Definately the best of the hotel events run by MNfurs up to this point....


Friday:

I will critisize there wasnt too much, though it was kind of a "come, and meet people and do fun gaming and such" and was adult (18+) which did mean that the alcohol did flow pretty freely in serveral areas of the con, I dont drink much but I couldnt resist having some "Grumpy Puma Cider".

There was gaming in 1 room, and the fursuit lounge and consuite where open. There were 3 events friday, a panel on furry lit.the MNfurs panel about were we go from here towards eventually having a full fledged con, and some catgirl anime viewing.

Saturday:

This was were things got fun, and im kinda glad they didnt schedule anything to open til 12 PM cuz there wouldnt have been much for ppl around. Anyway it was alot of fun doing gaming and going to the panels, they had plenty of art panels and the FIRST EVER art show at a event run by MNfurs.

The panels were informative, I went to Kae's "Fursuit Performance" panel and learned a few new ideas to be a better fursuiter, then played in the fursuit games... ALOT of fun, though Kae is quite evil with some of the games :P

After that I played in the charity poker, which sadly didnt get as many folks as the Snowpocalypse poker event, with our 9 players the game went til around 8:30, I NEARLY had it when there was 3 all-ins and ended up being 3 pots, I had a 2 pair K and J, unfortunately the flush flopped and I lost most of my chips and a few hands later lost all in.

The biggest disappointment was my panel "Fursuit memories" which had a whole 1 person show... appearently most ppl went to dinner at 7.

After that was the "Where do we go from here" panel, which was a bit like the previous night except more concerns and issues were discussed. It was informative and I hope they post the notes of it on the forum so people see the things that we need if we want even better events.

The dance was great all things considered with it starting about 45 minutes late due to technical issues.

I wrapped the night up with a few games of Werewolf which is a tradition at MNfurs to have werewolf at the end.



Biggest concerns:

*There was a distinct lack of volunteers during Sat afternoon, and even a bit during the later

*There could have been more panels if people actually took the effort to run them, theres cool panels ideas but no one willing to dedicate the time to running them, about 75% of the panels were run by MNfurs core leadership, which is rather sad that they had to run so much and not get as much of a chance to relax / enjoy the event.

*there were some issues on planning for the 4th floor consuite/ fursuit lounge with normal people ended up on the floor and complaining of noise :(

*Turn out could have been better... ended up somewhere around 100, which was less than Snowpocalypse but better than O.M.F.G (I think it had less but am not sure)

What went well:

*Overall it was a much better executed of a hotel event than either Snowpocalype or O.M.F.G. and on a good track for what a con would look like.

*Definately one of the funnest events the group has had.

*Space, the sheer amount was plenty and comfortable for the number of attendee's, though if we had more panels proposed im sure they could have rented 1 or 2 more rooms for them.


Personal Thoughts:

The gamers definately got a bit left out, it was fortunate 2 of the gamers who have alot of games and are regulars at the Perkins meets showed up with all their games, otherwise there would have been much less gaming happening.

I know some folks felt there was too much emphesis on the artists and didnt attend cuz of it.

My Response to this is one of the things said by the steering committee during the Saturday panel..

(Paraphrased)

As we grow we can put more emphasis on certain groups

yes the fursuiter/artist themed stuff was the most prevalent at the event, if we can get more folks at our events we can have more stuff for everyone..