Surviving Comic Con:

I have been going to San Diego Comic Con since it was in the Grant Hotel and before that I went to Creation Con in New York City. I remember when Comic Con first topped 60,000 attendees. Below are 10 hopefully helpful hints for making the most of your time at Comic Con.

1. The trick is to spend a little time with your program book the first day, or go out on line and check before you even get in the car. Go through and mark what you want to see. I always mark everything on the front cover of my program book by day. Then grade the programs by most important. I use 1 to 5 stars.



2. Wear comfortable shoes, wear comfortable shoes, wear comfortable shoes, this is not the time to break in new footwear. Even new sneakers are not a good idea. You will be walking miles and miles. Just to walk past every booth on the dealer`s floor is over a 5 mile walk.



3. Wear an empty backpack and try to resist the giant bags every other booth is handing out. Comfortable clothes with a lightweight jacket for when the air conditioners really kick in. Something you can stash in your backpack when not needed.



4. Get there early and find your parking. Then go out to breakfast. I go to the Ralphs up the hill. I get something for breakfast and set outside at their picnic tables. At the same time I pick up stuff to make sandwiches with that I put in a cooler along with fruit and other snakes. But I have a booth to stash my cooler at. If you are walking around just get snacks that you can put in your pocket because the prices of on site food are outrageous but you can`t afford the extra weight.



5. If you know somebody running a booth, offer to help them watch their booth. This gives you a place to seat down and a place to stash your food and other small items. It also puts you the the pro side of the table.



6. Mix it up, give yourself time to walk the dealers room floor and give yourself time to go to programs. This will give you time to set down and time to walk around. Give yourself lots of time to get to your programs. If you are on the dealers floor head to your program 45 minutes early. It takes a long time to get from one side of the floor to the other and then you have to get up stairs.



7. Keep water with you. As Frank Hubert tells us in Dune the best place to carry your water is in your body. Stay hydrated. A water bottle in your backpack is heavy. Drink it as you go and it will be lighter. Small bottle are refill.



8. If you are going with people, make a plan to meet at a certain time at a per determined place and time. Of course cell phones are good as a back up plan but they don`t always work inside the convention center.



9. If you are trying to break into some aspect of the business leave your fan boy/fan girl persona at home. If you act professional you will fool everybody, including yourself, into thinking that you are professional and after a while you will be.



10. Pace yourself, you are never going to see or do everything at Comic Con. Get use to the idea of not seeing everything. Just go with the flow. Use all your per planning as a guide not as a bible. Enjoy yourself. Live to Con another year.