I'm looking for some Pathfinder events to play, but while I have the rulebook I've never actually played before. And all of the events seem to be Pathfinder Society events, with a lot of the event descriptions seeming to include mention of an in-character "Pathfinder Society," which I know nothing about.

Does a prospective player have to know anything about the Pathfinder Society (IC or OOC) to get the most out of these adventures?

You can easily show up with no knowledge of society and have fun.  The extent of my experience with society has been at the con so I'm not an expert, but basics are:

• Get a pathfinder society id from paizo.com (or you can get a temporary one at the con I think.  The GM needs you to have this so they get credit I think.)
  
• If you're interested in following a larger storyine, pick a sesaon and start at the first module (In the event listings #8-01 means season 8 module 1)
  
• If you're just interested in a 1 off module, try to pick something that shows either level 1 or 4 in the level range.  I think they have pregenned characters at both those levels available.  The pregens are usually available on tables in the back.  There's usually a big table on a pedastal in the center of the room you can go to ask for help.
  
• If you are going to play a level 1 adventure, you can show up 30-45 minutes early and use a character building station to set up a legal character and get it printed out.  I think it's run by the people that make Heroforge, it's very handy and they have people there to help.  At that point you will have an official character with XP in the pathfinder society universe which allows a variety of things I've never bothered with.
  
• Plan to be done with character creation or at the entrance 15 minutes early and find which entrance to the hall has your module listed then start chatting with people to build a table.  There are volunteers that will help, but it's a lot smoother if you can meet some people and build portions of a group at least to reduce the chaos.
  
• Your character will need to select a faction.  I think people generally default to grand lodge or something like that.  There are minor sub-quest differences and goals between the factions, but I doubt there's much difference in how much fun you'd have between any of them, so don't stress about it.
  

Also, you may want to consider the 8pm pathfinder special events.  I think the entire room runs the same module so getting assigned to a table seems to be a simpler process than the normal events and everybody is using pregenned characters.

Fatherbloodlust,

I'm a longtime PFS player.  I'd be glad to answer your questions.  There's a lot going on with regard to knowing about PFS.  

First, what are you looking to do?  Play just one scenario?  Play with a group of your friends?  How long will you be at the Con?  And finally, do you have any Pathfinder experience or other RPG experience?

A typical scenario lasts about 4-5 hours.  Paizo runs 3 scenarios per day, 1 on Sunday morning.

You don't need to know that much to give it a try, 

PFS ID numbers are for you to track your characters.  If you don't have one beforehand, you can get one onsite.

Pregens are available at levels 1, 4, and 7.  Most PFS scenarios are for a group of 5 levels (1-5, 3-7, 5-9, 7-11) and then divided into low or high based on what characters show up.  (So a 3-7 might be in the 3-4 or 6-7 subtier.)  Practical upshot: you can show up for almost any scenario and play a pregen.  My recommendation is to stick to the low end if only because they're mechanically simpler characters, but it's your choice.

If you have the time, it's better to make your own character(s).  You can read about the factions and other special rules for PFS characters in the free-to-download PFS Roleplaying Guild Guide.  Factions only matter for characters you create; all the pregens are considered to be in the Grand Lodge faction and cannot earn special faction rewards anyway.  (Unless things changed in Season 7.)

The big interactive special (where the whole room succeeds or fails together) on Friday night is a favorite, but don't play that with a pregen.  One limitation of PFS is that you can only get credit for playing most scenarios once, so it's better to play these sorts of things with a character you know and love. :)

If you're looking for a starting point I'd recommend playing The Confirmation, which is designed as an intro to the Pathfinder Society for new players and characters that you can play multiple times.  The large Thursday and Saturday night events are ones where everyone plays the same adventure with the same set of pregens, so those are decent for jumping in if you're fine with the mechanics.  (Story-wise you might want to wait to play in those until you know more about the PFS world, but as mentioned it makes it a lot easier to get seated at a table.)

Hope this helps.

question similar to father bloodlusts question..
( Been playing pathfinder from the beginning but never been to gen con nor  been in PFS)
 Ive part of the" All for immortality" session on Friday morning.. what kind of issues will i need to look out for? All advice is 
VERY welcome..Bear in mind I just read  your posts above which has me worried ...lol
Do I need to bring a pregened char? I have several from Herolabs... can i get one there?

All for Immortality is a three-part series intended for characters who have leveled out of normal Pathfinder Society play.  (A character that reaches level 12 is mostly retired; they're called "Seekers" in the PFS materials.)

Since you haven't been playing PFS, you should pick another scenario as there won't be pregens available at an appropriate level.  If you're looking to play on Friday at 8 AM, The Confirmation or The Consortium Compact might be good choices; they're more introductory and you are highly encouraged to make your own first level character using the guide I linked to above.  Otherwise, any of the adventures for characters from levels 1-11 should work.

Hero Lab is a very helpful tool; I use it to make my characters for Pathfinder.  When creating a character for PFS, make sure you check the box for a "Pathfinder Society Organized Play Character" in the list of settings on the right of the new character dialog.  
 

If any new player reads this, also remember that if you bring your own character, be sure that you have all the books that you used options from while making the character, as you are required to own all of the books you used during character creation.