My summary of my experience at FM

[Velli Wolf]

Good evening all,

I am happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed my first Furry Migration, especially as staff! I am blown away by the fact we got 528 for the final count and even more floored we had 115 fursuiters in the parade! There is a lot to say from my end, so please bear with me as I write out my War and Peace on all my thoughts about the con.

It all began when I was at MFF when I first heard about FM. I was eating sushi at the red bar with a bunch of Iowa yokels and someone brought up the Minnesota furs were having a con. I looked into it and found something phenomenal. I decide to give volunteering a shot and sent my name in to help with publications. Little did I know what that would balloon into overtime. Eventually I was contacted by Ridayah and Cyn and we discussed my role as a volunteer further. I got to discuss things with them at the. MNFurs spring picnic in May. There I was asked if I wanted to take over the entire Publications Department. I was floored as this was an invitation to one of the biggest responsibilities I could have so far in life. I took a deep breath and accepted it.

The next months proved to me just how far down the rabbit hole could go when making the conbook. There was advertising to coordinate, content to collect, formatting to be done, etc. The only downside was I had FOUR MONTHS in which to do this all. It was a trying time and I almost came undone during that period. My loving fiancée and draggy, Canas somehow held me together even at the worst of times. For that I am eternally grateful. The whole time I was doing the book I somehow saw something mystical beyond all the hellish craziness and long hours of endurance. Somewhere in the future I saw a great convention and I just had to keep pushing myself until September 12th. I knew I could make it. The path was by no means straight, but I would get there.

The convention finally came and I had lots of fun. I helped with the fundraising poker tournament and I also got a chance to DJ at the Friday dance. I openly admit I am an amateur at best with that, but it taught me a life lesson. The work leading up to the con also bleed into a lot of my free time so I sadly had to cancel two panels I was going to do as well. I was also trying not to let my con work bleed into my day job work. I was really afraid at times it would, but maybe now that I have a full year instead of four months to put the conbook together I can do better with project management.

Furry is the one thing that always rejuvenated my spirit even when I am feeling the lowest of lows. Beyond dark clouds and all the stress from my days, I see happiness. I did have some suggestions about what I would like to see for next year’s con, but this also may involve me helping a bit to make all this happen.

I like the idea of the room party block. Granted, only two happened this year, but hey we’re both pretty classy affairs that the attending folk enjoyed. I understand a lot of people would rather go for the more adult, risqué room parties where it’s invite by wristband with a cover charge at the door. I do believe there is just as big of a group that likes open-door room parties as well. I came up with a interesting way of promoting them.to people on the fence about getting one next year. One of the two parties I went to was the cider/wine/alcohol tasting with Mouring and company. I think room partied could be utilized as a form of advertising so to speak. Say you are a furry musician, artist,or writer. Granted you could sell your stuff in the Dealer’s Den during the day, but at night you could also take advantage of a room party to sell your wares or give a demonstration/performance. Heck, it could be a CD release party or even you’re own small art show. Let me say right now, also, that I am not trying in any way to detract from the official dealers den or artist alley. I appreciate every ounce of work that was put into both. We all did a fantastic job putting the con together and I’m just throwing ideas at the wall here.

Everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about the convention. I saw a lot of people from out-of-state as well as in-state. They loved the fact there was not “elevator con” as it’s getting to be known at places like the AC Westin. They also liked the backyard as it was perfect for fursuiters day or night. The hotel provided a relaxed atmosphere and it was easy to navigate with the map on the back of the conbook. The gaming room with all the tournaments and prizes was a huge hit with a lot of my friends. They are all big gamers and there was ample space to do many things in the Gaming Room.

One thing that confused me a little bit was how things were split up between the dealer’s den and the artist alley. I remember seeing about artists alley and artist half-tables, but I think some of those were in the dealer’s den instead of the artist alley. Was that to avoid the random lottery that usually comes up with alleys? I guess if I were an artist I would like more clarification on those. I really didn’t see many people looking at the art show either so I am not sure if I was just walking by at a slow time or whatnot.

I do apologize for having to cancel my panels, but I had little sanity left by the time the con hit. I hope to do some next year now that I have a full year to work on the book. I am sure that things will be even more awesome next year and hopefully we will at least top 700 for reg!

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