First off, I want to say that the Adams Mark Hotel staff was fabulous! Every single one of them was professional and courteous. Our housekeeper even recognized Takaza from last year! We were sure to leave her a $20 tip – four people in one room for three days can get a bit messy.
Suites are niiiiice. We’re definitely getting one again next year, and four people in the suite is just the right size. It’s not too cramped, you still have room to move around, and there’s room to push stuff out of the way when you want to have people in to socialize.
Anthrocon is freakin’ huge! At just a few dozen shy of 2,000 attendees, they are the largest furry convention, period. And you know what? They’re welcome to it! Midwest Furfest topped out at 685 last year, and it is bound to continue to grow at some rate. To those who say we need to grow and grow fast, I give you a hearty “Fuck you!” With more attendees comes more problems, and I saw stuff at Anthrocon that we have yet to deal with: scary stuff, security issues, stuff that requires the police – not through any fault of AC’s, mind you, just that it’s the problems that come with more people. We’ve dodged those bullets so far, but we need to be ready for them should they come up.
The Dorsai Irregulars are an amazing group of people. Every one of them I spoke with was polite and professional, and they are damn good at what they do.
Working Anthrocon is a lot of fun. I need to work more – if I’m not working, I’m bored! (hint, hint, Giza 😉
A lot of people have commented on how awful Anthrocon was in terms of creepy fanboys and weirdos and people severely lacking in social skills. Y’know, you’re going to get that in whatever fandom you deal with – furry isn’t unique in any way, I assure you! I could let it get me down and wonder why I bother to work to help such a group, but then I remember that there are quality people out there – folks I enjoy spending time with, folks who are 100% With Clue. And the trick is, you find them and you spend time with them. And you remind yourself that these are the people you’re in furry fandom for.
We still need to find a way to streamline Artist Alley checkout. I think a sorting bin with each artist’s name on a separate slot would be useful since the sorting of the receipts at the end of the day was one of the most time-consuming (and frantic) parts of the job. If we could have that done and ready to go, life would be much simpler. We’ll investigate that and present some solutions when we have them. Also, we have some ideas about how to better track the receipt books, which will make life easier if the artist doesn’t put their name on their receipt, or if it’s illegible.
I’m ordering dinner in next year. By far it’s the best way to go, and Pete’s Pizza is mighty tasty. Cheaper than going out, too!
Artists’ Alley
If you’ll have some downtime during MFF, let’s have a powpow then and we can discuss some ideas.
And I’ll be happy to give you more hours. *cackle*
Re: Artists’ Alley
Downtime at MFF? Um, how much downtime did you have at Anthrocon? 😉
If we don’t see each other between now and then, perhaps, but otherwise drop me a line on FurryMuck. I’m going to make an effort to be more active there over the next few months since it’s a good way to keep up with other MFF staff members and such.
And the hours? Bring ’em on! I’d be happy to help in the office if you’re looking for anyone there, or Con Store too.
Re: Artists’ Alley
Uh, point taken. 🙂 I’ll probably be leaving MFF on the Monday morning following it. I don’t suppose you’ll have any free time on Sunday evening?
Re: hours at AC, I try and keep folks to 4 hours or less per day, so that people don’t get burned out. But if you want to work more than 4, well… join the club! 🙂
I’ve been trying to think of ways to streamline my own Artist’s Alley situation and take advantage of the workflows and which times are busy or boring.
I can do all the sorting, furthering my weird symbiotic relationship with AC staff 😀 I will raise this with SusanDeer, time I started talking with her (I was letting some days of decompression go by).
I’ll tell you now, I can have that done and ready to go, every day, without fail. And if that seems a lot to ask of an ‘artist’ then maybe it’s time we just accepted that I’ve been assimilated by now. I’m serious- consider that problem solved, filing can be offloaded onto me. I’m already running latenight prereg registration on Kage’s sayso and am covering I-don’t-know-how-much of the fursuit track. I’m carny 😀
Newsletter
As Evil Overlord Publishing Director, I’ve been informed that I’m allowed to have minions staff to further my quest to take over the fandom help me with convention publications. Are you and interested in helping me build gigantic quivering monkeypants doing the newsletter again next year?
Re: Newsletter
Heh. I was newsletter staff like you were Masquerade or Charity Auction staff – maybe not officially a staff member, but kinda sucked into it whether you wanted to be or not 🙂 That’s not to say I wouldn’t be interested in helping out (’cause I would!), but I’ll let Takaza speak for himself whether he’s interested in doing it again or not.
Mmm, quivering monkeypants…