A big part of the fun of conventions is meeting other people, but new attendees often come away feeling like they went to a party where everyone knew everyone else and they were left out. It can look like that because these events are often a place for old friends to meet up, but everybody was a newbie at some point. You can try to connect with some people beforehand online. Some cons plan events specifically for first-timers to help you meet others. Although it may be scary, you can also just try going up and talking to people. A compliment can be a good way to break the ice. Not everyone will be friendly or receptive, but that’s no fault of yours, and if you’re open, by the end of the weekend, you’ll probably have some great new friends.
