Category Archives: volunteering

Fifteen Years Later

Once upon a time there was (and still is) a science fiction convention in the Chicago suburbs called Duckon. At that convention, starting in the early 1990’s, a series of panels and events centered around the furry fandom was established; it became known as the Furry Track, one of several programming tracks at Duckon. Over the years, the Furry Track grew and grew, through the efforts of Robert King and many others, until those attending just for the Furry Track represented a good-sized chunk of the convention, several hundred people.

I moved to the Chicago area in 1998, and attended Duckon. I made a lot of great friends there, and got active in the local furry group, Lake Area Furry Friends (LAFF). After attending the convention, I piped up on the LAFF mailing list that with the success of the furry track, we had the momentum to start our own convention! I outlined a few different approaches we could take, and what might be necessary to start the organization. I was quickly told to shut the hell up, but only because there was a group of folks that was already well underway in planning just such a thing. (My now-husband Dan was part of this group; he remembers that email and wondering, “Who the hell is this guy? We’re already working on this!”)

That was in 1999. The rest is history. Midwest FurFest made its debut in 2000. In the years since, I’ve been Registration Director, Convention Chairman, and, since 2010, Hotel Liaison. I have been a member of the Board of Directors from the beginning, and besides Robert, I am the only other founding Board Member still serving. I have made many, many new friends, and unfortunately damaged and lost a few friendships along the way. I was fortunate enough to meet and fall in love with my dear husband. We celebrated our Commitment Ceremony on Sunday night of Midwest FurFest 2001, and our Renewal of Vows/Civil Union in 2011. Midwest FurFest has been the home of some of the happiest moments of my life, and I am incredibly proud of what we have created. An ever-growing attendance of 4,000+ is an endorsement of that creation.

Over the years, though, the time commitment has risen. What started as “Oh, it’s Labor Day – I suppose we should start planning the con” has become a 14+ month cycle of organizing an incredibly complicated organization that takes 200+ volunteer staffers and another 50-60 on-site volunteers. The last few years have had me working more on convention-related work than the work I’m paid to do in the last month before the convention. I’m spread thinly – not only am I the Hotel Liaison, but I am also the Social Media Manager, Webmaster, Department Lead with several departments reporting through me, and general guy-who-does-stuff-that-needs-doing. I’m not complaining, mind you – I undertook all of this willingly, and for the most part I enjoy what I do. I am proud that the convention Twitter account has a personality, and has a reputation for its sense of humor and responsiveness. I have an incredibly talented and dedicated Hotel Liaison staff who are all a genuine pleasure to work with.

After fifteen years, though, the time has come to say, “Enough.” The convention work is taking too much time out of my life, the worries and stresses from January to December are making me cranky and unpleasant to be around, and I feel like I’m not bringing much in the way of new ideas to the party. I need a break.

After this year’s Midwest FurFest, I’m stepping back. I’m resigning from the Board of Directors and I will not have a management position. I will not be a part of pre-convention planning. Am I going away? Absolutely not! The drive to create and to help is still there, but it needs to be redirected. Tentatively, I will be helping Dan as Assistant Guest of Honor Liaison next year. I hope to also act as a consultant where I can, providing some institutional knowledge when questions come up. And in the future…who knows? I may get more involved in Midwest FurFest, or another convention, or…the possibilities are endless. But it is time for a change now.

I hope to see many of our friends at this year’s convention, which for me starts in just a few hours, when I show up at the hotel. This is going to be an amazing year – the date change, though difficult, means that we have much more time to set up, and will result in a happier and more effective staff, which I believe will make for a better convention overall. Wish us luck!

Will you be at Mephit Furmeet?

Unfortunately, time and expense will keep us away yet again this year, but if you can you should go to Mephit Furmeet! And while you’re there, you should lend ramalion a hand at Registration. Why? ‘Cause he’s a cool guy, and I owe him my soul for all the times he’s helped out at Midwest FurFest’s Registration and Anthrocon’s Artists Alley 🙂 Interested? Here’s how you can help.

Conventions, Hobbies, and Saying “No”

First off, since I have been somewhat remiss, I want to thank everyone for their congratulations and well-wishes from Sunday’s journal entry. Make no mistake, I am honored and gratified to have been chosen for the 2008 chairman position. If there’s any tremor in my voice, it’s due to the realization of how big the scope of the position is and of the challenges that lie before me in the coming year and a half (or so).

There is one thing that I wanted to touch on, though. Many of you have heard me say this before over the last fifteen (!) years, but it certainly bears repeating.

Furry conventions, and indeed any fannish-run convention (or SCA event, or what have you), are part of our hobbies. To my mind, a hobby is something that you do for fun, to take you away from the humdrum of the everyday world. To that end I think that it is extremely important that while we are engaged in hobbies, we are enjoying ourselves and having a good time. Because in the end, if a hobby isn’t fun, why are you doing it? And to be honest, if you’re not having fun, it shows. It drags down those around you. And it puts you on the fast track to burnout, where anything associated with your hobby fails to bring you happiness. That, to me, is the worst of all possible outcomes.

I never want someone to work with me at a convention because they feel guilty, or because they have a feeling of obligation. That isn’t what conventions are about. Sure, the immediate task may not be that exciting, but overall the opportunity to give something back to the community, to meet new people, to work side by side with your friends, to enjoy the challenge of bringing order out of chaos – that is what I would hope people get out of the experience.

The corollary to this applies to those who aren’t working the convention. I would never think less of someone who isn’t interested in volunteering or who says, “I need a break.” If it’s not fun, if it’s not enjoyable, then don’t do it. Don’t let working take the fun out of your hobby.

Now, I hope I’m not cutting my own throat here, but what I want to say is that if someone feels that they are not enjoying working for a convention, I would hope that they would be willing to say so. I would consider them no less a friend for their decision, because hey – I want to see my friends enjoy themselves too! And for those who work the conventions and find joy in the work they do, you should know that your efforts are deeply appreciated, not only by the other staff of the convention but by all of the attendees as well.

Something to consider for those who have not worked at conventions: there are always opportunities to help others, and to see the convention (or event) from a different angle. As people take a break from helping out, new blood is needed to keep the convention going. And hey, you can usually get a nifty T-shirt or membership out of the deal, too! 🙂

Feeling Happy and Gay!

We went to the volunteer orientation meeting for Gay Games Chicago last night. This is going to be an amazing experience, I think; they’re expecting 12,000 athletes, 80,000 spectators, and are planning for 6,000 volunteers (expecting that only 70% of those will actually show up to work). There’s going to be five athlete villages: University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Illinois-Chicago, Oak Park (for soccer) and Crystal Lake (for rowing). Takaza and I both mentioned out convention experience, though the Volunteer Coordinator seized on Dan’s accounting experience, mentioning that they need someone to head up cash management at each athlete village. He’s kind of ambivalent on that, plus it would probably mean we’d have to work separately, which would suck.

One of the interesting things is that with the huge number of people involved and the placed that volunteers will be going (Opening Ceremonies are at Soldier Field, Closing Ceremonies at Wrigley Field), they’re going to be extremely strict about credentials, and once you’ve been assigned a shift you can’t change it. The deadline for signing up to be a volunteer is June 1 (the games run July 15-22) – after that, you’re out of luck. If anyone in the Chicago area is interested, I urge you to get involved; this is going to be a lot of fun and pretty damn exciting, I think. We’ve signed up to help out at the black-tie-optional fundraiser Night of 100 Champions, which is being headlined by Greg Louganis, “plus others”, on April 22. Even if we’re just moving tables around, it’ll be pretty cool since it’s at the Cadillac Club at Soldier Field. We’ll see what other volunteer opportunities pop up between now and July (they said they had 120 events planned that they’ll need volunteers for).

OK, back to work, and to plan fun stuff to do this weekend. W00t!