Things you would do better next time: EXPO

[TheIronFan]

I’m creating topics here for members to share their experiences no matter how small. If you can think of more topics add them in.

* What did you learn from the weekend.
* What would/wouldn’t you do next time
* Hints, tips, warnings etc

[TheIronFan]

Next time I'd

* Skip the Cosplay Catwalk (sorry guys but I couldn't do that again). I'd rather go back to the hotel room and relax before hitting the party. Saturday we ran out of time and had to get two taxi's to get to the hotel and back

* Bring Pocky. I bought 5 packets to share but left them at home. Next time I'd pass them out more

* Take more photos. I was inside most of the time (it was too cold and damp) and I missed all the photoshoots outside. Oh, and I'd also bring spare memory cards

* Stand next to the speakers when filming the events. I filmed the voice actors and I have superb zoom on my camera but the noise from the WWF and Japanese drums drowned out the sound. If I'd stood next to the speakers I'd have better quality recording

* Consider going for two days next time. Saturday and Sunday

* Consider not starting to queue so early. I went at 0900 in order to get the catwalk tickets. If I wasn't in a rush for those I'd think I'd hang around and wait for the queues to go down.

* Bring entertainment. Most of the day was waiting in queues: entry, signings, catwalk walk. In total I think I was stuck just waiting for over 4 hours one way or another. Next time I'd bring some music, or a portable DVD player, or some bubbles or even a baloon. Anything

[Charlie K]

no more free kisses, learned the cons outweight the pros on that front..

definately bring my own provisions next time, also bring more money, i ran out on the saturday and left me ina pinch thus needing bailing out from parents lol.

stay in a nearer hotel, a cheaper one at that, less money spent on travel and hotel willprevent me running out like before..

try to go with friends, i was alone most of the time and very bad at making new friends..

dress lightly, bring a mini fan of some sort, even when in normal clothes you boil up.

take a rucksack for any purchased things so im not carrying millions of bags..

be sure to go out for fresh air and drinks regularly, avoid going in places which you cant move around much in or have lack of ventilation as thats the easiest way of getting illfrom other people..

wash hands before eating after touching things others would have touched too (railings, door handles, merchandise, cash machines.. pens.. etc)

and finally, let myself go a bit more.. when im alone i tend to keep to myself and dont get involved much for fear of looking dumb and theni dont make any friends.. so next time i will try better to make more friends...

[Adonai]

Screw anyone and everyone and stay at the ibis no matter if my friends can afford it, being able to walk back to the hotel room and walk in knowing you'll get in on time is too nice, that and the hotel I was at this time was the worst hotel i've ever been to.

Make sure all costumes are done before leaveing, if not dont go as them.

Get everyone to check that they have everything, one of my friends was missing a bag that we still havent found that had half of his costume in, so he never got to go as anything which ruined the whole expo for him.

Other than that I just wanna make my masterpeice costume that I can enter into masquerades and not feel like a fool (ala last years Shuichi)

[TheIronFan]

wash hands before eating after touching things others would have touched too (railings, door handles, merchandise, cash machines.. pens.. etc)

Hrum. Not knowing where their hands have been before you touch something...and then you eat. Well now I feel ill.

I like those tips: take a mini-fan and bring hand wipes.

[HippehChan]

Next time I will:

*Definitely cosplay as this time I couldn't manage to finish my costume, I was up around 5am on Saturday morning when my bus was around 6:25am to London from where I live, so unfortunately had to abandon it. Though I'd rather have a great looking costume rather than a poorly rushed one so in the end I made a good decision.

*Spend a weekend at Expo for once, I usually always end up going just on a Saturday and feel sad the next day, it is really fun and the only convention I can go to that fits around my school schedule.

*Bring my own food like sandwiches, super filled sandwiches that will fill me up and cut down my food prices by more than half.

*Have a spending budget, the amount I spend on useless stuff I don't actually need...hurts my bank. T_T''

*Bring a mini fan and hand wipes, maybe some refreshing ones as it can get mighty sweaty and hot in the centre haha.

*Be more talkative and confident with people outside. I tend to keep quiet and not approach anyone unless I'm with my friends.

._.'' That's it really.

[CrystalNeko]

* What did you learn from the weekend.
LCA Travelodge is an awesome hotel to stay at 8D Fairly close and is a really nice hotel in general.

* What would/wouldn’t you do next time
- Don't bring so much luggage, I never learn though so yeah xD
- Remember to go shopping... I forgot to browse around the dealer's room all weekend because I was busy hanging out with people and forgot : S Meant I saved tons of money but still, I wanted to buy manga and posters! xD
- Remember there are actually guests there, I loved the VA guest list this year, but completely forgot to go check them out!
- Spend more than 10mins browsing Expo LOL.

* Hints, tips, warnings etc
- Bring energy drinks to prevent self from falling asleep. Expo really does drain me out, and I can never sleep for long for some reason so I only end up getting around 6hrs sleep which really doesn't help my energy levels!
- Remember meet up times LOL, I missed loads of meet ups because I was too busy chilling and doing shoots with people, woops xD;

[mgg-thunder]

* What did you learn from the weekend.
LCA Travelodge is a nice hotel though a bit unfortable
expect alot of narutos
bring a megaphone to meets

* What would/wouldn’t you do next time
EAT
not wear the same link boots
waterproof cardboard
get a less awkward suitcase
leave lap top at home
make the gaia meet better
did i mension eat

* Hints, tips, warnings etc
hmm EAT! FOR GOS SAKE EAT!

[ShurikenFire]

I swear this was in the costume section as well.

[Posscat]

Ohohoho~ I could write a book on this

* Hotel is better than travelling back and forth. Sure, I live just over an hours train journey away but having a hotel made things so much easier. Dumping off merch and constantly getting changed.

* No more heavy props; A skateboard was bad enough for 2 days.

* Bring spare trousers. Rip, black trousers.

* No. More. Masquerades. After that saturday que, I think I could die (but popping those balloons with my fake claws was fun).

* Do not enter the hall on Saturday. No space, no air, completely disgusting. All I could smell was BO, most likely my own.

* Bare in mind how much you're packing and how much you'll be bringing back. Luckily, a majority of my luggage was food for the weekend so it had gone by the Monday when I was heading back.

* Entertainment is a must. You get really bored in lines and back at the hotel during the evenings. Luckily my friend brought her laptop, so we watched some movies.

* Bribe people with sweets. Me and my friend were late for the signing by Kyle and Yuri, bribing the line guards with maoam seemed to work rather well. That and looking sad.

* Food is important. As is drink. Don't rely on the stuff inside excel as I find it expensive (as I have no job).

* Keep checking yourself for any missing things, I managed to somehow lose my pocket watch chain and not my pocket watch. Hrmmmmm...

* No. Fake. Nails. Had sharpened nails/claws for Pluto and I had to constantly ask my friend to either answer my phone for me, pull down my waistcoat or flick my wig away from my face.

[Gareth]

* Hints, tips, warnings etc
- Bring energy drinks to prevent self from falling asleep. Expo really does drain me out, and I can never sleep for long for some reason so I only end up getting around 6hrs sleep which really doesn't help my energy levels!

I'm actually planning on doing the total opposite for next year and -avoiding- energy drinks. They get you wired for a bit, but the comedown later on is hideous. Best things to drink are proper fruit juices plus... well, eating fruit. The natural sugar, fructose, is just fantastic for energy and keeps you going through the day, much better than a can of Relentless or Monster. You won't actually need as much sleep if you do =)

[arucart]

Definately cosplay i felt so under dressed and be more sociable!!

[redeyedninja]

I won't fall for cosplay costume scams again, so I'll be using this very lengthy guide:
http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=74409

See the masquerade, wrestling, give my number to the organiser of the picnic, so I can find it this time. Play on the games machines that I never had a chance to.

Make some new friends at expo.

Take MUCH more pics.

Get there much early, better to go on he sunday from what I heard, plus the stalls are more likely to reduce things since they want to sell them all off by the end.

Order my cosplay from a trusted shop/commissioner months in advance:

A good guide of commissioners/shops to go for and not to go for here: http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=105758

[Elegy]

Screw anyone and everyone and stay at the ibis no matter if my friends can afford it, being able to walk back to the hotel room and walk in knowing you'll get in on time is too nice, that and the hotel I was at this time was the worst hotel i've ever been to.

Make sure all costumes are done before leaveing, if not dont go as them.

Get everyone to check that they have everything, one of my friends was missing a bag that we still havent found that had half of his costume in, so he never got to go as anything which ruined the whole expo for him.

Other than that I just wanna make my masterpeice costume that I can enter into masquerades and not feel like a fool (ala last years Shuichi)

Why the ibis granted it has a shower big enough for 3 people lol and which hotel did you stay that was the worst?

[shalimar]

wash hands before eating after touching things others would have touched too (railings, door handles, merchandise, cash machines.. pens.. etc)

Hrum. Not knowing where their hands have been before you touch something...and then you eat. Well now I feel ill.

I like those tips: take a mini-fan and bring hand wipes.

Yeah, I might bring one of those hand sanitisers with me next time.

[GuruLazer]

This was my first expo, and I learned...

* Travel light, because after buying half the showroom suitcases won't close and lugging them back causes back problems.

* And speaking of travel, no weapon props when travelling by air. The person in front of me in line had big problems trying to get a wooden sword through customs.

* Three layers of clothing are too much during May.

* Don't leave buying pocky until the last day, 'cause by then it's all gone.

* A close hotel is very handy, especially when you've got an uncomfortable costume.

* Eat. It got to about 5pm on Saturday when I realised that all I'd had all day was half a Dr. Pepper.

[PandoraCaitiff]

I have to echo those saying eat and drink better. Especially breakfast!

I'm definitely taking less stuff.
And avoiding Kings Cross; Liverpool Street is much less stressful.
And try to come up with a more comfortable/lighter cosplay costume, so I can wear it all day, and not have to change back halfway through the day.

[MasterJh]

Wake up earlier so i get a goodie-bag

[WilsonDean]

*Stay at one of the hotels near Excel
*Stay untill monday morning (get some sleep on sunday)
*Take more money
*Take less clothes
*Attend to actual meet up ( Couldn't find it)
*Take a camera
*Talk to more people, there and on the forum
*Do more things with people from hotel (If it's ok to tag along)

[Mitsunari]

The things i would do differently:

*Book early enough to stay at the excel centre, I left booking late and the nearest travel lodge i could get was Barking. Ment i either had to pay £25 for a taxi after the party or leave early, kinda ruined chilling outside the excel centre on the friday and sunday night. Biggest dissapointment of the weekend, not being able to stay up all night and have fun.

*Not break my weapon props to days before I leave. I had Zidanes dagger from dissida, i broke them. Ruined my weapon props.

*Invest in a good camera. I had a rubbish one this time and most of my photos are blury. Its sad....

*Glow in the dark pois! I love this things, i want glow in the dark ones for october.

*book the tuseday off work as well to recover from lack of sleep.

edit: I just noticed, joined 2006 number of posts 1 Xp, guess i need to come on here more.

[Touka]

- Bring my own food so I don't have to pay outragous prices for food at the Expo.
- Hopefully cosplay.
- The same as HippehChan - be more talkative and confident. I have to start asking people for pictures!
- Bring a bigger bag.

[Novasry]

actually go to expo

[Takanaki]

Learnt:
Just to ask people for pictures.
Food at Excel is pretty expensive for what you get.
It is less busy than I thought it'd be.
How to haggle.

What I would do next time:
Bring food with me again, but also now I know where to eat at.
Perhaps bring my own camera so I don't have to steal someone elses to take with me (borrow).
HAGGLE woo, didn't pay full price for anything.
Make more small talk with people im taking pictures of, perhaps make some friends while there.

What I wouldn't do next time:
Wear a cosplay nobody recognises me in again T_T
Presume it will be hot in May >_> or cold in October

Hints/Tips/Warnings:
Make sure you know where your valuables are at all times, and keep them somewhere that isn't easy to get at.
Try to go with other people, because you're safer in a herd/with people you know somewhere else in Excel.
Don't try wrestling a subway door, xD

[pocayo]

TAKE A HUGE FREE HUGS SIGN.