Salt Lake Comic Con's Fan Experience (aka Fan X) was a couple of weeks ago from April 17-19, and I'm still thinking about it. The Con took up the entire Salt Palace Convention Center, flooded City Creek with costumes, and was the 3rd largest Comic Con of all time.
When I was there I realized that the Con culture was a lot better than the one I live in daily; people were thoughtful, fun, excited, and complimentary at every turn. Women wore what made them happy and men did the same. Everyone had a good time and felt free to approach you to make friends for a minute, an hour, a day, or the weekend. Vendors were pleasant and generally very proud to put their work on display. Even the guys from Cyanide and Happiness who have been popular for a few years now humbly accepted compliments and gave gracious thanks for my purchase.
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| Um, never mind what they are drawing... |
So, after this long weekend of being around this friendly, happy culture, I compiled the following list of the Top Ten life lessons I learned while roaming the booths, attending panels, and talking to Con-goers.
10. Wear whatever makes you comfortable and happy. Some people will even high-five you or ask to get a picture of you
9. Show up a few minutes early to meetings that interest you
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| There may not be any room left... |
8. Someone, somewhere likes the same random thing as you, and is also willing to pay a few bucks to appreciate it publicly
7. Not everyone's 15 minutes of fame come to an end
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| Right, Jean Luc? |
6. Your level of energy and happiness affects the levels of energy and happiness of those around you
5. Celebrities are just extremely popular people
4. Strangers are just friends waiting to be discovered
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| Some of those friends are stranger than others... |
3. Use the buddy system
2. Wearing the same outfit as someone else is not a fashion faux pas
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| Sometimes it's a good way to find each other in a crowd... |
1. Speak your truth and others will notice and respect you for it
Simply stated, Comic Con was great. Some may say I'm romanticizing a bit, but that's fine. It was a good experience and reminded me over and over again that there are some really great people out there on this big rock we all call home.
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| And great things too... |
