How to budget for a con?
It certainly tickles your nerves when you realize you can't attend every one you wished to.
I've been there. We have all been there.
Sometimes it's because it's not in your country. Or you have to work and can't afford a vacation. So many reasons!
In today's post, I chose a hard topic. Because I believe this can help people. Speaking from a girl that sometimes takes emotional decisions. Today is all about a rational and organized process.
Let's start.
Choosing an event
The first step is choosing what event is more appealing for you. Try to understand if you wish to travel to visit a country and at the same time attend this particular convention.
I've been doing this. I've been putting together traveling and doing cons at the same time, so I can have a full experience. This allows me to fulfill my adventurous spirit, and still be with my friends and have a blast!
But Rose, what if I want to attend more than one?
I gotcha ya. There were times I decided to attend last minute, and lately, I decided to plan from one year to 3 months in advance.
If you're in this business, you know more or less the times these companies release new events. So if you also wanna keep doing the same, you have a general idea of when it's going to happen.
I also had luck, because, in my first two cons, I had help from friends, so I could do this smoothly.
Hit me up if you want company or help :)
2. Organizing the con calendar and the trip
In my last Creation con, I bought what I called - a Con journal. I'm using it to write down all the cons I attended, the cons I want to attend (organized per year), also I write my experiences, and more importantly - WHAT I WANT TO BUY.
So now you picked your next convention. Great! Whether it's one or more, no problem it applies to both cases.
Now what you need to do is organize what you want to do in every trip/event.
I'm using this as an example:
Creation Atlanta 2023
Date Here
Venue Here
Flight - X departing and arriving an hour
Uber or shuttle to Hotel
Hotel X - I always choose to book on booking and choose hotels I can cancel if I need to. I always pay when I do the check-in, in person.
Pass for the con - X euros
Photo ops - List the prices here
Autos - Same as photo ops
M&G - List what you want
Other experiences - Same
If you're traveling please write down a document with all this info + what you need to pack. This way you make sure you don't miss anything.
You can obviously add more there above - it depends on each person's case. If you're lucky and the con falls in your city, you may just write the con stuff down.
3. Do the math (now it hurts)
The part that you hate and myself included. So you picked your cons and you wrote down all your travel plans and how much it will cost.
Now you need to add and check the total of your expenses.
It was too much? Need to cut somewhere?
That's why most people only do one, go with cheaper passes, or just attend with a pass and don't do anything, they just look for the experience itself and watch panels.
Or you just do one and buy everything, and you have the full experience.
What do I do really? I do neither of those.
I pick 3 or 4 per year, and I organize the way I wrote, and I just buy from my favorite, but if there is a guest I don't have photos with (because I'm trying to have with everyone) I include the guest as a priority. Because I live in Europe, flights are cheap and so are hotels. In America traveling is a little more stressful. So when I do those, I need to plan earlier and better. Usually, I go with cheaper passes too.
Because I'm a freelancer I can take time off when I want to, and I can organize my finances as well.
I learned I can't attend an expensive and far away con in a month or less. But if it's near home, there is no problem.
The key here is to have control of your money and expenses. I'm extremely organized, so I take note of everything I need to pay each month. Obviously, sometimes things can go out of control, especially as a freelancer I learned that, the hardest way.
4. Choose your priority
You picked the con
You organized everything
You did the math
This is great. What's next for you?
Well if you did the math and you can do everything you wish for, perfect you may leave the post! Ha!
But if not...you realize you need to cut somewhere, right? So maybe fewer photos or experiences. Or go with a cheaper pass. Or even changing the hotel or canceling the event because you can't go after all (who didn't).
Pick your priority. If your favorite isn't there, maybe you go where they are. If you're traveling with friends, you pick that one. It certainly depends. Each case is a case.
I heard about extreme cases, people would do weird stuff or be hungry just to attend. Like, don't do that, please. Love and respect yourself. I know it hurts, but you will experience it one day and have a blast.
I waited 3 years before finally did it.
Resume:
Write down the events you wish to attend the current year or next year
Organize the trip - buy a notebook or write a digital Word document
Do the math and check the results
Priorities
There's still a lot I could write here, Maybe I will do a post about traveling and what I do :) Stay tuned and leave a comment.
Sorry if you're expecting some kind of a spell or a deal with the devil to attend every con you wish to. But...It doesn't exist :')
I hope I could help you tho.
Hit me up if you want my help or to know anything in particular!
