On Wednesday, April 12th I drove up to Portland, Maine for Furcationland. I stopped by the Hannafords supermarket on Forest Ave, near Back Cove and bought a couple of cases of Coke and Sprite, a package of Oreos. They were out of Moxie so I drove to the Shaw's supermarket further down Congress St. After many years living in Maine I'd finally tried the official state soft drink and found it not bad. I went to the Holiday Inn by the Bay, checked in, parked my car, walked a few blocks to the public library to return some books and check out new ones. Then over to Casablanca Comics in the Old Port to pick up my pull list before returning to the hotel.

I didn't feel like I was in town for a furry convention. I felt like I was running errands. Usually, for me, furry convention means a trip to Pittsburgh for Anthrocon. An opportunity to see new places and try different restaurants, both in the city and the road trip there and back. Going to a furry convention is an adventure to someplace different. Not somewhere I routinely visit for comics and groceries.
I knew I was still trying to shake off the mindset of the mundane world. And a bit nervous of what the weekend would bring. I was the Head of the entire Registration Department, and a fraud. I'd never run a convention department before. Hell, I'd only spent a little time volunteering in Registration for PineFurCon and Anthrocon. I was totally going to mess this up. The Imposter Syndrome was strong. Some days it would tell me I should never have accepted. Some days it suggested I quit before it was too late, let the Board find someone more qualified to do the job. Except, there was another voice, one that said I'd regret it if I quit. Sometimes you have to risk failure, no...the fear of failure. So I stayed on. Attended the meetings, brought on Staff, assembled plans and workflows. And soon enough, the day arrived.

Late Wednesday and early Thursday were set-up. Getting the equipment out and waiting for IT to set up the networks. We’d done preparation on the laptops to make sure they were ready, but as anyone who works in the field knows, there’s always some last minute pain. And sure enough, on all the laptops, Chrome wanted to update. And not merely update and restart, no. It insisted we download the update and run it. Small challenges, easily overcome.

There were souvenir bags to label and stow, forms to print and minor office supplies to distribute and by late afternoon we were ready to open our doors and print badges so attendees could officially be a part of the convention. And any feelings of imposter syndrome were washed away; not from the overwhelming success, but from being too busy dealing with the small issues that came up. Technical problems with the laptops and badge printers, people not being prepared for vaccine checks or ID checks, emails and other general inquiries. All of which I handled with my experience in IT, customer service, periodic supervisor roles, and willingness to make a judgment call and accept the consequences. As Nero Wolfe put it, “Use your intelligence, guided by experience.”

Most of the weekend followed a routine of waking up way too early to attend the Department Head meeting, opening the Registration room, getting and losing volunteers, dealing with problems, making sure my Staff took breaks, then closing up at night and wandering the con space before going to bed way too late. And trying to take my own breaks to see the rest of the con. During which I’d often get side-tracked by friends wanting to chat, helping other Staff with issues, or being summoned back to Registration to deal with a problem. Notice I didn’t mention eating or sleeping. Apart from a meal the first day and last day, I didn’t eat much. Mostly subsiding on Coke, Moxie and adrenaline. And a few Oreos. But that’s par for the course for me. And it’s hard to sleep when you’ve had a busy day and your mind won’t quiet enough to let you rest.

There were a few highlights that will stand out for me.
Thursday while setting up, the Safety department wanted to go to a local store to get some food and soda. I had a car and some free time waiting for IT to finish networking so offered them a lift to the Hannafords. They wanted to pick up some Moxie but Hannafords still hadn’t restocked so I drove them to the Shaw’s. Bit of deja vu from Wednesday.
A young woman who came to Registration who was mute (possibly short term, I didn’t inquire on details) and using her phone’s text to voice to communicate. I asked if she knew ASL and that I knew the sign (badly) for “Dammit, Red.” She laughed.
That phrase started getting more common. It started as NovarLynx’s reaction to my bad puns. Then he made a Telegram sticker for it. Curiously enough, CoyoteOsborne independently came up with the same phrase, and a sticker as well. It started being used so often, though, to the point Kaeda_Wolf, the Director above me, wrote it on a blank pronouns ribbon and attached it to my badge.
A teenage daughter and her mother come through the line. The girl is wearing animal ears and cannot wait to get her badge and surround herself with furries and acceptance. Her mother is having trouble finding her ID and the girl is stressing out, worried that she might not get in. She’s bapping her fists against the side of her head gently, I assume she’s on the spectrum and this is a coping mechanism. Her mother gives off the vibe of not believing autism is real and tells her to “calm down” and “stop doing that.” She did find the necessary paperwork and we got both of them badged and on their way. I swear to the Goddess I wanted to tell the mother to shut up and saying stuff like that Does Not Help. I wanted to reassure the girl everything would be okay. I couldn’t. There are some lines you cannot cross, some battles you cannot fight. I hope she had fun and had the time of her life. I’d love to have noted her badge name in case I saw her again, to follow up, but I got pulled to help another person in need.
There were a lot of teenagers there, with parents who could not give a shit about furry. Same as the parents who chaperone their kids to a tween movie, or boy band concert, or Chuck E Cheese. It’s part of being a parent.
There were some parents who did have fun. Who got in on the spirit of having a badge with a cool name and species.
We had a few locals come in, “wanting to party,” people more interested in a club scene and seeing an opportunity to buy or perhaps sell stuff we wouldn’t permit. They balked at the entrance fee and, I suspect, having their information tracked. No loss.
We had some people come by who were visiting the area as tourists, curious about what was going on and totally wanted in. Got registered, got badges, and presumably had a fun time.
I held a panel on therianthropy. As with PineFurCon, someone should and if no one else would, I would. Just getting to the panel was hectic. It was scheduled right after the Masquerade and Fursuit Parade so volunteers were scarce. At almost the last minute a family came through who made some mistakes with their registration and I rushed to get everything straightened out and headed to the panel room. My therian panels were intended to be an open forum but end up with me answering questions from the crowd. I had a decent turnout this year and tried my best to engage the audience. I even learned some new things, like quadrobics, which is what the kids these days are calling “going on all fours.” My friend WolvenTerror recorded the panel, and I got it uploaded to YouTube.
I was able to sneak away and visit the Dealer’s Den a few times. Bought some items, chatted with dealers I knew and touched base with nashida at the ConStore.
Sunday afternoon we close up and start packing everything up. Pro-tip: If you’re unpacking a tote filled with unusually shaped items, take photos so you know how to pack it back up later.
We had a small break in the evening and I used it to get a quick swim in the hotel pool. The rest of the night and into the next morning was finishing the remaining pack up for storage. Monday morning we were all mostly exhausted from our busman’s holiday but eager to return next year.
It turns out we had over 800 people attend, way more than we were anticipating. Well hell, no wonder I was exhausted. I need more Staff. 🙂
I must acknowledge my team who did the bulk of the work processing those 800+ attendees: WolvenTerror, Winter, TechBurr, Spangler. And Cyber, Aldin, itsbooshie and other volunteers who provided invaluable support.
Overall it was a great convention and I loved all of it. Yes, problems came up and I wish I’d taken more time to take photos and see other parts of the con, but I’m framing them not as “we should have” but “we know what to do if this happens again in the future.” I didn’t attend any room parties. I might have gone to the ones with open invites but I’m still a shy guy with self esteem issues. And when they were happening I was usually already deep in conversation with the folks doing badge checks or Safety, occasionally offering them a soda. And I honestly really enjoyed those opportunities to just hang out.
And I look forward to 2024.