Hi everybody, Ace of Art Fox here and welcome to another Fursuit Friday video. In today's video, I wanted to share some of my favorite simple ways to make your convention vague go much more smoothly and comfortably. Some of these things are just little habits I picked up along the way and other things are just tips I heard from other people. So let's get started. Fursuit first. Hydration. I know this is already pretty standard stuff and it's on kind of every single list of that conventions and pursuiting, but in addition to the safety aspect of just making sure you're drinking water, it can also be just plain expensive to rely on purchasing water and drinks at the convention. Three dollar sodas have a funny way of adding up. Most venues should have a water fountain somewhere, so bringing your own water bottle is not only handy, but it can also save you a few bucks. Also, if you're somewhere hot or have a costume such as a pursue, I highly recommend bringing a hydration pack. You know, like a camel bag. It is a lifesaver that has a constant supply of cool water throughout the day. Second item on our list today is comfortable footwear. We do lots of walking at conventions and I need like a lot of walking. Enough to where your feet can be hurting at the end of the day. So if you want to make those dogs stop barking, just bring a comfortable pair of shoes or you can add a pair of gel insoles for probably under $20 at most stores. Also, if you're not going to have immediate access to your hotel room during the day, try packing an extra pair of socks in your backpack. I know it sounds kind of silly, but it makes a huge difference, especially when you're spending your whole day on your feet. Believe me, those tired paws will thank you. Another helpful thing to remember is a convention book. Most conventions will typically have some kind of programming book available at registrations. And sometimes they make little pocket guides available that contain things like a map, event schedules, and all kinds of other helpful input. In some cases, I've seen conventions even use app-based calendars that send you notifications for events on your schedule. And the constap can even send announcements to people in real time. I've even seen some of them that have a feature that allow you to favorite all the panels you want to go to that weekend. You favorite them all in the main calendar and then you check your favorites and now you have your own custom convention schedule. So if you're going to a convention and they have some kind of app-based schedule available, I highly recommend using it, especially since you can receive updates if the panel's been delayed or moved. Ha, I love technology. So even if you don't think you're going to need to refer back to it, it's just one of those helpful things to have that is really handy when it's needed. But next thing to consider is phone charges and power supplies. Whenever I'm at a convention, I'll usually carry some sort of power supply like this whenever I'm out and about. Because after a full day of taking photos and being on Twitter and messaging people at the time, your phone battery is going to go down really fast. Whether you're using your phone a lot throughout the day or you just forgot to charge it last night. Having one of these power supplies in your backpack is way better than being tethered to an outlet. Or if you're like me and you like to take extra precautions, sometimes I'll leave one of my power supplies in my hotel room charging while I take the other one out and about with me. That way I never have to spend time worrying about battery life. Less time spent charging and more time spent enjoying the con. Speaking of spending and time enjoying the con, don't forget your con badge and your wallet. If I had a nickel for every time I forgot my con badge in my hotel room, I could buy another con badge. Things like your phone and your wallet are pretty easy to remember since we typically carry those any given day. But it's not uncommon during the hustle and bustle of your morning to overlook your convention badge. I recommend placing it near your phone charger or in a shoe or anywhere you're pretty much certain to see it during your morning routine. Yes, I have actually put my con badge in my shoe because I am forgetful. Yep, nothing's worse than going all the way down to the dealers' den or all the way down to that. Panel you wanted to go to and then having to make a mad dash back to your hotel room to fetch a piece of plastic you forgot. Put a badge in your shoe. The last thing you're going to want to bring to a convention is a game plan. Say it with your friends and look at the schedule together. You can even just ask them what they're interested in that weekend if you can't take them anything. Just take a few minutes to mark down any panels or events that look cool to you, even if you're not 100% sure that you're going to attend them. You can always refer back to your handy-dandy pocket guide. For real, I do this at pretty much every con and it has saved me so many times from just sitting around or wandering aimlessly. Even if your plan is to just hang out until about one thing that you felt like doing that thing, it's always good to know when and where that thing is. So anyways, thank you so much for watching this week's first-suit Friday video, everybody. I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope you like the new setup. I've got a move doll in my recording equipment over to Klocky's house and now it looks like this. I also hope you find the information in this video helpful. These are kind of just like little things I picked up over time that I thought I'd like to share. By the way, do you guys have any tips for making sure someone's convention goes smoothly? Go ahead and share it down in the comments below. Also, if you really enjoyed this video, go ahead and hit like and subscribe to get notified any time that I post a new video. Also, if you want to support the content that I make on this channel and on other platforms, you can go ahead and check out my merch store and Patreon links in the description below. I also want to thank my amazing supporters on Patreon because without them, this channel would not exist. They are responsible for me being able to replace equipment when it breaks and responsible for being able to have food or get a coffee on a late editing night. They are wonderful. So thank you again all my Patreon friends. It truly means the world to me. That's all I got for you guys today. So thanks again for watching everybody. My name's Aisha Barbsblogs and I will see you all in the next video.