I’m in the very early stages of planning a new convention for a fandom I’m in. One piece of advice I keep seeing for new conventions is to plan it for a slower month in whatever town you’re going to be in to avoid competing with other events.

I’m not expecting a large event our first go round, optimistically around 300 attendees, realistically around 150 attendees. (Those numbers could be way off, but I think my question is still applicable to a potentially larger event.)

My question is which is better from a get-the-most-attendees standpoint: January/February, when more rooms are available and rates are lower but it’s harder for people to travel or summer, when it’s more difficult to get a room (unless you book ahead) and rates are higher, but it’s easier for people to travel? I know which dates to avoid completely due to large annual events (I don’t even go into downtown when they’re happening 😂), but outside of that, I’m a little lost. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!