Any First Con Advice?

[Shadowsand]

So, I've been a mostly-silent furry for years now. I've debated going to a furcon for most of that. Recently, I finally decided that I'd actually just go to one and see what happens. I did a bit of google research, and found all sorts of things - lists of cons, guides of what to bring and rules of conduct for interacting with fursuiters. All useful stuff, but there was one thing which no one seemed to say anything about:

Which con should is a good place to start?

I live in the UK, and from what I found, there are about 6 cons in the country. Somewhat unsurprisingly, they're all quite small compared to most of the ones abroard. So my main question is - would you suggest starting with a large con to get the full experience? Or is it better to start with a smaller one to test the waters and see if I enjoy it enough to go to a bigger one later?

If anyone's been to any of the UK cons, do they actually feel like small cons, or do the numbers just make them look that way? And more generally, are there any cons which you'd suggest as a good place to start?

Alternatively, is there some place you could direct me to where all of this sort of stuff is really well explained, which I missed during my semi-rushed Googling?

Thanks in advance for any advice,
Shadow

[Ventus Fall]

I've been to cons when they just started up, and to cons who have been big from the start (for me). I've also been to cons which have grown over the years. It used to be anime cons. I also once went to a Minecraft con because a friend asked me to
Now I just go to furry cons

I can't really answer what con would be a good place to start for you personally. If you've never been to one, I think a small one would be a great idea. It's a great way to start orientating how a con is possibly built-up and what kind of events/workshops/panels there can be.
If you want to go to a pretty large UK con (and one of the two largest ones in Europe, if I recall what Uncle Kage and others have said, as well as the amount of people attending), I would suggest Confuzzled. That's mostly because I've had personal experience with that UK furry convention, and people have been rather nice there (and the staff helpful ).

As of which, you say abroad, but I only know of USA furry cons and one other European country (Germany) who has bigger furry cons, but I can assure you Confuzzled is catching up immensely quick on those USA cons with amount of people attending

You can check out Confuzzled's website: https://2017.confuzzled.org.uk/ And read up on all kinds of information there. Maybe that too will help with your decision.

All in all, whether going to a small or a big con, if you like cons, people, fursuits, events, etc, it doesn't matter the size
Hope this helps~

[Shadowsand]

Hmm, Confuzzled was the most likely possibility I'd been considering just from my Googling. Nice to have a personal recommendation of it though 

[Ventus Fall]

Hehe. Well, Confuzzled is (in my opinion) quite a nice convention
If you go there (or anywhere else), maybe you can share your experiences here on the forums some time ;D

[anoni]

  In my experience cons can be super fun, but there can be moments where you're just sort of walking around with nothing really to do, these aren't ideal scenarios and to me can be the down part of a con. Thus my advice centers around minimizing those moments where you have nothing to do and no one to hang out with, some people don't mind that though, so keep that in mind!


  Basically if you're going to go to a con try to find someone (preferably a few people) that you know that are going to the con and get their numbers. Whenever you find yourself with nothing to do, ring or text your friends and see what they're up to, it's likely that they'll be planning to do something or are doing something and see if you can tag along. This also generally gives you access to the best part of cons, room parties!


  The best part of a con (arguable) is not what happens in the con space, it's hanging out with friends are room parties and sometimes even outside of the con. Cons can become quite cliquey in this regard, as people will set up room parties and if you don't know anyone it can be hard to get access to those parties. So knowing some people before hand is generally a good way to get access to those parties.


  Oh and try not to stress! Cons for me aren't super exciting, I see them as a fun weekend, like a little vacation, I don't take them too seriously. This actually worked out in my favor last con however, as the friends I was hanging out with had a huge falling out and there was a lot of drama, but because I was relaxed and was taking the con in stride none of that drama really caught up to me and I was able to successfully hang out with all my friends without too much fuss. So it all worked out.