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Think of a convention 3-4 hour game as a single TV episode and the campaign being the entire series or at least a season. (If I remembered who made the original analogy, I would give them credit, this is not my brilliant point of view but one I totally agree with) Try and keep it simple and somewhat straight forward for the time span. Play test, play test, play test, especially if you are not comfortable with the time constraints.

For pregens, (yes, you should have pregens), make them as complex or simple as you like keeping with the spirit of the session you are running. I perfer a fairly complete fully fleshed out character with at least some simple background for con games. I know others stick to the very basic character, only hitting the highlights. As far as level goes, make them a level that is appropriate to the session you are running. I usually run an average of 4th level but for some sessions, it is fun to run first level or high level/high power games, again all depends on what you are running and comfortable with.

Hope that helps.

My pleasure, always glad to help.

Check out the MA/GM Demo post in the MA forum:

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=61225

Spinachcat and Novastar are two of the best MA/GMs and offer some great advice and tips.

1) Major congrats on running such long campaigns! Obviously you know how to keep your players interested and coming back for more.

2) An Open House game is a one-shot. The entire shebang happens in 4 hours. There is an art to running convention games because it demands a different pacing.
Pacing is key. The second worst thing a GM can do is set up a great Beginning and cool Middle and have time run out before the Ending. Ugh, that's painful. Whatever you do, you gotta bring down the curtain with some form of resolution.

3) The game mechanics do not change, except for two major points. First, whatever house rules you use need to be taught...very quickly and try to keep them to the bare minimum. Second, you don't worry about XP or leveling or anything that matters beyond the Beginning / Middle / End of your 4 hour event.

4) My best advice is to write up your characters and your adventure and then ask your gaming group to do a playtest. Time your game. Give yourself 4 hours and keep a watch handy so you can pace yourself. Afterwards, you will see where stuff needs to be cut and where stuff needs fleshing out.

Good luck and feel free to ask tons of questions. Most of my three decades of GMing has been at convention games...and I am still learning stuff. I am running 7 sessions of 4-6 hour events at OrcCon this weekend and I just decided on testing some new ways to present character stats.