Small Con or Big Con?

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I was curious.

I was talking to my best friend about our con experiences, mostly when we went to bigger cons like Anime North with tens of thousands of people, compared to small local town affairs with several hundred to a couple of thousand people, and we both agreed each had its appeals. The big ones had a constant stream of panels, workshops and events to go to, unbelievably good cosplay, and massive vendor halls. The smaller ones were more relaxing, without all the running to try and get into things before they got filled, more time fooling around with friends and strangers, and a lot of familiarity with some of the more memorable people. I personally prefer the bigger events, while he liked the smaller ones. What do you prefer?

I agree that each have their benefits however I personally much rather attend a larger con. Anime North was fantastic, met a lot of great people who love the same anime as I do, saw a lot of amazing Cosplays and had a wonderful adventure getting lost in the vendors room. The artist alley is Diverse and great and the guest list is impressive (This year I will be able to meet Yaya Han for example at a medium sized con)

Small conventions are cliquish. There is very little room for acceptance of newcomers and "cosplay drama" seems to continue past the age of 15. The number of bad cosplayers outweighs the good and many serious cosplayers tend to be labeled as being "elitists" for simply being good. Being someone who goes to cons for the cosplay more than anything this is what I notice above all else. The panels however are more diverse in smaller settings. They have everything from Discussion panels, Makeup seminars, to into prop making and Hentai Trivia. This I don't see at the larger conventions where meet-ups and anime discussion panels are the majority.

I have worked for cons three times, twice for Hal-con a medium sized sized Sci-fi con, Shimokon a tiny video game convention and Animaritime another small convention where I will be a Judge this year for the costume contest. Hal-con is far more organized than either small convention I have worked in and was a more enjoyable experience. I think if the staff like their job then it will make the attendees also love being there.

Personally I have only been to the same yearly small convention for the past 6 years so far, and I do love it, but I do agree, there's a lot of nag about good cosplayers, and a lot of sas from not-so-good cosplayers being bitchy towards good ones. They just worked there butts off to make a good costume. I enjoy the smaller conventions because they aren't super large, and it is easy to find your way around, and get things done. There's definitely is the whole clique thing for small conventions, where everyone gets into some sort of small group of people, and sometimes don't allow others to befriend the group (which is silly), but you still meet a lot of great people and great cosplayers alike.

I hope to go to a larger convention like Anime North next year, or even one in Vancouver I think or Edmonton. I think it'll be a lot of fun, a lot bigger, more room to venture and find new things, different panels and vendors and artist!

I don't think I could say I'd prefer one or the other, I think they'd both seem rather amazing. Conventions are what you make of it :) so either could be spectacular!

I've never had a bad time at any convention, whether it be animethon here in Edmonton, or GenCon in the states. I've never actually noticed anyone badmouthing good cosplayers, and I'm really shocked and saddened to learn that it's a thing that happens. Seems really idiotic to me.

That's the one! Animethon! I heard it's super fun! I'd love to go someday :3

Honestly, I find it's panels to be really lacking, but I do love the location. It's a university campus instead of your standard convention hall, and it has a giant yard that's always full of people relaxing during the con. I always pack a lunch, and have a picnic.

That's still sounds fun, how are the vendors and artist alley's usually?
I've only ever been to conventions inside conventions halls and hotel conventions halls.

They convert the underground parking area into the vendors hall. It's a decent size, and actually really nice and cool because it's all underground. I always enjoy the artist alley, which is in a large well lit room right by the cafeteria. Not really sure how it compares to larger/smaller cons. I can't remember what the artist alley at anime north was like at all O.o

I tend to like smaller cons a little better. AX 2013 was way to big. I could not stop and take hardly any pics because its so busy all the time. I went to PHX Comicon and I didn't mind the people at all. We averaged 53,000 for the whole con. AX was at 161,000 way to many people. When it comes to Anime Cons the biggest con we have is Saboten-Con which grows by 300-400 every year. Were expecting around 4,200 this year.

While going to bigger conventions are always something special, smaller cons tend to be alot more fun especially when there's not as many people to get in the way.

[size=12]I personally would go for a Small Con, just because it would be the second i would visit. I have been to only one but in September i am going to another, the first convention i have been to was called Retro Revival in the UK in Wolverhampton. It was amazing! the community was great, sales and marketing was not overprice and you could get better deals near the end of the con, the whole convention just was all the proper old school consoles and a tonne of old school arcade machines and to top it off what made me look forward to the next con (Alcon 2013 Leicester) there was a load of cosplayers as the characters from all the old school games. For instance you had the easily knew like Mario and characters from Street Fighter too characters i did not even knew existed! (There was a guy dress as King Hippo from Punch-Out so epic!) So it gave me the confidence to do it and so i am going to cosplay as Junpei Iori from the Persona series (Persona 3 to be exact!) reason why i take this role is due to the fact his personality and features resemble me quite a lot were as my friend who is also joining in is going as the Scout from Team Fortress 2![/h]

I prefer big cons. They have a bigger reputation and can get better guests. I also meet a lot of people out of state and such who make the trip back for big cons.

I rather attend a big con than a small one, though both have their charm..

Never even heard of small towns having conventions. Seems like much more organization and hassle with a minimum turnout.