FC 2012 Report
Behind the break is my report. I just don't have the energy to proof read it any more than I have so please forgive any errors in spelling/grammar. It's a bit of a long read. Over all I had a great FC. I can't wait till next year.
-- Kiteless
FC 2012, finally over…
Well now that I am back in Live Journal and as such, long form blogging I thought I might pull a tiny leaf from Yippy’s tree and do a sort of post con report. Of course my memory sucks and I could never hope to be as detailed as he is in his reports, I will however do my best. Before I even get into my recap of the con I want to first recognize fellow FC staffers who made my job as Programming Director for IF this year possible. Mainly Smack Jackal for helping me through the hardest parts of my job, followed by Jerry and Tycho. I also want to thank all the track leads for all their hard work and also putting up with my prodding all year. I also want to thank my friends for all their understanding, especially my mate Reveille, who barely saw me for the whole convention. Oh I also want to make a special note to Whitey Fawks for giving me little pep talks and asking if there was anything they could do for me. Being Programming Director was the most intense job I have ever done. I would recommend it to anyone who is very organized and drivin. I am not ether of those things, but managed to pull it off.
Thursday Glenn and I packed up and then went to pick up our dragon buddy Mandarax who just moved to the area yesterday. Got to the hotel around Noon and I directed Glenn, who was driving his awesome new Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, into the garage I thought would give us the best spot. We got a spot no more than 50 feet away from the door. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that parking was only $10/day in the convention center parking. It ended up being $50 for the whole weekend. Not bad considering that I paid over $150 to park at the Fairmont last year. We got loaded in and went to the front desk. My worst horror happened and they could not find my reservation. I went on my Droid 3 and found the e-mail with the reservation number on it. She was able to find it. For some reason my last name was spelled totally wrong. The room was not ready yet so we moved all our stuff into a friends room. I went to con-ops to get my exec staff badge and a radio but they were not ready yet. Got some Coffee and got a call from the front desk. Got my room keys and we moved our stuff. I loved the corner room we got. It had a long hallway inside the room. I can’t get any sleep if I share a bed with someone so I setup my inflatable matress in that long hallway to sleep. We got moved in and since there was not too much programming going on, it was a fairly easy day. Went to opening ceremonies, after that I started to do my rounds, walking to various events and making sure things were going good and folks had what they needed. I think I also got to have dinner with some close friends.
Friday I have to wake up at 8AM every morning to go to the Exec meeting. We talk about how the previous day went. Go over departmental reports and make any adjustments or changes needed to try and help the con run as smoothly as possible. We also do something called Exec on Duty. All exec level department heads are referred to as execs. We are the last line of defense for the Chair and Co-Chair of the con. Went to Con-Ops and picked up my radio but my staff badge was not ready yet. Friday is a bit of a blur. I ran around making sure programming ran as smoothly as I could. I also worked with AV to get all the required hardware into second stage for projection and the PA system. I think I had lunch with some friends, and then 2 of the things I was the most excited about in regards to FC happened. All the exec’s had dinner with the guests of honor. As luck would have it, I got to sit in between Matthew Ebel and Mr. E. E. Knight. Matthew is a funny charming young man and Mr Knight was fun loving, smart and open minded, to name just a few of the many great qualities of this years GOH’s. Through careful conversation I mentioned the general dragon panel and he mentioned that he was bummed that he missed it. So I mentioned that there is another dragon panel later that night. He said oh yeah that one is adult? I mentioned that it was my event. He said he was going to try and check it out. I gave him a rundown of what the ADP was about and he thought it sounded… interesting. The dinner was amazing, but I had to leave before dissert came out. Amazingly they said they would send the dissert up to my room. Mr. Knight said that he would be at the ADP and even agreed to some on stage and say a few words at the event. I had everything I needed with me for the presentation and got into the habit of just packing everything I thought I would need for the day into my backpack because it could take a while to get an elevator. Walked over to second stage. A bunch of Bad Dragons folks where there. Sarmy, Varka, Syn, and Raith to name a few, and also my Species Track lead, “Saigon the Komodo” was there. Flare showed up at the right time to setup guard duty as this is an adult panel. Some folks where already in the room. The BD folks help usher my VIP’s for the front 2 rows, mainly presenting artists, Reveille, and Mr. Knight. Saigon checked all the badges of the 20 or so folks already in the room to make sure everyone was over 18. I was told that I would not be able to open the door after I started the presentation so I started it about 5 min late, it was enough time to get the last few VIP’s in the room in including Reveille, who unfortunately had to squeeze in between 2 people, one of them was E.E. Knight. A staffer was also kind enough to let a few stragglers in through the side door after we started. He also operated the lights for me. I don’t remember who it was, but thaaaaaank you! The Second Stage also called Room B at the convention center is 4000 Square Feet and had a total of 330 chairs. The room was filled to capacity. I am guessing we had a few empty seats here and there, but I think we had well over 300 people in there. I stated the presentation and the panel happened. I started swigging my St. George Spirits Whiskey out of a flask in between presentations and by the end of the event I was pretty tipsy. Mr. Knight came on stage and said a few words, including that he stopped by the Bad Dragon table in the dealers room. He really is an amazing guy. If you are a fan of his and have a chance to meet him, please do. The panel went really well. I will be updating the web site with details about everyone that showed their work. I also dedicated the ADP to Athus. I am mad at myself for not showing the correct slide during the dedication, but it was dedicated to him none the less. Those that where close to him wanted this to happen and all felt very strongly, that he would be stoked to have an ADP dedicated to him. I only knew him as a friend, and miss him. Those that were very close to him miss him a hell of a lot more. The event ended around 12:30AM and I had to use the PA system to ask everyone to leave around 1:30. Cleaned up and powered off the lights. Friday was a good night and I got pretty drunk so its kind of a blur.
Side Note: (A side note about this report. It has been a couple weeks since I finished writing Friday night so the rest is honestly a total blur. I just waited too darn long.)
Saturday I was at the exec meeting by 10AM after having breakfast with Ben Raccoon, spent a good time running around keeping events running. Also made a little time to hang with some friends. At around 5PM I met with EZ Wolf and his crew who made the amazingly well produced Bitter Lake helped the get started and they also asked me to M.C. the event. It was my honor to do so. I gave an introduction, we watched the movie through my Mac Book Pro connected to the very reasonable projector. Earlier in the day we did a dry run on all this to make sure it worked. Sadly it was during the fursuit parade. They wanted to be in it and I missed it for the first time in years. But we got everything working and premier went very well. They also sold like 30 DVD’s of the movie right after the showing. The only down side was this buzz coming from my mac. I tried turning off the display and keyboard backlight. No good. I had a USB balanced audio thing that someone loaned me, but we elected not to use it. Its a bummer that it did that but again I think it went well anyway. I caught up with Bruce from KOR Karaoke and handed him my 24” Dell Ultrasharp that I brought for him to use to face toward the audience during Karaoke.Normally the Karaoke venues have TV’s and stuff for him to plug into, but in this case he needed something. Fast forward a blur or two and I stumbled across E.E. Knight and 2 other people that needed to get into the Masquerade and got them in. Sat through most of the Masquerade then went and got some food with Sahara and Hoof. I was STAAAARVING. Blur forward again and it was around 10:00PM. Checked in with Bruce again and Karaoke was BLASTING. Folks where having a great time. As programming director this year it was something that I wanted to make sure happened and happened way better than last year. Unfortunately my staff duties kept me too busy to get any singing done. But folks had a good time and that’s what was important. Well I think I did some drinking that night. Bed around 2AM. There were like a billion people in my hotel room. It was fun and I am glad I got to meet so many dragons, but I wanted to go to bed.
Sunday Exec meeting at 10AM after having breakfast again with Ben Raccoon. He is a bit of an early riser and a super awesome guy. :) Sunday went pretty smooth overall. Saturday I wanted to get into the dealers room and especially the art show, but I just could not carve out the time. I tried to get into the art show again before it closed on Sunday, but still missed it. Managed to get an hour of browsing in on the dealers room and snagged a few small things in there. Sunday over all was pretty low key. Mainly just made sure the roaming projector that Ratha Cat was kind enough to loan to the con was kept after and made it to the right panels. Of course I got my ass into FC Unleashed and had the pleasure of sitting next to Silver of Fur Happens for the event. They did an amazing job this year and I can’t wait to be in it next year doing a skit with some folks. :D Bluring forward some more, checked in on the Karaoke and it was even more banging than Saturday night. I think I managed to get dinner with some friends of mine that night, but over all, I was BEAT, but it was weird. There is this party vibe on Sundays at FC, folks just don’t want to stop. Its a last gasp of FC party time! As tired as I was, I didn’t wanna go to bed. Eventually 2AM I got to bed.
Monday This was an interesting morning. I got out the door of my hotel room and checked in with Ops to let them know Programming Lead was on duty. Then I hear Bosn the con chair this year get on the radio and tell me E.E. Knight is in the lobby and asking for me by name. I hurry to the lobby and he is there. He thanked me for a great time and said that since I basically invited him to the con (I nominated him to be a GOH) that he wanted me to have his GOH badge. He put it around me neck and gave me a hug. I was beside myself. It really was awesome, this guy who wrote soething that I really love, at FC, totally enjoying himself, and to then thank me in that way. I mean a furry con is really for the open minded if someone is not furry and never seen a con before. He soaked it up like a sponge, and just had a blast. I went and ate breakfast, went to the FC Exec meeting and a couple hours later I handed in my radio to Ops who was starting to close down shop. Got my room packed up and we got loaded out to the car. Went to the very packed Hiss & Purr to listen to the feedback of folks. Some stuff we got positive/negative feedback on surprised me and other stuff was completely expected. Hung out at the con till late afternoon and then went home. I am sure I am missing a lot on Monday but I just can’t think of it.
Final Thoughts FC was a great con. The new venue is massive and complicated. Getting union involved was a must. It turns out the union at the convention center really liked us and we built a great relationship with them. The Marriott also loved us, and we are working with improving our relationship over at the Hilton so hopefully next year will go a lot smoother. Programming was not as smooth as I would have liked, but over all it went very well. I am looking forward to next year for sure.
-- Kiteless
FC 2012, finally over…
Well now that I am back in Live Journal and as such, long form blogging I thought I might pull a tiny leaf from Yippy’s tree and do a sort of post con report. Of course my memory sucks and I could never hope to be as detailed as he is in his reports, I will however do my best. Before I even get into my recap of the con I want to first recognize fellow FC staffers who made my job as Programming Director for IF this year possible. Mainly Smack Jackal for helping me through the hardest parts of my job, followed by Jerry and Tycho. I also want to thank all the track leads for all their hard work and also putting up with my prodding all year. I also want to thank my friends for all their understanding, especially my mate Reveille, who barely saw me for the whole convention. Oh I also want to make a special note to Whitey Fawks for giving me little pep talks and asking if there was anything they could do for me. Being Programming Director was the most intense job I have ever done. I would recommend it to anyone who is very organized and drivin. I am not ether of those things, but managed to pull it off.
Thursday Glenn and I packed up and then went to pick up our dragon buddy Mandarax who just moved to the area yesterday. Got to the hotel around Noon and I directed Glenn, who was driving his awesome new Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, into the garage I thought would give us the best spot. We got a spot no more than 50 feet away from the door. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that parking was only $10/day in the convention center parking. It ended up being $50 for the whole weekend. Not bad considering that I paid over $150 to park at the Fairmont last year. We got loaded in and went to the front desk. My worst horror happened and they could not find my reservation. I went on my Droid 3 and found the e-mail with the reservation number on it. She was able to find it. For some reason my last name was spelled totally wrong. The room was not ready yet so we moved all our stuff into a friends room. I went to con-ops to get my exec staff badge and a radio but they were not ready yet. Got some Coffee and got a call from the front desk. Got my room keys and we moved our stuff. I loved the corner room we got. It had a long hallway inside the room. I can’t get any sleep if I share a bed with someone so I setup my inflatable matress in that long hallway to sleep. We got moved in and since there was not too much programming going on, it was a fairly easy day. Went to opening ceremonies, after that I started to do my rounds, walking to various events and making sure things were going good and folks had what they needed. I think I also got to have dinner with some close friends.
Friday I have to wake up at 8AM every morning to go to the Exec meeting. We talk about how the previous day went. Go over departmental reports and make any adjustments or changes needed to try and help the con run as smoothly as possible. We also do something called Exec on Duty. All exec level department heads are referred to as execs. We are the last line of defense for the Chair and Co-Chair of the con. Went to Con-Ops and picked up my radio but my staff badge was not ready yet. Friday is a bit of a blur. I ran around making sure programming ran as smoothly as I could. I also worked with AV to get all the required hardware into second stage for projection and the PA system. I think I had lunch with some friends, and then 2 of the things I was the most excited about in regards to FC happened. All the exec’s had dinner with the guests of honor. As luck would have it, I got to sit in between Matthew Ebel and Mr. E. E. Knight. Matthew is a funny charming young man and Mr Knight was fun loving, smart and open minded, to name just a few of the many great qualities of this years GOH’s. Through careful conversation I mentioned the general dragon panel and he mentioned that he was bummed that he missed it. So I mentioned that there is another dragon panel later that night. He said oh yeah that one is adult? I mentioned that it was my event. He said he was going to try and check it out. I gave him a rundown of what the ADP was about and he thought it sounded… interesting. The dinner was amazing, but I had to leave before dissert came out. Amazingly they said they would send the dissert up to my room. Mr. Knight said that he would be at the ADP and even agreed to some on stage and say a few words at the event. I had everything I needed with me for the presentation and got into the habit of just packing everything I thought I would need for the day into my backpack because it could take a while to get an elevator. Walked over to second stage. A bunch of Bad Dragons folks where there. Sarmy, Varka, Syn, and Raith to name a few, and also my Species Track lead, “Saigon the Komodo” was there. Flare showed up at the right time to setup guard duty as this is an adult panel. Some folks where already in the room. The BD folks help usher my VIP’s for the front 2 rows, mainly presenting artists, Reveille, and Mr. Knight. Saigon checked all the badges of the 20 or so folks already in the room to make sure everyone was over 18. I was told that I would not be able to open the door after I started the presentation so I started it about 5 min late, it was enough time to get the last few VIP’s in the room in including Reveille, who unfortunately had to squeeze in between 2 people, one of them was E.E. Knight. A staffer was also kind enough to let a few stragglers in through the side door after we started. He also operated the lights for me. I don’t remember who it was, but thaaaaaank you! The Second Stage also called Room B at the convention center is 4000 Square Feet and had a total of 330 chairs. The room was filled to capacity. I am guessing we had a few empty seats here and there, but I think we had well over 300 people in there. I stated the presentation and the panel happened. I started swigging my St. George Spirits Whiskey out of a flask in between presentations and by the end of the event I was pretty tipsy. Mr. Knight came on stage and said a few words, including that he stopped by the Bad Dragon table in the dealers room. He really is an amazing guy. If you are a fan of his and have a chance to meet him, please do. The panel went really well. I will be updating the web site with details about everyone that showed their work. I also dedicated the ADP to Athus. I am mad at myself for not showing the correct slide during the dedication, but it was dedicated to him none the less. Those that where close to him wanted this to happen and all felt very strongly, that he would be stoked to have an ADP dedicated to him. I only knew him as a friend, and miss him. Those that were very close to him miss him a hell of a lot more. The event ended around 12:30AM and I had to use the PA system to ask everyone to leave around 1:30. Cleaned up and powered off the lights. Friday was a good night and I got pretty drunk so its kind of a blur.
Side Note: (A side note about this report. It has been a couple weeks since I finished writing Friday night so the rest is honestly a total blur. I just waited too darn long.)
Saturday I was at the exec meeting by 10AM after having breakfast with Ben Raccoon, spent a good time running around keeping events running. Also made a little time to hang with some friends. At around 5PM I met with EZ Wolf and his crew who made the amazingly well produced Bitter Lake helped the get started and they also asked me to M.C. the event. It was my honor to do so. I gave an introduction, we watched the movie through my Mac Book Pro connected to the very reasonable projector. Earlier in the day we did a dry run on all this to make sure it worked. Sadly it was during the fursuit parade. They wanted to be in it and I missed it for the first time in years. But we got everything working and premier went very well. They also sold like 30 DVD’s of the movie right after the showing. The only down side was this buzz coming from my mac. I tried turning off the display and keyboard backlight. No good. I had a USB balanced audio thing that someone loaned me, but we elected not to use it. Its a bummer that it did that but again I think it went well anyway. I caught up with Bruce from KOR Karaoke and handed him my 24” Dell Ultrasharp that I brought for him to use to face toward the audience during Karaoke.Normally the Karaoke venues have TV’s and stuff for him to plug into, but in this case he needed something. Fast forward a blur or two and I stumbled across E.E. Knight and 2 other people that needed to get into the Masquerade and got them in. Sat through most of the Masquerade then went and got some food with Sahara and Hoof. I was STAAAARVING. Blur forward again and it was around 10:00PM. Checked in with Bruce again and Karaoke was BLASTING. Folks where having a great time. As programming director this year it was something that I wanted to make sure happened and happened way better than last year. Unfortunately my staff duties kept me too busy to get any singing done. But folks had a good time and that’s what was important. Well I think I did some drinking that night. Bed around 2AM. There were like a billion people in my hotel room. It was fun and I am glad I got to meet so many dragons, but I wanted to go to bed.
Sunday Exec meeting at 10AM after having breakfast again with Ben Raccoon. He is a bit of an early riser and a super awesome guy. :) Sunday went pretty smooth overall. Saturday I wanted to get into the dealers room and especially the art show, but I just could not carve out the time. I tried to get into the art show again before it closed on Sunday, but still missed it. Managed to get an hour of browsing in on the dealers room and snagged a few small things in there. Sunday over all was pretty low key. Mainly just made sure the roaming projector that Ratha Cat was kind enough to loan to the con was kept after and made it to the right panels. Of course I got my ass into FC Unleashed and had the pleasure of sitting next to Silver of Fur Happens for the event. They did an amazing job this year and I can’t wait to be in it next year doing a skit with some folks. :D Bluring forward some more, checked in on the Karaoke and it was even more banging than Saturday night. I think I managed to get dinner with some friends of mine that night, but over all, I was BEAT, but it was weird. There is this party vibe on Sundays at FC, folks just don’t want to stop. Its a last gasp of FC party time! As tired as I was, I didn’t wanna go to bed. Eventually 2AM I got to bed.
Monday This was an interesting morning. I got out the door of my hotel room and checked in with Ops to let them know Programming Lead was on duty. Then I hear Bosn the con chair this year get on the radio and tell me E.E. Knight is in the lobby and asking for me by name. I hurry to the lobby and he is there. He thanked me for a great time and said that since I basically invited him to the con (I nominated him to be a GOH) that he wanted me to have his GOH badge. He put it around me neck and gave me a hug. I was beside myself. It really was awesome, this guy who wrote soething that I really love, at FC, totally enjoying himself, and to then thank me in that way. I mean a furry con is really for the open minded if someone is not furry and never seen a con before. He soaked it up like a sponge, and just had a blast. I went and ate breakfast, went to the FC Exec meeting and a couple hours later I handed in my radio to Ops who was starting to close down shop. Got my room packed up and we got loaded out to the car. Went to the very packed Hiss & Purr to listen to the feedback of folks. Some stuff we got positive/negative feedback on surprised me and other stuff was completely expected. Hung out at the con till late afternoon and then went home. I am sure I am missing a lot on Monday but I just can’t think of it.
Final Thoughts FC was a great con. The new venue is massive and complicated. Getting union involved was a must. It turns out the union at the convention center really liked us and we built a great relationship with them. The Marriott also loved us, and we are working with improving our relationship over at the Hilton so hopefully next year will go a lot smoother. Programming was not as smooth as I would have liked, but over all it went very well. I am looking forward to next year for sure.