My first WorldCon is done!
I participated in five panels: Found Family, Social Classes, Rare Fantastical Creatures, Asian Heroines, Modern Monsters.

If you have access to the recorded panels, I strongly recommend the Asian Heroines panel. My fellow panelist Elaine Ho (her art may be NSFW) and the mod CB Lee were amazing. Elaine gave a smackdown of Confucianism attitudes toward women. CB prepared us to give a great panel, and later that day, won the Lodestar for Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe.

Other than to perform well on the panels, I also tried to see as many of my writing friends in person.

I was able to introduce writing friends from across spheres (SFWA writing date where I am tech crew, Viable Paradise cohort, Lady Astronaut Club, SFWA mentorship, Codex, just general being online in writing spaces.) My friends tried to attend at least one of my panels and it was helpful to know there was one friendly face in the crowd.

Challenges: people were the fun part—and the troublesome part. There were audience members who acted like they were part of the panel and that wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t also been unkind. I heard about pro-AI and anti-vax people using panel time to make their bad takes known.

Advice: Having a clear priority was helpful to not have FOMO.
Tell people you are going so you can arrange meals, meetups. Having been a part of the SFF community meant I was meeting friends at almost every turn. (Also in this community, trying to find the purple / blue hair in the crowd isn’t enough detail!)

Go to things where you may mix with people. I attended most of the Stroll With the Stars in the morning and saw Tia Tashiro and got to tell her I loved "Missing Helen."

Leave time for spontaneous things. We got called into a room to play Artemis. We won!

Prepare to talk about your work, or at least have your friends ready to cheerleader you. I had to be like HERE’S A HIGHLIGHT ABOUT MY FRIEND because my friends are too bashful to give their own highlight reel.

Hang with the people who refill your well. We had a snack room. I tried on a friend’s top and that’s when my friends learned I possess the torso of a snake (Chinese dragon?).

Take the day off after you return home from the con too.