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Furry Migration 2016 - Post Mortem
9 years ago
So, I went to Furry Migration this last weekend, and....eeeeeeehhhhhh, likely not gonna be going back again, not until some badly-needed improvements to both location and operations have been made and confirmed as effective. Don't get me wrong, I DID have fun. I went to some panels, met some people and did some stuff. BUT, compared to every other con I've been to so far, FM 2016 is...well, at the bottom of the list.
A lot of these gripes were primarily brought up by
graystone, but I do agree with him on these points, and I'll also include my own observations where possible.
First off...the construction. Oh god, the CONSTRUCTION. Now, the fact that the construction was even happening is, obviously, 100% beyond the control of the con staff and organizers. It's an inconvenience that, through simple coincidence of timing, just needed to be dealt with. The problem was...the con staff neglected to mention that this construction was even happening on social media until, literally, people started arriving on Thursday, the day before the con. Only after a flood of messages from arriving attendees not knowing how to get around or where to park did they finally post a map with directions. On THURSDAY, when people were already arriving. This was not good. Something of this magnitude should have been announced weeks in advance, but it wasn't. Also, the construction made it very difficult to fursuit outdoors, because of all the mud everywhere.
Second, the hotel...granted, it's a significant improvement over the first year hotel, but then again an RV in the parking lot of a Denny's would also have been an improvement over the first year hotel. :p BUT, it felt like the hotel had tried to...well, "shoehorn" us out of the way into a corner. We were in what felt like the smallest con space I've ever been in. If I recall correctly, it was less than half the space of RMFC 2012, a con I went to that had similar attendance numbers. Supposedly this is going to be remedied next year, but...well, I don't plan on going back next year, so I'll have to wait and hear second-hand whether this turns out true or not.
Then there's the deceptive room pricing. They were advertising loud and clear $139 a night at the Hyatt, which IIRC is on par with most other cons...BUT, once you looked at the fine print, you discovered that price was good for only two people. Most rooms at a con have more than two people. It's $25 extra per person. Therefore, a room with four people in it actually paid $189 a night. I stayed across the street in the Millennium with three other people, in one of the club floor rooms. $189 a night, the same it would have cost for four people to stay in the con hotel. BUT, for that same $189, we got a larger room, free parking and free breakfast buffet every day. Other than a wonky AC unit, our room and everything we got for free along with it was definitely worth the $189/night, unlike what you got over at the Hyatt. The construction wasn't an issue in this case, because the Millennium is connected to the Hyatt by a skywalk!
Third, the location...why, why, WHY in the middle of downtown? Yes, the first year hotel was crap, BUT it was in an awesome location, right across the street from the Mall of America. You have shopping of various price points, food of various price points, a movie theater, and a friggin' AMUSEMENT PARK for crying out loud! Also, parking is easy, and it's easy to get around the MoA area. Not to mention it's right next to the airport, making it very convenient for people flying in to get to and from the con. By shoving the con into the middle of downtown, this means that all the surrounding shopping is expensive, the food is expensive, activities outside the hotel are expensive, parking is expensive and/or difficult, it's hard to get around (especially with the entire neighborhood literally torn up), and people flying in for the con either need to rent a car and fight with the traffic, or pay for public transit and keep paying every time they wanted to go someplace not within walking distance, like...oh, I dunno...THE MALL OF AMERICA?! For fucks sake...just move the goddamned con back out to a hotel next to the MoA!
Fourth, the programming...yes, there were a few panels I went to, most of which I enjoyed, others which were "meh". But overall, the programming just felt significantly lacking compared to other cons. Literally, there was nothing aside from closing ceremonies on Sunday that interested me, and even those I skipped. Instead, my roomies and I decided to go to the mall, and have more fun there. I've heard several other people comment along the same lines, that the schedule was rather lackluster. I know different people go to cons for different reasons. Some go for the panels, others go for the friends, while yet others go for the parties. Me...while I do go for friends, I also go for the panels. If there's little or nothing on the schedule to interest me, and any friends I do want to meet up with are too busy off doing their own things to meet up with me anyway...then I have little or no desire to go anyway. A con needs to suitably satisfy people in all three categories that I mentioned. Lackluster programming doesn't achieve this.
Last...and this was unexpected and totally not the fault of the con, staff, operations, location, construction, hotel or anything, but it still puts a shadow over the whole con...but FM 2016, to the best of my knowledge...is now the first fur con where an attendee died. No, not from alcohol poisoning, not from jumping off a balcony, not from falling down a flight of stairs, and not from being hit by a car. It was natural causes, confirmed as such by authorities. I do not know who it was or how they died, and honestly as long as it wasn't someone I personally knew, it's not any of my business anyway who or how. But still, when a fur dies, even if I didn't know them...I grieve. Despite our eccentric and sometimes dysfunctional natures, the furry fandom is effectively a community, and a family. To lose one of our own, especially in the midst of what is supposed to be a fun celebration of what we all enjoy...it hurts. It truly does. My heart and thoughts go out to the family and friends of the individual who passed, and also to the con staff and hotel staff who had to handle this occurrence. Because of this, though...other issues aside, FM 2016 will always have an aura of sadness to it...
Now...despite all the problems I saw and was told about, many of which I've been told actually have not improved since year one...the con still showed a growth in attendance. There is a slight glimmer of hope that things could get better. And, honestly, I hope it DOES get better. Like I said earlier, supposedly the issue of lack of space is going to be tackled next year. There's a new con chair at the helm to start ironing out the kinks and making Furry Migration a better con, a con that everyone can enjoy. There are numerous, NUMEROUS things that need to be improved upon to achieve this though, and it will take a lot longer than just one year...but I hope it does get better, and continue to grow, and eventually reach a point where all the good things I keep hearing about it makes me want to go back again.
If you don't agree with me and think that FM 2016 was awesome...then good for you, and I genuinely mean that. I'm glad you enjoyed it. People who can find ways to enjoy a con despite its flaws can be part of the driving force needed to hopefully achieve needed improvements, and raise the con to a point where we more skeptical people can start calling it awesome along with you. As it is right now for me personally though...I tried it once, had a little fun, but saw enough problems that I have no desire to go back again of my own volition anytime soon.
So, that's basically it. my rundown on Furry Migration 2016...the worst-but-at-least-still-had-some-fun con I've been to so far.
Now...to figure out which con I'm going to next...
A lot of these gripes were primarily brought up by
graystone, but I do agree with him on these points, and I'll also include my own observations where possible.First off...the construction. Oh god, the CONSTRUCTION. Now, the fact that the construction was even happening is, obviously, 100% beyond the control of the con staff and organizers. It's an inconvenience that, through simple coincidence of timing, just needed to be dealt with. The problem was...the con staff neglected to mention that this construction was even happening on social media until, literally, people started arriving on Thursday, the day before the con. Only after a flood of messages from arriving attendees not knowing how to get around or where to park did they finally post a map with directions. On THURSDAY, when people were already arriving. This was not good. Something of this magnitude should have been announced weeks in advance, but it wasn't. Also, the construction made it very difficult to fursuit outdoors, because of all the mud everywhere.
Second, the hotel...granted, it's a significant improvement over the first year hotel, but then again an RV in the parking lot of a Denny's would also have been an improvement over the first year hotel. :p BUT, it felt like the hotel had tried to...well, "shoehorn" us out of the way into a corner. We were in what felt like the smallest con space I've ever been in. If I recall correctly, it was less than half the space of RMFC 2012, a con I went to that had similar attendance numbers. Supposedly this is going to be remedied next year, but...well, I don't plan on going back next year, so I'll have to wait and hear second-hand whether this turns out true or not.
Then there's the deceptive room pricing. They were advertising loud and clear $139 a night at the Hyatt, which IIRC is on par with most other cons...BUT, once you looked at the fine print, you discovered that price was good for only two people. Most rooms at a con have more than two people. It's $25 extra per person. Therefore, a room with four people in it actually paid $189 a night. I stayed across the street in the Millennium with three other people, in one of the club floor rooms. $189 a night, the same it would have cost for four people to stay in the con hotel. BUT, for that same $189, we got a larger room, free parking and free breakfast buffet every day. Other than a wonky AC unit, our room and everything we got for free along with it was definitely worth the $189/night, unlike what you got over at the Hyatt. The construction wasn't an issue in this case, because the Millennium is connected to the Hyatt by a skywalk!
Third, the location...why, why, WHY in the middle of downtown? Yes, the first year hotel was crap, BUT it was in an awesome location, right across the street from the Mall of America. You have shopping of various price points, food of various price points, a movie theater, and a friggin' AMUSEMENT PARK for crying out loud! Also, parking is easy, and it's easy to get around the MoA area. Not to mention it's right next to the airport, making it very convenient for people flying in to get to and from the con. By shoving the con into the middle of downtown, this means that all the surrounding shopping is expensive, the food is expensive, activities outside the hotel are expensive, parking is expensive and/or difficult, it's hard to get around (especially with the entire neighborhood literally torn up), and people flying in for the con either need to rent a car and fight with the traffic, or pay for public transit and keep paying every time they wanted to go someplace not within walking distance, like...oh, I dunno...THE MALL OF AMERICA?! For fucks sake...just move the goddamned con back out to a hotel next to the MoA!
Fourth, the programming...yes, there were a few panels I went to, most of which I enjoyed, others which were "meh". But overall, the programming just felt significantly lacking compared to other cons. Literally, there was nothing aside from closing ceremonies on Sunday that interested me, and even those I skipped. Instead, my roomies and I decided to go to the mall, and have more fun there. I've heard several other people comment along the same lines, that the schedule was rather lackluster. I know different people go to cons for different reasons. Some go for the panels, others go for the friends, while yet others go for the parties. Me...while I do go for friends, I also go for the panels. If there's little or nothing on the schedule to interest me, and any friends I do want to meet up with are too busy off doing their own things to meet up with me anyway...then I have little or no desire to go anyway. A con needs to suitably satisfy people in all three categories that I mentioned. Lackluster programming doesn't achieve this.
Last...and this was unexpected and totally not the fault of the con, staff, operations, location, construction, hotel or anything, but it still puts a shadow over the whole con...but FM 2016, to the best of my knowledge...is now the first fur con where an attendee died. No, not from alcohol poisoning, not from jumping off a balcony, not from falling down a flight of stairs, and not from being hit by a car. It was natural causes, confirmed as such by authorities. I do not know who it was or how they died, and honestly as long as it wasn't someone I personally knew, it's not any of my business anyway who or how. But still, when a fur dies, even if I didn't know them...I grieve. Despite our eccentric and sometimes dysfunctional natures, the furry fandom is effectively a community, and a family. To lose one of our own, especially in the midst of what is supposed to be a fun celebration of what we all enjoy...it hurts. It truly does. My heart and thoughts go out to the family and friends of the individual who passed, and also to the con staff and hotel staff who had to handle this occurrence. Because of this, though...other issues aside, FM 2016 will always have an aura of sadness to it...
Now...despite all the problems I saw and was told about, many of which I've been told actually have not improved since year one...the con still showed a growth in attendance. There is a slight glimmer of hope that things could get better. And, honestly, I hope it DOES get better. Like I said earlier, supposedly the issue of lack of space is going to be tackled next year. There's a new con chair at the helm to start ironing out the kinks and making Furry Migration a better con, a con that everyone can enjoy. There are numerous, NUMEROUS things that need to be improved upon to achieve this though, and it will take a lot longer than just one year...but I hope it does get better, and continue to grow, and eventually reach a point where all the good things I keep hearing about it makes me want to go back again.
If you don't agree with me and think that FM 2016 was awesome...then good for you, and I genuinely mean that. I'm glad you enjoyed it. People who can find ways to enjoy a con despite its flaws can be part of the driving force needed to hopefully achieve needed improvements, and raise the con to a point where we more skeptical people can start calling it awesome along with you. As it is right now for me personally though...I tried it once, had a little fun, but saw enough problems that I have no desire to go back again of my own volition anytime soon.
So, that's basically it. my rundown on Furry Migration 2016...the worst-but-at-least-still-had-some-fun con I've been to so far.
Now...to figure out which con I'm going to next...
