IndyFurCon 2010
First:
IndyFurCon 2010 photos
IndyFurCon 2010 video I
IndyFurCon 2010 video II
IndyFurCon 2010 video III
IndyFurCon 2010 video IV
Credit me (Abrahm) if you repost any of them. I'll upload a few more videos as time permits.
HOTEL
- The hotel isn't gigantic, but I didn't feel cramped or crowded at all.
- The rooms are basic, but that's not really a complaint. At every con hotel, I use the room for sleeping and changing. It doesn't have to be lavish; I just need a bed, temp control, and a bathroom.
- We were limited to one side of the hotel (due to other events and such that were scheduled during our weekend). We didn't have a ton of space available to us, and that hurt us. However, I was told that the con will have most of the hotel space reserved for next year.
- The weather was hot and humid for all days of the con, and we all felt it, even inside the hotel. The hotel was air-conditioned, but it was never really cool inside. It was never really dry inside, either. I let the hotel staff know about the humidity problem when I checked out.
- The hotel allows pets, and that's a double-edged sword, if there ever was one. Seeing and petting all of the well-behaved dogs running around the con was nice. Dealing with a tiny, yappy dog barking at 6AM for two days during the stay... that wasn't so nice. Shortly before I checked out, I found out that the problem dog came with someone who wasn't a con attendee. So, there wasn't much I could do, aside from deal with it.
- The food at the hotel definitely wasn't cheap, but the prices weren't too expensive, either. I had breakfast and dinner at the hotel while I was there. And I went to the bar, late night, a few times... to get chocolate milk and orange juice. That's right. No alcohol for this lion; I don't drink it!
PROGRAMMING
- I didn't expect much in the way of programming, and I certainly didn't get much from it. Still, I was disappointed with the lack of fursuit programming. Aside from the parade and the photo shoot, we had only a fursuit-friendly dance and the fursuit games to participate in. There were no panels on fursuit making/care, performance, or anything of that sort. So, most of my fursuit time was spent wandering around (in the very moderate amount of space we had). Yes, I was stopped for photos several times, and there were a few children there who liked me and gave high-fives. But really, I needed more fursuit things to do.
- The fursuit games... I swear, there must be some unwritten rule that states the people hosting the games have to bore us with useless banter and ad-libs, and give us complex games to play. If you are following those 'rules', then please stop. Standing around waiting for things to happen AND watching the audience walk out (likely from eroded interest and/or lack of patience) is not fun for anyone. This also happened at Anthrocon and FCN this year. Seriously, guys, I'm there because I want to play, not because I want to stand still listening to complex rules and non-funny 'jokes'. Please, keep the games simple, and move them along at a good pace. :|
- I attended the Friday night dance and the fursuit-friendly dance on Saturday. Both were... okay. They weren't really exciting because the sound system wasn't the greatest. Also, I expected more 'pure' music for the fursuit-friendly dance, but we got more light remixes for that one, and I didn't enjoy it very much. However, I'll take the blame for that one. None of the DJs really took suggestions or requests for their sets, and they kinda just played what they wanted. That's fine and good, and I can't blame them for doing that.
- I paid for a sponsor membership, and that gave me access to the sponsor suite. Supposedly, it was full of free food. But I never went there because I really wasn't interested in eating lots of junk food. Also, it was out of the way, on the fourth floor of the hotel. All of the action was happening on the first floor, my room was on the second floor, and the elevator congestion and humidity made using the stairs more taxing than it should have been (and I used the stairs often).
OTHER THINGS
- Soon after I arrived at the hotel, I was approached by a staff member, and he asked me about handling the fursuit photo shoot. Apparently, the con didn't have anyone to handle it. Needless to say, I was stunned when he asked me to do it, especially since I obviously didn't have the gear to do it (strobes or continuous lighting, muslin, wireless flash setup, etc.) A Nikon D5000 and one flashgun on a flash bracket are more than enough for taking walkaround photos at an event. But they certainly aren't enough to produce anything that looks like studio-level photos. I didn't have an answer for him, but I told him that I'd think about it and get back to him later. But thankfully, I ran into someone else who was supposedly contacted by the con staff to handle the shoot, and he had enough equipment for it.
I'm not sure why or how that part of the programming was overlooked during the whole year of planning for the con. But really, I didn't know what to think about that.
----
And that's that, for now. I may have more to say about the con, later. But overall, I had a good time, and there were some fun moments. I did a good amount of fursuiting and I met a few new people there. The whole con could have quickly become a disaster, especially since it was the first year and Murphy's Law is the dark cloud for first-anythings. But that didn't happen. I'm almost certain I'll go back next year, but I do hope the staff members are looking at the feedback they're getting.
IndyFurCon 2010 photos
IndyFurCon 2010 video I
IndyFurCon 2010 video II
IndyFurCon 2010 video III
IndyFurCon 2010 video IV
Credit me (Abrahm) if you repost any of them. I'll upload a few more videos as time permits.
HOTEL
- The hotel isn't gigantic, but I didn't feel cramped or crowded at all.
- The rooms are basic, but that's not really a complaint. At every con hotel, I use the room for sleeping and changing. It doesn't have to be lavish; I just need a bed, temp control, and a bathroom.
- We were limited to one side of the hotel (due to other events and such that were scheduled during our weekend). We didn't have a ton of space available to us, and that hurt us. However, I was told that the con will have most of the hotel space reserved for next year.
- The weather was hot and humid for all days of the con, and we all felt it, even inside the hotel. The hotel was air-conditioned, but it was never really cool inside. It was never really dry inside, either. I let the hotel staff know about the humidity problem when I checked out.
- The hotel allows pets, and that's a double-edged sword, if there ever was one. Seeing and petting all of the well-behaved dogs running around the con was nice. Dealing with a tiny, yappy dog barking at 6AM for two days during the stay... that wasn't so nice. Shortly before I checked out, I found out that the problem dog came with someone who wasn't a con attendee. So, there wasn't much I could do, aside from deal with it.
- The food at the hotel definitely wasn't cheap, but the prices weren't too expensive, either. I had breakfast and dinner at the hotel while I was there. And I went to the bar, late night, a few times... to get chocolate milk and orange juice. That's right. No alcohol for this lion; I don't drink it!
PROGRAMMING
- I didn't expect much in the way of programming, and I certainly didn't get much from it. Still, I was disappointed with the lack of fursuit programming. Aside from the parade and the photo shoot, we had only a fursuit-friendly dance and the fursuit games to participate in. There were no panels on fursuit making/care, performance, or anything of that sort. So, most of my fursuit time was spent wandering around (in the very moderate amount of space we had). Yes, I was stopped for photos several times, and there were a few children there who liked me and gave high-fives. But really, I needed more fursuit things to do.
- The fursuit games... I swear, there must be some unwritten rule that states the people hosting the games have to bore us with useless banter and ad-libs, and give us complex games to play. If you are following those 'rules', then please stop. Standing around waiting for things to happen AND watching the audience walk out (likely from eroded interest and/or lack of patience) is not fun for anyone. This also happened at Anthrocon and FCN this year. Seriously, guys, I'm there because I want to play, not because I want to stand still listening to complex rules and non-funny 'jokes'. Please, keep the games simple, and move them along at a good pace. :|
- I attended the Friday night dance and the fursuit-friendly dance on Saturday. Both were... okay. They weren't really exciting because the sound system wasn't the greatest. Also, I expected more 'pure' music for the fursuit-friendly dance, but we got more light remixes for that one, and I didn't enjoy it very much. However, I'll take the blame for that one. None of the DJs really took suggestions or requests for their sets, and they kinda just played what they wanted. That's fine and good, and I can't blame them for doing that.
- I paid for a sponsor membership, and that gave me access to the sponsor suite. Supposedly, it was full of free food. But I never went there because I really wasn't interested in eating lots of junk food. Also, it was out of the way, on the fourth floor of the hotel. All of the action was happening on the first floor, my room was on the second floor, and the elevator congestion and humidity made using the stairs more taxing than it should have been (and I used the stairs often).
OTHER THINGS
- Soon after I arrived at the hotel, I was approached by a staff member, and he asked me about handling the fursuit photo shoot. Apparently, the con didn't have anyone to handle it. Needless to say, I was stunned when he asked me to do it, especially since I obviously didn't have the gear to do it (strobes or continuous lighting, muslin, wireless flash setup, etc.) A Nikon D5000 and one flashgun on a flash bracket are more than enough for taking walkaround photos at an event. But they certainly aren't enough to produce anything that looks like studio-level photos. I didn't have an answer for him, but I told him that I'd think about it and get back to him later. But thankfully, I ran into someone else who was supposedly contacted by the con staff to handle the shoot, and he had enough equipment for it.
I'm not sure why or how that part of the programming was overlooked during the whole year of planning for the con. But really, I didn't know what to think about that.
----
And that's that, for now. I may have more to say about the con, later. But overall, I had a good time, and there were some fun moments. I did a good amount of fursuiting and I met a few new people there. The whole con could have quickly become a disaster, especially since it was the first year and Murphy's Law is the dark cloud for first-anythings. But that didn't happen. I'm almost certain I'll go back next year, but I do hope the staff members are looking at the feedback they're getting.