>>8899842
My decision to attend or not are going to be based on very different things compared to that of majority of people.
>How do you decide if you're going to attend a convention or not?
Depends on which series are to be promoted at the con and the amount of free stuff.
>Are there ones you always buy a badge for regardless of content?
I always buy a badge for cons that will give me more free stuff than the badge is worth. I never buy a badge for cons that will promote series I am interested in since I'd get in through the volunteer route instead.
>Do you wait until the schedule and guests are announced before buying in?
No. It doesn't matter what the schedule is or who the guests are if I'm volunteering since I'll be told where to go and when to show up.

I go to conventions to cosplay and hang out with people. Schedule and guests are irrelevant to me.

My decision-making comes down to cost, distance, and whether friends are going.

>How do you decide if you're going to attend a convention or not?
Friends. I'm not going to a con without a bunch of my friends unless there's something amazing about it I need to see. That being said, unusual events draw me in, not guests. Something like a big Miku concert would get me to go somewhere I wouldn't normally.
>Are there ones you always buy a badge for regardless of content?
Kind of. Some cons are reliable and also have all the regular friends and faces, but even then, I'm not a big fan of doing that.
>Do you wait until the schedule and guests are announced before buying in?
Only in a sense that it helps indicate how trash the con itself is. If there's nobody local "talent", I'll treat it like the glorified hangout in cosplay it probably is. Unless they're checking for badges, it's probably not worth buying.

Im a high school teacher so really the only criteria I have are "Is it within reasonable driving distance or located in a state where I could crash with someone?" And "Is it during a time theres relatively no school?"

I live in California.

Always go to:
Fanime because it's nearby even if the con itself is kind of meh lately (made up for by attendees)
AX because that's where the big guests always are
SDCC because I have been going forever

If it's out of the area a combination of:
1) guests
2) price (travel and hotel)

If guests are good and price isn't bad then I'll go. If guests aren't good enough to justify the price then I'll pass.

>>8899941
This is why there is such a split in cons among fans and cosplayers.
But you are honest and that is worth something.

I don't have a car, so I'm always going to go to the local cons if I haven't had the chance to go to any of the cons outside my city.

As far as the cons outside my city, I'll go if I have a decent group cosplay planned or if they're bringing in some of my favourite comic artists. Actors from older horror movies will also draw me in.

I avoid first year cons unless there's something particularly enticing about them like good advertising/branding or good guests. I'm a boring adult so sinking time and money into stuff like this has to be worth it for me beyond "oh I can go hang out with friends" because I can make time for people I give a shit about whenever.

Location is important too in terms of transportation accessibility cuz I don't drive. Also needs to be nearby food and not too far from hotel. Con staff also being organized and friendly helps.

Cost as well obv. Including hotel if its something I need.

>>8900144

Uh, cosplayers ARE fans.

>>8900144
I don't watch dubs (or play video games) so guests at small and medium anime conventions are irrelevant to me.

>>8899884
How do you know what cons give away the most free stuff? Any particular favorites? What kind of stuff do you get? I've never heard of anyone using this criteria before so I'm curious.

>>8901788
You can look at what the con has done in the previous years to know how it'd go down this year. Some companies or panels will announce ahead of time what goods they'll have. It's generally the gaming cons like PAX and events for big games like DOTA2, League of Legends, that will have the most free stuff or high-demand items that you can easily flip and resell for a whole lot more online to rabid fans who couldn't make it. Every year, I've made back the ticket AND the hotel costs (+ more) from reselling that stuff.

I usually get unbreakable things like T-shirts and small pins/collectibles that are easy to transport and cheap to ship. I stay the heck away from fragile items and posters even if they seem like a nice draw. It's not worth the potential breakage in shipping nightmare in resale.

There's a lot of things to think about when picking a con for me. Which of my friends are going to be there, whether or not there are any guests I'm partial to or haven't gotten a signature yet off of my list, whether I have a cosplay that fits the theme of the con or not. Some conventions are just really well known cons and bring in people regardless of ticket price.

But then again I live in Florida and we have like 30 cons a year or something, so really it's all a matter of what con is the most fun at this point.

>>8901713
nowadays, not always.

Some cosplayers go to cons to just to get their cosplay photos taken and circle jerk with cliqs. They could care less about what guests are gonna be there or what bands are playing.