Fetish Con Question

[Eido]

Hello All,

I'm kicking around a story idea that involves a vanilla civilian getting talked into doing some work at a fetish con.  I have never been to such an event, so I'm relying completely on what I read and stuff I'm just making up to flesh out the idea.

However, I would like to know if con workers and attendees wear wrist bands, badges, or whatever that indicate their status at such an event, and if so, what would the vanilla civilian's look like.  I could just make something up, but for some reason I thought this would be a nice touch of realism to an otherwise fantasy story.

Thanks,
Eido

[Cutter]

I have attended Fetishcon for the past 10 years.  All attendees wear badges.  General Attendees like myself get a name badge with black ink.  Models and Producers have their names in red ink.  Con staff have their names in blue.  The area selected for the dungeon is a no camera area.

This past year and coming up we effectively own the hotel.  If you are not a con attendee and you do not have your badge you CANNOT enter the hotel.

If you want to see a list of rules for the con and so forth so you can get a better idea :  www.fetishcon.com

There are no special clothing restrictions for your average attendee.  Although seeing a woman, or several, brought to orgasm on the convention floor by a sybian is fun especially if they are a screamer.

Do try to keep in mind that a Models or a well know Mistress/Master's personality can be vastly different from what you may see on video.

I would be happy to answer what questions I can.

[Eido]

Thanks for the quick and informative response.  I'm sure I will have some follow up questions, but first in gonna read the link you sent and maybe the same type of links for other cons.
Eido

[Anansi]

At NELA's Fetish Fair Fleamarket, all attendees wear the sort of plastic event wristbands that you see everywhere.  People who have weekend passes get one wristband, passes for each individual day get one specific to each day.  Volunteers and vendors get a weekend wristband, and then also have a separate badge identifying themselves as such.  Some volunteers only work "part-time", working certain shifts otherwise attending the fair as normal (e.g. someone might help set up or load out, check wristbands for a few hours, or help set up for demos, etc.).

And similar to FetishCon, they take over the whole hotel, so a non-participant doesn't get past the lobby -- there are volunteers posted at each entrance checking wristbands.

[Eido]

Thanks again for the quick replies.  I do have some follow up questions.  Where is the hotel staff during the con?  Are housekeeping, maintenance, and security, present or just on call?  Food services?

Are there ever any non-fetish vendors present?

Any suggestions for links or sources for proper behaviour and con etiquette?

Thanks,
Eido

[Cutter]

For Fetish-Con the hotel staff is there doing their jobs.  They do have to avoid the convention floor, but otherwise they are there to do their jobs.  They also know they may see some very neat outfits or bizzare ones.

By non-fetish vendors, what do you mean?  I think I'm missing something.

Etiquette : What you can do or don't do, is basic enough.  Taking pictures or video in generally not a problem.  On the convention floor or outside the floor it is better if you ask before you take the pics.  If it is outside the con floor or seems they are in a private moment leave them alone. The reactions and interactions you get from the models is far better.  Once the flashes start to go off others do tend to join in, so the ladies will be looking all over the place.  A Red Carpet event is a free for all, pics are expected to be taken.

When you go yourself / if you go expect to see yourself show up on your favorite bondage sites.  The paperwork we sign states that we understand that we may show up on a website.  *FACT: I myself have appeared in the background of videos.*

DO NOT badmouth or talk down to the Models.  This should be a no brainer, however a few years back, a con attendee had the attitude that the ladies were nothing more that hookers.  He was bounced from the convention and hotel.

No grabbing the ladies.  Hugs may be obtained, however you better ask first.  Talk to them before hand.  You will come off better and they can do a threat assessment where you are concerned.  Keeps the con security from playing football tackle with you, and some of the models may have the physical power to stuff you into a very small space.  Also the models friends, escorts, boyfriend/girlfriend, husbands will be nearby, they can get more 'protective' than normal con security.

[Eido]

By non-fetish vendor I mean someone who is there to do demos or sell stuff that is not directly fetish related. At the large public gatherings I am familiar with, sci fi cons, music festivals, and regattas, there might be a chiropractor, phystherapist, or massage therapist, someone offering dance or music intro lessons, yoga class or some other workout mainly for blowing off steam, jewelers or other artisans, and anyone else that thinks they can make a buck off the crowd.

Attedees can get close enough to models to hug them?  Is that typical?  I would have thought neutral zones would be enforced.  No, I will not be fetish conning in this lifetime ☺  too old for that much excitement and my missus is very very vanilla.  Which is why I really appreciate the input from you more experienced folks.

Eido

[Anansi]

Hi Eido! 

The Fetish Fair Fleamarket page that I linked to has a rules page, and the various program booklets from past Fleas also have rules and etiquette sections (pgs 4-5 in last year's booklet (pdf)), which might be useful.  Contrary to Cutter's experience, they ban photography and video in public spaces, and someone could be escorted from the premises for violating the ban.

Regarding the hotel staff, they're all there, doing their jobs as normal.  Everyone goes into the event eyes-open; we're as respectful as possible to the staff, and they're respectful to us.  Room service, bars, and restaurants are open (though maybe on more of a "convention meal" schedule than normal day-to-day operation), housekeeping and maintenance make the usual rounds (I imagine they knock *extra* loud, though), hotel security is there in their blazers working with the con staff and con security, concierge services are available, etc.

As far as "vanilla" vendors, the Flea is pretty much all kink or "kink-friendly" -- there are some vendors that sell, like, ren-faire-type clothing, some doing henna or body art, etc., but nothing completely unrelated.  Stuff like yoga or dance lessons would be done more on the presentation side of things, with, say, a morning yoga class scheduled in one of the presentation rooms, or an "Intro to Belly Dance" class.  But these would be of a volunteer-led basis, not for-profit (*).

Regarding models, at the Flea, at least, the vendor spaces are usually too small to have dedicated models just standing there looking pretty.  Since the event is in a hotel convention space and not a full-scale Convention Center, space is at a premium.  Most of the vendor spaces are maybe 12'x12' or so, or some vendors will be set up in one of the normal hotel rooms (they set aside a hallway or two for this), so there's maybe room for like 3-4 workers tops, plus all of their merchandise and displays and storage, etc.  It can actually get quite crowded if a particular vendor is popular.  That said, everyone's friendly and the vendors are usually happy to demo a product or let you try it out (or on). 

(* - note that with the Flea, at least, volunteering for a certain number of hours gives you comp'd admission to the rest of the weekend, so people running something like that do get compensated, just not in a revenue sense.)