Guest Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) Yes I'm interested in actually forming a fur con(convention) here in America. But like any good con it would require a lot of help from our community in bringing it together and building it. I've wanted to hold it in the midwest (U.S.) being a centralized location for North America. This would be a positive type of place no negativity (discrimination/misogyny/hate/ableism/ageism) and would be not to meet in any sexual way or manner. MizzSpark Edited July 26, 2015 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Fox Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 MizzSpark, you might want to define exactly what you mean by "Fur Con". It would help people to understand that and to know what you are really speaking of here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I don't think she's building a scam. Fan convention, like "Comic-Con" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Would be nice but all would do is bring negative publicity cause you and I know that would also bring peta along sadly yo say great gesture just be badd for everyong there cause they be outside a demonstrating any type large event with fur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Since we are both from Chicago I think McCormick Place would be a good bet, or Donald Stephen's Convention Center. But it takes more than a "Strong unified community" to get a group of fur manufacturers, stylists, vendors and buyers and/or other interested parties in the same room together. It takes a lot of money and influence. The kind of money it normally takes to rent out a convention hall. Do you know of anyone with that kind of raw charisma? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I edited the header and body to be specific. Also I think it's best to start small I have no huge fortune stashed away to make it occur in a physical huge convention center nice thought though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Maybe we can host it at the Museum of Contemporary Art, or we could reserve it in the ballroom of the Drake Hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Fox Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 the good part of the idea is that the French folks do a great job of it every year. The sadder part is that it has been tried here and it never came to pass. One member one time even got to reserving a full floor in a hotel, after asking who might be interested in coming. Many said they would be. But then, when reality came not one member reserved a room. Just wanted to explain... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I'd respond with a witty remark but my motivation seems to have dried up..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Panther, I said smaller I don't think I could afford that (front the expenses) but if we did this it'd be legitimate non refundable tickets in helping pay for some expenses and I would like to keep expenses minimal. I doubt we pull 30 people lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Panther, I said smaller I don't think I could afford that (front the expenses) but if we did this it'd be legitimate non refundable tickets in helping pay for some expenses and I would like to keep expenses minimal. I doubt we pull 30 people lol. Lol at this rate it's starting to sound less and less like a convention and more like a backyard bbq 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Not a large enough base of people. It's not exactly a large target of people. You insult the idea. So France holds a backyard BBQ? Yeah they could only gather a handful of people we aren't putting in vendors or anything at first it's definitely to test where this all stands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisaci Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I hope the us fur con will be at the same location that cosmic con took place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Lisa which Comic Con? Lol. There's New York, San Diego, and Chicago. I'm sure there's more but yeah you're really grabbing for straws. We won't bring the crowd comic cons bring. Unless you're simply speaking facetiously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourrureclub Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Oh, what a nice idea ! MizzSpark, remeber we talked together about this, and I can still help. Not on organizing things, but sharing the advices learnt from experience. What I read here makes me want to say some things... Of course this must not be a sexual meeting, this pages on FourrureClub (http://www.fourrureclub.com/blog/category/convention/) explains widely how our meetings take place, what happens, and what happens not. MizzSpark, you'll see there must be one person or couple that leads and say : "it will take place here, at this time, the one who wants to be part of it : welcome. The others : too bad, see you next year". No need to be aggressive, but trying to make everyone ok with the choices is nearly impossible. I know in the US you can have huuuuge conventions with thousands of people. Take this in consideration not to think what you prepare is a fail, if you are 15, 20, 30 persons, it'll be a success for a start, believe me. The Furden has 2955 members, remove all the ones that are outside the states, remove all the ones that won't be available at this time, and all the ones that will never want to meet anyone IRL, and you have your little number of Conventionnists About the place, the best thing we found is not to rent an hotel (not glamour at all), neither a exhibition hall (same), but rent a house is a great start. In France we have what we call "gites", it's people renting a house the own, for tourists, groups, parties, weddings, etc. You can rent it for a week-en or a week. There, you'll have plenty of place, you can be there like if it was your home About the place, the date, for not to be annoyed by any anti.... Everything is secret, every information is given by mail, only to forum mebers how want to apply. Easy to manage ! I said smaller I don't think I could afford that (front the expenses) but if we did this it'd be legitimate non refundable tickets in helping pay for some expenses and I would like to keep expenses minimal. Be carefull, my advice is not to pay anything in advance from your personnal wallet... Any member that want to apply must pay in acvance, that's not negociable, it's also an implication question. Well, this is what I wanted to say about that, MizzSpark we can have mail ([email protected]) or Skype exchange if you wish, I encourage the Furden community to do such a meeting, you'll see it's a great experience, and US seems to gather lots of fur lovers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Have you french folks ever consider a convention at the White Turf St Moritz ? I would save up for something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Personally I think it is a great idea. However as past efforts to get such a US meet-up organized have totally failed, I think it will take a monumental effort on the part of the organizer to get members to agree to show up AND pay a share of the costs. Having said that, I do hope MizzSpark can make it happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther10 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Personally I think it is a great idea. However as past efforts to get such a US meet-up organized have totally failed, I think it will take a monumental effort on the part of the organizer to get members to agree to show up AND pay a share of the costs. Having said that, I do hope MizzSpark can make it happen. Okay, joking aside here are some tidbits to keep in mind when hosting any convention. And some of this is based on my own personal experiences: 1. The smallest convention I have ever been to is the G-fest Godzilla convention that happens every year in Rosemont IL. That convention caters to about 2,500 -3,000 attendees each year. I don't think they have advance ticket sales usually its just pay at the door and its mostly cash only for the vendors and guests. I think if you want to have a small but successful convention, 3000 attendees is really the magic number. Because that will earn enough money (even if it's $30 at the door per person) to host the following year. 2. The most important part of any con is the vendor room. Any convention will largely rely on the vendor room for its share of the profits. Plus it gives local shop owners and manufacturers a reason to come back each year if the sales are great when they visit. Now you'll only need about 7-12 vendors if you are hosting it in like a hotel or community center. But if you earn perhaps a 5% commission for every coat sold at a convention you would host, that would really help bring in profits for the coming year. Plus there are the expenses the merchants must pay for renting a booth or table. 3. Panels and lectures are always a large draw at any convention too (Big or small). You need these; just make sure the topic is interesting. If your topic is "The History of Fur Cultivation in North America" that may be a pretty dry subject to talk about at a convention. If you want it to be your only talk, be wary. But if there are other panels. Feel free to round it out with subjects like "What's next? Fashion trends for the coming seasons" or "Fur in the 80's: A look back at fur fashion in mainstream media. Hosted by Pamela Barwood" because that will draw larger and more interested parties at your show. 4. The final piece of the the puzzle is the celebrity guests/autograph and picture booths. Even the smaller conventions will find a way to hire the occasional guest speaker or celebrity to appear at a convention. Celebrities will always rake in the most advertising dollars and will draw out the biggest crowds no matter what season it's held. As a general rule, older or retired celebrities are always the "easy gets" because they are normally out of work and can always use the extra money. Current and hot celebrities will be harder to hire for any show because they have a schedule to maintain and if you can find an available or interested party it will usually be the person(s) who are the most passionate about their profession or the hobby in general. This meets the bare minimum amount of requirements for a successful convention. It still might take a kickstarter crowdfunding campaign just to pay for the room but you should be able to earn the money to host on a yearly basis just from ticket sales and vendor fees alone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourrureclub Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Have you french folks ever consider a convention at the White Turf St Moritz ?I would save up for something like that. Well, yes and no... Yes because it's everyone fantasy to do a meeting at this place, and no because cost would be too high. Not that this kind of meeting should be "cheap", but it has to be affordable. I can say that the next one we'lle do here in France will take place to the montains, implying to be sure to have snow, which will be great ! I understand your question, participants often ask me for this kind of ideas, but it leads to no participants because price would be too high for them. Anyway, it's important to know that only motivated people will come, you' ll always get a bunch of people saying "I'll come, write down my name in the participants list !", and that never give a single news as soon as you announce the price... So my best advice is to be very clear about that right at the beginning of the "advertising campaign". I think it will take a monumental effort on the part of the organizer to get members to agree to show up AND pay a share of the costs Yes... and no (again). Yes it's quite a big work, especially to find the right place, but you'll get a lot of help from motivated members, and you'll have to accept before beginning that not everyone will come, and this kind of meeting is not for everyone. Only the more motivated people will come and will accept that there's a sharing of the costs. People asking for lower prices, payment delays etc will never come as they try to find excuses not to come or want you to find every solution for them. See no judgment here in my words, but having an online forum with an online community, and setting up an IRL meeting are two different things in terms of commitment. Somme people are relly into online things, some others deeply want to meet and share... To conclude, I'd say the term "Convention", may not be appropriate in english besides the french use. Yes it implies a meeting of people, but no, it can't be compared to the huge conventions you have in the US about comics books or whatever. No that's not a garden BBQ, but for the first time, you can't plan to get vendors, guests, etc. You just have to "initiate a movement". Then for the next years, people will ask to come and present their work, books, etc. The role of leader in this fur meeting is more to find a great place to meet wih online friends, just as you would do with old friends, you haven't seen since years... After the first one, we had strippers, lectures of one of the most famous woman writing books about BDSM, sewing tutorials, etc, but not the first time. Small steps, one after the other, and everything will be fine I remain available for any experience sharing (many excuses if my english is not so good, I try to use my remains of vocabulary instead of Google Translate my french ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Panther I'm not business savvy. Getting vendors to join would be great. But if we want to keep anti fur people away the worst way to go about this is to be public accessible. You're making it into a typical con but this can't be the typical con yet until we can see who's willing to help create this. It needs to be at least 20-25 people helping make this possible it's a team effort. Not a single convention was done alone. Also the smallest con you've been too is actually about something a large general population is into. This is a very niche market. Also getting vendors would be difficult because we would need to guarantee security to an extent we can't make them sign away complete rights without providing some security for vendors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I think MizzSpark has the right idea - this needs to be a meet-up with fellow fur enthusiasts NOT a convention. Past attempts via this board failed mainly (I think) because most members were afraid (for various reasons) to meet in real life - a lot of fur enthusiasts do not want it known that they are attracted to fur. That may not be as common with the recently joined members (I am just speculating), so a meet-up might succeed this time. As has been indicated this would need to be a private meeting (party) between like minded people, not a public convention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I couldn't agree more with AKCoyote. Discretion is the name of the game, and if we are comfortable, we will have more fun. Let's talk about it on the other thread White Fox started. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Hallo beste fur-vrienden, Dit jaar (2024) willen we het ‘FurEvent NL’ organiseren in oost-Nederland. We willen graag inventariseren wie hier belangstelling voor heeft en mogelijk wenst te komen. Voor meer info: http://fureventnl.wordpress.com =============================================================================== Hello dear fur-friends, This year (2024) we like to organize ‘FurEvent NL’ at the eastern part of The Netherlands. We want to know who like to come. For more information: http://fureventnl.wordpress.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now