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What the Fur 2014
11 years ago
Back again from WtF, up in Montreal. Why more Vermonters don't go to this con that is so close by, I don't know.
There were problems, of course, but I think it's progressing pretty well. Attendance was just over 300 I think, but the number of fursuiters was 78, A pretty impressive ratio. The ratio of quality suits to shitty ones was also pretty high. The new hotel is really nice, with affordable rooms that are quite large (although I heard the suites were on the small side). There's a really cool courtyard in the middle with a pond (with DUCKS!!!!!!) and a great pool area. However, the hotel location isn't the best (WtF was held very near downtown in the past, but now it's near the airport).
I think one big problem was the lack of a zoo area for general chatting. There were several conference rooms in the convention space that weren't being used and were locked that would have worked just find. Whether it was price or whatever, I think the lack of a zoo was a very big oversight. I also felt the main auditorium was a bit small and could have easily been increased with some more swizzling around of rooms. And, finally, some main events (namely the fursuit games) were held a little early on Saturday, when I'm sure most suiters (myself included) were somewhat hungover.
Enough of the fairly minor complaints. I got to see
sheperd again, and my bigger BMD brother is still as huggable as always. 
wolfbird's suits were there in full force and, of course, stole the show. I met 
sgtmik, who's suit is only a couple of months old, so he's still obsessed and enthusiastic about it (and he built it himself; pretty impressive work). The gaming room was usually full with both games and people, even at 4am. The food in Montreal is substantially better than you can get in the states for the same price. And, of course, all Montrealers are obscenely nice.
I really need to get myself up there more often.
There were problems, of course, but I think it's progressing pretty well. Attendance was just over 300 I think, but the number of fursuiters was 78, A pretty impressive ratio. The ratio of quality suits to shitty ones was also pretty high. The new hotel is really nice, with affordable rooms that are quite large (although I heard the suites were on the small side). There's a really cool courtyard in the middle with a pond (with DUCKS!!!!!!) and a great pool area. However, the hotel location isn't the best (WtF was held very near downtown in the past, but now it's near the airport).
I think one big problem was the lack of a zoo area for general chatting. There were several conference rooms in the convention space that weren't being used and were locked that would have worked just find. Whether it was price or whatever, I think the lack of a zoo was a very big oversight. I also felt the main auditorium was a bit small and could have easily been increased with some more swizzling around of rooms. And, finally, some main events (namely the fursuit games) were held a little early on Saturday, when I'm sure most suiters (myself included) were somewhat hungover.
Enough of the fairly minor complaints. I got to see
sheperd again, and my bigger BMD brother is still as huggable as always. 
wolfbird's suits were there in full force and, of course, stole the show. I met 
sgtmik, who's suit is only a couple of months old, so he's still obsessed and enthusiastic about it (and he built it himself; pretty impressive work). The gaming room was usually full with both games and people, even at 4am. The food in Montreal is substantially better than you can get in the states for the same price. And, of course, all Montrealers are obscenely nice.I really need to get myself up there more often.
Thank you for the tip about the new hotel. A friend of mine co-chaired it, but did not elaborate about it's new hotel. I am surprised they did not have a zoo area.
A few people I know are considering not going next year. Some of them said they had more fun outside of the con area, since there was no place to sit down and socialize. I'm sure the con staff wanted one, but maybe extra rooms were just too expensive.
However, I mostly saw that area generally deserted. Maybe because there wasn't enough couches and seats...
But, we are already talking about plans to fix that for next year, really. I obviously cannot give details, but that's a comment that's been recurring in a lot of places, and I guess we failed in communicating just what the "Furry Lounge" was. That was our bad, but trust me, next year, things will be better on all fronts!!
After all, we're always learning and every time we switch hotels, it's a whole new process to learn all over again (and one of the reason we're just as tired as our attendees of changing hotels...).
Thanks for the feedback!!
A lot of people echoed your disappointment over the zoo this year. However, we were limited by a number of factors, which we are already working on to mitigate for next year (as the song says: no rest for the wicked! ;3).
I'll make sure to forward your comments to our programming director about the fursuit games being early. We've been having a lot of requests to cram as much fursuiting stuff on Saturday, so some tough choices had to be made in order to make sure that everyone had time to cool down before the next big event.
However, if we get more comments like these, we'll see how we can swap around some stuff to make it better next year. :3
I thought I had spotted you once or twice, however being the dogrector of operations, I usually had to be about 10 places at once during the day, so couldn't really stop to say hi... and I apologize. :S
But I'm glad to know you had a good time nonetheless!
Hopefully, will be seeing you again next year! :D
I guess I can see why some people would request fursuiting events to be mostly in one day for the locals who only decide to go for a day or two. It actually doesn't matter much to me. Take this with a grain of salt, but I don't need much time at all to cool down between events. If the time between, say, the fursuit parade and another suiting events is too long, some suiters may just desuit, shower, and then decide they don't want to deal with suiting up and getting all sweaty again
I hope you're feeling better! I meant to say hi, but you were looking pretty stressed out those times I did see you. Running a con certainly doesn't look like much of a vacation to me
I've had to grow thicker skin over the last 5 years because of peoples' comments, and this is by far one of the more moderate responses I've seen yet. ;3
As for the downtown/not-downtown issue, well...
With the Turcot interchange being brought down next year, plus the two of the three main bridges being majorly repaired/about to go down (one of which should start seeing major construction next year), getting out of the downtown area, as painful a decision as it was, was necessary.
This year, it was frustrating. But next year, if not in 2016, people will probably be VERY happy to not have to deal with downtown... If you thought the traffic was bad now, you haven't seen anything yet. x_x
We've tried to choose a location that could easily be accessed through other means than anything going to the core of the island and avoid the nightmare that this area will become. I like to think our decision wasn't that bad, seeing as 85+% of our attendees come from the south/south-west. :)
And no, running a con sure ain't a vacation! I mean, I need a vacation from my "vacation" now... but it still not over. XD
At any rate, we are working on a feedback form, which should be sent in the coming days.
We've been getting a lot of mixed messages from all directions, so we thought we'd try and get everything as close to standardized as possible so we can make the 2015 edition even better!
And still, thanks for your feedback and patronage! *hugs*