It’s that time of year again for all you hardcore, or even n00b, comic fans! It’s San Diego Comic Con! Only less than a month away and you can feel the rush in the geekdom air to get the costumes and schedules laid out. Mad money has been saved for months to end up clearing out a vendor or two.
SDCC has quickly grown into a media frenzy in the past four years and looks like there is no slowing down. The convention can be quite overwhelming for newcomers and veterans alike. With that said, it’s good to have a game plan before you attend. So here are some helpful hints to get you through this yearly event or any convention that you might attend. And please don’t hesitate to inform us of some of your own!
1. Badges! YES, you do need those stinkin’ badges!
N00b or veteran, Please register early! The SDCC sold out last year and it looks no different this year. Can you imagion the convention still packed on Sunday!? If you are trying to still get a badge or two for this years event, you might be able to bid on some on Ebay. There are still some badges for single days left! If not, try and get those badges for ‘09 as soon as they go on sale at www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_reg.shtml.
2. Find a Save Point!
In other words, find a place to stay in San Diego early. The majority of the hotels, motels, and even bed and breakfeasts sell out for the whole Comic Con weekend! If you do have trouble, see if you can share a room with a couple of friends who have got one or book a hotel outside of San Diego and plan on taking public transportation to the convention center.
3. Early Bird gets the Worm
Yes, arrive early to pick up those stinkin’ badges and for the rest of the weekend. It helps when you want to get to everything you would like to get to. That goes for anything from exclusive previews, Q&A’s, costume contests, signings and even gaming events.
4. Bring your own supplies!
Bring a pen, sketch books, poster tubes, SHARPIES!! (I always forget those) Even a bottle or two of some water. Yes, a bottle of water won’t hurt to keep yourself hydrated. The convention center can and will get very packed, very quickly in the hot San Diego summer, especially if you are waiting on lines outside.
5. Stratigize
If you are going for one day or all four, take a look at the scheduling online at http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_prog.shtml and try and plan out what events you would like to hit. Once there take a look at the Events Guide you will receive when you get your badge and adjust anything you would like to do and see. David Glanzer of Comic Con marketing and public relations says, “The bigger the events require longer lines, sometimes waiting in line for hours. If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll miss everything but the basics.”
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Great tips!
These are things people will NEED to know when attending something as big as Comic Con.
One tip that I shouldn’t even really have to mention…as sad as it is, I usually carry around some perfume or some body sprits/spray with me when I go to these really big conventions.
I’m not sure how Comic Con is, but every year I have been to Otakon I start to smell some really bad BO by the 2nd day afternoon. In the small rooms of a convention center, it can get pretty bad. Not every single one of those 20-something thousand people take showers every day! So I just spray myself with whatever I have that is good smelling in hopes that it rubs off on the stench in the room!!
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Great tips.
#4, at least for n00bs. They do sell all of that stuff at the site, just at a higher price than say if you plan ahead. So don’t fret if you have no clue what you may need on top of that.
#5, be flexible with said strategy as well. Things seem to change once the event actually starts. So don’t set everything in stone. They will change.
@Moe
Also thought about doing an “Axe Bomb” once or twice. What’s that? Where you snap the top off the can of Axe Body Spray and chuck it like it was a can of tear gas. Think about it. 
I did the same thing last year at Comic Con. The spray thing. But I was the kind of person that would “accidentally” spay a little wide and hit some of the offenders.