My conbox.

I had every intention of writing this before Dragon*Con, since all five of you who read this blog regularly go to Dragon*Con and probably could have used it. But alas, school.

But convention season isn’t over (is it really ever over?), and even though I’m also a little late for those of you going to Anime Weekend Atlanta, I introduce to you: the con box. This handy little invention is not mine; I first came across it on ConSluts, which has a wonderful entry about them. I’m probably going to repeat some of the information in that article, but I’ve got a few additions and remarks of my own. Essentially, a con box contains everything you need to make your convention experience an enjoyable one. As with the other parts in this series, I’m writing this from the point of view of someone staying at a hotel during a convention, but this advice can be adjusted for those living out of their car. Also, many of the elements of a con box are equally wonderful for vacationers. I took mine with me when I stayed in a condo at the beach this summer, and it was positively indispensable.

The first thing you need to make a con box is, well, a box. Specifically, a durable box with a handle. I use a 10-gallon storage container (that you can see in the picture), but you may want to use something bigger, as a 10-gallon container is not actually that big. I just happen to be exceptionally good at packing things. I hum the Tetris theme while I do it. Anyway…I digress.

The next thing you need to make a con box is a first aid kit. This should be the first thing you put in your con box and the one thing you should never go to con without. To put it simply, shit happens. The American Red Cross and Ready.gov have some pretty good guides on what should go in your first aid kit. You can also purchase pre-packaged basic first aid kits in most pharmacies. That’s what I have in my con box, and I supplement it with things like allergy medications, decongestants and antacids.

After you have your first aid kit squared away, you want to focus on the tools you use regularly but never seem to have on hand when you’re at a convention: things like scissors, a bottle opener, a corkscrew, a can opener…the list can continue depending on your needs. I also recommend keeping a multi-tool such as a Leatherman in your con box. This allows you to have (at a minimum) screwdrivers, a small knife and pliers on hand in a very small space. Some more expensive ones also have bottle openers, can openers and corkscrews on them, so you might even be able to hit all of your tools at once. Always bring dedicated scissors, though. Just trust me on this.

The third category of items that you should have in your con box are sewing and clothing care items. At a minimum, keep a small sewing kit (with a couple of needles, a couple of generic spare buttons, small amounts of thread in several colors and some safety pins), a stain-removal pen and some Febreeze in your con box. If you have any costumes that you plan on wearing, you might want to include additional thread that matches it, in case you need to do any repairs. The stain-removal pen and the Febreeze should be self-evident. Conventions can be messy, smelly places.

If you plan on bringing any food, like I suggested in Part 2, you will also want to include things like plates, cups and utensils (disposable or reusable–no glass). My plates and utensils are inexpensive, reusable plasticware from Target ($1 each for a set of 4 plates and a set of 4 knives, spoons and forks). If you go the reusable route, you may also want to bring a small bottle of dish soap or some disposable dishwashing cloths. Continuing on the kitchen and clean-up train of thought, you should also pack 3 or 4 garbage bags, some plastic zipper bags (both sandwich and gallon-sized), some wet wipes and a cocktail shaker (it’s useful for more than just cocktails).

The article at ConSluts also recommends including an umbrella, CDs burned with music and a large insulated cup with a lid. Of these, the umbrella is the only thing I keep in my con box. I never have time to listen to music while I’m at a convention, nor do I have cause to provide any. The cup with a lid is something that, if you pay attention, you will see many people carrying around many of the larger “geek” conventions. Let’s just say that they’re not intended to contain water or coffee, so you can make that call on your own. I do drink at conventions, but I prefer not to spend the entire show in a stupor. Sleep deprivation does that well enough on its own.

Most of my provisions for Dragon*Con 2008, including my con box, cooler and some food.

Conventions have a certain quality of being overwhelming; that is, there nearly always seems to be too much of everything and not enough time for it all, but there’s one, perpetual exception: con food sucks. It seems that regardless of the size or location of conventions, one recurring theme is that nobody eats well. It’s entirely possible to survive solely off of fast food and food from the consuite (if there is one), but by the time the show is over, you’ll feel the effects of your poor diet for days, if not weeks. And if you have any special dietary restrictions (like you have severe food allergies, you’re vegetarian or you keep kosher), not only is it nigh impossible to eat well, most find it difficult to even eat enough.

Dietary restrictions aside, if there’s no consuite (and sadly, consuites seem to be a dying tradition), feeding yourself during a convention can get really expensive. Restaurants near convention centers and large hotels often have inflated prices, and after a whole day of walking around and navigating crowds, you’ll find your appetite to be a bit larger than usual. Bringing some of your own food to, at the very least, supplement your diet will save you some serious coin, especially if you can take what’s left over home with you.

Whether you’re living out of a hotel room or your car, your solution and convention food savior will be a cooler with plenty of ice. So let’s start there. Most conventions are held in hotels, and whether you’re actually staying there or not, you can probably access one of the ice machines. My cooler doesn’t have a drain plug, so I put the ice in gallon-sized freezer bags so that it’s easy to change out the ice without having to empty the contents of the cooler every 12 hours or so. But what if you don’t have a cooler or can’t bring one because you’re flying in? What if the convention isn’t in a hotel and you can’t get ice? Most convenience stores and grocery stores will hold your solution: styrofoam coolers and bags of ice. The styrofoam coolers do the job just as well as the pricier ones, and you can afford to leave them behind. For that matter, if you’re flying in, you’ll want to find a grocery store at your destination, anyway, as you’ll need to do some shopping for food, anyway.

When building your shopping list for the convention, take into account what conveniences you will have on hand at the convention. Some hotel rooms have refrigerators, which significantly reduces your need for a cooler (though they’re usually small, so they don’t entirely eliminate it) and increase your options for the kinds of perishables you can bring. Some even have microwaves in the room or available in the hospitality room, which further increases your options. Consider yourself lucky if the place you’re staying provides these, because in most cases, you’ll have neither. The following food suggestions are based mostly on the assumption that the only things you will have at your disposal will be the cooler of ice that you’ve brought and a small coffee maker (which really doesn’t do you much good, come to think of it, unless you don’t mind pouring coffee-tainted hot water over your ramen noodles).

When shopping for food to bring to the convention, you want to try to maximize the nutrition that you can get while minimizing the amount of things that you have to buy, as you have limited space. Below is an example shopping list, based upon my own experience and some good ideas that my mom had last year at Dragon*Con that I didn’t consider. I am not a vegetarian, nor do I adhere to any special dietary restrictions, so some of the suggestions below might not work for you if you do. However, I still think it’ll give you a place to start.

Non-perishables (or doesn’t require refrigeration)

• Bread
• Peanut butter and jelly (the kind that come together in the same jar)
• Canned fruit (don’t forget a can opener in your con box!)
• Pop Tarts
• Cereal (something that can be eaten as breakfast or a snack–Cheerios is a good one for this, as are Kix, Cocoa Puffs and Reeses Puffs)
• Aseptic cartons of milk such as these from Horizon. They don’t require refrigeration, but if you like your milk cold, you can keep them in your cooler without having to worry about keeping them cold enough. Powdered milk is another option, but I personally can’t stand the taste.
• Canned or pouched tuna or chicken (mix with mayo and make a sandwich or toss with the bagged salad for a more substantial meal)
• Mixed nuts, trail mix and/or dried fruit — these are typically a nutritionally dense food that you can easily carry around in a small zip-top bag in case you need a pick-me-up.
• Beef jerky
• A flat of bottled water
• Juice and/or soda
• Sweet and salty snacks of your choice — a bag of chips, a bag of pretzels, some candy…whatever floats your boat.
• Condiment packets (like the kind you get at fast food restaurants). Staples include ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and soy sauce.

Perishables (requires refrigeration/cooler)

• Deli meat — I recommend the kind that comes in the plastic storage containers.  As long as you keep the ice changed out, this can be stored in a cooler for several days with no ill effect.
• Cheese — sliced, sticks, cubes…whatever. If you’re keeping it in a cooler, keep the ice changed out and the cheese in a water-tight bag or container. Wet cheese is gross.
• Fresh fruit/veggies — only get things that don’t require elaborate preparation. Baby carrots, apples, oranges, bagged salad kits, pre-cut broccoli florets, grape/cherry tomatoes, bananas and grapes are all good options.
• Pre-made cold pasta or bean salad — buy it in the deli section of the grocery story or make it at home beforehand. Keep it in an airtight container in your cooler. Unless you have a real refrigerator at your disposal, stay away from anything containing potatoes, eggs or mayonnaise.

If you have a microwave available (some can be made with hot water from the coffee maker, if you don’t mind a little coffee-flavored contamination)

• Ramen/Cup o’ Noodles
• Easy Mac
• Hamburger Helper singles
• Canned soup
• Chef Boyardee (or similar)
• Any other self-contained, boxed, just-add-water food with microwave instructions. Take your pick.

Of course, with nearly all of these, you’ll need to remember to bring bowls, plates and utensils. Fear not, these and much more will be in your Con Box, which will be the topic of Part 3!

Have any additional suggestions? Leave a comment!

When you're at a con, sometimes you just need to relax and regroup.

With convention season in full swing, and having seen a number of comments about certain difficulties and annoyances about attending a crowded, days-long convention lately, I felt that now might be a good time to provide my own contribution to the body of knowledge (and yes, there is one) regarding con survival. I intend this to be a multi-part series, with this part being mostly an overview of some of the things I’ll talk about in more detail in later parts.

Being of somewhat limited means, I don’t attend many conventions, but the ones that I do attend are fast-paced, crowded, tons of fun, and when I go, I go balls to the wall, if you’ll excuse the expression. I make it a point to attend at least two conventions in the Atlanta area every year: Dragon*Con, which is held downtown in the Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and Sheraton hotels over Labor Day weekend; and MomoCon, which is held on Georgia Tech’s campus in March, the weekend before the beginning of the school’s spring break. I have attended both conventions since 2005, which was MomoCon’s inaugural year. I have worked on staff at MomoCon for the last two years, and this year will be my first year working on staff at Dragon*Con. MomoCon is the largest free anime and gaming convention in North America, with an estimated 7,000 attendees in 2009. Dragon*Con is significantly larger and significantly more expensive–membership costs have ballooned in the five years I’ve attended to a whopping $100 for a 4-day pass purchased at the door–and it makes MomoCon look like a small family gathering. Estimates of attendence range from 30,000 to 50,000 for the four-day weekend.

I suppose this brings me to my first piece of advice: if memberships are limited to a certain number (as is the case for many conventions, particularly trade shows) or increase in price the closer you get to the con (like Dragon*Con does), buy your membership early, especially if you know for a fact that neither wild horses nor a natural disaster could possibly keep you away. Even if you wind up not being to make it, most conventions will let you transfer your membership to another person, usually for a small fee, which you can often make up by getting your transferee to pay the cost. (If it’s close to the convention, odds are they’ll still be getting a better deal from you anyway.) Joining the staff of the convention (the process of which differs from con to con, but it usually involves attending a number of meetings and signing up to work for a portion of the convention) can also be a good way to go to cons on the cheap and/or give you access to some extra benefits and amenities that will make your life a lot easier. Check out the convention’s website and look for information about staff meetings or contact information for volunteer coordinators. If you can get in touch with someone about volunteering, the coordinators and directors are most likely more than happy to have you, even if (and especially if) it’s a large convention and/or you have special skills. A/V operators, technical support, licensed EMTs and off-duty law-enforcement are often in great demand, but even if you’re not among these groups, it’s very likely that there’s still a place for you. So ask! Many cons will discount or comp your membership if you agree to work a certain number of hours.

Another good tip is to make and bring a  con box. A con box is a portable, carryable, durable box that holds your convention survival necessities. Consluts.com has a wonderful series about con boxes, but I will devote a part of my series to these vital apperatuses, as well. I honestly don’t know how I survived without one. It is also an insanely good idea to bring a cooler and your own food. I will devote another part solely to the best kinds of foods to bring to a convention. Let’s face it: it’s really hard to eat well and eat cheaply at a convention, especially if you have special dietary requirements. Vegitarians probably have it the worst, as most of the quick, convenient food vendors do not have a lot of vegetarian options. One particular guest at Dragon*Con told me that if he never saw a cheese pizza again, he wouldn’t much feel its loss. Though I suppose that might be an extreme example. Having a con box and/or a cooler and your own food is somewhat dependent on your having a place to store them, so this advice assumes that you have a hotel room, car or some other place near to the convention premeses to keep them. Much of my advice will be tailored to those staying in a hotel during the convention, but as I have also done the con thing without a hotel (as I live very close to both of the conventions that I attend, and MomoCon isn’t even held in a hotel), I will have advice to provide to those staying off-premesis or living out of their car, as well.

Speaking of hotels, sharing is caring. Unless you’ve got a lot of money to throw around (and face it, who does these days), you’ll probably want to split the cost of a room with friends. Staying in a convention hotel can get expensive, but if you split the cost with four to six friends, you may be able to get by spending under $100  for lodging for the entire convention. I’ll probably write up a short entry about that at some point as well. But what you should probably know right now is that, as with your convention membership, you should act early. Convention hotels fill up obscenely fast for big shows.

In addition to the above, I may touch on a few other things that come to mind, including costuming, scheduling and money management. If you have any questions, advice you would like to provide or ideas for topics in this series, leave a comment, drop me an email or get in touch with me on Twitter (@lamenta3).