Want to be one of the people who make Anthrocon happen? We rely on the generosity of our sponsors and supersponsors to help pay the bills, so we have always offered gifts and other humble little incentives to those selfless individuals. If you already have a membership and would like to upgrade your membership safely and securely online, just click on one of the links in the following table. 

Anthrocon has selected Hello Bully to be our beneficiary for 2012. Their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and repair the reputation of the American Pit Bull Terrier. They will be at the Charity Auction and will have a table in the Dealers' Room where you can meet them and peruse information about their organization.

More information about Hello Bully can be found at their website, hellobully.com. If you have any questions regarging Hello Bully, they can be reached at 412-235-1997 or at hello(at)hellobully.com.

This year we are pleased to welcome as guests of honor Mr. Mike Kazaleh and Mr. Dev Madan, as well as Japan's amazing furry acrobat Sardyuon. 

More information can be found at our Guest of Honor page.

Hi all,

There have been some questions about the process for submitting panels and hosting events at Anthrocon, so I'd like to provide you with the "how to" process for hosting a panel or event in Anthrocon spaces.

First, let's say that you have this really keen idea for a panel.  It's not your field of expertise, but you think it would be something people would REALLY anjoy.  Or maybe you have an idea for a panel that you want to host, but really are not sure about exactly what to do...you just have the basic idea.  Well, we have an online form for suggestions like that.  You can go to https://www.anthrocon.org/suggest-a-panel and suggest the panel.  When programming receives this suggestion, it's reviewed and if it's something that may be doable, but does not have a person that has agreed to host the event (not a suggested host,,,but someone actually saying that they will host it), then the form will forwarded to the track leads, and we will see if it's something that we can find a host for.  If the suggestion has a viable host, and it is a panel that we can host, then we would move on to the next step.

If you are volunteering to host a panel, you can either enter the information on the panel suggestion page, or send a note directly to programming.  Once a host has been identified, that person (as the primary contact for the event) will be sent a detailed "Programming Request Form".  This form (which is not posted on the website, and must be received directly from programming) will allow you to enter all of the information needed to schedule an event.  It will request a lot of information about what will be put in the programming guide, time restrictions, equipment, and other necessary informaton that programming needs to get the panel scheduled and prepared for Anthrocon.

Hi all,

This is a friendly reminder about Anthrocon programming on Thursday evening.  Anthrocon has begun hosting minimal programming (mostly with the art track and the dances) on Thursday evenings.  This is mainly due to the artists wanting to contribute to the convention when the dealer room is not open.  

In order to attend these events by really stellar artists from the furry community, you MUST have your membership badge.  So in order to attend Thursday evening panels, you must be registered.

Pre-registering saves you money, and you don't have to wait in the longer on-site registration lines.  Most people who pre register are in and out of the registration area in less than 15 minutes.  Plus, for those that care about their badge number, it does give you a lower badge number.  (This does not impact your membership at all, but some people like having a lower number.)

So you get to attend Thursday events, save money, save time in the pre-reg lines, and can be ready for all the events on Friday morning....all by pre-registering. How cool is that?!?  So what are you waiting for?  Be sure you pre-register for the convention!

KP

*Edited to reflect the opening time of Reg on Thursday.  Yo still want to pre-reg to avoid standing in a long on-site eg line.

Hi all,

The preparations for this year's convention are well underway.  The Masquerade for 2012 will have a few small changes, so I'd like to get our performers some basic information ahead of time.

First, we are going to be expanding the Masquerade staff.  The program is developing and we want to have people on hand to facilitate the operations of the show, as well as help with it's material.  I will be introducing our new Masquerade staffers a bit later in the year.

In 2011, we had more acts than we actually had time for.  This craeted a bit of a scheduling dilemma with the following acts in the main ballroom.  Anthrocon does pride itself on trying to run as close to schedule as we can.  So to prevent this from happening in the future, we will be limiting the number of acts in the show.  Dress reheasals on Saturday morning wiill, as always, serve as an audition.  However, if there are an excess of acts, we will be limiting the performances to no more than 2 hours of performance.  The determination will be made by the Masquerade staff (which is being expanded this year).  There is not a way to give guidelines as to what would be cut and what would not, but some healthy advice for performers would be:

* make certain your audio tracks are clear and play well over the audio system.  If the track is difficult to hear in rehearsals, we would probably not allow the act 

* try to make certain that the act is clear and all actions are visible to the audience

* acts which do not register well with the Masquerade staff, or are felt to not have sufficient entertainment value, might not be allowed

We are proud to announce the list of confirmed dealers for Anthrocon 2012!  So far we have more than 170 dealerships signed up.  You can find the list and a map of where you can find your favorite dealer in our colossal 2012 Dealers' Room by clicking here.  Don't see your favorite dealer listed?  Never fear!  We still have room left, although you might want to give someone a nudge.  Any questions or comments can be directed by email to dealers-2012(at)anthrocon.org.

Anthrocon's hotel rooms are not yet available for reservations!  On February 2, 2012, at 9:00 AM EST, we will throw open the doors for people to make reservations at the Westin Convention Center (our flagship hotel), as well as our all-within-easy-walking-distance satellite hotels, the Doubletree, Courtyard, Hampton Inn and Omni William Penn. 

Reservations for Westin Hotel suites (and ONLY SUITES) can be made starting...now! Suites are deluxe rooms as described below and are more expensive than regular hotel rooms, which this year will be about $140 ($160 with tax) per night. We make these available early because of the high demand.  Remember, only suite reservations at the Westin are being accepted at this time.  Regular room reservations begin on February 2.

In order to secure a suite, you must send an email to ceo(at)anthrocon.org with the phrase WESTIN SUITE REQUEST in the subject line. Once again: send an email, not a private message.  Include the full (real) name that the reservation will be under, and – very important – include your Anthrocon 2012 membership number which was sent to you by email when you submitted your registration. We will send you back an email with instructions on how to go about reserving a suite through our special contact at the Westin. 

If you did not receive or have misplaced your registration confirmation email, you can email us at registration-2012(at)anthrocon.org and we will tell you. If you have not registered for Anthrocon 2012 yet...well, what are you waiting for? Get to it! Just click here!

Information on Anthrocon's 2012 Artists' Alley is now posted.  Click here to learn more.

PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT CHANGES FOR THIS YEAR:

• Signups will now take place online between May 7 and June 1!
• Only pre-registered Anthrocon members may sign up online!
• New constraints on space usage in the Alley!
• New rules for "standby" artists!