TOPIC: Any Suggestions For First Time Travelers Going to Indy?

So any more suggestions or tips?
*looks around curiously*
I think snacks are pretty well covered.
Any other suggestions or tips from you seasoned travelers and convention goers?

Make sure you bring a very convenient camera. Digital is great if you have a large memory card. It should be something handy, though, as many photo ops at Gen Con are of the "oh crap what a cool costume I need to get a photo before rushing off to my game!" variety.

Bring a water bottle. As you might have guessed, bottled water is expensive in the Con Center (I never buy bottled water, as I refuse to pay for something that covers 75% of the Earth's surface). A sports bottle can be filled from the tap or at a restaurant/bar, and carried with you throughout. In the past, I have carried a water bottle plus little packs of ice tea or lemonade mix. Mmmmm...

Bring a comfortable backpack/messanger bag. Avoid the 'tow behind' luggage in place of a shoulder bag, as these can easily be an inconvenience to people around you. If you have to consider such an item for health reasons, please, PLEASE, be aware of where it is at all times. There are already too many people blindly towing a suitcase behind the through the Exhibit Hall, hitting people, leaving them in aisles, etc.

On that note, Exhibit Hall etiquette:
1) DO NOT STOP WALKING RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AISLE!!! There are people behind you. Trust me, they are there. And they are walking too. And they will run into you/over you if you just stop walking right in their path. If you have to stop walking, 'pull over' to the side of the aisle.
2) DO NOT WALK BACKWARDS WITHOUT LOOKING BEHIND YOU!!! You might think this is another common sense item in large crowds, but there are still thousands of people who never seem to expect that, in a crowded Exhibit Hall, someone might be behind them when they just start backing up without a glance.
3) Do not leave your bags in the aisle. If you are stopping at a booth, set your bags down alongside the table, right in front of your own feet. Not behind you, not next to you, not where other people might like to walk/stand.
4) Do not expect to get anywhere in the Exhibit Hall in a hurry, and don't get upset if other people keep you from getting anywhere in a hurry.
5) Don't take the presence of 'booth babes' as a personal offense. They are there as a marketing strategy, not to make anyone feel insecure or uptight. Try talking to them, about real things. They are often intelligent people.

If there's a game you REALLY want to play in, it's worth it to show up anyway, generic tickets in hand. I've been running games for over a decade, playing for years longer than that, and maybe half the time events are completely filled by 'real' ticket holders. People often oversleep, forget, decide to play something else, etc., and there is often space available, even if the game is 'sold out'. The problem, of course, is that attempting to generic into an event means that you won't be able to buy a real ticket for another event at the same time. I believe GMs are expected to wait 15 minutes for real ticket holders to show up, meaning that generic ticket holders are only 'guaranteed' a spot after 15 minutes. Thus, any other game starting at that time will already have started by then. However, these days games are running at all hours, and if you're not picky, you might have other games starting in an hour that you can play.

If there's nothing to do, remember that pick up games are always fun. In fact, there's a place where you can 'rent' boardgames to play (might even be free...can't remember where it is, but I bet the Info booth would know...some company). The other option is to find a game you're not familiar with and just watch for a while. An RPG you've never played before, or a huge miniature game if that's what you like.

Another option that's almost always available to to hit the Exhibit Hall and demo games with the manufacturer. Tons of companies demo games right at their booths, often for free. Some even give away free copies for playing.

Big tip: be nice to the Gen Con Staff and volunteers. More flies with honey, and all that, right? You can get a lot done, fix a lot of problems, if you're nice to the people who are doing the fixing. Gen Con is what my ex-Army Ranger friend John would call a 'Goat Rodeo', and running it smoothly is hard work.

I've been doing this thing for over 20 years now, so I'll probably have more to say later. Hope that helps

Greetings and Salutations Tom,

Thank you for posting all that great info. I'm sure all the info going up will be useful to others as well.
Thanks again!

Yes Tom - most helpful - the water bottle with packs of mix is going to be great - TANG can keep me going almost as well as MTN DEW!

To make the security checkpoints easy travel with shoes that are easy to remove. If you are randomly selected for the intensive search, you will have to remove them and send them separately through the detectors.

Dave

Most recently all airports have EVERYONE take off their shoes.

George

So much for wearing my costume boots...they take 10 minutes to take off and put on.

:shock:

Most recently all airports have EVERYONE take off their shoes.

George

*blink, blink* Really.
Hmm, well that is interesting. *little laugh* All I have to say is that they ask some people to remove their shoes at their own risk, unless they hand out free dr.schol's as they do it. hehehehe

Thank you for that. I shall bear that in mind and soles! hehehehe, sorry couldn't resist pun, heehehhee

How recent is that, George? Last I flew was about two years ago , Chicago and New Orleans, and neither place had anyone near me take their shoes off. A lot might have changed in two years, but the security I saw then wasn't really wildly different from pre-9/11 security...there was just more of it, and the folks in charge seemed to pay more attention.

(I have heard, however, of new x-ray machines that only look through clothing! No joke. They show the person on the screen, as if they were naked. Hard to hide items that way. They're being tested this year. There are objectors, of course. Said one guy: "And what happens when Angelina Jolie walks through the machine, and there's some guy offering the technician $10,000 for the images?")

I have heard, however, of new x-ray machines that only look through clothing! No joke. They show the person on the screen, as if they were naked. Hard to hide items that way. They're being tested this year. There are objectors, of course. Said one guy: "And what happens when Angelina Jolie walks through the machine, and there's some guy offering the technician $10,000 for the images?")

Oh Dear God! Please Tell Me You Are Joking!
*may never go near a airport again*

Unfortunately, I'm not joking. Unless the evening news was joking, in which case then I am joking by proxy. But it seemed like a legit news item to me.

*speechless*
*goes and hides in a very small hole where no one can see me*
I feel violated at just the thought of that!
How sad they feel they need to do these kinds of things.

Again, thanks for sharing the info.

Quote from Tom - "DO NOT STOP WALKING RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AISLE!!! There are people behind you. Trust me, they are there. And they are walking too. And they will run into you/over you if you just stop walking right in their path. If you have to stop walking, 'pull over' to the side of the aisle. "

>>>>>>>Good point. First year at Indy GenCon someone stopped and stood at the top of the escalator. There was this huge line of people behind them and, as the dang thing doesn't stop, it nearly caused several people to fall as they were getting off.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Quote from Tom - "DO NOT STOP WALKING RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AISLE!!! There are people behind you. Trust me, they are there. And they are walking too. And they will run into you/over you if you just stop walking right in their path. If you have to stop walking, 'pull over' to the side of the aisle. "

>>>>>>>Good point. First year at Indy GenCon someone stopped and stood at the top of the escalator. There was this huge line of people behind them and, as the dang thing doesn't stop, it nearly caused several people to fall as they were getting off.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Oh believe me do I know and understand!
Worked at Disneyland for four years, and am still a Annual Passholder. And people with their SUV sized strollers stop right in the middle of the road and the throng circles round to figure out where they are going to go and completely kill any movement in the walk way.
And if you think roller bags are bad, try a plethora of strollers. Gotta love the ones that forget to set the brake so it goes rolling into traffic unmanned.
But hopefully the bag situation isn't from anyone trying to cause accidents or stop traffic.
I know there was this one time a woman shoved her stroller(with child inside) right in front of the Omnibus as it was going along and it came to a stop so it wouldn't hit the free-rolling stroller. The woman then grabs the stroller and laughs, Ha-ha made you stop!
*cough, cough*Save the world, sterilize the stupid!*cough, cough*