Conventions were much nicer years ago before they got too crowded. Like when I could just stroll up to George Takei and just have a casual chin wag with him. No big queue, no fee to just speak with him (only if you wanted an autograph)... those were great times. Nowadays you're lucky if you can even see an international guest at a big con without waiting in a freakishly long queue that you have to pay for the privilege to stand in.

You can still experience this at smaller and lesser known conventions like Heroes and Villains (which is really more like a collectables market that happened to have international guests). I was able to have a good chat with people like Garry Chalk and Steve Blum, get autographs, take photos etc. - all without paying an arm and a leg!