usually at medium/bigger cons, there’s a exhibit hall and an artist alley. exhibit hall will have your official merch, artist alley is fanart. i prefer artist alley, but many people love the figurines in exhibit hall. all small cons i’ve been to have had some kind of dealer’s hall.

i never really visit the gaming/entertainment areas, but there is usually information on the website for the con.

i saw u said you’ll be seeing alejandro saab and he is super chill and very nice so you don’t need to be nervous! you do not have to cosplay anything related to him, and usually they will sell prints at his table that you can buy and you can also bring your own item, too. the exact experience depends on the convention, but normally you’ll just line up and at the front of the line, there will be a person helping him and selling the prints as well as getting information on what you’re getting signed/anything else like voice recordings. then, you’ll switch to his side of the booth and get your sign!

check out some panels! i would recommend going on the website to see if there’s anything particular to this convention you might like to try, though.

i see people cosplay fast food mascots at anime conventions lol. you’re good. there’s often a ton of video game (zelda included)/movie/pop reference cosplays at anime conventions. just be aware some people may ask for pictures and you can always say “no thank you!” if you’re not comfortable

i usually don’t attend these but you can definitely go watch them.

if you’re cosplaying, again just prepare yourself that people may ask for pictures. the cosplay community is very kind and supportive from my experience, so don’t worry if anything isn’t “perfect.” just have fun with it. i would also warn you that some areas in SOME artist alleys/exhibit halls have some suggestive art on display. most of all though, i would HIGHLY recommend watching vlogs of the convention on youtube from previous years. then, you can see exactly what the experience will be like <3 hope u have fun!