Doug's Home On The Web "Now monochrome monitor compatible!"

Since folks keep asking me what conventions I work and whether I'm a staff member at such and such convention, I figured it was about time I made a list.

• Anime Central
  • IRT (Security) in 2009
• Anthrocon
  • Operations Director and Board of Directors from 2004 to present
  • Sysadmin and webmaster from 2006 to present
  • Operations staff in 2002 and 2003
  • Internet Room staff in 2000 and 2001
• Camp Feral
  • Staff member and workshop instructor in 2001
  • Past webmaster (2001 or so)
• Confluence
  • Security in 2011
  • Security from 2007 to 2009
• FurFright
  • Security from 2007 to present
  • Assistant Operations Director in 2006
• Furry Connection North
  • Webmaster and sysadmin from 2009 to present
  • Security in 2011
  • Security from 2008 to 2009
• MagFest
  • Security from 2007 to 2009
• MarCon
  • Art Show Security in 2007 and 2008
• MidWest FurFest
  • Operations staff in 2011
  • Artshow staff from 2008 to 2010
  • Artshow staff in 2003

I spent the last weekend in Chicago, working at the 15,000 person convention known as Anime Central, or ACen for shirt. I worked on their Incident Response Team (IRT) during the night shift, which involved many duties similar to security at other conventions, but much more structured because of the size of the convention and the number of people working IRT.

For example, we divided up the hotel into areas known as "beats". When you went on roving duty, you were assigned to a specific beat, which you had to walk on a regular basis. Oh yes, there was lots and lots of walking at this con. :-) We all worked with partners as well, which was a great way for folks on IRT to get to know each other, and pairing up more experienced ops with less experienced ops provided a great learning opportunity for the less experienced person.

ACen did something else I've never before seen at a convention: they had a dispatch room. If you were on duty with a radio and you needed to call something in, you usually didn't call your superior, but instead called Dispatch. Dispatch then logged the call and made the decision on what to do

There were also a surprising number of furries and proto-furries who attended the convention. I didn't think there would be as much overlap between furry and Anime as there was.

Somewhere in there, Duncan da Husky, Takaza, and Linnaeus came by and we did lunch. All I remember was getting off of night shift and going to sleep around 7 AM, and being woken up by a 2:30 PM phonecall from Duncan telling me they were there. :-P

Everyone on IRT was loaned a black vest to wear. This had the benefit of being highly visible, plus it gave us pockets to carry around water and food in so we could stay hydrated and fed while on our beat.

Did I mention how cool the people working IRT were? There were many dedicated ops who worked long hours in what was essentially a volunteer position. That really made the convention an enjoyable experience for me, and I think I'll be going back next year.

Oh, you wanted to see the rest of my pictures? Sure! They're on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmuth/sets/72157618360496216/

Anime Central: 2009
Anthrocon: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Camp Feral: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
ConClave: 2005, 2006, 2007
Confluence: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
DexCon: 2006
Eurofurence: 2004
FurFright: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Furry Connection North: 2008, 2009, 2011
MagFest: 2007, 2008, 2009
MarCon: 2007, 2008
Midwest FurFest: 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010
Otakon: 2003
Western PA Furry Weekend: 2010

Years with links are where I have photos online. Italicized years are where I worked staff.

So that's 49 conventions in all (33 furry, 16 non-furry). And that isn't even counting some of the smaller gatherings such as KainCon, Wuffmeet, and Dorsai Thing...

For the whole list of staffing I've done at those conventions, there's now a separate blog post for that.

Despite the number of conventions I attended, there are still more I'd like to attend! Megaplex, Confusion, and Penguincon, for starters. And FurCoNZ, too. (I've never been to New Zealand before!)