Anthrocon 2007: The Operations Director's View

[giza]

Wow. What a blast.

Our total attendance was 2,849. Our fursuit parade had 353 fursuiters in it.

From an operations standpoint, the con went amazingly well. I got into Ops on Wednesday morning, and everything that we needed pretty much fell into place. Radios and conbooks had been delivered, the equipment truck arrived on time, and we had plenty of volunteers to help offload stuff. Rather than go into more details about all this stuff, I'll just skip to the part where I thank people for making this such a successful con. :-)

First, the Operations staff. They kept the office running during the day and evening hours and dealt with all of the things that came up during the con. These hard workers include: greenreaper, swift_fox, tchall, mach, evil_dwagon, kellicjtiger, Decker, and Kasi Frost.

Next, the Dorsai Irregulars. Around 40 strong this year, they performed general security services and crowd control during the day. During the nights, they took over the Operations Office so that it could be kept running 24 hours a day.



We wouldn't be the same without a Super Sponsor Lounge, either. Due to health issues, Cynthia had to step down from running it. We had to look around for new people with a few months notice, and got a referral to Melissa Clemmer and Karen Klinck, who have been doing this sort of thing for science fiction cons for a number of years. They were highly recommended and did not let us down. They were able to keep the lounge open from 10 AM to 10 PM every day. Their staff did a great job, too.

I'd like to specifically thank a fellow by the name of White Wer. He had the adjoining suite next to the SSL and opened it up so that Karen and Melissa could make use of it. Also, both him and his roomates pitched in and volunteered for a lot of the work in keeping the lounge up and running. I don't think it could have been as successful as it was without their help.

A big hand goes to the volunteers who helped with packing up the truck, unloading it at the storage facility, and unloading it again at Philadelphia.

Mwuricon, thanks for the bottle of single malt scotch. It was appreciated!



We got some media coverage from the local newspapers:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_515974.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07188/799987-51.stm


Mark Evanier really liked us:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_07_08.html#013689


If you lost/found something, have some comments for the convention as a whole, or have pictures to share, please stop by our post-2007 forums:

http://www.anthrocon.org/forums


If you attended the con, we would appreciate it if you could take 5 minutes to fill out our post-con survey:

http://www.anthrocon.org/survey


If you have pictures to share, feel free to upload them to Flickr, where we have our own community:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/anthrocon/

My pictures can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmuth/sets/72157600750815163/

As a bit of an afterthought, I spent some time walking through the DLCC on Sunday evening, after Hall C had been mostly empty, just taking pictures. It was kinda creepy seeing this whole "empty" look to the place. For example, this was the scene of the fursuit parade:



Most of the staff are going to take a well deserved break for a few weeks. We'll still be reading our email and the forums, but may be a bit slow to respond.

baconcoyote and simbab, I'm sorry I missed you guys at the con. Maybe next year!

And yes, this is just a box. Leave it alone!


Our 2008 convention, "It's a Jungle Out There!", will be once again held in the Westin Hotel and David L. Lawrence Convention Center from June 26th to 29th, 2008. Our Guest of Honor will be Floyd Norman. ("The Jungle Book", "Monsters, Inc.", Disney's "Robin Hood", and more!)



We'll see you there!

Comments

[quentincoyote.livejournal.com]

Awesomeness in all ways! :)

A quick question, do we know who took the (offical?) pictures of the fursuit parade from that bridge out there, and where they sooner or later might be found?

[omnibahumut.livejournal.com]

I will make it to anthrocon sooner or later! Looks like so much fun!

I lol'd at the empty vending machine

[quentincoyote.livejournal.com]

By the way, do you happen to know anything more about Fernando, the proprieter of the sandwich shop of the same name around the corner, which was offering the Anthrocon special?

If you hadn't heard, apparently at some point, some random guy off the street came in and started harassing all the furries. Fernando chased him out, at which point the guy picked up a brick that was laying around, and hit Fernando over the head before running off.

Fortunately, the cops were able to find the guy by description later, and tasered him twice as he tried to run away. :-/

I went in there and asked them about Fernando on.. Saturday, I think? They told me that he was still in the hospital.

I'm sure that many of us would like to know about some sort of get-well donation fund that we could contribute to him, or something.

Anyway, just curious.

[kellic.livejournal.com]

Ditto. If there is something I could offer, sign, do I would.

[kellic.livejournal.com]

I had a great time again this year. Everyone I ran across rocked.

Giza on a side note later, since you guys need to recuperate, on I had a few suggestions. What is a good way to communicate them? Just e-mail you....later?

[giza.livejournal.com]

Email is best.

[nemetfox.livejournal.com]

I agree fully.
While things didn't go exactly perfectly in the Dealer's Room, all problems were dealt with in a timely manner. So timely in fact, that any problems that appeared, disappeared fast. Frankly, since I joined staff in 2003, I have not seen things go this smoothly.
The DI are the best people we could possibly have for security, and I can do nothing but offer them praise and recognition for what they do. They are fair, firm, and most of all friendly.
It seems to me that everyone did their part, and did it in a stellar fashion.

[mgucciard.livejournal.com]

As one of the two primary Loading Dock Security folks, I want to extend my thanks for the patience and cooperation provided by almost every dealer.
We had some issues with union timing, but we did get everyone in and out as quickly as could be managed. We learn a little bit every year, and improve things for the next year. Best we can do.

[birdrock.livejournal.com]

I am adding you because you seem cool and I like your writing. You're under no obligation to reciprocate :)

[torrle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for yet another amazing con, and congratulations on all of it's success! ^^

[kiallamraptor.livejournal.com]

Empty hall C, almost like when the first day everyone starts to arrive and you know its going to get crazy. See ya next year, actually, AC08 is less than a year away!

[wildw0lf.livejournal.com]

I helped unpack stuff at the end both in Pittsburgh and Phily. Do you know in the future if I might be able to crash at some local furs place before heading back? I didn't end up getting back home this time until nearly 3am, and I don't think I'd like to try testing that again.

Had a blast at the con this year, can't wait until next :)

[giza.livejournal.com]

You should ask some local furs. :-)