Brony Convention Question

[LyraBae 82]

I wanted to go to a meetup, and I had a question about it.

 

How old do you have to be to go to a brony convention?

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

@@LyraBae

 

Just letting you know I moved your topic from Meetups to Sugarcube Corner as this isn't dealing an actual meet up.

 

Thanks.

[Venomous 18,813]

I don't think that you have be a specific age to enter a convention.

Although I could be wrong.

 

However, I know that there will be some areas that you may have to be 18+ to visit.

[WriteCodes46 178]

21+ if they serve alcohol at the con. Otherwise, there will likely be no age restriction.

[Simon 4,554]

@@LyraBae,

 

Hey!  I'm on BABSCon's staff, so ho hopefully I'll be able to answer your questions!

 

So first of all, you mention both cons and meetups in your post.  Let me talk about them separately cause they're completely different and how age comes into the fold is also different for them.

 

So 'meetups' are generally just a local group of people who get together at some public establishment in a small group to hang out.  These can take place in a million forms... usually something like a post on a meetup site organizing a group dinner at a local restaurant or a meetup at somebody's house.  These are generally small events that are free to attend besides the costs of buying whatever food or drinks or whatever you buy wherever you are meeting up and much more informally organized than an actual convention.  Age isn't going to be a big factor at meetups, though there may be age issues depending on where the meetup is.  For example, if a meetup group decides to meetup at a bar, you'll probably need to be 21 to attend it.  If you're on the younger side, I'd recommend checking with the meetup group and seeing if there are similarly aged people in the group or if there's any foreseeable issues.  If there's something that may be an issue (like the group's meetups tend to have lots of drinking) it's best to find that out in advance. 

 

Conventions are a whole different ballgame.  These are the large events that go through months and months of planning, have hundreds or thousands of attendees, and are run by an organization in a hotel or convention center.  Actual conventions will always have a set of rules or a code of conduct that attendees are expected to follow.  For pony conventions, there's not going to be an age minimum, at least not that I've ever heard of.  There are, however, restrictions based on age.  Most conventions will expect or require attendees on the younger side to attend the convention with a parent or guardian, and depending on your age, you may also be asked or required to stay with your parent during the convention.  Beyond this, there will also be some programming at conventions that may be age limited.  Generally, these panels will be later in the evening and restricted to a 16+ or 18+ audience.  At conventions where there are officially sanctioned parties or activities with alcohol, you may be required to be 21 to attend those events.   For the most part, if you're old enough to be on this forum, you're going to be old enough to go to and enjoy most everything at a convention.

[LyraBae 82]

Thanks guys! This was really helpful.