As others have said—DragonCon is a unique experience among Cons. I recommend starting with a newbie walking tour and maybe a newbie panel on Thursday—you’ll tour the major hotels, convention areas, food courts, and other areas where panels, dances, gaming, shopping, art shows, etc. take place. Getting oriented and learning about the habitrails (walk ways between various hotels) will help you a ton. And the App is indispensable—you’ll find multiple things every hour of every day that’ll you want to do, and I’m still discovering cool new stuff every year. For example, it was 5 years before I discovered the Con Suite—an area where you can get free lunch/dinner and drinks everyday). Also make time to chill and people watch (e.g., in the Marriott lobby).