My two cents
Con was about what it was last year but with more folks. I had some fun here and there. Was NICE to have the hotel elevators running through the whole con (good job on that one with security limiting it to 4-6 people at a time) though the escalators kept dying.
Complaints... Ummmm... As a suiter I did not care for the 2 together thing we did during the parade. I've watched a few vids of the parade now and its hard to see every one, specially when they get bunched up. I hope next year its back to the single file line and we just make folks walk faster (I'd been in suit for four hours without removing my head or drinking before the parade and could have power walked through the parade, but then again I'm tough like that 
) I do understand the problem with every one waiting on either end of the line AND that the convention center would charge us a fortune to turn up the AC in room A during the group photo but still, there must be a way to pull it off. Or even shorten the line-up to a half hour instead of an hour as many of us got there at 1pm and stood there waiting for 2pm for the actual parade, cutting a half hour there means folks are standing there waiting a half hour less and not passing out during or after the parade. Also, some of the suiter activities were staggered to far apart. Like Friday the meet and greet (plus the event before it) was an hour before the fursuit games (I understand it gave folks time to cool off) but that has most folks in suit for a few hours. Perhaps these events could be either set back to back or have a far longer break (have 2 of them, then a 3 hour break so people can unsuit and shower before going to the next set?).
I loved the dual-file idea myself... it alleviated my worries of surviving the deathmarch, and I met new folks because of it.
Well, first, just so you get a sense of what you're asking the staff to do, you want us to effectively double the length of the fursuit parade while shortening the time it takes to get from beginning to end. That's not going to happen unless we turn it into a fursuit 5k, which I think most suiters don't want anything to do with.
"...cutting a half hour there means folks are standing there waiting a half hour less and not passing out during or after the parade."
I think with that many fursuiters it's almost inevitable that there will be some under-prepared folks who are going to need medical attention - which brings up something else: Where is security or anyone with medical training stationed during the fursuit parade? I remember heading back after the parade photo shoot and seeing a couple security folks running through a large crowd in convention center to assist one or two fursuiters who had overheated.
If it isn't already happening, it'd probably be beneficial to have medical help standing by where there is more likely to be a problem; i.e. along the parade route and in Hall C; by the fursuit games; in the ballroom before the parade and during the masquerade and dance competition; etc etc.
I was near by when the one suiter dropped after the photo shoot in hall C and heard several suiters who were around him yell out "FIRST AID!!!" a couple times but security must have missed it. I pushed through the crowd who were all trying to leave the room to get to the security guys who were standing off to the side and told them they had a suiter down in the middle of the floor. They look off toward them to help.
The trouble with having medical staff on site is the lack of them who can volunteer. My mother was there and is a LPN and and EMT with many years of experience BUT she was up by the ball room where we started from so was too far away to be of help in that situation. I myself have been trained in CPR but that's about it.
Perhaps it could be included in the registration process for people with medical training who would be willing to help out to check a box or some thing and be issued a large badge or some thing so people know to grab them if some thing happens.
I was close by (within 10 feet or so) when the suiter in Hall C dropped and was actually the first one who yelled for first aid. I should say that I was on staff this year (for registration) and I am also trained and certified in first aid and CPR through my job (though I am not part of the AC med staff). I won't go into the details of what happened but just wish to say that the suiter who dropped in Hall C actually had immediate first aid attention and the response from AC med staff was very quick (thanks for the help getting word to them Killjoy).
As for medical personnel volunteering I don't think that registration is the way to go. Perhaps if they wish to volunteer their services they could go through con ops and ask if help is needed but I don't know what AC's view on this would be.
Medical response at a convention is more than a little problematic than you seem to think in this day of litigation and law suits (frivolous and otherwise). Medical people are very conscious of this, and we work with them to help them protect themselves. The Good Samaritan laws don’t work the way most people think and vary widely from state to state. We have very good reasons to work the way we do
As to medical staff, you should know that there were 2 medical doctors, and 3 EMTs working the parade . They were spread out along the route. One at each end of the bridge, one at the top of the escalator, one at the bottom of the escalator and one on the door to hall C.
If you have any further questions, feel free to email them directly to me at
Where is security or anyone with medical training stationed during the fursuit parade? I remember heading back after the parade photo shoot and seeing a couple security folks running through a large crowd in convention center to assist one or two fursuiters who had overheated.
The short answer is that there's no perfect place. Only one person had a serious issue in hall C; the others were randomly distributed along the route and all the way back to the Westin.
Remember also that we (neither Anthrocon nor the DI) provide medical service. Yes, there are people on both staffs who are qualified to do it. But it is not and will not be part of their assignments; this introduces all kinds of scary legal liability. What the Dorsai do is try to keep those people free of other duties during the times that emergencies might occur. This maximizes their ability to respond as non-staff individuals. Since they are not acting as staff at that point, liability issues both for those individuals and for AC/the Dorsai are greatly eased.
Sigh. The law is a funny thing.
the parade buddy idea was epic! cept for i got hit a few times. i enjoyed walking with somebody, but with a suit like mine, i needed a bit of room to walk. over all, a very good idea for over 700 fursuiters. :3
i also felt like i was going to pass out during the parade; i was a bit dizzy. if i did pass out, where was the EMTs & medics? also, WATER. water was non existent till the end. & even at the end, there was no water. can that be fixed later in the future? D:
i also felt like i was going to pass out during the parade; i was a bit dizzy. if i did pass out, where was the EMTs & medics? also, WATER. water was non existent till the end. & even at the end, there was no water. can that be fixed later in the future? D:
There was water in the back of the ball room for every one to hydrate before the parade. I suggest working out (walking a few miles or general exercise) for a couple months before the con and drinking lots of gatorade & water before and after suiting. Also, if you are feeling dizzy or have some other issue, don't feel that you HAVE TO keep marching. Step out of line and rest, get some one's attention so they know why you are out of line in case you do fall or need assistance.
I know the union controls every thing at the con (set-up and water locations) but would it be a problem if some one were to bring a cooler of gatorade or some thing? I imagine the answer is yes (it'd be a problem) but thought I'd throw the idea out there as you can only drink just so much water in 4 days.
One other thing: other then the main restaurants located on the same block as the convention, is any attempt made to inform the other near by places we are coming? I looked through the handy guide we had for placed to eat and some of them in it that I went to had no idea that we were coming. I've encountered this every year, places which furs will end up who don't know we are there. I'm not suggesting we send a runner with fliers out to every store and restaurant in town but it might be nice to tip some of them off that we're going to be in town; especially the ones we list in guides to direct people to. Many of them would gladly give out discounts and other things to attract business. The Quiznos a few blocks from the con (a block or two from the Omni) said they didn't know we were coming and were offering free drinks and chips to furs who bought subs there.
Since you have the list of all of the establishments nearby, would you like to volunteer to contact them next year a month or so before the convention?
oh, missed your post. I'm not sure if I'm going to be attending next year but from what I've seen in other posts there are some folks who do attend who live in Pittsburgh and others who arrive a few days before the rest of us so it shouldn't be to hard to find volunteers. Some of the near by places have joined the forums here to keep tabs on us as well. If I change my mind and do attend next year I'll consider helping out in this manner but would appreciate from feedback from the AC staff on what is allowed from outside venders as far as advertising is concerned so I don't misinform any of them. I've asked in the past if AC ever planned to have any sort of sponsoring and was told no.
Perhaps a single board can be set up in the Westin with a large map of local destinations with a table beside it for those locations to place coupon and such, that would save on printing costs that would be incurred by adding such coupons to the booklet you currently provide.
I was told that there was a women with a dog on a leash this year handing out ads for some place during the convention inside the Westin but did not get one so I don't know where she was from. I also saw several menus from a asian place scattered about the zoo and hall tables in the Westin. Did they need some sort of AC staff approval to do this?
We have a 'freebie table' in the Westin where local business and other conventions are permitted to place their flyers; we also have advertising space in the conbook, or in the form of con bag inserts for a price. You are correct that we don't want to be "Anthrocon, brought to you by Taco Bell." But we certainly like to work with our Pittsburgh Neighbors, and encouraging them to present specials to our attendees is a good thing.
I do like the notion of a large printed 'map' that summarizes our dining guide, though we.. have the dining guide.
There was actually water off to the side. I was the same way, sat off to the side, and someone wheeled up to take care of me, so that I'd be able to make it to the ehadless lounge, where two partial suiters with head and paws off, were hogging the GIANt fan to themselves... x:
I personally loved the two people side by side idea. There are so many benefits from having the ability to shorten how long the actual march is. That said if we continue with something like this it will take a few times to deal with staggering and disorganization issues so that it's more efficient and you don't have people standing around so much during the beginning.
Having the parade go two-by-two cut the duration of the parade in half. There are simply too many people to go single file.
I just fear if it ever gets to be three wide and that poor, poor suiter in the middle doesn't get any images being barricaded in. Though i figure at points the two on either side would be rotated.
You could run us 3 or 4 across arm in arm as long as there was more room between each group of suiters. Perhaps some one could use a video camera suspended near the roof for an over head view of the parade some where?
The only other solution I can thing of is having every one line up in hall C instead of the ball room to do the group photo first and then the parade. This of course isn't possible because of the distance from the headless lounge.
Maybe have a half sized parade friday and another with the rest of us saturday?
The parade and the standing around after for the photo shoot wasn't a problem for me (If it wasn't for clothing I have on under my suit getting sweaty I'd be in suit all day) but those who did get dizzy or tired out from them need to keep that in mind for next year and prepare themselves.
Another difficulty with lining up in Hall C in advance would be obtaining seating in Hall C; right now the *only* thing we are using it for each year is the Mass Fursuit Photo. To set up chairs in there would increase our expenses significantly.
Loved the con
Loved the dealers room
loved the workshops
loved the art room
loved the artist alley
HATED the venue again everything was too far apart!
I would have spent more time and money if I wasn't worn out by the time I got to anything!
Well, the dealer's room, the art show, and artist's alley are all co-located... I thought that was rather convenient.
You people are getting too soft... We need to go back to having stair con to get you all into shape. Back in my days we had 90+ heat waves and the hotel's A/C system was down all day and people were dropping left and right in the 3 hour registration and the elevators were down most of the time so we had to walk stairs all day long and fursuiters were melting inside their suits so they were all squishy when you hugged them (true story, this DID happen at a AC many years ago, except for the suiters melting part).
I'm being sarcastic of course but you should get in some exercise before a convention, if not for your general health, to get you ready to walk and walk and walk. Well, walk, stand in a line for an hour, sit down for a show, get back into the same line for a half hour, sit down for the next show, walk, dance, walk some more... You get the idea.
I have to agree with this to some extent. There is no getting around Anthrocon being what it is today. It is what it is, and people who know they are going to be going in advance should take that knowledge and put it to good use.
It only helps to start getting a little in shape a few months in advance. Even if you do it just a month in advance, doing things like 5 to 10 min walks per day and they adding as as your fitness levels increase. Then when it comes con time you don't feel so tired once you reach where you are going.
You should try I-Con, the sci-fi con, (or is it Sy-Fy con), on Long Island, NY. The official hotel is 16 miles from the con site, the campus of Stony Brook University. The campus itself is approximately one square mile and the panels and events are scattered across it. No transportation is provided.
RE: Water. Digging back into my distance athlete past, the best time to load up on water is before you leave the start. If you start off with an empty tank, that's what causes dehydration and thrust. By the time you're thirsty, it is too late. A couple of good droughts of water before you put your head on will make the end of the parade a whole lot more comfortable and the chances of you dropping along the way.
Ya know, walking around the con so much was not an issue for me about 98% of the time. I was glad to get the exercise that weekend anyway and it meant that by the time I was done for the evening, I slept well. The 2% where it sucked? Climbing 17 flights of stairs to get to the wine tasting, but I made it, and it beat waiting at least 1/2 an hour for an elevator!
Last year I realized that, even if I rest for a couple of minutes after every few floors, taking the stairs is still quicker than the line waiting for an elevator, if it stretches past the concierge's desk.
That depends heavily on where you want to go. To the Zoo, yes. To the 15th floor, not so much. I was pleased with how swiftly the lines moved when I needed to go upstairs... assuming the bozos in front of me were paying attention when Security was calling for "one more person!" (I got tired of waiting for them to react to simple declarative sentences and hopped in the elevator myself.)
I was on the 14th floor this year (and was grateful they skip the 13th floor as I climbed those last flights). Maybe the line moves faster now, but two years ago I waited the better part of an hour when the end of the line was over by the function floor elevators.
I lucked out and was on the 6th floor (was on 21st last year) so I either walked the stairs (escalators up to 3rd and then 3 flights) or was in suit so got to skip the line. I did notice we still had folks who'd walk to the 5th floor to get on the elevators to bypass the lines. Its noticeable when you keep seeing 4 or more people on the 5th every time going up or are walking up the stairs and have people actually tell you that's what they are doing.
Not only was it annoying to see that, it was pretty annyoing (and occasionally loud) for the poor insomniatic gryphon whose room was RIGHT NEXT to the elevators.
People, the fouth floor is the gym, and rarely do people use the elevator to get to the fifth floor (I did it ONLY when carrying a bunch of stuff or was in suit). What happens is you wind up waiting a long time aynway, with little to no opportunity to get ON an elevator, and if you're especially loud (like a few groups were) you annoy the people who just want to have some quiet time in their rooms.
You know... at first I didn’t like the idea of the two fursuits per row during the parade. I thought it would be hard to manage, and walk next to another fursuiter. But as the parade continued I realized it was not a bad idea. It turned out to be more efficient to handle the parade this way. I also loved the idea of walking next to feather wing during the parade. We got into a slight competition during the parade, and it was lots of fun. The parades time was much shorter from the pervious years and this also worked out to our advantage.
I think we should continue this option into the future.
Sharky
the other thing that got me was the escalators. some of them werent working, & since i had the suit that had 4 legs & could only handle so much walking, walking downstairs in said suit was NOT an option, since i couldve ripped the feet big time (i had to do a funky dance to get downstairs). same thing with other suiters, who might not have 4 legs, but who have issues walking.
That usually occurs because of escalator mistreatment and the Westin staff are usually pretty good at getting them going within a reasonable amount of time.
Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure last year we discussed the escalator issue and the suggestion was given that signed be posted to them asking people to leave a step or two between them and those around them. Not that any one would actually read them (print them on neon orange paper with LEDs around the board and porn as the background might work) let alone obey them, but if even 20% of the people did, it'd make the escalators 20% less likely to break down.
While my knowledge of escalator operations is limited, I think they all have a safety built in that turns them off when they become over loaded and they then require either a key or a push button to restart. If this is the case, couldn't they simply show our security how to do it? (I know, they have to call in a union guy to push a button, but it was worth suggesting)
All in all, I bumped into my parter two or three times, but it wasn't bad. But to reiterate on what someone else said... I tried water this year instead of Powerade for a pick-me-up before starting to get in suit, and it didn't do nearly as much as Powerade did for me at FCN. Especially the Ion-4 mix... I like to call Powerade flavored sweat without the smelly bacteria.
One more things I'd like to address. Next year, can we ban vuvuzelas?
Awww and I was gonna bring a tuba next year!
>One more things I'd like to address. Next year, can we ban vuvuzelas?
Actually, concerning the elevators. I had more trouble on the trip down as the elevators were stopping on every floor even though they were full, and that might have had something to do with the long waits.
Jeef
As inconvenient as it would be for all those involved, might I suggest having designated loading floors? It wouldn't hurt most of us to get a little time on the stairs so marking every 5th floor as a loading zone might speed up the whole thing. I'm on the 12nd floor and want to ride down, so I walk down two flights of stairs to the 10th which is a loading floor. Were I on the 14th floor I could simply walk up one to the 25th. I think this would speed things up slightly but actually getting people to do it would be the challenge.
This is an excellent idea! That way the elevators don't take forever because they're stopping on every floor. Good thinking, Killjoy!
This idea does sound good on paper but the question then becomes how would you enforce it. Unless you have DI posted on all of the non-loading floors you are still going to have people wanting to load on their own floor. Sure you would have some that would abide by the request but probably not enough to make a real difference.
To note: you mean Hall C for the Fursuit Big Picture; and the Air Conditioning was turned on this year specifically after the issue with last year.
As for the Parade dual-file, I thought it not an issue myself; but when it comes to the parade I am the simple fan that most are. The programming staff will assuredly be seeking feedback on the fursuit parade as we look towards having a thousand people involved.