Hello! For those unfamiliar with my lifestyle and style of writing, I love attending and covering local comic, gaming, and anime-affiliated conventions, expos, events, and more. Before joining The Game of Nerds in late 2022, I had been attending conventions and other anime-affiliated events throughout the years since I was thirteen. Every year, it was equally exciting and overwhelming.
Over the years, I gained a lot of great memories attending such big and small events with friends and family, but as someone with a big personality and social anxiety, I can get overwhelmed easily and need time alone to process my anxiety and why I’m feeling it. As you can imagine, conventions can be fun, but come with numerous triggers for people like me who are prone to anxiety attacks. Thousands of people pour in and mix. Personalities clash and boundaries can be crossed.
In the past two years of writing for The Game of Nerds, I have attended big and small conventions, expos, and events, such as the San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon, L.A. Comic Con, ANIME Impulse, and more. As a member of the press, I wanted to consciously improve my convention etiquette and better represent our news outlet, so I looked into ways I could improve myself. In preparation for San Diego Comic-Con, I was introduced to Charisma +1: The Guide to Convention Etiquette for Everyone, which is a DnD-inspired convention guide that was released in late February 2024, and my curiosity was immediately piqued. I bought myself a paperback copy, read it on my way to SDCC, and arranged an in-person interview with the author Jessica Brawner, who has been part of the convention scene since the early 2000s.
As a book with little over one hundred pages, Charisma +1 was a delightful and easy read that I would highly recommend to anyone itching to learn about bettering themselves through convention etiquette. With San Diego Comic-Con long gone for this year and L.A. Comic Con coming up in early October, I wanted to retouch this guide to convention etiquette and remind everyone that it is important to have fun but be kind and aware of others’ boundaries. Everyone has something new to learn, myself included. Keep reading to learn more about Jessica and her convention guide.
Jessica, can you tell us more about yourself and what you write?
Absolutely. My name is Jessica Brawner. I’m an author and I write in a variety of genres, but I am most well-known for my book on convention etiquette. I have been working on the convention scene for twenty-plus years at this point. I started in the early 2000s and then, with my experiences there, I was able to put together my book on convention etiquette. But I also write steampunk and urban fantasies as well.
Can you tell us more about your guide to convention etiquette?
This one was very fun to put together. As I mentioned, I started working on convention scenes in the early 2000s. I would work tables for bands and authors, and, at the same time, I would be cosplaying. One of the things I noticed was that conventions tend to attract people who are socially awkward, uncomfortable, don’t know how to talk to people, or simply get nervous around this many people, so I wanted to put together something that would be helpful for them to make this a better environment for them to come and have a good time because the whole point is to have a good time.
I also put it together to address the bad behaviors seen across conventions in the early 2000s, and since then, we have the Cosplay Is Not Consent movement, as well as more education about what is and isn’t okay. With the second edition, I updated it to include things like social anxiety and how to take care of yourself in this type of environment. I had the chance to interview a bunch of celebrities this time around, and learn about what they like and don’t like when fans approach them.
How did you compose the guide? What research went into writing it?
The guide is structured around the idea that YOU are a DnD character and you want to increase your stats. I used that as the framework for how you increase your charisma when you go to different areas, but I also wanted to address things like the safety aspects of conventions and the social anxiety aspects, so I worked with a group in the Los Angeles area called B.A.D.A.S.S (Browncoat Auxiliary Depression & Anxiety Support System) which is an organization that provides safe spaces at conventions for those who suffer from depression and social anxiety. You can find their table and they will have a safe space for you where it’s quiet and they can talk you through your feelings and go back to the convention. I worked with them, and then I interviewed celebrities and talked to a bunch of fans about the more personally horrifying situations that they recognized after the fact.
With your book published, do you consider yourself an expert in comic conventions?
It is hard to say someone is an expert because there are so many aspects to comic conventions. For instance, I am not an expert on cosplay, but I would say that I am an expert when it comes to working tables, interacting with people, and handling social situations. However, there are simply so many different levels of what goes on during Comic-Con that I don’t think any one person can truly be an expert on the whole convention.
Are you itching to learn more about convention etiquette? If you are interested in buying Jessica’s guide to convention etiquette, click here for links to her guide and numerous other published pieces. Sold for 9.99 on Amazon, Charisma +1 is perfect for DnD players and convention attendees looking to level up their stats! And if you want to meet Jessica Brawner in person and get your copy of Charisma +1 signed, she will attend Loscon Nov 29-Dec 1!
