6 Things You MUST Do To Prepare For SDCC

Another big THANKS to Shawn for this AWESOME article! With less than ONE MONTH to go – here is a great “TO DO” list:

With a month until the Super Bowl of Cons, it is easy to get caught up in the hoopla that surrounds these coming days. It seems there are new announcements made everyday from now until Preview Night.

EXCLUSIVES! PANELS! PARTIES! If you’re following all of this, it’ll begin to make you glaze over, like a newbie in Vegas. That said, as I discussed in my last post regarding helpful Twitter users to follow, this one month period before SDCC is when you can do the most to make sure you have an enjoyable trip to San Diego. Pay attention to the announcements, but pay even closer attention to what you do with the information. If you don’t go into SDCC with a plan, it’ll fly by and you’ll be left with a list of mistakes and missed opportunities.

To help you make the most of the trip, I’ve provided my top six personal notes that I use to prepare for SDCC each year. At the conclusion of each trip, I revisit this list and make modifications.

1. Make a Packing List: It is very important that you begin gathering the practical necessities for the convention; otherwise, you’ll be overspending money on snacks or Tylenol, when you should be spending it on that Kilowog exclusive figure or a Tom Hodges sketch. Here are the items I carry in my backpack, each day of SDCC:
   1. Energizing Snacks (i.e. tuna salad cans, crackers, chips, etc.) and Drinks (especially bottled waters, as they are significantly more expensive at the convention center than at the grocery store). Make sure to pack extra for Sunday, because not all of the convention center’s food venues are open that day.
   2. Camera
   3. Sharpies, at least one black and one silver
   4. Ziplock Bags, to keep all of those free buttons, rings, etc., organized
   5. Printable Items (i.e. parking passes, pre-order receipts, ticket confirmations, etc.)
   6. Kleenex
   7. Hand Sanitizer
   8. Poster Tube
   9. Rubber Bands
   10. Safety Pins
   11. Chargers and Batteries (phone and camera)
   12. Medical Items (Tylenol, Pepto-Bismol, Band-Aids, etc.)
   13. Autograph Folder (somewhere where you can keep pictures safe from bending
2. Make Your Twitter Account SDCC-Ready: Look for the Kings and Queens of SDCC and follow them. This is super easy, if you read my last post and FOLLOW ALL OF THEM!
3. Make a Budget: I find that my comic convention monetary needs have an inverse correlation with the amount of available freebies & other offerings (often smaller cons require more spending because there is less free stuff to hunt and fewer panels to attend). Being a collector, I’m not going to go long without acquisitions, so I have to figure that into my budget. Those planning to stay in Hall H all day will not need as much spending money. Furthermore, those who need every exclusive will need more money. Here is a breakdown of what I find necessary for an SDCC trip, but remember preferences are especially pivotal in this area:
   1. Tickets: $220
   2. Parking: $50 (I pre-purchase my parking, beneath the convention center, at http://www.thepermitstore.com/comic-con/event/.  If parking passes are sold out, parking may range from $15-$30 per day.)
   3. Pet Sitter: $150
   4. Room: $630
   5. Food/Entertainment: $500
   6. Stuff: $780 (toys, shirts, comics, etc.)
4. Have a Plan: As programming is revealed, add the events you want to attend to your calendar. Personally, I use my iPhone for all calendar purposes. At this point I just keep adding things that I’d like to see. As the event gets closer, I’ll begin to remove things so there are fewer conflicts, but for now I put everything I’m interested in on my calendar.
5. Add Any “Special” Items to Your Packing List: Is there anything special you’d like to bring to SDCC? Do you want to bring that stack of Irredeemable comics, in case Mark Waid is available to autograph? Do you want to get your Blue Snaggletooth AFA graded? Do you have a sketchbook, in which you would like Rob Guillory to do a commission? For myself, I have a Star Trek: The Next Generation cast photo, to which I’ll be adding Brent Spiner’s and Levar Burton’s autographs.
6. Remember Personal Preference Matters: There is no single way to attack SDCC.  Everything I’ve listed is based on my preferences, so you have to take this template and modify for your personal needs. I’m a collector of many things that has a huge taste for pop-culture. I’d enjoy seeing nearly every panel AND owning nearly every item at SDCC. You probably don’t have the same tastes, so make sure to consider what you want out of SDCC. This is an event where attendees must accept that, at best, they might be able to partake in 10% of what they want to do. That being said, it is far better to enjoy that 10% fully, because of your plan, than to be running around stressed because you didn’t do your homework.

WOW – What an impressive list!