Tag: Con Ops

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So, You Think Someone Should Be Banned From A Furry Con

So, you think someone should be banned from a con? Let’s discuss how that works.

First, let’s set expectations

I want to get this part out of the way: Conventions generally reserve bans for credible risk, repeated misconduct, or clear violations of their policy, based on behavior that is documented, corroborated, or observed by staff.  Conventions generally won’t ban someone based purely on speculation or dislike, but they may act on credible patterns of concerning behavior or documented risk.

“This picture is the joke. The rest of this post isn’t.”

That said, even if a con does not ban a person, conventions do want to be told about possible issues in advance, so that they know a specific person may be a problem down the road.  So even though your email to a convention’s Safety department may not result in a ban, you are still doing the con a solid if you let them know about a particular person in advance.  It also helps you create a paper trail if that person does escalate at the con and decides to cause you problems there in person.

Please keep that in mind as you read the rest of this post.

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How To Start A Furry Convention

So, you want to start a furry convention! Great! We’ll never say no to a new event. And this is a topic I happen to know a little about, as I’ve been staffing/running conventions for nearly 30 years now. (I’m old)

Let’s start with a few questions I’d like to throw out, the sort of questions every new convention organizer should ask themselv es…

A Furry Convention Building Checklist:

  • Have you staffed a con before?
  • Are you incorporated? If so, as a 501(c)3 or 501(c)7?
  • Do you have a separate bank account for the organization?
  • Do you have a budget?
  • Do you have a hotel or other venue?
  • Do you have a signed contract with the venue?
  • Did you read the contract in its entirety?
  • Do you have liability insurance?
  • Do you have legal counsel?
  • Have you lined up people who can be senior staff/department heads for major portions of the convention, such as Programming, A/V, Dealers Room, etc.?
  • Have you vetted your staff?
  • Do you have a website?
  • How about social media?
  • Is there another con already serving the same general area?
  • If so, will potential attendees feel that they are forced to choose between the two cons?
Continue reading “How To Start A Furry Convention”