I've never been to PAX and I've heard great stories from both sides. Attendee is obvious, you get to experience a great show, and from what I understand it changes you a little bit.
Enforcer, you get to meet up with like minded people and keep the peace. It supposed to be a lot of fun doing your 6 hour shift, and sometimes, cause you're a bit crazy, you might go for the full 18 hour shift.
Background for me: I'm a pretty outgoing guy and consider myself sociable at least. I also don't have problems with mediation, the only thing I have a problem with is patience (as in a line for more than an hour might hurt my insides a bit).
Seeing as you guys have obviously been to PAX what would you suggest I do for my first PAX?
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For your first PAX, though, I definitely recommend being an attendee, there's just so much to see that you may miss out on as an Enforcer.
Enforcing is a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of work. I've seen people come to PAX as an Enforcer their first year and they had a blast, it's entirely likely you would too, but I am absolutely glad that I was an attendee first.
So ask yourself: Do you want to go so you can see the excellent show? Or do you want to go so you can help put on the excellent show? Being an Enforcer is a different experience entirely.
Also, secondary question: As I've only ever been to one small convention before (Anime North) how do you think my brain will withstand all that is PAXEast?
So I ask you, are you okay with flying by the seat of your pants, and are you able to be flexible in your plans? If so, you'll be just fine. If not... you'll still have a lot of fun, just not as much as you'd expect.
Also, stay on the forums and check stuff out for sure. After PAX Prime wraps in August, the forums go into a sort of "PAX East organizational headquarters" with a bunch of meetups, events, and so on.
Also, good point teamkill, I mean I've been to a con before and had a great time but that's because I found my niche. Improv comedy, I doubt there'll be much of it here. Thanks for all the advice, I will be attending for my first two PAXes before trying to don the red/black.
My advice, coming from both sides of the fence: Attend at least one PAX, preferably two or more, before enforcing.
PAX is overwhelming. It's huge. There's too much to do. My advice to newcomers is always to have a very, very loose plan. Don't make a crazy schedule for yourself and stress when you miss things, because you will miss things. Just go with the flow, immerse yourself, meet people, and have a good time, with maybe one or two things per day that you really try to see.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
I agree. Our first year we planned for 2 or 3 panels we thought we would like to see on Saturday. First booth we went to that morning was Roosterteeth, which was right next to Bungie and their Halo 3 demos. Signed up for a tournament. Don't think we made it to any fo the panels, but was not heartbroken about it.