This article is a part of the Big Bad Con Advice series! These articles aim to give general advice to attendees who are looking to connect with more of their peers in a professional capacity. While the articles tackle general information, our video series will zone in on special topics.

Time flies hella fast…

…And Big Bad Con is just around the corner! Whether this is your first time or umpteenth time attending a tabletop convention, the flurry of preparation and anticipation is the perfect storm for excitement and anxiety.

I’m Pam Punzalan, one half of the Special Events Team at Big Bad Con. I’ve prepared a list of helpful things you may want to tackle in the last 1-2 months before the convention.

Find Friends & Con Buddies

Whether reaching out to personal contacts or posting all about it on social media, building up the hype can be very fun. Hashtags, in this case, can be your friend. Our “official” hashtag is #BigBadCon. Use it to the hilt. Lots of folks also like changing their display names on sites like X/Twitter or Bluesky to reflect that they’re attending, but hey: you do you!

On that note: our attendees grow by the year, and even the coziest spaces can be very overwhelming, especially if this is your first time. There are also a lot of events, panels, workshops, and games available to our attendees. By checking in with your friends or scoping out who has publicly declared that they’re attending, you might be able to find people to meet up with, or arrange to be “con buddies” (attend the same events) while you’re there.

Big Bad Con does have a discord where you can engage with past and present attendees. Attendees also use this to look for roommates, arrange meetups, give tips about the convention or about traveling in San Francisco, ask for assistance from the staff, or chill out. If you’re into discord and you haven’t joined the server, here’s a link!

Keep an eye on official announcements & comms

Big Bad Con staff tries to work on convention preparations as swiftly as possible! Whenever something important happens (i.e. sign-ups opening for our events/games), we post about it on our discord server, X/Twitter, and other channels.

For our POC Big Bad Con scholars, we post about important events through email (like the POC Meet & Greet).

Make a Business Card

Business cards, especially if they’ve got a clever design, can be great:

• During introductions
• After you have connected well with someone at the convention and want to make sure to stay in touch
• After you’ve offered yourself up as a resource or for work

Tabletop roleplaying games as an industry still uses business cards. Connecting on LinkedIn may also work, but professionals in tabletop tend to be on social media platforms.

Design your business cards however you like, but make sure it’s got:

• your name
• pronouns
• a clear idea of what you do (or want to do!)
• links to relevant socials

Some of the cooler things I’ve seen on business cards are things like a photograph/art/stylized graphic of the person, a mini-game the person designed themselves, a QR code to a digital showcase of the person’s work, or a space for making personal notes (i.e. “I met you when…” or “We talked about…”).

I’ve found that collecting business cards really helps me remember the people I have met during conventions, and facilitates something as important as attending the convention itself: doing follow ups with my connections after the convention is over.

Prepare a Professional Website

If you don’t have this already, now’s a great time to start! You will be meeting a lot of folks during the convention, and a number of them are people who are doing part-time or full-time work in the tabletop industry. Websites are a great way to show who you are and what you’ve done. Once they’re up, they’re also permanent portals that folks can remember you by, especially if they need to contact you for collaborations or work. It’s also a great way for your friends and allies to advocate for you.

This is INCREDIBLY important if you are attending as one of our Big Bad Scholars or if you will be at our POC Meet & Greet, Office Hours,, and other industry-facing events. Everyone will be meeting a lot of… well, everyone else, and the surest way to have folks remember you is to give them a place where they can review your contact information and portfolio.

If money is tough, please don’t break your bank trying to create a website! You can use free websites like Carrd, Linktree, or Wordpress to get the job done. As long as your website represents YOU and has all the essential things in it (a short bio, a simple showcase of your work, your contact details/some way to contact you through the website, and social media platforms that you’re active on), you’re good to go.

Review (or Create!) Your CV/Portfolio

While your website is a portal to who you are, a full CV/portfolio of your work is essential to truly showing what you’re capable of. This can come in the form of downloadable documents, or a Google drive that has archived your work. Once again, this is incredibly important if you’re attending any of our networking events. In the past, some of our attendees have indicated that they have a CV/portfolio available upon request through their website (or posted a link to it right away), or they have included a QR code for it on their business cards.

Making a CV/portfolio doesn’t have to be scary. In fact, it can be an empowering experience! Because you’re creating a solid record of your work and accomplishments, you’re telling everyone that you are loud, proud, and capable of so much more.

Remember: fanwork and personal work 100% counts towards portfolio pieces, especially if you’re just starting out! If you’ve done some sick art for your favorite Actual Play, show it off! If you’ve written an adventure, module, narrative piece, or whatever else for your favorite game, throw it in there! If you put together a charity bundle, assisted in a community thing for tabletop, or something similar, say so!

Don’t Overbook Yourself!

Some of the most magical experiences at a convention can be through random encounters. Once events sign ups drop*, take some time out to review everything you want to sign up for, and make sure you’re leaving yourself some breathing room to just vibe and be around in convention spaces, or some quiet space to retreat and recover.

Something I personally like to do is put in all of the events I’ve signed up for on my calendar 1-2 weeks before the convention. That way, I’ve got a clear visual on what I have chosen to attend, and just how much free time I’ve given myself that isn’t taking a nap, or sleeping after convention activities close for the day. I’ve made a few of my best friends in the industry not through attending panels/events, but by sitting around and talking to folks in the con spaces, or by playing games with them!

*Event sign-ups open in phases, with the first round of sign ups opening on Saturday September 21st. For more information, see the Big Bad Con Events FAQ.

Rest Up! Stay Hydrated & Healthy

Convention travel can be hassling as hell. Once you’ve packed your bags and checked on all the necessary arrangements on your end, try and take all the time you need PRIOR to Big Bad to make sure you’re ready to go. That way, you don’t arrive at the convention stressed and worn out.

I personally like to plan some outfits that make me feel really nice, go out for a haircut, then hole up for a few days before I fly. That way, I’m charging up my social batteries for all the activities. The best way to manifest Unbothered, Well-Fed & Moisturized energy is to make sure I am as close to that state as possible.

We hope this advice helps! Check the rest of our articles out for more.