I love how my last journal post was a Condition post from last year, now this one is a condition post XD

Amazing.

Anyway!

Word is out (A while ago) that this is the last year we'll be hosting Condition, that's right, it's our last year!

There was a nice letter explaining the whys and what nots but I figured I would also tell it from a more personal perspective. If you're looking for Drama this post won't have any, expect a full non-tongue biting rant after the con instead. ;)

So a few years ago friends and I decided we'd try and start up a convention. We wanted to make something small, something great, no more than 300 people was our goal. We didn't want to become a con that people just went to because everyone else is going. We didn't want to be a con where people only go to meet up with a single group of friends then avoid the whole convention. There are too many cons out there that merely exist because of convenient locations without don't standing on their own merits. As I said, we wanted to stand out.

Firstly we decided to offer full meals as well as local beers to the sponsor lounge, other than FCN, no other convention offered that. Not only that, we wanted to make that lounge a true party, not everyone gets invited to the "Cool kids" parties at conventions, you hear stories about all these great room parties but again, not everyone gets to experience them. That's the experience we wanted to offer. There are many conventions that get labelled a "Party Con" Well that's exactly what we wanted!

Second, we wanted stuff to do during the day, I've been to MANY cons, I just counted.. I've been to 39 cons, Condition VS The Monsters will be my 40th con. I've seen empty panel rooms, or panels with 3 people sitting boredly in a chair with no real interest in the "Fox Panel" but who are sitting there because there's nothing to do.. We wanted to do something different. The assassin game was our first experiment, as far as I can tell no other furry convention has ever done this. It was a simple game that got you running around, chasing people, learning people's names and faces, secretly it was a way to get people to meet new people. I've had con-goers tell me they found their boyfriend/girlfriend/mate while playing this game and that's awesome. The next venture was the nerf tournament, other cons have outright banned nerf guns while we went ahead and wrote it into the contract at the hotel. We set up obstacles and have had slightly different rules each year, this year will be different again. We had even had a pool party, offering furries a chance to bring their pool toys to the pool, and swim with other inflatable toy enthusiasts hosting it as a panel, nothing sexual mind you, just fun! What else did we have? Video games room, board games room, wine and cheese tasting, forum based RISK like game, scavenger hunt, talent show/miss furry universe, IRON ARTIST(As in Iron chef) and KARAOKE! DRUNKEN KARAOKE! All of this in addition to a number of panels put on by our attendees. This includes the ever popular Pokemon Biology as performed by our friend Welnis. OH YEAH, and our killer customized badges, we have them laser etched with your name and have artwork as your photo, no other con had EVER done that before, our badges STILL turn heads.

Let me tell you, putting all that on with a minimal number of staff is no easy task but we did it and we did it for you guys! It's stressful too, after 6 years of planning for these events, it really burns you out, being the head of staff(aka secret con chair) is no easy task as in the end, when something isn't done, when something goes wrong, when someone complains.. it all ends up going to the one in charge. That stress is just a killer too X.X Unlike figure head con chairs you see at massive cons, we were actually making all the big choices and standing behind the fallout of mistakes, on top of that, every day I have to live with the fact that if the con failed somehow, I was on the line for the bill. Thankfully, we did surprisingly well, especially for a small and relatively new con. People can rumor all they want but money was never a reason why we decided this will be the last year. Numbers doesn't immediately mean profit, we bought enough space for the number of guests we had and we filled that space, for that reason Condition was very successful and I'm sure it would have remained that way for years to come.

Why retire?
Believe it or not, I want to start a family, maybe even have little tiny versions of me running around, causing havoc and whatnot. I also want my summers back, and I want to be able to enjoy going to a con and not think "Oh man, I should be promoting condition" or "I better not do something dumb and make condition look bad" next year? Expect all of the dumb!

Some asked why we didn't hand the reigns off to someone else, Honestly? Because it's a tough freaking job! I don't envy anyone to have to take on this role, nor was there anyone out there who felt they could honestly do as good of job of holding this convention than the retirees. We also didn't want to see all our hard work making a name for ourselves fade away into obscurity, go out on a high note, that was the plan from day 1!

I should also point out that no, this "Last con ever" isn't a plot to get more registrations, though pre-reg numbers are at a record at this point, there is no ruse, this is the last year unless we sell out to a huge corporation or something >.>

So What's next for us?

We're probably going to collectively pool funds and plan on Throwing GIANT parties at all the good cons, buying a ton of booze, getting music/DJs, hosting a massive con party and just having fun! Might even have tip jars that continue to go to our charity of choice, Salt Haven. We also intend on making more movies, just for fun because, honestly, those movies are hilarious to make.

I hope to see everyone reading this at the con, there's still a bit of time before pre-reg closes if you want to join the party!