Convention Etiquette: Discussion and Advice on Do's and Don'ts

[prion]

I'm hoping to go to my first convention in November! (the Secaucus, NJ one) However, I have to get one of my friends to go with me and book somewhere to stay as well as find transportation soon or my mom won't let me go. I knew I should have gotten my license sooner...

Question: How late can you get tickets? I was thinking about getting the Preferred Weekend Package. Also, do you have to order them online, or can you get them another way?

Thanks for all the help this thread has given me!

You should pose these questions at the NJ convention thread....

http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=29510

I'm honestly not sure about all your questions, but someone at that thread may know the answers.

[BruTak]

Prion - Love your sig. It's cheered me up no end.

[Addie]

Hey ya^^, i'll attend my first con ever in vancouver, March '07 and I am really thankful for all this great advices posted in here . I hope I'll have a good time then and having fun over and over . Well, I dunno if I dared asking questions, but when, I hope they won't annoy anyone .

[Cuinwdw]

Hi
I have never been to a Stargate Con and I am trying to decide if it is worth spending money I really don't have for the NJ Gold package
Here is my question:
During the dessert party and the breakfast party- how many fans do they sit at a table and how long does each guest(michael shanks, etc) spend at a table.

thanks
Jennifer

[Addie]

I wasn't at a con either, but I read here, that 2 minutes are standard^^

[SapphireJewelledQueen]

There are no strangers at a con - only friends you haven't met yet.

Truer words have never been spoken. I've met some fabulous people at conventions, both at home and abroad. A coupl have become my closest friends and we are going to the Van Con in March next year.

Don't be afraid to start talking to anyone!

[Addie]

Cool^^, I hope to make some new friends too at the Van Con.

[prion]

Hi
I have never been to a Stargate Con and I am trying to decide if it is worth spending money I really don't have for the NJ Gold package
Here is my question:
During the dessert party and the breakfast party- how many fans do they sit at a table and how long does each guest(michael shanks, etc) spend at a table.

thanks
Jennifer

Well, according to the latest email from Creation, the gold tickets are sold out, so I think the point is moot. However, fans have posted elsewhere ... perhaps 10 people to a table and the actor might hang (at most) five minutes at each table, although most people I've talked to said something like 2-3 minutes tops.

[Enzo Aquarius]

Cool^^, I hope to make some new friends too at the Van Con.

When I went to the Fan Expo Canada in Toronto in September, I met a great amount of nice people who liked Stargate and Star Trek. You can meet some very nice people with common interests. If you see somebody with a great costume, tell them that. I saw somebody with a full SG Team uniform (Only person I saw with a P-90). If I could've, I would've went up to him and complemented him, it was a really well done uniform (But I was in line for an autograph, lol).

As it was my first convention, I did not really know what to expect when meeting celebrities. I followed three guidelines though:

- Don't act stupid
- Don't take up too much time (although when I went to get Robert Picardo's autograph, there was nobody else in line, but I kept our meeting short)
- OBEY THE RULES (I'll talk about this later)

Here's my comments:

- Robert Picardo - As mentioned above, I was last in line for an autograph from him. I could've asked him a few questions, but it was kept to a simple, "Hi, how are you, I'm great, this picture please (for autograph), thank you."
People like Robert Picardo seem quite open, although flash photography of him was forbidden.

- Director from Atlantis (Nuts, forget his name, he directed 1 episode of Atlantis S1) - This guy was really open to conversation, and yet again, I was last in line (though the wait was very short). I thought this was going to be a simple one like Robert Picardo, but the director was very open, and we were even laughing about the fact that I was in the back of the line, and not holding the 'back of line' sign, even before I reached him.

I talked with the director for a bit, told him about my interest in Atlantis. I didn't take too much of his time, but people like this are great to correspond with. Celebrities with great interpersonal skills are great to talk with, just make sure you don't take too much time.

In regards to my note earlier, ALWAYS FOLLOW THE STATED RULES. Do not take flash photography (or photographs in general) if it is so implied. I nearly made this mistake with Robert Picardo. I decided to take a non-flash photo of him (They were allowed), but I didn't realise the flash on my camera was on. I was not put aside or talked to by security or his assistant (I was off to the side). A mistake I'll avoid in the future.

Anyways, continuing, some celebrities just don't like flash photography. Having your photograph taken hundreds of times a day can become hard on the eyes. These are people too, be considerate. Also, don't be 'desperate', always wait. I saw somebody try to take a picture of Carrie Fisher by going right to the front of a long line and putting his camera over everybody's heads. Not only that, but photography of her was forbidden and the guy's camera was pushed aside by security before the picture could be taken. So again, be considerate of the celebrity, and, what could've happened in the above case, you may have your camera damaged or film wasted.

That's my two cents!

[Addie]

I'll do that^^, 'coz they spent much time and money to make these costumes^^.

Oh yeah, photographs...seems to be a very complicated question...i'll read the rules and obey to them hoping i won't do a faux pas^^°

[Emeraldcity]

Some great discussion here. Some really good points. Here are a couple that I would like to add as well. Since I work with actors and deal with a lot of this at the convention there are also a couple of things as well.
Some of these may have already been mentioned but if not.......

Remember if you see the actors in a restaurant, please don't come up just to say a quick "hello". It never turns out that way and the actors would like to have a hot meal like the one you just finished...

Also, don't knock on the actors hotel doors if you happen to see them enter their room. (At one convention, one of my people said some fans saw him go into his room so we changed rooms. At 1:00 am there was a knock at my "new" door. When I opened it, there were 3 girls standing their with champagne and "treats".) Very inappropriate thing to do.

Please don't call them on the phone in their rooms. They usually register under an alias anyway, but sometimes they forget.

I know this kind of thing seems silly, but people get excited when they see their heroes and good sense just seems to fly right out the window. People just want so much to have fun, they forget.

[qksilver99]

Please don't call them on the phone in their rooms. They usually register under an alias anyway, but sometimes they forget. I know this kind of thing seems silly, but people get excited when they see their heroes and good sense just seems to fly right out the window. People just want so much to have fun, they forget.

Thank you! Thank you for saying this particular example. I was with one group of people and some of them actually left a message for the actors to join us at dinner. They couldn't understand why I nearly "stroked" on the spot.

It's different if the actor/actress really knows someone in the group (and the friendship is not just in the fan's mind), but they were cold calling the actors like they were selling aluminum siding for their house. I truly expected the con director to kick the entire lot of us out of the con.

[BruTak]

Do not get so absolutely blind stinking drunk that none of your friends want to be seen with you.

[Switch42]

Do not get so absolutely blind stinking drunk that none of your friends want to be seen with you.

But...but...that's the best part!! LOL

[BruTak]

But...but...that's the best part!! LOL

I'm being serious.

I was at a small con in Glasgow last weekend, and a buddy of mine (no names) got so drunk he was wandering round the train station with a full glass of wine in his hand. A nice gent from Strathclyde Police spoke to him and took the glass away, then big Cameron (the con's tech-guru) went and basically poured said friend onto his last train home.

When my friend is sober, he's a great guy. Been a lot of places, seen a lot of things, knows a lot of stuff. But when it comes to the booze, he's a bit of a Jeckyll and Hyde character.