The convention is over. The last builds have been torn down, carefully packed (or tossed in a bin), and the staff have packed up and cleared the space. What’s next?

1. Sleep
I can’t state this enough: a convention is a draining experience regardless of your physical health, activity level, or personal preference for human interaction.

You’ve just spent the last four or five days on your feet, on a cement surface, surrounded by 500-1000 of your new best friends, along with a few hours of thousands of devoted fans ogling your LEGO builds. Your body needs to repair itself. If possible, I recommend taking the day after a convention off from work to rest and work in some self-care.

2. Take care of your physical self
Since you’ve been around hundreds of strangers for the last five days, it’s very common to catch the common cold. By taking time to care for your physical self after a convention, you reduce your risk (in addition to basics during the convention, like hand-washing, hand-sanitizer, and doing your best to get ample sleep and water).

Self-care looks different for everyone: some people will sleep all day; others will get up and go as if nothing happened. Others may get massages, and others may isolate themselves with a good book or Netflix series. Your self-care is whatever you need to do take care of yourself – but make sure you do it.

3. Post your pictures
You took pictures, right? Put them somewhere others can find them! I can guarantee someone will want to see them. Each fan convention typically has a dedicated Flickr group, and there’s often a hashtag for your photos on social media. People who attended love to see pictures of the people who were there; people who weren’t able to attend love to see pictures of the LEGO builds. Post what you’ve got!

You now have a large repository of inspiration for next year! Speaking of next year…

4. Plan for next year
There’s no better time to plan for the next event then right after the convention is over! Leverage the new friends you’ve made (and make sure you add them to your preferred social media). Plan for collaborations and meet-ups. Plan your next build.

Create calendar reminders to once again register, build, and get excited for your next convention. Before you know it, 10 years and 15 events later, you’ll look back and realize that the LEGO conventions you’ve attended are shining, wonderful memories filled with people that enrich your life and challenge you to continuously be a better person.

Now that we’ve covered everything, let’s look back at our original list of events. A few have been added from the comments, so be sure to take a look and make note of the ones you want to attend!

• BrickFair Alabama @ Birmingham, AL (Jan. 12 – Jan 15, 2017)
• BricksLA @ Pasedena, CA (Jan. 27 – Jan. 29, 2017)
• Brickvention Australia @ Carlton, Victoria
• Bricks Cascade @ Portland, OR (March 2017)
• BrickCan @ Richmond, BC (April 21 – April 24, 2016)
• BrickUniverse Raleigh @ Raleigh, NC
• Philly Brick Fest @ Oaks, PA (April 28 – May1)
• BrickFair New England @ Marlborough, MA (May 19 – May 22, 2016)
• BrickSlopes @ Orem, UT (June 23 – June 26, 2016)
• BrickWorld @ Schaumberg, IL (June 15 – June 19, 2016)
• Brickfête @ Toronto, Ontario (July 7 – July 10, 2016)
• Brick Fiesta @ Houston, TX (July 7 – July 10, 2016)
• BrickExpo  Canberra @ Woden, ACT
• BrickFair Virginia @ Chantilly, VA (Aug. 3 – Aug. 7, 2016)
• Denver Brick Fest @ Denver, CO (Aug. 13 – Aug. 14, 2016)
• Bricks by the Bay @ Santa Clara, CA (Aug. 18 – Aug. 21, 2016)
• Skærbæk Fan Weekend @ Skærbæk, Denmark (Sep. 24 – Sep. 25, 2016)
• BrickCon @ Seattle, WA (Sept. 29 – Oct. 2, 2016)
• LEGO World @ Utrecht, Netherlands (Oct. 18 – Oct. 24, 2016)
• BrickFair New Jersey @ Somerset, NJ (Oct. 27 – Oct. 30, 2016)
• BrickUniverse Dallas @ Plano, TX (Dec. 3 – Dec. 4, 2016)

And if you haven’t already, check out the rest of this series of articles:

Part One: Attending Fan Conventions
Part Two: Before the Convention
Part Three: Convention Time!

We hope you enjoyed this series! We look forward to bringing you more posts like this in the future.