But I see where this is going, and I don't think it's a problem with AC itself. It's more a problem with its attendees, and the emphasis that furries put on social functions depsite our collective social ineptitude.
In short, the larger a gathering, the more difficult it becomes to approach someone new, since that person is likely trying to append themselves to an existing group of friends to avoid being left behind with nothing to do for 3 hours. That care-free, spontaniety of smaller conventions seems to get lost. Cake-con, for example, could never happen at Anthrocon without first getting traction somewhere else.
So, if you go into a larger con like AC without knowing anyone at all, your only option feels like reading the booklet and going to programming, then hoping that you make friends along the way because somebody took a chance and said, "hello."
That's how I did AC, but I'm not afraid to walk up and engage a bunch of people. And AC wasn't my first, FurFright was, back when it was so small that even if I wanted to be under the radar, it wasn't going to happen.
And to be completely honest with you, giza, so far my advice to almost everyone who asks for it is specifically not to make AC their first, for those very reasons. It can be really unpleasant--for anyone--to go somewhere new and have to make a place for themselves. "Start somewhere 'smaller,'" I say to them, "you'll like AC a lot more once you have an idea how it all works."
So no, I don't think a "mentor" program is a good idea, unless people are matched very carefully. I think some kind of "go here if you're bored/ronery" area plus a couple of staff that are good at icebreaker sort of activities would do a better job. Maybe even get people to actually, you know, notice eachother. That would be most welcome.
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Date: 2009-02-11 01:03 am (UTC)But I see where this is going, and I don't think it's a problem with AC itself. It's more a problem with its attendees, and the emphasis that furries put on social functions depsite our collective social ineptitude.
In short, the larger a gathering, the more difficult it becomes to approach someone new, since that person is likely trying to append themselves to an existing group of friends to avoid being left behind with nothing to do for 3 hours. That care-free, spontaniety of smaller conventions seems to get lost. Cake-con, for example, could never happen at Anthrocon without first getting traction somewhere else.
So, if you go into a larger con like AC without knowing anyone at all, your only option feels like reading the booklet and going to programming, then hoping that you make friends along the way because somebody took a chance and said, "hello."
That's how I did AC, but I'm not afraid to walk up and engage a bunch of people. And AC wasn't my first, FurFright was, back when it was so small that even if I wanted to be under the radar, it wasn't going to happen.
And to be completely honest with you, giza, so far my advice to almost everyone who asks for it is specifically not to make AC their first, for those very reasons. It can be really unpleasant--for anyone--to go somewhere new and have to make a place for themselves. "Start somewhere 'smaller,'" I say to them, "you'll like AC a lot more once you have an idea how it all works."
So no, I don't think a "mentor" program is a good idea, unless people are matched very carefully. I think some kind of "go here if you're bored/ronery" area plus a couple of staff that are good at icebreaker sort of activities would do a better job. Maybe even get people to actually, you know, notice eachother. That would be most welcome.