Convention Etiquette

Over at Grasping for the Wind, it may have escaped your notice but there is a really interesting and informative article on the pros and cons of attending a convention.

A brief introduction to the article which can be found here:

CONVENTION ETIQUETTE FOR PROS & PANELISTS

Because I am a huge, gigantic nerd, I have saved all of my badges from every single convention I’ve ever attended, starting with IDECON II from March 14, 1981. I was badge number 8. IDECON was a one-day game convention put on by the games club of a neighboring high school. What makes me a huge, gigantic nerd as opposed to just a huge nerd is that all of these badges are lovingly taped into the endpapers of my first edition (4th Printing, May 1979) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook. My geek cred knows no boundaries.

That convention badge collection reads like the famous illustration of a monkey that becomes a bigger monkey then stands up straight then becomes a Neanderthal then becomes a human—an evolution from teenaged gamer geek to middle-aged gamer/book/etc. professional in 29 easy steps over the last 30 years. A magical moment came when my two Gen Con 1995 single-day (Friday and Saturday) badges gave way to my Gen Con 1996 Staff badge, boldly emblazoned STF.

The rest of the article can be found here.