I made it to two furry conventions this summer. Comparing the experience I had at each of them is quite a study in contrasts.

Anthrocon was big. Really big. It was jaw-dropping the first time I saw the dealers room and how big it was. There were plenty of panels and events I wanted to attend, enough that I had to make some tough choices and ended up missing some I would like to have seen. So many places you could be at once, so spread out, there could be something going on at one end of the venue and you'd be pretty far removed from it if you were at the far end, or at one of the hotels other than the main one.

Mephit Fur Meet was much smaller. Familiar, comfortable, not too many panels. I still didn't make it to all the ones I wanted to attend, but that was more on account of my responsibilities being a staff member than anything to do with scheduling. The convention hotel is small enough that no matter where you want to get to, you're never far from it.

Both had numerous instances of meeting up with people. At Mephit it was almost entirely people I already knew from prior cons (though one of my roomies was a long-time online friend whom I was meeting in person for the first time). Anthrocon had a lot more of "I finally get to meet you at last". AC certainly included plenty of encounters with people I knew, and a few opportunities to get better acquainted with others, even some I'd met just about at random.

Perhaps the biggest contrast was in those moments when I was wandering the halls, among the crowds, by myself, trying to figure out what to do with myself. I'm an introvert, an Aspie, somewhat of a social misfit, and old enough to be dismissed out of hand by a lot of younger furs. At AC, there were moments when I felt like I was looking over a sea of faces and feeling lost, out of place because I don't know anybody. As much fun as I had at AC, it wore me out and by Sunday evening when I was having one of those moments, I felt ready to get out of there, to escape from the crowd. At Mephit, it was almost a total opposite. At least half the people there were, if not people I knew, at least people I sort of knew just because I'd seen them around enough. Plenty of familiar faces, plenty of people I could sit with and get involved in a conversation with. Like family. "Welcome home" isn't just a saying, it's how they do things at MFM.

And where do the other conventions I've been to fit in this scheme? Midwest Furfest is about halfway between. Much bigger than Mephit but smaller than Anthrocon. Lots of things to do, enough to force one to make choices at times. Having been there several years as well as to other events in the region, I know quite a few more people than I did at AC, so the "lost in a crowd" feeling isn't much of an issue. Furry Connection North is between Midwest and Mephit in terms of size, or at least it was when I attended in 2011. Not as many familiar faces as at Mephit or Midwest, but close enough regionally to attract a lot of the same familiar faces I knew from other conventions.

I'll close with two observations. First, maybe it's different for the more extroverted types who can strike up a conversation with anybody, but for introverts like me, developing that level of familiarity that makes you feel like a member of the crowd instead of lost in it requires repeat attendance. Second, different conventions of different sizes each have their own character and provide different kinds of experiences. Don't believe for a minute that one is like any other, and if you're focused on going to only one convention every year, you don't know what you're missing by not trying some of the others.