Once you reach a level of comfort with your kinky desires it may be time to go to a BDSM convention. A BDSM convention is much like a convention for any other activity. It is a large all day or all weekend gathering of kinky people with classes, demonstrations and parties usually all in one place. Usually they are in convention centers, hotels and event centers. There are vendors selling wares and people from all over showing up with one thing in common. They are all kinky. They happen all over the world so it’s likely you’ll find one near you.

Conventions tend to follow a similar set up.The hotel or convention center will set up screens in the hallways leading to the convention area, and there will be people at those screens checking badges to make sure only convention attendees get through.

In the common areas, people are dress and act like anyone else at a hotel would, in the reserved areas it’s more likely to see people in fetish wear, collars or even naked. People will be using their protocol they’ve established and might have rules they are following, so use respect when approaching anyone inside the event space.

During the day, there are workshops, classes, demos, and lectures. Most conferences have 3–5 of these at a time, each one being anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half long. You’ll find workshops and lectures on things like consent, D/s relationship styles, bondage, flogging, introductions to various play activities and so on. Some are set up like classes, others as roundtables and more are workshops with demonstrations of the activity presented.

The classes and demonstrations are a fantastic resource for education and information gathering on what it is that we do. Some conventions are specific to one facet of BDSM such as Ropecraft which is all about rope bondage, but most cater to a variety of predilections.

A common feature of just about every BDSM convention I’ve attended is a public dungeon, usually set up at night when the classes are over. All night long people will go to the dungeon to engage in all sorts of BDSM activities.

It’s also common to have a sales floor where merchants set up tables to sell all sorts of kinky things from rope and floggers to books and sex toys. Occasionally, at larger conventions there is more than one room.

Some other things that can be a part of the event are dances, music groups, pageants, auctions and so much more.

It’s not uncommon for people to host private parties in their hotel rooms also.

How do you find conventions? FetLife is a good place to go to find events big and small. While most BDSM conventions have their own websites to facilitate the registration and information sharing, they often list them in the FetLife events section also. So browse the geographical area around you for potential events.

If you are a part of a bdsm community then you will likely get notified of events coming up and perhaps find people that are going as well. This is one of the best sources of information and you can find out what people thought of previous year’s conventions to see if they would be a good fit before you commit to one yourself.

There is also a website called The BDSM Events Page - http://www.thebdsmeventspage.com.

You can also use a search engine and just enter in the state you live in and the words bdsm event or convention.

No matter what you choose, attending a BDSM convention can be a great learning experience for your kink as well as a social atmosphere where you can develop lasting relationships.

I’ve included a few articles about BDSM conventions below so if you’d like more information check them out.

Thanks for watching and I’d like to also thank all our Patrons on Patreon who make this channel possible. If you want to show your support check out http://www.patreon.com/subguide. And if you want more information stop by submissiveguide.com and check out the many articles on this topic and hundreds of others.